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