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Behind every landmark drug is a story. It could be an oddball researcher’s genius insight, a catalyzing moment in geopolitical history, a new breakthrough technology, or an unexpected but welcome side effect discovered during clinical trials. Piece together these stories, as Thomas Hager does in this remarkable, century-spanning history, and you can trace the evolution of our culture and the practice of medicine.

​Beginning with opium, the “joy plant,” which has been used for 10,000 years, Hager tells a captivating story of medicine. His subjects include the largely forgotten female pioneer who introduced smallpox inoculation to Britain, the infamous knockout drops, the first antibiotic, which saved countless lives, the first antipsychotic, which helped empty public mental hospitals, Viagra, statins, and the new frontier of monoclonal antibodies. This is a deep, wide-ranging, and wildly entertaining book.

Much of the health advice we receive today tells us that in order to be healthy, we must consume a Spartan diet, exercise with the intensity of an Olympic athlete, and take a drug for every ailment. We constantly worry about the foods we should or shouldn’t be eating and the medical tests we have neglected to take. And all that worry costs us dearly–financially, emotionally, and physically.

In The Good Vices, prominent naturopathic physician Dr. Harry Ofgang and health journalist Erik Ofgang tear down decades of myth and prejudice to reveal how some of our guilty pleasures are not only okay but actually good for our health. For example:

• Like wine, moderate beer and spirit consumption raises our bodies’ level of good cholesterol, which protects against heart disease.
• Egg yolks are an excellent source of important fat-soluble vitamins.
• Research suggests that moderate exercisers can be at least as healthy as, and sometimes even healthier than, those who exercise intensively.

Forget what you thought you knew about what’s healthy, and enjoy some good vices instead.