"We want to have a culture that encourages responsible, collective drinking with some degree of moderation," says author Nic Robertson. "There's nothing to be ashamed of ... there's nothing wrong with having a glass of wine or an edam." The book is published by Simon & Schuster and goes on sale in the U.S. next week.
Do we have alcohol to thank for civilization? The answer, according to Edward Slingerland’s new book, “Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization,” is a resounding yes. Edward, who’s a professor at the University of British Columbia and self-proclaimed “philosophical hedonist,” says that far from being an evolutionary fluke, our taste for alcohol is an evolutionary advantage — one that we’ve relied on for millennia to help us lead more social, creative, and pleasurable lives.