A thought-provoking, industry-minded, and polarizing perspective on the neurocircuitry of human desire and compulsion.
An argument against classifying addiction as a chronic “brain disease.”
Armed with scientific data and plenty of case studies, developmental neuroscientist and former addict Lewis (Memoirs of an Addicted Brain: A Neuroscientist Examines His Former Life on Drugs, 2012) enters the ongoing addiction nomenclature debate with an intellectually authoritative yet controversial declaration that substance and behavioral dependencies are swiftly and deeply learned via the “neural circuitry of desire.” The author blames the medical community for developing a disease-model juggernaut derived primarily from clinical data rather than biological and psychological research on brain changes and altered synapses. Lewis believes this conceptualization pegged the affliction as a disease instead of what he deems a “developmental cascade and a detrimental result of habitual behaviors.” As increasing numbers of medical communities have embraced the addiction model this way, he writes, treatment methodologies often become ineffective as well. Lewis further criticizes the Alcoholics Anonymous strategy and its emphasis on an addict’s ability to surrender to their “powerlessness” over a compulsion rather than promoting personal empowerment toward self-sustainability. Once past a somewhat overly clinical neuroscientific discussion on the brain’s plasticity, Lewis introduces biographical testimonies of Americans struggling with addiction that both humanize and reinforce his standpoint. Awash in the separate throes of heroin, methamphetamine, opiates, alcohol, and binge-eating compulsions, the cases are complemented with uplifting updates on their sobriety efforts, which the author prefers to call a “developmental journey” toward recovery. Lewis’ statement that addiction is “uncannily normal” likely stems from his experiences as a former narcotic addict who overcame a decadelong drug habit at age 30. While definite fodder for debate, the author remains firm in his belief that in order to fully process the addiction spectrum, we must “gaze directly at the point where experience and biology meet.”
A thought-provoking, industry-minded, and polarizing perspective on the neurocircuitry of human desire and compulsion.Pub Date: July 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-61039-437-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
An informal, first-person account of the discovery of a genetic link to male homosexuality by a scientist who has given thought to the ramifications of his findings. With the help of Scripps-Howard journalist Copeland, Hamer, a molecular geneticist who heads the National Cancer Institute's section on gene structure and regulation, describes in just the right amount of detail how he put together his research project on homosexuality. He relates how he obtained approval, funding, a research team, and a place to work; how he found the volunteers he needed (gay brothers willing to give blood samples and answer a lot of very personal questions); and what he learned from them and their family trees. Genetics being a statistical science, there's a fair amount of discussion of statistical techniques, but happily this is mostly presented with the general reader in mind. Hamer's account offers a glimpse into both the collegiality and the politics of science, and there's a delightful chapter on a confrontation he had at Harvard with critics of his research. The final portion of his book presents theories about how genes may influence sexual behavior and other human attributes and speculation about the implication of his research. In July 1993, in the midst of intense public debate over gays in the military, the journal Science published Hamer's paper, ``A Linkage Between DNA Markers on the X Chromosome and Male Sexual Orientation.'' Tabloids and TV talk shows took it from there. Hamer does not dwell on his time in the spotlight, but the experience evidently sharpened his awareness of public concerns and misconceptions. After noting the possible misuses of genetic research, Hamer concludes that the real danger lies in not studying sex at all. Appendixes include the Science article (not seen) and the interview questionnaire used with research participants. Nothing to titillate, but plenty to think about. (Illustrations, not seen) (Author tour)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-671-88724-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An analysis that will appeal more to engineers than to behaviorists and psychologists: informative, but with a relatively...
Leading neuroscientist Montague takes a biomechanical approach to explain the mental processes that occur in decision-making.
Like computers, the human brain processes data and produces a result—but with a twist, declares the author. The gray area of computational neuroscience lies in the value judgments that occur in biological systems. Nature, Montague posits in his debut, has equipped the biological machine with the added ability to determine the significance of a computation. Moreover, by storing these valuations as a byproduct of computation, the mind adapts and becomes increasingly more efficient. Repeated exposure to a typical risk-reward scenario, for example, causes the mind to anticipate outcomes. Montague revisits many of the old “right-brain” scenarios with a “left-brain” approach. With a graduate student, he replicated the famous “Pepsi Challenge” and found no relationship between the drink selected in the test and the drinks that subjects actually purchased in the stores. Though Montague’s research is thorough, his explanations vary from wry to impenetrably abstract, and the definition of value remains elusive. Value may be a burst of dopamine, a goal created from a pattern of inputs from the environment, an abstract emotion such as trust, or anything in-between. The essence of Montague’s work is that biological machines assign a value “tag” to each piece of data that they process. Whether tiny bacteria or human being, this is what differentiates us from the machines we create. The “soul” of the human machine may be the sum of these value tags. The answer to the titular question is itself a value judgment based on individual experience.
An analysis that will appeal more to engineers than to behaviorists and psychologists: informative, but with a relatively narrow audience.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2006
ISBN: 0-525-94982-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2006
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