Ritual

How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living

By: Dimitris Xygalatas

Narrated by: Neil Gardner

A pioneering anthropologist takes readers on a journey through the rich tapestry of human ritual—showing how and why our most irrational behaviors are a key driver of our success. “Important . . . and a true delight to read.” (Paul Bloom, author of Against Empathy)

Ritual is one of the oldest, and certainly most enigmatic, threads in the history of human culture. It presents a profound paradox: people ascribe the utmost importance to their rituals, but few can explain why they are so important. Apparently pointless ceremonies pervade every documented society, from handshakes to hexes, hazings to parades. Before we ever learned to farm, we were gathering in giant stone temples to perform elaborate rites and ceremonies. And yet, though rituals exist in every culture and can persist nearly unchanged for centuries, their logic has remained a mystery—until now.

In Ritual, pathfinding scientist Dimitris Xygalatas leads us on an enlightening tour through this shadowy realm of human behavior. Armed with cutting-edge technology and drawing on discoveries from a wide range of disciplines, he presents a powerful new perspective on our place in the world. In birthday parties and coronations, in silent prayer, in fire-walks and terrifying rites of passage, in all the bewildering variety of human life, Ritual reveals the deep and subtle mechanisms that bind us together.

Critic reviews

"In the early 1960s most ethologists maintained that personality, decision making, emotions, and culture were unique to humans, but chimpanzee research helped to dispel that arrogant thinking. And now Dimitris Xygalatas shows that rituals are not confined to humans but are present in many mammals, birds, and even insects. This is a fascinating well-researched book about a fascinating subject. You will learn a lot."—Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace

“Ritual is a deep, engaging, magnificent book. Full of vivid stories about the myriad ritual behaviors of human beings — from the prayers made to countless gods to kissing dice at craps to wearing feathered gloves full of biting ants to walking barefoot on hot coals — it shows how humans turn ordinary life into something awe-inspiring, how we use shared rituals to transcend our solitary selves. Xygalatas walks through fire himself, literally and intellectually, to share great wisdom about the human condition.”—Nicholas A. Christakis, New York Times-bestselling author of Blueprint and Apollo’s Arrow

“Xygalatas's account of how our tendency to conduct weird routines can make us feel better individually or as part of a group is a thoroughly satisfying scientific detective story. His evidence may be culled from around the world but the lessons apply to all of us.”—Richard Wrangham, author of Catching Fire and The Goodness Paradox

"The great mystery of human behavior is ritual. How do we explain circumcisions, debutante balls, hazing, royal coronations, and fire-walking? Dimitris Xygalatas is a brilliant polymath and this fascinating book explores this question through a mix of scientific research, evolutionary theorizing, and deep immersion into cultures with gruesome and painful rituals. An important intellectual contribution and a true delight to read."—Paul Bloom, author of Against Empathy and The Sweet Spot

"Why do people walk on hot coals, scarify themselves, pierce their bodies with sharp objects, fast, kneel, handle poisonous snakes, endure hours of boring sermons on their days off? Armed with new tools, such as biometric sensors and hormone sampling, Xygalatas reveals the inner workings and crucial functions of ritual, which explain both its antiquity and ubiquity. Packed full of engaging case studies and experiments, this book is an entertaining and engaging introduction to the cognitive science of ritual by one of the pioneers of the field."—Edward Slingerland, author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization

Inaugurating a new discipline — ritualism

Convenient summary of the many disciplines threads we need to join for a contemporary world view to understand the multifaceted role played by ritual in humanity.

Fascinating and Overwhelming

Basically, this book is a collection of studies of rituals around the world and an anthropologist’s review of them. Many were fascsinating, some downright gross. After a while I was so saturated with the ritual/study/review format that I started to skip chunks of the book toward the end. My personal take away was limited. A friend recommended this book and when I asked her about she could barely remember reading it. But she did mention it was fascinating. If you want to view the inter workings of an anthropologist’s mind you’ll like this book. What really kept me listening was the lovely British accent of the narrator.

Certainly not my cup of blood

I'm all forsocial get togethers, but inflicting crruelity is not my style. This book might entertain some special forces type that thought training wasn't tough enough. If books should inform and entertain, this book is not rntetaining with informatiom besst left to past ciilizations (?).

Somewhat repetitive, and dry

Didn’t care for this book. How many times does one have to listen about fire-walking? Mostly starting the obvious about team/community building with rituals using the placebo effect. Surely there are more stories about rituals performed for forgotten valuable lessons that may even be life-saving.

Don’t take a deep dive into this book or you may hit your head on the shallow end. I was attracted to buying this book because I heard the author on a podcast. You don’t really need more than that interview.

Narrator mispronounces some words like ‘playa’ and others.