Join Us For A
Special One-Evening Event with Edward Slingerland
May 20, 2023 – doors open: 6:30 - event starts: 7pm, Denman Hall
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).
Slingerland takes up the cause with all the chivalry of a knight-errant, and his infectious passion makes this book a romp as well as a refreshingly erudite rejoinder to the prevailing wisdom. (Zoë Lescaze, The New York Times)
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. (Goodreads)
Edward (edwardslingerland.com) is Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, where he also holds appointments in the Departments of Psychology and Asian Studies. He is also Director of the Database of Religious History (religiondatabase.org). Dr. Slingerland is the author of several academic monographs and edited volumes, a major translation of the Analects of Confucius, and approximately fifty book chapters, reviews, and articles in top academic journals in a wide range of fields. His first trade book, Trying Not to Try (Crown 2014), ties together insights from early Chinese thought and modern psychological research. His second, Drunk (Little, Brown Spark June 2021), targets the standard scientific view of our taste for intoxicants as an evolutionary accident, arguing instead that alcohol and other drugs have played a crucial role in helping humans to be more creative, trusting and cooperative.
