On Deep History and the Brain by Daniel Lord Smail
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Book Summary Author: Daniel Lord Smail Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2008-11-18 ISBN: 0520258126 Number of pages: 288 Publisher: University of California Press |
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Book Reviews of the On Deep History and the Brain
Customer Review: A different look at history
Summary: 4 Stars
The idea of "deep history" seems to be that of an unbroken, scientifically-based, narrative moving from the dawn of time to the present. Smail introduces the concept by giving us an insightful history of history. He begins with the religion-based "sacred histories", which did indeed claim to cover the history of everything. Then he tells how the findings of early modern scientists, particularly Darwin, undermined all this by uncovering a much much longer past than had been previously envisaged. This led to most general historians restricting the scope of history to that of the existence of writing, and labeling everything before that as "prehistory". Smail advocates abandoning this artificial barrier in favor of a more fluid view of the past.
So what does this deep history look like? Smail finishes his work with an example - a history in terms of psychotropy (defined as "mood-altering practices, behaviors, and institutions generated by human culture"). Beginning with things we share with other primates, such as hierarchies, grooming, and random abuse, he explains how certain behaviors can create psychological dependencies. He then shows how later societies and religions came to exploit these and similar "addictions", but were in turn partially undermined in the post-Columbian world by the greater availability of other addictive substances: printed text, coffee, chocolate, cheap alcohol, musical recordings, cinema, television, the internet, ...
This is a small book that often feels like an extended essay or bunch of essays. But, all in all, it is an interesting and thought provoking read.