Select Foundational Sources

For the science of Endorphins, see “Select Foundational Sources on the Science of Endorphins” in Book 1 Notes.

Select Foundational Sources on the Science of Awe. Dacher Keltner and Jonathan Haidt wrote the foundational study for the field in 2003: “Approaching Awe — a  moral, spiritual and  aesthetic emotion.” (Keltner and Haidt, 2003). Dacher’s 2023 book, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, sums up the science. It’s also captured well on his podcast interviews, particularly on the 10% Happier podcast with Dan Harris and On Being with Krista Tippett.

The science in this chapter is reinforced by these key papers: The 2015 paper from Jennifer Stellar and Keltner, linking awe with lowered inflammation: “Positive affect and markers of inflammation: discrete positive emotions predict lower levels of inflammatory cytokines.” (Stellar, Keltner et al, 2015); the 2022 paper from Molly Crockett’s lab, showing that multi-day festivals inspire pro-social behavior: “Prosocial Correlates of Transformative Experiences at Secular Multi-Day Mass Gatherings.” (Yudkin, Crockett et al, 2022); these two papers on awe and pro-sociality: “Awe, the small self, and prosocial behavior” (Piff, 2015); “Self-Transcendent Emotions and Their Social Functions: Compassion, Gratitude, and Awe Bind Us to Others Through Prosociality” (Stellar, et al, 2017); and “Compassion, Gratitude, and Awe” (Jennifer E. Stellar, Amie Gordon, 2024)

Select Foundational Sources on the Science of Loneliness and its opposite: Togetherness. Robin Dunbar’s 2022 book, Friends: Understanding the Power of Our Most Important Relationships, is an essential and wonderfully readable guide to a wide swath of research—across disciplines—that’s emerged to reinforce the power of friendship. His paper, “Why friendship and loneliness affect our health” (Dunbar, 2025) builds on this. 

This book—and the field—draws on the loneliness research pioneered by John Cacioppo. Look for his book: Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection (Cacioppo, Patrick, 2009) and this particular paper, relating to social connection, and co-authored with his wife Stephanie Cacioppo, and others: “Loneliness and Implicit Attention to Social Threat: A High-Performance Electrical Neuroimaging Study” (Cacioppo et al., 2015)

This 2015 paper took a broad view of the field, and was highly influential, leading to the well-known shorthand that ‘loneliness is as deadly as smoking 15 cigarettes a day’: “Loneliness and Social Isolation as Risk Factors for Mortality: A Meta-Analytic Review.” (Holt-Lunstad, Julianne et al, 2015)

Several other books are indispensable: Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World (Murthy, 2020) and the white paper from the U.S. Surgeon General that preceded it: “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation” 

Other foundational sources for this book include: Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives (Christakis, Nicholas A., and James H. Fowler, 2009); and the work of Dean Ornish, who proved that many modern diseases can be reversed through a 4-pillar approach that explicitly includes friendship / love / social support. Look for his prescient 1999 book, Love and Survival: 8 Pathways to Intimacy and Health.

Select Foundational Sources on the Broad Cultural History of the Festival. Along with the Select Foundational Sources for Indigenous Scholarship—listed in the Introduction Notes—these works anchor the book’s perspective on festivals, broadly: Barbara Ehrenreich’s Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy (2006); Victor Turner’s Celebration: Studies in Festivity and Ritual; Edith Turner’s Communitas: The Anthropology of Collective Joy; Victor Turner’s The Anthropology of Performance; Brian Hayden’s The Power of Feasts; and Joshua Shrei’s podcast, The Emerald, particularly his episode on “Festivals!”

Select Foundational Sources on Specific Historic Festivals. Along with the interviews and many other sources, these works anchor the book’s perspective on specific festivals: Mike Parker Pearson’s Stonehenge: A New Understanding (2014); HW Parks’s Festivals of the Athenians (1977); David C. Young’s The Modern Olympics: A struggle for revival; Diana L. Eck’s India: A Sacred Geography (2012); Black Elk and Joseph Epes Brown’s The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk’s Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux; for Celtic festivals: Ronald Hutton’s The Stations of the Sun and Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles; for ancient Chinese festivals, the Book of Rites; for the ancient Incan Festival of the Sun (Inti Raymi):  Garcilaso de la Vega’s Royal Commentaries of Peru (1688).