How much do we really know about our number one drug? This natural, cultural, and artistic history of our favourite mood enhancer tells us more, by looking at how caffeine was discovered, its early uses, and its unexpected role in medicine, religion, painting, poetry, learning and love.

Caffeine is the world's most popular drug! Almost all of us start our day with a jolt of caffeine from coffee, tea or cola. And many of us crave chocolate when we're stressed or depressed. Without it we're lethargic, head-achy and miserable. Why? Why do we crave caffeine? How much do we really know about our number one drug of choice? Here is the first natural, cultural, and artistic history of our favorite mood enhancer--how it was discovered, its early uses, and the unexpected parts it has played in medicine, religion, painting, poetry, learning, and love. Weinberg and Bealer tell an intriguing story of a remarkable substance that has figured prominently in the exchanges of trade and intelligence among nations and whose most common sources, coffee, tea, and chocolate, have been both promoted as productive of health and creativity and banned as corrupters of the body and mind or subverters of social order. Some Highlights From the World of Caffeine Balzac's addiction to caffeine drove him to eat coffee, as some schizophrenic patients are observed to do today, and may have killed him Mary Tuke breaks the male monopoly on tea in England in 1725 The ways caffeine functions as a smart pill Goethe's responsibility for the discovery of caffeine Did a mini Ice Age help bring coffee, tea and chocolate to popularity in Europe? What is the mystery of coffee's origin? As good as gold: the stories of how caffeine, in its various forms, was used as cash in China, Africa, Central America and Egypt What does the civet cat have to do with the most costly coffee on earth today? The World of Caffeine is a captivating tale of art and society -- from India to Balzac to cybercafes -- and the ultimate caffeine resource.

"[A] marvelous new book." -- Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker
"With a flavor reminiscent of Daniel Boorstin's The Discoverers, The World of Caffeine tells an intriguing history of a drug that many people seem unable to live without. The book's engaging, easy style allows readers to zip through it like a jolt of good java, or savor it slowly like a good cup of tea." -- The Washington Post Book World
"The alchemists of old only dreamed of turning dross into gold, but the scientists who followed them succeeded in converting caffeine into ideas. In this new information age the conversion continues at an even faster pace, and this very useful book helps us to understand how it all happened." -- James Trager, author of The Food Chronology and The People's Chronology
"This well-researched and entertaining book, The World of Caffeine, contains a wealth of facinating cultural and historical andcdotes and scientific facts which provide a unique perspective on the world's most commonly used psychoactive drug." -- Roland R. Griffiths, PhD, a leading caffeine researcher, John Hopkins University School of Medicine
"With impressive felicity, Weinberg and Bealer marshal the forces of history, chemistry, cultural anthropology, psychology, philosophy, and even a little religion to tell caffeine's complicated story." -- The Cleveland Plain Dealer
"...a magnificently researched book filled with revelations about what has become, for many of us, a routine part of each day's consumption." -- The Wall Street Journal
"Readers who, like Prufrock, measure out their lives in coffee spoons will appreciate the background on their drug of choice provided by science writers Weinberg and Bealer." -- Booklist
"A savory and spirited cultural history of caffeine...Well- researched, briskly written, full-bodied, and flavorful." -- Kirkus Reviews
"From early warnings against the evils of caffeine to curiosities about coffeehouse culture, this book holds everything we ever wanted to know -- and then some -- about the drug that helps many of us keep up with the fast pace of our lives." -- Boston Herald
"[Weinberg and Bealer] make the most of their learned backgrounds to ponder all manner of facts and fictions about the bean and beverage." -- Toronto Star
"This well researched book examines the myth of caffeine and gives an excellent insight into this fascinating product, its orgins and history." -- Thomas Meinl, President, The Julius Meinl Group, Vienna
"[Weinberg and Bealer] remind us in their marvelous new book . . . there is no drug quite as effortlessly adaptable as caffeine, the Zelig of chemical stimulants." -- Malcolm Gladwell,The New Yorker
"The text is rich with information, yet it is easy and pleasant to read." -- Peter B. Lewis,PhD, New England Journal of Medicine
"Weinberg and Bealer provide an in-depth scholarly work that is remarkably readable and informative. The World of Caffeine will provide something for nearly everyone." -- T.D. DeLapp, Choice
"I love coffee, I love tea, I love the book on its history... a fascinating look at caffeine in its various forms, and very effectively shows its popularity in a historic, social, and pharmacological context." -- Jock Murray, Comptes Rendus