The Book of Absinthe: A Cultural History

Rating:
Summary: cool and green
Review: This is the best book on absinthe, even better than the Barnaby Conrad book - which is kind of 'coffee table' by comparison - even though it doesn't have any color pictures. It's more Gothic, more literary, and much funnier (in a black humor sort of way). There's a lot of stuff that isn't in Conrad at all, like Aleister Crowley, and good material on 1890s London.
I learnt a lot from this (but I probbaly won't remember it) because more than just the drink it's like an A-Z of decadence and high weirdness. And after that there's a guide to modern brands.
It also has the real pharmacology,and it exposes all that stuff about absinthe and cannabis as just plain wrong.