My favorite kind of science book blends humor in with the weirdness of the topic at hand, and Oné Pagán nailed it with Drunk Flies and Stoned Dolphins. Pick this up if you want to hear about the romantic lives of cicadas—sometimes they get so stoned that they boink like maniacs until their abdomens fall off. And then they die. Or perhaps you prefer insects getting revenge on the scientists who study them, like the bees who were provided booze and became so filled with rage that they swarmed inside the lab and stung any human they could find. Fun!

Wonderful! Passionately written and just felt like someone laid their heart on the page. Wonderful! Passionately written and just felt like someone laid their heart on the page. Wonderful! Passionately written and just felt like someone laid their heart on the page.

I was expecting a bit more of a light-hearted look at the animal kingdom and instead got a load of science that I'm just not really interested in. It's obviously really well researched, but the title is v misleading as to the nature of the book.

Maybe this book was too hard for me. I expected it to be more along the lines of a Mary Roach of Neil deGrassi Tyson, but I found it hard to read and very dry. Almost like a text book.

I loved this one a lot. It was heavier on the science than the whimsical title suggests, but that was okay with me. Pagán does a wonderful job of breaking down complex neuroscience and pharmacology to lay terms without sacrificing the integrity of the science.

Humans get drunk and stoned on drugs. That is how we know they are human. Animals know better, right?

“Drunk Flies and Stoned Dolphins: A Trip through the World of Animal Intoxication,” by Oné R. Pagán, explodes that belief. Not only do animals use drugs and alcohol, many animals seek them out.

The book takes readers on a wild trip through nature. In six chapters Pagán shows how chemistry, zoology, botany work, and where they all come together.

Pagán starts at the beginning, with an introduction to chemistry and the pharmacology that results from it. He discusses the poisons plants and animals produce, and why. (Life is very economical. It does not waste energy producing unneeded substances.) He also explains the difference between a poison and a medicine (or intoxicant) is often the dose. Human have been taking advantage of this for millennia. As Pagán shows – so have animals.

He also shows how everything fits together. Human (and animal) affinity for and tolerance of alcohol allows both to maximize nutritive intake. Fruits at their ripest begin to produce alcohol, when they have the greatest food value. Substances like caffeine, nicotine and alkaloids serve to discourage predators from eating the plants containing them.

These substances also discourage predators from eating animals ingesting them. Some animals which do not create them feed upon these substances to discourage other creatures (including diseases and fungi) from feeding on them.

Pagán also shows these behaviors are universal. Everything from the simple insects (the title’s fruit flies) to complex animals (the stoned dolphins) participate. The reasons, as Pagán shows, are multiple and complex. This book offers a lot of food for thought. Just the chapter on plant chemistry offers dozens of plot ideas for would-be science fiction authors.

This book is often hilarious. Pagán tells his story with humor. He also uses language accessible to those who made it through “Rocks for Jocks” and similar remedial science classes with a gentleman’s “C.” He does it in an entertaining manner that keeps you reading. He shows his work, too. The book is littered with footnotes and endnotes which amuse as they reveal his sources and offer opportunities for further inquiry.

Many science books are dry and uninviting. “Drunk Flies and Stoned Dolphins” is the opposite. It is informative, entertaining and witty. Even if you hated science as a school subject, odds are you will love this book.

I was interested in the premise. However, the thread of the animal kingdom is derailed a bit by author commentary. If you're willing to ignore the sidebars, it is clearly well researched and any jargon is clearly defined and explained.

I don't think I have the right sense of humor but for people who are interested in the topic, it'll be a nice read, though lengthy (though all nonfiction tends to be for me).

This book was really cool. I loved reading the studies that were included about the behaviors of certain insects and how those behaviors would change when they consumed certain substances. I think I would have given it 5 stars but it drifted off into these very scientific, jargon-y rants about stuff, so that part got boring for me. But you get to learn some cool stuff like - legend says that coffee was discovered by observing the behavior of goats that had eaten it. So, thanks goats, or else my mornings would not be survivable.

Please tell me I’m not the only person who sometimes picks up a random book by an author I’ve never heard of because the title catches my eye! Drunk Flies and Stoned Dolphins. Seriously? That title alone is worth the price of the book. Happily, the content lived up to the promise on the cover.

Pagan promises early in the book to write as though we were just having a conversation and he does just that. What a fun conversation it is! A little bit of the history of pharmacology and a lot of research into the effects of various substances on our animal friends, Pagan does not cast judgment on animals (or humans) that use drugs. He tells the stories and let’s the reader judge.

Sometimes the effects come from direct experimentation. Spiders on drugs make very different webs than those without chemical influencers. Spiders may not trip out on LSD, but their webs are awfully trippy after exposure to the drug. Fruit flies given alcohol have trouble, well, flying. (I don’t think they make a breathalyzer that small, so the details rely on observation.) Dogs are known to get drunk, though unlike humans they only tend to do so once and then avoid alcohol altogether. And cats on catnip have strong reactions, whether that cat is the tabby living in your house or the jaguar prowling in the jungle.

Speaking of prowling the jungle, exposure to chemicals is hardly just done in (hopefully) controlled experiments. Wild dolphins have been observed “playing” with a poisonous puffer fish. Some speculate that the fish’s poison has some kind of mental or physical effect on the dolphins that they enjoy. Elephants have rampaged after getting drunk (usually from alcohol that humans did not properly secure). Other animals seem instinctively to seek medicinal plants to ease stomach distress, as dogs do with grass. Whether instinctive or intentional or accidental, many animals are exposed to (or seek out) plants, fungi, animals, and minerals that have effects beyond merely nutritional.

Pagan tells stories the way an entertaining uncle might do at Thanksgiving. He is charming and smart, never talking down to his audience but introducing concepts through stories in a way that is both informative and enjoyable. Deeply researched, the footnotes and bibliography give readers the opportunity to take further steps into this area of science. The history is fascinating, the science is revealing, and the writing is both humorous and thoughtful. If the reader’s interest is more limited, Drunk Flies and Stoned Dolphins is still a terrific introduction to zoological pharmacology (essentially, drugs used by animals) that is accessible and delightful. Fans of animals, people with general interest in the sciences, even middle grade and young adult readers will all find much to enjoy in this book.

This author fancies themselves a modern-day Timothy Leary but Drunk Flies and Stoned Dolphins falls way short of being both informative or entertaining. I normally love books about science, but this was not a book that filled the bill for me. Perhaps there is a market for this book among stoners and the like.

I liked the concept of this book but sadly I did not find interest enough to finish this title. I hope it’s a better read for another reader.

Humanity’s proclivity to think ourselves above nature has led us to miss the fact that we aren’t the only intelligent creatures and that we share more in common with the rest of the animal kingdom than - perhaps - we’d like to think. Science’s recognition of this truth has spawned a vast collection of books on animal (and, for that matter, plant) intelligence as well as the other traits we share in common with different species. This book carves out an interesting niche in this literature by discussing how other creatures use psychoactive substances (i.e. what we think of as “drugs and alcohol.”) While people tend to think that we are alone not only with respect to intelligence, but also with respect to our vices, it turns out this doesn’t seem to be the case. Of course, there’s a lot we don’t know about dolphins that play with blowfish or monkeys on magic mushrooms – e.g. what their internal experience of the substance is like, and to what degree consumption is purposeful versus accidental, but there is an increasing number of studies that suggest other species use drugs, and like it. The book also delves into the role plants play, particularly in producing substances that have psychoactive effects.

This book is humorous (the material is certainly there) and intriguing. It’s an easy pop science read, and avoids becoming too bogged down in the minutiae of biochemistry. That said, it does include graphics, such as chemical diagrams of psychoactive molecules, and does have to dip its toe into concepts of biology and chemistry. If you find the topic intriguing, you should give it a read.

Well this was an interesting read into the various mind altering drugs that we humans use and now I know of many various animals that do also. I think this book is great for those interested in fermentation sciences or the major jane. It tells about how we enjoy it and other animals do too.

What a fun book! Great collection of stories about the influence of various drugs on animals. Some I've heard about before (I'm a biologist), most were new to me. Written in a clear and easy way, and very engaging. I also loved all the footnotes, like a conversation. The text is supported by nice drawings, diagrams and sometimes a photo. My favourite was of the spider webs, I won't spoil it, but a pretty surprising result! Sometimes I wonder why and how some biologists/researchers find out these things, and those questions are also answered in this book (the insect pain scale, haha!). Definitely recommended!

I very interesting and entertaining read about animals and intoxication, the evolutionary rise of such chemicals, and how different substances affect different animals. The author has a great sense of humor and also includes lots of biological insight. Overall, this was a witty, scientific read, which will leave the reader more informed about the world around them.

Oné R. Pagán weaves an intricate, but well-researched explanation of how and why drugs exist. Concepts of psychology, economics, animal behavior, and history are touched upon to highlight how these substances come to be seen in a positive or negative light. Pagán masterfully explains difficult concepts in ways a layperson can understand with brilliant analogies and amusing anecdotes. My only quibble was his translation of "Über Coca"...which, the way it is written means "About Coca" and not "supreme/fantastic coca" as implied by the author. An informative and amusing read that reminded me much of the writing style of Bill Bryson.

A surprisingly in-depth scientific book about animals (including humans) and the use of alcohol and drugs "for the fun of it". The title made me think this would be stories about what people have witnessed and then some explanations what did or most likely did happen, but turns out I was wrong. There is a lot more science and descriptions of the processes behind it, and it is actually less about the different cases, more about the phenomena.

I found the story about cicadas to be fascinating. I also wished I would have finally found out the truth about elephants and marulas, but that seems to remain a mystery. Still, I found out a lot of interesting facts. I do quite often disagree with some methods, and giving elephants LSD or other drugs to see how they react feels just wrong. This is just one example. All in all an informative read!

I am obsessed with animals and devour everything I can read about their behavior and habits. The author is a biologist, not an ethologist, so this book is more about the science of drugs than it is about the animals. It is written in an easy-to-follow style, keeping it simple for laypeople, but also includes chemistry and the composition of some of the substances. Other illustrations are adorable diagrams that show the effects of some drugs on non-human animals. The author warns that some of the stories related here are apocryphal and have little scientific value. As a non-scientist, those were my favorite parts. Which takes me to my least favorite part of the book, which is that it focuses too much on humans. The experiments and most of the science centers on how it relates or helps the ugliest apes to fight addiction. As remarkable as that is, it’s not why I was interested in this volume. I still enjoyed it, though I will never look at Santa Claus the same way again.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/#Bloomsbury Publishing!

I loved this book. Dr. Pagan is an outstanding science communicator. He explains all the science clearly and in a conversational and friendly tone. It’s more like having a conversation than reading a book. The book shows a great sense of humor, that extends to even the footnotes, which to me, are a must-read. And the puns - I loved the puns. One of the endnotes, on plant neurobiology, is actually a discussion of the philosophy of science and is so important, that it belongs in the main part of the book, even if it is slightly off-topic. I have now read all of Dr. Pagan’s books and they are all fabulous. Thank you to Netgalley and BenBella Books for the advance reader copy.