Book Review: Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke, MD
A book that will make you take a long, hard look at where your dopamine comes from.
Back in January 2024, I decided that I needed to take a break from social media. It was feeling more and more toxic, distracting, and time-consuming. In that month, I was recommended a book about dopamine called Dopamine Nation, so I picked it up. (Go figure I start a bookstagram account in April, but I feel that I'm pretty intentional with it, haha.)
"The reason we're all so miserable may be because we're working so hard to avoid being miserable."
When I started this book, I expected more of a focus on dopamine's role in social media, but was shocked by how entrenched our lives are in easily accessible dopamine. Gambling, texting, shopping, social media, exercise... the list of sources we receive dopamine from is incredible. The stories she shares are fascinating and sometimes harrowing. It's shocking how easy it can be to slip into dangerous habits.
I was worried that this book would feel too scientific for me to follow, but I found her writing to be very easy to understand. It didn't feel too complicated to read.
"Because we've transformed the world from a place of scarcity to a place of overwhelming abundance: Drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting... the increased numbers, variety, and potency of highly rewarding stimuli today is staggering. The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation."
I like reading about psychology and why people do the things they do, and this book made me really consider how dopamine works and how it affects my own life in different ways; inside social media and out. If you're curious about brain stuff, it's a fascinating read and I'd recommend giving this book a shot!
Rating: ★★★★.5
Book Summary
- Title: Dopamine Nation
- Author: Anna Lembke, MD
- Genre: Self-Help, Personal Development, Psychology, Science
- Who Should Read It? Anyone struggling with managing the dopamine in their daily lives. Truly insightful.
Synopsis: This book is about pleasure. It’s also about pain. Most important, it’s about how to find the delicate balance between the two, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential. We’re living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting . . . The increased numbers, variety, and potency is staggering. The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation. As such we’ve all become vulnerable to compulsive overconsumption.
In Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke, psychiatrist and author, explores the exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain . . . and what to do about it. Condensing complex neuroscience into easy-to-understand metaphors, Lembke illustrates how finding contentment and connectedness means keeping dopamine in check. The lived experiences of her patients are the gripping fabric of her narrative. Their riveting stories of suffering and redemption give us all hope for managing our consumption and transforming our lives. In essence, Dopamine Nation shows that the secret to finding balance is combining the science of desire with the wisdom of recovery.
