Something got into me earlier today and I downloaded the audiobook for A Brief History of Vice (as in bad habit, not the media), by Robert Evans and started listening to it in the afternoon. Went to twork listening to it, and then listened to it some more, and then some more, and oops by dinner time I had listened through all eight hours of the book content, mostly at 1.5x+ speed, but i got the gist of it and the details of it too.
The book is good, I would recommend it be consumed as an audio book than an ebook because it does have the 'chapter' feels that gives it more of a podcast vibe than a book. The content is well-researched, well-presented, and the fact that the author decided to treat so much of the content personally made me respect him so much more. He has recipes for bhang, chicha, fruit wine and so much more, all of those he tried during the course of research for the book.
The message of the book is on point: all the 'vices' we consider in the modern society have had thousands of years of social contexts and rituals behind them, but in the modern world we're trying to decontextualize them and separate the 'flavor' from the meat, so to speak and that's breaking things down. That's not how it should be.
That's something I've said many times before and I'm getting a sense I'm in the right direction now.
As he says at the end of the book: "Enjoy your vices but respect them too."!
Nine out of ten stars, highly recommend, I'd definitely read it again or listen to it again.
This is the book that got me into audio books if I may say so after listening to one, and on the evening of the same day.
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