Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization

by Edward Slingerland

Overview

An "entertaining and enlightening" deep dive into the alcohol-soaked origins of civilization—and the evolutionary roots of humanity's appetite for intoxication (Daniel E. Lieberman, author of Exercised).

While plenty of entertaining books have been written about the history of alcohol and other intoxicants, none have offered a comprehensive, convincing answer to the basic question of why humans want to get high in the first place.

Drunk elegantly cuts through the tangle of urban legends and anecdotal impressions that surround our notions of intoxication to provide the first rigorous, scientifically-grounded explanation for our love of alcohol. Drawing on evidence from archaeology, history, cognitive neuroscience, psychopharmacology, social psychology, literature, and genetics, Drunk shows that our taste for chemical intoxicants is not an evolutionary mistake, as we are so often told. In fact, intoxication helps solve a number of distinctively human challenges: enhancing creativity, alleviating stress, building trust, and pulling off the miracle of getting fiercely tribal primates to cooperate with strangers. Our desire to get drunk, along with the individual and social benefits provided by drunkenness, played a crucial role in sparking the rise of the first large-scale societies. We would not have civilization without intoxication.

From marauding Vikings and bacchanalian orgies to sex-starved fruit flies, blind cave fish, and problem-solving crows, Drunk is packed with fascinating case studies and engaging science, as well as practical takeaways for individuals and communities. The result is a captivating and long overdue investigation into humanity's oldest indulgence—one that explains not only why we want to get drunk, but also how it might actually be good for us to tie one on now and then. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316453387
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	06/01/2021
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	186,746
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Edward Slingerland is Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, with adjunct appointments in Psychology and Asian Studies, as well as Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of Human Evolution, Cognition and Culture and Director of the Database of Religious History.
 
Slingerland is the author of two trade books, Trying Not to Try (2014) and Drunk (2021), as well as multiple academic books, translations, and edited volumes. His work has been featured in major media outlets, and he has done numerous interviews on TV, radio, blogs, and podcasts, including NPR, the BBC, PBS, CNN, the CBC, and the Joe Rogan Experience.

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

1 Why Do We Get Drunk? 17

Brain Hijack: Porn and Sexually Starved Fruit Flies 23

Evolutionary Hangovers: Drunken Monkeys, Liquid Kimchee, and Dirty Water 27

More Than Twinkies and Porn: Beyond Hangover and Hijack Theories 31

A Genuine Evolutionary Puzzle: An Enemy in the Mouth That Steals Away the Brain 35

A Genetic Mystery: We Are Apes Built to Get High 41

A Cultural Mystery: Prohibition's Strange Failure to Take Over the World 49

Pickles for the Ancestors? 58

2 Leaving the Door Open for Dionysus 61

The Human Ecological Niche: Creative, Cultural, Communal 65

The Creative Animal 71

The Cultural Animal 80

The Communal Animal 87

Regaining the Child's Mind 95

The Drunken Mind 97

Leaving the Door Open for Dionysus 103

3 Intoxication, Ecstasy, and the Origins of Civilization 107

A Visit from the Muse: Intoxication and Creativity 111

Chemical Puppies: Turning Wolves into Labradors 116

The Chemical Handshake: In Vino Veritas 124

Puking and Bonding 134

Liquid Ecstasy and the Hive Mind 141

Political Power and Social Solidarity 150

Cultural Group Selection 156

4 Intoxication in the Modern World 159

Whiskey Rooms, Saloons, and the Ballmer Peak 162

Truth Is the Color Blue: Modern Shamans and Microdosing 171

Why Skype Didn't Eliminate Business Travel 177

Office Parties: Pros and Not Just Cons 182

Long Live the Local 187

Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beer Holder: Sex, Friendship; and Intimacy 192

Collective Effervescence: Tequila Shots and Burning Man 199

Ecstasy: Vacation from the Self 204

It's Only Rock-n-Roll: Defending the Hedonistic Body 211

It Is Time to Be Drunk 217

5 The Dark Side of Dionysus 223

The Puzzle of Alcoholism 226

The Problem with Liquor: An Evolutionary Mismatch 232

Isolation: The Danger of Drinking Alone 239

Distillation and Isolation: The Twin Banes of Modernity 244

Drunk Driving, Bar Fights, and Venereal Disease 247

Beer Goggles and Violence Against Women 251

Outsiders and Teetotalers Not Welcome: Reinforcing the Old Boys' Clubs 254

Solace or Wedge? Reinforcing Bad Relationships 261

Drunk on Heaven: Getting Beyond Alcohol? 264

Taming Dionysus 270

Living with Dionysus 280

Conclusion 283

Acknowledgments 293

Bibliography 297

Notes 323

Index 351

Editorial Reviews

03/01/2021

Slingerland (Trying Not to Try), a professor of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia, delivers an entertaining and informative look at the “popularity, persistence, and importance of intoxicants throughout human history.” Citing chemical traces of alcohol found on Chinese pot shards from 7000 BCE and peyote buttons carbon-dated to 3700 BCE found in human cave dwellings in Mexico, Slingerland contends that the benefits of intoxication, including boosted creativity, stress relief, and enhanced cooperation, were key to the rise of the “first large-scale societies.” He also delves into biology and neuroscience to explain how alcohol’s inhibition of the prefrontal cortex helps foster a “childlike creativity and receptiveness in otherwise fully-functional adults,” and cites psychological studies showing that moderate intoxication breaks down the social barriers that can prevent people from bonding. Acknowledging that modern distillation techniques and increased social isolation have amplified the dangers of drugs and alcohol, Slingerland suggests ways of “taming Dionysus” such as allowing young adults to sample wine at dinner, so they view it as a “source of aesthetic pleasure” rather than a “forbidden substance.” A witty and well-informed narrator, Slingerland ranges across a wide range of academic fields to make his case. Readers will toast this praiseworthy study. (June)

Publishers Weekly

2021-03-31
A spirited look at drinking.

A professor of Asian studies at the University of British Columbia, Slingerland draws on archaeology, anthropology, history, neuroscience, psychopharmacology, social psychology, literature, poetry, and genetics to argue—insistently and repetitively— for the social, cultural, and psychological benefits of getting drunk. “Far from being an evolutionary mistake,” he writes, “chemical intoxication helps solve a number of distinctively human challenges: enhancing creativity, alleviating stress, building trust, and pulling off the miracle of getting fiercely tribal primates to cooperate with strangers.” He expounds at length on humans’ need for creativity, culture, and cooperation, which, he claims, alcohol enhances. “In many ways,” he writes, alcohol “is the perfect drug. It is easy to dose, and its cognitive effects stable across individuals. Best of all, these effects wax and wane predictably and are relatively short-lived.” Alcohol consumption, he asserts, preceded agriculture and, in fact, “provided the spark that allowed us to form truly large-scale groups, domesticate increasing numbers of plants and animals, accumulate new technologies, and thereby create the sprawling civilizations that have made us the dominant mega-fauna on the planet.” While Slingerland concedes that alcohol may have detrimental physical effects, such as liver damage, he asserts that such costs must be weighed against its “venerable role as an aid to creativity, contentment, and social solidarity.” The author acknowledges, however, that this solidarity excludes those who do not drink for health or religious reasons and often excludes women, as well. As far as the role of alcohol in sexual assault and rape, Slingerland writes that these unsavory behaviors are “driven by patriarchal or misogynist social norms rather than the ethanol molecule itself.” In the final chapter, the author cautions against imbibing distilled spirits and drinking “outside of the traditional context of ritual and social controls,” contradicting his earlier assertion that many artists and writers “unleashed” their creativity by drinking hard liquor, alone.

A hyperbolic but entertaining defense of intoxication via alcohol.

Kirkus Reviews

Wide-ranging and provocative…Drunk helpfully synthesizes the literature, then underlines its most radical implication: Humans aren’t merely built to get buzzed—getting buzzed helped humans build civilization.”—The Atlantic

"A rowdy banquet of a book...A refreshingly erudite rejoinder to the prevailing wisdom."—New York Times

"Absorbing...Slingerland makes a compelling case that human societies have been positively shaped by alcohol.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Engrossing. This heady book is best savored as a fresh take on a contentious topic.”—New Scientist

"Compelling and, above all, a whole lot of irreverent fun."—Smithsonian Magazine

"A witty and erudite homage to alcohol."—City Journal

“A superb panoramic study of intoxication…capacious and wisely humane.”—The World of Fine Wine

“Drunk is one of those rare, enthralling books that is as entertaining as it is enlightening. Slingerland’s uproarious and erudite exploration of the history, anthropology, and science of intoxicants will revolutionize how you drink and think.”—Daniel E. Lieberman, Edwin M Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences at Harvard University, and author of Exercised

“Drunk is a punchy and stimulating intellectual cocktail that takes a fresh look at one of our species’ most puzzling obsessions—our routine consumption of sublethal dosages of a psychoactive poison. Despite a deep erudition that effortlessly weaves together history, anthropology, genetics, and chemistry, Slingerland’s book feels like a chat with an old friend over a couple of pints. You’ll learn a lot, but you won’t notice, because you’ll be so entertained.”—Joseph Henrich, author of The WEIRDest People in World, and Professor and Chair of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University

“Does booze make us human? In this wide-ranging, provocative, and very funny exploration, Edward Slingerland makes an excellent case that intoxication is a powerful force for trust and love. From the first paragraph about the appeal of masturbation, Twinkies, and alcohol, to the rousing ending where Slingerland urges us to leave a place for ecstasy in our lives, Drunk is a delight.”—Paul Bloom, author of Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion

"A brilliant and definitive book. Alcohol has been used and abused by more people in more places at more times than all other intoxicants combined. The story of drinking is, indeed, the story of humanity, and Edward Slingerland tells it with endearing wit, irreverence, wisdom, and profound insight. "—Wade Davis, author of Magdalena: River of Dreams

“Witty, wise, effervescent, and slyly irreverent. This sparkling chronicle belongs on the shelf of every thinking person who enjoys a drink from time to time.”—Janet Chrzan, author of Alcohol: Social Drinking in Cultural Context

“An eminently enjoyable, irreverent, and informative romp through the world of intoxicants. Drunk is a milestone in the field.”
 —Brian Hayden, author of The Power of Feasts

“To understand why people drink is to tap into the very core of human experience. Professor Slingerland seamlessly weaves together observations from a dizzying array of disciplines across the sciences and humanities. In so doing, he provides provocative insights regarding why we prize drinking and offers practical suggestions about how we might drink responsibly and better integrate drinking and nondrinking members of society. Read the first few paragraphs and you will immediately realize that you are in for a truly engrossing and delightful read!  Read further and you also realize that you’re gaining a cutting-edge understanding of both the pleasures and the hazards of drinking. Slingerland has deftly managed to educate, surprise, and entertain while distilling a complex alcohol literature to address just why we humans drink to the point of intoxication.”—Michael Sayette, PhD, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, and Director of the Alcohol and Smoking Research Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh

"This book is a love letter to Dionysius. Even as it aroused memories of patients whose lives were ruined by alcohol, Drunk made me appreciate the value as well as the pleasure of drinking with friends, and of reading wonderful books.”—Randolph M. Nesse, M.D., author of Good Reasons for Bad Feelings, and Founding Director of The Center for Evolution and Medicine at Arizona State University

“Drunk induces a thrilling intellectual buzz. Edward Slingerland plunges his bar spoon into the rich ethnographic, archaeological, psychological, and historic literatures, stirs vigorously, and produces a cocktail of brilliant and novel insights about the role that alcohol played in the development of human civilization, and its continued importance today. He’s more entertaining than your typical bartender, and the drink he’s mixed is one we’ll be sipping, absorbing, and savoring for quite some time. Cheers!”—Richard Sosis, coauthor of Religion Evolving, and James Barnett Professor of Humanistic Anthropology, University of Connecticut

“Cooperation on a large scale is vital to the success of contemporary society. In this fascinating, funny and readable book, Professor Slingerland presents the case that alcohol is part of a cultural toolkit honed over thousands of years to help us all get along in a complex world. Drunk shines a new light on our love-hate relationship with booze.”—Greg Wadley, University of Melbourne

“A fascinating account of our obsession with the demon drink."—Iain Gately, author of Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol

“Slingerland … weaves modern scientific studies with ancient mythology. An illuminating yet conversational study that takes an anthropological approach to a widespread and often puzzling human behavior.”—Jeffrey Meyer, Library Journal

“A spirited look at drinking”—Kirkus

“A witty and well-informed narrator, Slingerland ranges across a wide range of academic fields to make his case. Readers will toast this praiseworthy study.”—Publishers Weekly

“This enlightening and scientific book, which explains how alcohol has lubricated innovation and social trust through history, is a breath of unconventionality, and even risk-taking, in a North American society that is increasingly fixating on puritanism, ‘safetyism’ and orthodoxy of opinion.”—The Province

"Elegant, well-argued, and occasionally dryly humorous."—Master of Malt

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