What do meditation and a game of poker, a run in the park and a cocktail at a bar, a dozen fresh oysters and wild sex have in common? Of course, pleasure. But not only it: the parts of the brain responsible for pleasure and the biochemical processes that take place in them are also common.
What do meditation and a game of poker, a run in the park and a cocktail at a bar, a dozen fresh oysters and wild sex have in common? Of course, pleasure. But not only it: the parts of the brain responsible for pleasure and the biochemical processes that take place in them are also common. Sad but true: our brain does not care what to enjoy, and craving for it is stronger than any cultural and moral attitudes. In his book, David Linden, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University (USA) and editor-in-chief of the respected The Journal of Neurophysiology, cites as an example a brutal but impressive experiment set up more than 50 years ago, when ideas about scientific ethics were still just formed. An electrode was implanted into the human brain, and the subject was able to activate the pleasure center by pressing a button. As a result, he refused food and forgot about personal hygiene, and a bloody ulcer formed on his finger from the continuous pressing of the button … Can we control the desire for pleasure? The author of the book does not state this directly, but clearly would like to give a positive answer. And the only way to control Linden sees the most profound study of the mechanisms of pleasure. In his book, with the lengthy subtitle How the Brain Makes Us High on Fatty Foods, Sex, Sports, Generosity, Alcohol, New Knowledge, and Gambling, he lays out very clearly (and sometimes witty) the most important and current research on pleasure in the world. modern neuroscience.
Eksmo, 288 p.