Alcohol: The World's Favorite Drug

This is not an in-depth sceintific study of alcohol and how Western societies deal with it. It is a brief overview of various aspects - chemistry, myth, and history - of the (currently) most popular drug. There are many other books on the subject that go into greater detail on various aspects, but this one is a very good review of the current state of alcohol in our society, and the past and current methodologies employed to deal with addiction to it. What I found most significant about the book is the final chapter, dealing w/ the consequences of "another drink". The statistics indicate e.g. that each additional drink/day/year for an adult woman increases her chances of breast cancer by 9%. I.e. a woman who has 2 drinks/day (*not* an alcoholic by current measures) increases her chances of breast cancer by 18% vs a non-drinker, all other variables controlled. The public health implications of this are very understated in the text, but staggering nonetheless. Edwards leaves you with an understanding that alcohol is a very potent drug that is heavily laden w/ sociological myth, and therefore no simple solutions to the problems it creates are easily available.