The Faber book of smoking - James Walton

Since
the day that Christopher Columbus first observed native Americans 'with
firebrands in their hands and herbs to smoke after their custom',
tobacco has wound its way into every corner of modern life. In its
various forms smoking has soothed and irritated us, inspired and
stupefied us, beguiled us on screen and outraged us in train carriages.

Robert
Burton wrote in The Anatomy of Melancholy that tobacco was divine, 'a
sovereign remedy to all diseases'. Nearly four centuries later, the
Oxford Medical Companion dryly noted that tobacco is the only legally
available consumer product that kills people when it is used entirely as
intended. We've come a long way, baby.

With contributions from
the likes of Sir Walter Raleigh and Kenneth Williams, Samuel Johnson and
Helen Fielding, The Faber Book of Smoking tells the fascinating story
of one of humankind's most persistent and peculiar habits.