I read a book called Against the Grain—great read. One of the key takeaways is that societies historically relied so heavily on grains partly because they’re easier to tax. Grains like rice are uniform in size, store well, and are easy to measure. By contrast, something like a sweet potato harvest is much harder to tax because of the irregular sizes and shapes.

The author also compares bone records between large agrarian societies and so-called “barbarians” who consumed more protein and fats. Interestingly, the “barbarians” showed healthier bone density than their grain-eating counterparts.

Another great book by the artist is seeing like a state. Very eye opening book