IT’S A DAY of rest, and you may be in the mood for a quiet corner and a comfy chair. We’ve hand-picked the week’s best reads for you to savour. 1. Opium A look at how biology changed the course of human history with an examination of the way the British Empire used opium to subdue China. (The Guardian, approx 17 mins reading time) The East India Company readily expanded its pipeline pumping opium into China until, in 1806, the tipping point was reached and the trade deficit had been forcibly reversed. The large numbers of Chinese opium addicts were…