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Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, And Stumbled Our Way To Civilization is a nonfiction book by Edward Slingerland. It was published by Little, Brown Spark in 2021.
Written by Canadian-American philosopher Edward Slingerland, the book argues that alcohol has had a positive impact on human civilization. The book argues that alcohol increases social trust and collaboration by reducing inhibitions, and that it encourages creativity. These traits give humanity an edge over other species, allowing human civilization to advance. Slingerland uses evidence from psychology, anthropology, evolutionary biology and human history to argue that alcohol provides benefits to society that can outweigh costs like addiction and negative health effects.
"For most of our history we've been drinking two to three percent beers," Slingerland explains, noting that historically built-in safety systems helped regulate alcohol consumption. He describes how before modern distillation, alcoholic beverages had natural limits. Beers contained only 2-3% alcohol by volume (ABV) and wines reached 8-10% ABV since "yeast are turning sugars into alcohol which is a poison, so the yeast are slowly poisoning themselves." Social customs provided additional moderation, as "we're drinking typically historically in a communal situation where there's really clear ritual restrictions on drinking." Slingerland emphasizes that concentrated alcohols through distillation only emerged in the 1300s in China and 1500-1600s in Europe, meaning "we really haven't had time culturally or genetically to adapt to access to this kind of alcohol" that can exceed 80 proof.[1]
Slingerland surveys drinking practices across history to illustrate how ritual intoxication shapes communal life:
この本は批評家から概ね好意的な評価を受けた。ニューヨーク・タイムズの書評で、ゾーイ・レスカゼは「スリンガーランドは遍歴の騎士道精神をもってこの問題に取り組み、彼の伝染するような情熱は、この本を、世間の常識に対する爽快な博識な反論であると同時に、楽しい読み物にもしている」と書いている。[ 2 ]ピーター・グレイは『想像的文化の進化研究』の中で、この本を「事実が満載で、考えさせられ、ユーモラスで魅力的な散文で書かれた300ページ弱の本で、人間の社会生活におけるアルコールの豊かな物語を語っている」と称賛した。[ 3 ]
Publishers Weekly [ 4 ]、 New Scientistの Vijaysree Venkatraman [ 5 ]、 The Alcohol Professor の Camper English [ 6 ] 、 Library Journalの Jeffrey Meyer は、本書を面白く、有益で、よく調査されていると評した。 [ 7 ]
カーカスレビューやシアトルブックレビューのラルフ・ピーターソンは、この本に否定的なレビューを与え、その主張は繰り返しが多く説得力に欠けると評した。 [ 8 ] [ 9 ]