Just finished this well researched, analyzed, argumenten, and delightfully written book on practically all the aspects of alcohol consumption. The author points at both the many dangers, as well as the many positive effects of the intoxicant, on the personal as well as the societal and cultural level. And he makes a convincing case for the relationship between the discovery of beer and wine and the progress of civilization (through the effects on socialization and creativity). He also studies the present moralistic character of our society (“to a degree not seen since Queen Victoria’s day”) and concludes that “We need to rescue alcohol, and chemical intoxication more generally, from both the cheery New Age ascetics and four neo-Puritans.” So basically, Aristotle’s Golden Mean. “[…] it is only by recognizing both the benefits and dangers of intoxication that we can remain human, cautiously tapping into its power to help us to occupy this precarious ecological niche we have made our own.” Well worth reading! #edwardslingerland #drunk @slingerland20 (at Manhattan, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci5m7yFJP2s/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
