-
The Compass of Pleasure
- How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
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Publisher's summary
A leading brain scientist's look at the neurobiology of pleasure - and how pleasures can become addictions. Whether eating, taking drugs, engaging in sex, or doing good deeds, the pursuit of pleasure is a central drive of the human animal. In The Compass of Pleasure Johns Hopkins neuroscientist David J. Linden explains how pleasure affects us at the most fundamental level: in our brain. As he did in his award-winning book, The Accidental Mind, Linden combines cutting-edge science with entertaining anecdotes to illuminate the source of the behaviors that can lead us to ecstasy but that can easily become compulsive. Why are drugs like nicotine and heroin addictive while LSD is not? Why has the search for safe appetite suppressants been such a disappointment? The Compass of Pleasure concludes with a provocative consideration of pleasure in the future, when it may be possible to activate our pleasure circuits at will and in entirely novel patterns.
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In Drugged, Miller takes listeners on an eye-opening tour of psychotropic drugs, describing the various kinds, how they were discovered and developed, and how they have played multiple roles in virtually every culture. Drugged brims with surprises, revealing the fact that antidepressant drugs evolved from rocket fuel, highlighting the role of hallucinogens in the history of religion, and asking whether Prozac can help depressed cats. Entertaining and authoritative, Drugged is a truly fascinating book.
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Interesting reading but heavy on the biochemistry
- By Scott on 06-28-14
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The Biology of Desire
- Why Addiction Is Not a Disease
- By: Marc Lewis PhD
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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The psychiatric establishment and rehab industry in the Western world have branded addiction a brain disease based on evidence that brains change with drug use. But in The Biology of Desire, cognitive neuroscientist and former addict Marc Lewis makes a convincing case that addiction is not a disease and shows why the disease model has become an obstacle to healing. Lewis reveals addiction as an unintended consequence of the brain doing what it's supposed to do - seek pleasure and relief - in a world that's not cooperating.
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An important addition to understanding addiction.
- By Jeff M on 02-28-16
By: Marc Lewis PhD
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The Ravenous Brain
- How the New Science of Consciousness Explains Our Insatiable Search for Meaning
- By: Daniel Bor
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Consciousness is our gateway to experience: it enables us to recognize Van Gogh’s starry skies, be enraptured by Beethoven’s Fifth, and stand in awe of a snowcapped mountain. Yet consciousness is subjective, personal, and famously difficult to examine: philosophers have for centuries declared this mental entity so mysterious as to be impenetrable to science. In The Ravenous Brain, neuroscientist Daniel Bor departs sharply from this historical view, and proposes a new model for how consciousness works.
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Effectively demystifies consciousness
- By Gary on 11-18-12
By: Daniel Bor
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Recover to Live
- Kick Any Habit, Manage Any Addiction: Your Self-Treatment Guide to Alcohol, Drugs, Eating Disorders, Gambling, Hoarding, Smoking, Sex, and Porn
- By: Christopher Kennedy Lawford
- Narrated by: Seth Michael Donsky
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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From New York Times bestselling author of Symptoms of Withdrawal and Moments of Clarity Christopher Kennedy Lawford comes a book that will save lives. For most of his early life, Christopher Kennedy Lawford battled life-threatening drug and alcohol addictions. Now in recovery for more than 25 years, he works to effect change and raise global awareness of addiction in nonprofit, private, and government circles, serving as the goodwill ambassador for drug dependence treatment and care for the United Nations.
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I didn't know I was a workaholic
- By wh on 06-17-13
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A Nation in Pain
- Healing Our Biggest Health Problem
- By: Judy Foreman
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 14 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Published in partnership with the International Association for the Study of Pain, A Nation in Pain offers a sweeping, deeply researched account of the chronic pain crisis, from neurobiology to public policy, and presents practical solutions that are within our grasp today. Drawing on both her personal experience with chronic pain and her background as an award-winning health journalist, she guides us through recent scientific discoveries, including genetic susceptibility to pain.
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Broad but superficial.
- By J. P. Murphy on 07-03-15
By: Judy Foreman
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Unbroken Brain
- A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction
- By: Maia Szalavitz
- Narrated by: Marisa Vitali
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Challenging both the idea of the addict's "broken brain" and the notion of a simple "addictive personality", Unbroken Brain offers a radical and groundbreaking new perspective, arguing that addiction is a learning disorder, and shows how seeing the condition this way can untangle our current debates over treatment, prevention, and policy.
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Not what I expected
- By Jennifer Sader on 08-28-16
By: Maia Szalavitz
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The Emotional Life of Your Brain
- How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, Feel, and Live - and How You Can Change Them
- By: Richard J. Davidson Ph.D., Sharon Begley
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Why are some people so quick to recover from a setback while others wallow in despair? Why are some people so highly attuned to others that they seem psychic, while other people put both feet in it over and over again? Why are some people always up and others always down? In this hotly anticipated book, award-winning, pioneering neuroscientist Richard J. Davidson answers these questions by offering an entirely new model of our emotions - their origins, their power, and their malleability.
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Looks Like I Will Be The First Reviewer...
- By Douglas on 11-03-13
By: Richard J. Davidson Ph.D., and others
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The Psychopath Inside
- A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain
- By: James Fallon
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The memoir of a neuroscientist whose research led him to a bizarre personal discovery, James Fallon had spent an entire career studying how our brains affect our behavior when his research suddenly turned personal. While studying brain scans of several family members, he discovered that one perfectly matched a pattern he’d found in the brains of serial killers. This meant one of two things: Either his family’s scans had been mixed up with those of felons or someone in his family was a psychopath.
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Entertaining story with some quick neuroscience
- By smarmer on 09-21-14
By: James Fallon
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Life Time
- Your Body Clock and Its Essential Roles in Good Health and Sleep
- By: Russell Foster
- Narrated by: Russell Foster
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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The routines of our modern lives-home working, night shifts, technolog—are playing havoc with our body clocks, sleep patterns, and health. Packed with cutting-edge science, this book by award-winning scientist Russell Foster takes the listener on a journey through our days and nights, and explains how we can get back into rhythm and live healthier, sharper lives.
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Fascinating insight
- By DDC on 05-20-23
By: Russell Foster
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The Depths
- The Evolutionary Origins of the Depression Epidemic
- By: Jonathan Rottenberg
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 4 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Nearly every depressed person is assured by doctors, well-meaning friends and family, the media, and ubiquitous advertisements that the underlying problem is a chemical imbalance. Such a simple defect should be fixable, yet despite all of the resources that have been devoted to finding a pharmacological solution, depression remains stubbornly widespread. Why are we losing this fight?
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Great read for understanding
- By Adam on 02-04-15
What listeners say about The Compass of Pleasure
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Particular Shopper
- 01-21-12
Scientific
Is there anything you would change about this book?
Yes, I would add some additional voices from people in the examples given of various types of addictions. I have a solid background in both neurobiology and addictions, and found myself (while interested in the material) zoning off because of the monotony of the speaker's voice. It needs some variety in voices to keep the listener's attention.
What other book might you compare The Compass of Pleasure to and why?
No other.
What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
Great practical information. Too monotonous.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
no
Any additional comments?
This is not a book for an uninformed lay person without some background in neurology.
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- La Frau
- 04-12-16
Sorcery! Blew my mind.
There is so much to learn. No really, there is so much to learn from actual studies. It's addictive. You want to know what makes ppl tick? Best presentation yet.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jenn
- 05-10-12
Great technical, mediocre presentation
If you could sum up The Compass of Pleasure in three words, what would they be?
This book discusses the dopamine pleasure circuit in the brain and the differences between how different human behaviors (eating, taking drugs, nicotine, gambling, exercise) manipulate this circuit and can lead to addiction. The discussion was highly technical but delivered at a level where a layman with some scientific background can understand.
What did you like best about this story?
I found the sections on exercise and food cravings very interesting and highly relevant. I always found it amazing that I felt great during and after exercise, but I could never seem to get motivated to do it. Now I understand a little better the underlying biological mechanisms behind this.
Would you listen to another book narrated by Sean Pratt?
Not if I can help it. The delivery of the narrator was not that inspiring and I often found myself realizing 5 minutes later that I had daydreamed and not taken in the content. Needless to say, the rewind button came in very handy.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Although, no one in my family suffers from addiction, the section which discusses addiction makes me much more empathetic with people who are addicted to drugs.
Any additional comments?
I wish they had gone further into the physiology of how food chemistry can affect both flavor and cravings.
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11 people found this helpful
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- Eric
- 01-15-12
Like a text book
I'm usually the guy that complains that technical aspects of many books are too dumbed down. Not this time. You will hear the names of a jillion neurotransmitters, drugs, parts of the brains, synaptic this, receptor that, and reuptake do-dads. I quickly learned not to go back when I was fuzzy in some neuroscience topic. It'll be repeated anyway. Even the narriator had trouble navigating through the medical terms. The author's humor is unimaginative, and basically just interspersed for shock value and to wake up readers. All said, it was interesting, but not useful, and not a relaxing listen. A similar and much more enjoyable audiobook is The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, by Malcolm Gladwell.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Sandra Field
- 11-18-12
Amazing, fascinating, and funny
Fascinating info, well organized, high level info delivered in such a way that even a neophyte can grasp whats going on pretty easily with some effort. The author is hilarious and words the most hysterical concepts in such an eloquent and respectable manner that you can't help but to love him. The narrator is so good that I really thought the author must have read it. He must be in tune with the topic, because his delivery especially on the funny parts was perfect. He helped make all the experiment data easy to parse, and had me in stitches while I learned some really neat and high level stuff.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Justin Gonzales
- 09-21-16
Very technical
Great insight to the chemical and physical reasons behind pleasure but not entertaining unless you are a clinician.
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- Teacher
- 10-13-21
Interesting information
A bit too deep into chemistry and physiology at some points, but a good book in general with a lot of food for thought.
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- David Everling
- 07-13-11
Mechanics of Pleasure & Addiction
Focused on neuroscientific explanation of physiological mechanisms of pleasure, particularly dopamine circuits, and addictions. Though the book is organized into chapters around the topics listed in the subtitle, each topic is just a another way to look at Linden's main underlying theses, and those (e.g. the addiction process) are of primary interest and worth pondering over. The individual topic chapters then vary in quality based on how strongly the underlying idea is presented, and I think the book peaks somewhat in its first half because by then Linden has explained the thrust of his arguments. Still, he chose some great examples to illustrate.
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13 people found this helpful
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Interesting subject
Interesting examples, some boring technical details and a narrator who is "too smooth" => makes me sleepy.
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- morton
- 06-29-11
A Pleasure to Listen To!
Witty, insightful and informative, The Compass of Pleasure is a great audio. Scientific concepts are easily explained and interspersed with abundant, entertaining anecdotes, as Linden explains how pleasurable activities can easily become compulsive. I loved listening to this fascinating book and recommend it highly.
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12 people found this helpful