John Robbins

So there's definitely physiological reasons why alcohol was a problem.

But the example I use in the book, which has been told to me before, is if you said to me in a restaurant, I've got peanut allergy,

I wouldn't say, oh, were you born with that?

Or is it something you developed?

You'd be like, it doesn't matter.

I just really need to make sure there's no peanuts.

If we could make the not eating peanuts the priority.

If you want me to get one of those gene tests, I will do it, but I probably won't read the results because it's completely irrelevant.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

No.

And also, you know, I was a very like...

You know, I had a lot of support around me.

I had a very understanding mum, very emotionally intelligent.

You know, I was a bright kid, very polite.

I wasn't sort of in with a sort of

bad crowd or anything.

I didn't misbehave.

And yet I just found ways to switch my head off from quite a young age.

And the mad thing about writing Thirst was that

how much stuff writing it uncovered as I was writing it.