Book Summaries

Strange order of things - Antonio Damasio

Homeostasis ensures that life is regulated within a range that is not just compatible with survival but also conducive to flourishing, to a projection of life into the future of an organism or species — we can think of feelings as mental deputies of homeostasis

Nervous systems make minds not by themselves bu... See more

Ten Drugs- thomas Hager

People have different diseases, doctors hold different ideas about those diseases, and diseases carry different meanings in society

No drug is good, no drug is bad, for every drug is both

Poppy seeds- over 10,000 years ago- in today’s Syria

Opium was appealing because it always pitched the body while romancing the imagination... See more

Homo Deus - Yuval Harari

Benthem- pleasure and pain dictate everything we do

Biochemical pursuit of happiness- develop products and treatments for unending stream of pleasant sensations

Buddha- pursuit of pleasant sensations is the root of suffering. We can train our minds to observe all sensations as they arise and pass. When the mind can see our se... See more

Memoirs of an addicted brain - Marc Lewis

Alcohol- GABA and glutamate

Cough syrup - limbic systems (glutamate)

Weed- cannabinioids

PCP- NMDA antagonist

Excitatory (glutamate) neurons and inhibitory neurons(GABA)- alcohol enhances GABA and quenches glutamate

Limbic system- hypothalamus and amygdala stores the memory and anticipation and keeps telling th... See more