Dopamine Nation: Why Our Addiction to Pleasure is Causing Us Pain by Dr Anna Lembke

BATB score: 8/10 👏

Best to: what better way to learn about addiction from addicts; why our addiction to pleasure is causing us pain - easy, clear, simple, I understood everything

Best as: why nicotine is better than sex (and probably why people smoke after sex), why drug addictions cause prolonged pain that becomes too painful to live ever without the drug - vicious cycle

Best for: we are all addicts in one way or another, the first cure is to be honest about it (at least to ourselves)

Best quotes: “Supply has created demand as we all fall prey to the vortex of compulsive overuse.”

“In the end, it came down to comfort. It was easier to take a pill than feel the pain.”

“The reason we’re all so miserable may be because we’re working so hard to avoid being miserable.”

“Just as pain is the price we pay for pleasure, so too is pleasure our reward for pain.”

“Telling the truth draws people in, especially when we’re willing to expose our own vulnerabilities.”