NatalieMacLean.com’s Post

Would you like to win a beautiful hardcover edition of "Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization"❓ https://lnkd.in/gtBZnAWV 🏆 Two of you are going to win a copy of Edward Slingerland’s beautiful hardcover edition of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization. From the book description: 📚 While plenty of entertaining books have been written about the history of alcohol and other intoxicants, none have offered a comprehensive, convincing answer to the basic question of why humans want to get high in the first place. 🔍 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. ✨ Drawing on evidence from archaeology, history, cognitive neuroscience, psychopharmacology, social psychology, literature, and genetics, Drunk shows that our taste for chemical intoxicants is not an evolutionary mistake, as we are so often told. ✨ In fact, intoxication helps solve a number of distinctively human challenges: enhancing creativity, alleviating stress, building trust, and pulling off the miracle of getting fiercely tribal primates to cooperate with strangers. 🏛️ Our desire to get drunk, along with the individual and social benefits provided by drunkenness, played a crucial role in sparking the rise of the first large-scale societies. We would not have civilization without intoxication. 🦜 From marauding Vikings and bacchanalian orgies to sex-starved fruit flies, blind cave fish, and problem-solving crows, Drunk is packed with fascinating case studies and engaging science, as well as practical takeaways for individuals and communities. 🥂 The result is a captivating and long overdue investigation into humanity's oldest indulgence—one that explains not only why we want to get drunk, but also how it might actually be good for us to tie one on now and then. 👇 All you have to do is: 1️⃣ Like this post 2️⃣ Tag someone in the comments below who might also be interested in winning the book 3️⃣ Follow me on Instagram Cheers! And good luck🥂 Natalie This contest is in no way affiliated with Facebook or Instagram. #natdecants #edwardslingerland #drunkbook #alcoholandcivilization #historyofintoxication #sippeddancedstumbled #culturalimpact #humanevolution #intoxicationjourney #civilizationandbooze

Our Projectkin members explore different facets of family history, often searching for a hook to tell a story or inspire loved ones. In our 6-part #RootsTech2024 "Project Party 🎉" our stories have explored tips for capturing, curating, and sharing what we learn. (If you've missed any you can catch the recordings as they're available here: https://buff.ly/4bZ5xQz). In talking about family stories and the memories that make them real, I was reminded of this remarkable interview David Marchese of the New York Times captured last month after sitting with Charan Ranganath, author of the new book, “Why We Remember.” It explores core ideas about how memories are formed and the deceptive plasticity of these recollections. I found it fascinating, perhaps you will as well. Family stories have always lived in the neighborhood of revisionist history, now psychology and neuroscience help us understand why. https://nyti.ms/3OWcnfI #FamilyHistory  ⁠#Genealogy #ProjectRecipes #DigitalFamilyHistory⁠ #FamilyHistoryProjects #FamilyBonds #FamilyHeirlooms ⁠ #FamilyHistoryResearch ⁠ #FamilyHistoryStory ⁠#FamilyStory #FamilyStoryTelling #Genealogicalresearch ⁠ #Genealogyresearch ⁠ #Generations ⁠ #HistoryNerd  #HonorourAncestors ⁠#LegacyInstories #MemoryKeepers ⁠ #PhotoPreservation #StoryTelling #TellTheirStories ⁠ #TellTheStories ⁠#FYP #FYPage #Shorts

[ THE SCIENCE AND MYSTERY OF AWE ] This is wonderful conversation with Keltner on AWE... and his new book 'Awe: The New Science of Every Day Wonder and How it Can Transform Your Life'. In kindness J x ♡ express yourself through art ♡ YOUR STORY MATTERS #beawarrior #mending #creativity #awe #science #arttherapy #mentalhealth #architectofchange #youmatter #therapy #expressivetherapies #creativetherapies #psychology #thearttherapywarrior

"Only rest allows us to see awe, and awe then allows us to recognize beauty. Awe is a feeling of wonder and amazement, and scientists have agreed that this feeling is innate to being human. All over the world, people from a variety of cultures and living in a wide range of different contexts are familiar with that feeling. They experience it when they watch stars on a clear night, or when they see the sea after a long hike, or a flock of birds moving as one, intelligent being. They might also experience it when they see a human being doing something good for someone else. Researchers who asked people about the moments of awe in their lives (yes, there actually exists a science of awe!) found that most often, people would mention a moment in which other human beings would move beyond themselves, helping another person. Think of people who helped victims in a war, a hero that intervenes in a fight, women who organize a peacewalk and are able to gather thousands of people in the streets. Do you see the overlap between these two variations of awe - the one in which we look at nature, and the one in which we look at people? For me, the overlap is that they are both about beauty. Natural beauty, and moral beauty." Fragment from the digital letter that i sent out this month to my readers. Subscribe for free to still receive it in your inbox - link below. Next month, i will be sharing some of the most beautiful and insightful things i read and heard this summer. https://lnkd.in/dZz7VUx7

It has been a while since I have read an SF book that has been original, pithy and unputdownable from start to finish. Where the non-fiction books (these days!) tend to say in a couple of hundred pages what they could say in fifty, the science fiction authors are typically guilty of thinking in series, mostly letting the first book set up the scene for the next. ‘Elder Race’ by Adrian Tchaikovsky takes a strikingly different path and delivers an exceptional novella with some great ideas in two hundred odd pages. The story is set in the world of the future where humanity has colonized the universe and then, for a period of time as earth struggled with economic crisis of its own, completely forgotten its colonies. As prosperity returns there is a big initiative to reconnect with these outposts, which in many cases have regressed, while the genetic modifications to make the colonists successful have created some interesting sub species. The humans in earth themselves have evolved to accentuate these differences. The mother race has sent ‘anthropologists’ to monitor the colonies, watching their progress, recording it and bound by rules never to intervene (a la the Star Trek prime directive for the Trekkies amongst us!) to maintain purity of evolution path for the colonies. The myth making abilities of our race have carried down stories of the ancestors through the ages and technology has come to be seen as magic. As scene setting goes, this is a great world-build to place stories in!   Elder Race is smart, well written, has an interesting storyline, things futuristic enough to hold your interest, a leaning to the positive despite hardships and most of all a strong ending. I haven’t felt the joy of finishing a book in one sitting in a while now – this is stuff that good writing is made up of! This is not the first time that fantasy and science fiction are juxta positioned, but this is certainly one of the best ways I have seen different worldviews positioned side by side, each right in their way. The central character’s battle against depression is beautifully presented, as the inner demon that will persist through civilizations advance. We might get some tools to assist us, it will still be our battle, one we will have to fight with assistance from our friends. The bravery of the human ‘quest’ against demons, that is really a fight against our own fragility and a call out to the heroic in us, is well brought out in the story. The hard science in the fiction of our own potential future bodily modifications to get a better control over ourselves and the step change this will represent over our current selves is well woven into the narrative. Technology could well be the next step in our evolution. The human ambition of colonizing space and where that could lead us is speculated on. In all this is a great package – and well worth the read. #readtolead #spaceexploration #sciencefiction #mentalhealth https://lnkd.in/g-6SWmE3

Today, let's explore the vintage art of journaling, a practice that has woven its way through history, capturing the thoughts and dreams of many before us. In our digital age, there's something profoundly magical about returning to pen and paper. Join me as we rediscover the charm of handwritten diaries, where every page holds a story, and every ink stain is a memory. Let’s celebrate the beauty of keeping a journal, an old-fashioned treasure that keeps our innermost reflections alive. #familyhistory #familyhistoryquotes #lessonslearnedfromfamilyhistory #thisisfamilyhistory #ancestors #findingancestors #familytree #myroots #lessonsofthepast #familysearch #genealogy #thequestneverends #findyourselfinfamilyhistory #goodthingstocome #findingjoyinthejourney #keepsearching #documentlife #recordyourstory #PreserveFamilyHistory #CaptureLifeStories #LifeStories #VintageJournaling #TimelessTreasures

A Simple Map of Reality | Psychology Today Check out our latest essay on Psychology Today! It offers a straightforward and helpful map of reality, grounded on UTOK's onto-epistemology. https://lnkd.in/dbz9T32Y

Why do we ask questions and why do we sometimes refrain from so doing? Have you ever stopped to wonder why we are so curious? Questions are the force behind new discoveries, innovation, and progress. The very act of asking a question implies a desire for knowledge and understanding. But have you ever considered the deeper reasons behind our desire to ask questions? The meaning of the word "question" comes from the Latin "quaerere," "to ask, to seek." The etymology highlights the fundamental nature of human curiosity and our pursuit of knowledge. But what else might lie beneath the surface of our questioning nature? Stay tuned as we delve deeper into the psychology, history, and significance of questions. There are some fascinating insights to be uncovered. You won't want to miss what's coming next! Engage in the discussion. #WhyDoWeAskQuestions #Curiosity #StayTuned

EXPONENTIAL MULTIPLICATION IN GENEALOGY This month's Fortitude post examines genealogy from an exponential perspective. Did you know that if you go back 12 generations to your 10th great-grandparents, you would have over 8,000 direct ancestors? Read how and learn about pedigree collapse in this month's post. https://lnkd.in/gB6XV5e5

What Ants and Orcas Can Teach Us About Death A philosopher journeys into the world of comparative thanatology, which explores how animals of all kinds respond to death and dying. A conversation with researcher Susana Monsó Link to read the New York Times article: https://buff.ly/4f07ttp Susana is also the author of the book, Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death. Blending philosophical insight with new evidence from behavioral science and comparative psychology, Playing Possum dispels the anthropocentric biases that cloud our understanding of the natural world, and reveals that, when it comes to death and dying, we are just another animal. Link to Playing Possum info: https://buff.ly/4fkx8fU Princeton University Press 📚 @princetonupress (on Instagram) Susana Monsó's website & more: https://buff.ly/3UtcyCc #princeton #princetonuniversity #psychology #thanatology #nytimes #newyorktimes #conversations #experts #bookobsessed #booklovers #deathanddying #deathpositive #bookrecommendation #mortality #loss #research #animals #caregivers #behavioralscience