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

About this book

An "entertaining and enlightening" deep dive into the alcohol-soaked origins of civilizationand the evolutionary roots of humanitys 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 humanitys oldest indulgenceone 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.