The Pleasure Shock
The Rise of Deep Brain Stimulation and Its Forgotten Inventor
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
The Pleasure Shock
Buy for $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Cassandra Campbell
-
By:
-
Lone Frank
About this listen
The electrifying, forgotten history of Robert Heath's brain pacemaker, investigating the origins and ethics of one of today's most promising medical breakthroughs: deep brain stimulation.
The technology invented by psychiatrist Robert G. Heath at Tulane University in 1950s and 60s has been described as one of "the most controversial yet largely undocumented experiments in US history" - controversial to us because Heath's patients included incarcerated convicts and gay men to be 'cured' of their sexual preference; controversial in its day because his work was allegedly part of MKUltra, the CIA's notorious "mind control" project. As a result, Heath's cutting-edge research and legacy were put under lock and key, buried in Tulane's archives. Decades later, it seems the ethical issues raised by his work have also been buried: this very same experimental treatment is becoming mainstream practice in modern psychiatry for everything from schizophrenia, anorexia, and compulsive behavior to depression, anxiety, and even drug and alcohol addiction and aggression.
In the first book to tell the full story, the award-winning science writer Lone Frank has uncovered lost documents and accounts of Heath's pioneering efforts. She has tracked down surviving colleagues and patients. And she has delved into the current embrace of deep brain stimulation by scientists and patients alike. What has changed? Why do we today unquestioningly embrace this technology as a cure? How do we decide what is a disease of the brain to be cured, and what should be allowed to remain unprobed, and unprodded? The Pleasure Shock weaves together biography, neuroscience, psychology, history of science, and medical ethics to explore our views of the mind and the self. How do we decide whether changes to the brain are acceptable therapy or are simply bias and bigotry?
“[A] wide-ranging, thoughtful exploration...Frank has written an excellent, balanced portrait of an inventive psychiatrist with a complicated legacy.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
“A thoughtful, always interesting look into the workings of the mind - and the sometimes-surprising implications of how those workings have been revealed.” (Kirkus Reviews)
“Frank has traced and interviewed surviving patients, former collaborators, family members and current DBS scientists. The result is a rarity: a thrilling, well-researched read." (Nature)
©2018 Lone Frank (P)2018 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Know Thyself
- Western Identity from Classical Greece to the Renaissance
- By: Ingrid Rossellini
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 21
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 20
"Know thyself" - this fundamental imperative appeared for the first time in ancient Greece. For the Greeks, self-knowledge and identity were the basics of their civilization and their sources were to be found in where one was born and into which social group. These determined who you were and what your duties were. In this book the independent scholar Ingrid Rossellini surveys the major ideas that, from Greek and Roman antiquity through the Christian medieval era up to the dawn of modernity in the Renaissance, have guided the Western project of self-knowledge.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Ideas +major proponents, filtered through the arts
- By Philo on 06-20-18
-
The Dream Universe
- How Fundamental Physics Lost Its Way
- By: David Lindley
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
In the early 17th century, Galileo broke free from the hold of ancient Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy. He drastically changed the framework through which we view the natural world when he asserted that we should base our theory of reality on what we can observe rather than pure thought. In the process, he invented what we would come to call science. This set the stage for all the breakthroughs that followed - from Kepler to Newton to Einstein.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Provocative Argument
- By Craig Doner on 05-26-20
By: David Lindley
-
Oxygen
- The Molecule That Made the World
- By: Nick Lane
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 217
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 172
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 170
Oxygen takes the listener on an enthralling journey, as gripping as a thriller, as it unravels the unexpected ways in which oxygen spurred the evolution of life and death.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Story About Pretty Much Everything
- By ZebraBear on 09-09-20
By: Nick Lane
-
Plight of the Living Dead
- What Real-Life Zombies Reveal About Our World - and Ourselves
- By: Matt Simon
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 23
Zombieism isn’t just the stuff of movies and TV shows like The Walking Dead. It’s real, and it’s happening in the world around us, from wasps and worms to dogs and moose - and even humans. In Plight of the Living Dead, science journalist Matt Simon documents his journey through the bizarre evolutionary history of mind control.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Real Life is Terrifying - Brilliant Book
- By Azura S on 11-29-18
By: Matt Simon
-
The Darker the Night, the Brighter the Stars
- A Neuropsychologist's Odyssey Through Consciousness
- By: Paul Broks
- Narrated by: Simon Bubb
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
When celebrated neuropsychologist Paul Broks' wife died of cancer, it sparked a journey of grief and reflection that traced a lifelong attempt to understand how the brain gives rise to the soul. The result of that journey is a gorgeous, evocative meditation on fate, death, consciousness, and what it means to be human. The Darker the Night, the Brighter the Stars weaves a scientist’s understanding of the mind - its logic, its nuance, how we think about what makes a person - with a poet’s approach to humanity, that crucial and ever-elusive why.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Meaning is where you find it
- By Gary on 07-13-18
By: Paul Broks
-
For the Love of Music
- A Conductor's Guide to the Art of Listening
- By: John Mauceri
- Narrated by: John Mauceri
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
With a lifetime of experience, profound knowledge and understanding, and heartwarming appreciation, an internationally celebrated conductor and teacher answers the questions: Why should I listen to classical music? How can I get the most from the listening experience? Unpretentious, graceful, instructive, this is a book for the aficionado, the novice, and anyone looking to have the love of music fired within them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Divine Time with a Maestro
- By Meg on 12-18-19
By: John Mauceri
-
Know Thyself
- Western Identity from Classical Greece to the Renaissance
- By: Ingrid Rossellini
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 21
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 20
"Know thyself" - this fundamental imperative appeared for the first time in ancient Greece. For the Greeks, self-knowledge and identity were the basics of their civilization and their sources were to be found in where one was born and into which social group. These determined who you were and what your duties were. In this book the independent scholar Ingrid Rossellini surveys the major ideas that, from Greek and Roman antiquity through the Christian medieval era up to the dawn of modernity in the Renaissance, have guided the Western project of self-knowledge.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Ideas +major proponents, filtered through the arts
- By Philo on 06-20-18
-
The Dream Universe
- How Fundamental Physics Lost Its Way
- By: David Lindley
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
In the early 17th century, Galileo broke free from the hold of ancient Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy. He drastically changed the framework through which we view the natural world when he asserted that we should base our theory of reality on what we can observe rather than pure thought. In the process, he invented what we would come to call science. This set the stage for all the breakthroughs that followed - from Kepler to Newton to Einstein.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Provocative Argument
- By Craig Doner on 05-26-20
By: David Lindley
-
Oxygen
- The Molecule That Made the World
- By: Nick Lane
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 217
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 172
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 170
Oxygen takes the listener on an enthralling journey, as gripping as a thriller, as it unravels the unexpected ways in which oxygen spurred the evolution of life and death.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Story About Pretty Much Everything
- By ZebraBear on 09-09-20
By: Nick Lane
-
Plight of the Living Dead
- What Real-Life Zombies Reveal About Our World - and Ourselves
- By: Matt Simon
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 23
Zombieism isn’t just the stuff of movies and TV shows like The Walking Dead. It’s real, and it’s happening in the world around us, from wasps and worms to dogs and moose - and even humans. In Plight of the Living Dead, science journalist Matt Simon documents his journey through the bizarre evolutionary history of mind control.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Real Life is Terrifying - Brilliant Book
- By Azura S on 11-29-18
By: Matt Simon
-
The Darker the Night, the Brighter the Stars
- A Neuropsychologist's Odyssey Through Consciousness
- By: Paul Broks
- Narrated by: Simon Bubb
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
When celebrated neuropsychologist Paul Broks' wife died of cancer, it sparked a journey of grief and reflection that traced a lifelong attempt to understand how the brain gives rise to the soul. The result of that journey is a gorgeous, evocative meditation on fate, death, consciousness, and what it means to be human. The Darker the Night, the Brighter the Stars weaves a scientist’s understanding of the mind - its logic, its nuance, how we think about what makes a person - with a poet’s approach to humanity, that crucial and ever-elusive why.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Meaning is where you find it
- By Gary on 07-13-18
By: Paul Broks
-
For the Love of Music
- A Conductor's Guide to the Art of Listening
- By: John Mauceri
- Narrated by: John Mauceri
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
With a lifetime of experience, profound knowledge and understanding, and heartwarming appreciation, an internationally celebrated conductor and teacher answers the questions: Why should I listen to classical music? How can I get the most from the listening experience? Unpretentious, graceful, instructive, this is a book for the aficionado, the novice, and anyone looking to have the love of music fired within them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Divine Time with a Maestro
- By Meg on 12-18-19
By: John Mauceri
-
Evolution for Everyone
- How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives
- By: David Sloan Wilson
- Narrated by: René Ruiz
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 20
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 19
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 19
With stories that entertain as much as they inform, renowned evolutionist David Sloan Wilson outlines the basic principles of evolution and shows how, when properly understood, they can illuminate the length and breadth of creation, from the origin of life to the nature of religion.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Everything evolves - really
- By Amazon Customer on 02-23-23
-
Physical Intelligence
- The Science of How the Body and the Mind Guide Each Other Through Life
- By: Scott Grafton
- Narrated by: Jack Armstrong
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 23
Elegantly written and deeply grounded in personal experience - works by Oliver Sacks come to mind - Physical Intelligence gives us a clear, illuminating examination of the intricate, mutually responsive relationship between the mind and the body as they engage (or don’t engage) in all manner of physical action. Ever wonder why you don’t walk into walls or off cliffs? How you decide if you can drive through a snowstorm? How high you are willing to climb up a ladder to change a lightbulb?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Tales of Bears, Monkeys, Hominids, Neuroscience
- By Christy S. Redenbach on 01-15-20
By: Scott Grafton
-
Written in History
- Letters That Changed the World
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale, Tuppence Middleton, Rupert Penry-Jones, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 17
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 16
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 16
Written in History: Letters that Changed the World celebrates the great letters of world history, and cultural and personal life. Bestselling, prizewinning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore selects letters that have changed the course of global events or touched a timeless emotion—whether passion, rage, humor—from ancient times to the twenty-first century. Some are noble and inspiring, some despicable and unsettling, some are exquisite works of literature, others brutal, coarse, and frankly outrageous, many are erotic, others heartbreaking.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A great collection.
- By brian on 06-11-20
-
Brain on Fire
- My Month of Madness
- By: Susannah Cahalan
- Narrated by: Susannah Cahalan
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,097
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 910
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 909
When 24-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: At the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A must read for anyone in the medical field, and anyone who has ever gone undiagnosed.
- By Sarah M Valentino on 05-13-20
By: Susannah Cahalan
-
Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them
- A Cosmic Quest from Zero to Infinity
- By: Antonio Padilla
- Narrated by: Antonio Padilla
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 50
For particularly brilliant theoretical physicists like James Clerk Maxwell, Paul Dirac, or Albert Einstein, the search for mathematical truths led to strange new understandings of the ultimate nature of reality. But what are these truths? What are the mysterious numbers that explain the universe? In Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them, the leading theoretical physicist and YouTube star Antonio Padilla takes us on an irreverent cosmic tour of nine of the most extraordinary numbers in physics, offering a startling picture of how the universe works.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Exciting, Strange, Difficult = Meh
- By Michael on 05-23-23
By: Antonio Padilla
-
How to Make an Apple Pie from Scratch
- In Search of the Recipe for Our Universe, from the Origins of Atoms to the Big Bang
- By: Harry Cliff
- Narrated by: Harry Cliff
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 79
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 69
Harry Cliff - a University of Cambridge particle physicist and researcher on the Large Hadron Collider - sets out in pursuit of answers. He ventures to the largest underground research facility in the world, deep beneath Italy's Gran Sasso mountains, where scientists gaze into the heart of the Sun using the most elusive of particles, the ghostly neutrino. He visits CERN in Switzerland to explore the "Antimatter Factory," where the stuff of science fiction is manufactured daily (and we're close to knowing whether it falls up).
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Down the rabbit hole in a most fascinating way!
- By Rick B on 10-04-21
By: Harry Cliff
-
How to Change Your Mind
- What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
- By: Michael Pollan
- Narrated by: Michael Pollan
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 21,423
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 18,632
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 18,482
When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction, and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill but also of healthy people coming to grips with the challenges of everyday life, he decided to explore the landscape of the mind in the first person as well as the third.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A delightful trip
- By Paul E. Williams on 05-19-18
By: Michael Pollan
-
The Price of Time
- The Real Story of Interest
- By: Edward Chancellor
- Narrated by: Luis Soto
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 277
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 231
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 231
In the beginning was the loan, and the loan carried interest. For at least five millennia people have been borrowing and lending at interest. Yet as capitalism became established from the late Middle Ages onwards, denunciations of interest were tempered because interest was a necessary reward for lenders to part with their capital. And interest performs many other vital functions: it encourages people to save; enables them to place a value on precious assets, such as houses and all manner of financial securities; and allows us to price risk.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Big landscape in time and subjects; Austrian view
- By Philo on 08-29-22
-
A History of the Human Brain
- From the Sea Sponge to CRISPR, How Our Brain Evolved
- By: Bret Stetka
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 91
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 91
Just over 125,000 years ago, humanity was going extinct until a dramatic shift occurred—Homo sapiens started tracking the tides in order to eat the nearby oysters. Before long, they’d pulled themselves back from the brink of extinction. The human brain, and its evolutionary journey, is unlike anything else in history. In A History of the Human Brain, Bret Stetka takes listeners through that far-reaching journey. He also tackles the question of where the brain will take us next, exploring the burgeoning concepts of epigenetics and new technologies like CRISPR.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating survey of the evolution of the human brain
- By Cosmos on 03-30-21
By: Bret Stetka
-
What's Gotten into You
- The Story of Your Body's Atoms, from the Big Bang Through Last Night's Dinner
- By: Dan Levitt
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 118
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 97
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 97
Every one of us contains a billion times more atoms than all the grains of sand in the earth’s deserts. If you weigh 150 pounds, you’ve got enough carbon to make 25 pounds of charcoal, enough salt to fill a saltshaker, enough chlorine to disinfect several backyard swimming pools, and enough iron to forge a 3-inch nail. But how did these elements combine to make us human?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
One of the Very Best Science Books I have Read
- By TStair on 03-20-23
By: Dan Levitt
-
The Secret Language of Cells
- What Biological Conversations Tell Us About the Brain-Body Connection, the Future of Medicine, and Life Itself
- By: Jon Lieff MD
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 87
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 68
While cells are commonly considered the building block of living things, it is actually the communication between cells that brings us to life, controlling our bodies and brains, determining whether we are healthy or sick, and directly influencing how we think, feel, and behave. In The Secret Language of Cells, doctor and neuroscientist Jon Lieff lets us listen in on these conversations, and reveals their significance for everything from mental health to cancer.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
top notch!
- By Amazon Customer on 10-11-20
By: Jon Lieff MD
-
Patient H.M.
- A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets
- By: Luke Dittrich
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 264
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 234
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 237
In 1953, a 27-year-old factory worker named Henry Molaison - who suffered from severe epilepsy - received a radical new version of the then-common lobotomy, targeting the most mysterious structures in the brain. The operation failed to eliminate Henry’s seizures, but it did have an unintended effect: Henry was left profoundly amnesic, unable to create long-term memories. Over the next 60 years, Patient H.M., as Henry was known, became the most studied individual in the history of neuroscience, a human guinea pig who would teach us much of what we know about memory today.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Sort of misleading title
- By L on 10-27-16
By: Luke Dittrich
Critic reviews
“[A] wide-ranging, thoughtful exploration…Frank has written an excellent, balanced portrait of an inventive psychiatrist with a complicated legacy.” (Publishers Weekly)
“A thoughtful, always interesting look into the workings of the mind - and the sometimes-surprising implications of how those workings have been revealed.” (Kirkus Reviews)
“Frank has traced and interviewed surviving patients, former collaborators, family members and current DBS scientists. The result is a rarity: a thrilling, well-researched read.” (Nature)
Related to this topic
-
Manufacturing Depression
- The Secret History of a Modern Disease
- By: Gary Greenberg
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
Am I happy enough? This has been a pivotal question since America's inception. "Am I not happy enough because I am depressed?" is a more recent version. Psychotherapist Gary Greenberg shows how depression has been manufactured---not as an illness but as an idea about our suffering, its source, and its relief. He challenges us to look at depression in a new way.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Modern Gonzo Tour de Force
- By S. Frank on 11-12-11
By: Gary Greenberg
-
Suspicious Minds
- How Culture Shapes Madness
- By: Joel Gold, Ian Gold
- Narrated by: Joel Gold, Ian Gold
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 109
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 100
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 101
Mr. A. was admitted to Dr. Joel Gold’s inpatient unit at Bellevue Hospital in 2002. He was, he said, being filmed constantly, and his life was being broadcast around the world "like The Truman Show" - the 1998 film depicting a man who is unknowingly living out his life as the star of a popular soap opera. Over the next few years, Gold saw a number of patients suffering from what he and his brother, Dr. Ian Gold, began calling the "Truman Show Delusion," launching them on a quest to understand the nature of this particular phenomenon and the nature of madness itself.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Intriguing
- By L. K. on 04-18-16
By: Joel Gold, and others
-
The Brain That Changes Itself
- Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science
- By: Norman Doidge M.D.
- Narrated by: Jim Bond
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 537
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 447
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 445
An astonishing new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable. Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Norman Doidge, MD, traveled the country to meet both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they've transformed - people whose mental limitations or brain damage were seen as unalterable.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
***MIND BLOWN***
- By Laura Elsasser on 04-04-21
-
The Book of Woe
- The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry
- By: Gary Greenberg
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 63
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 62
For more than two years, author and psychotherapist Gary Greenberg has embedded himself in the war that broke out over the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM) - the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) compendium of mental illnesses and what Greenberg calls "the book of woe". Since its debut in 1952, the book has been frequently revised, and with each revision, the "official" view on which psychological problems constitute mental illness has changed.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Disappointment
- By NYNM on 06-03-13
By: Gary Greenberg
-
Brainstorm
- Detective Stories from the World of Neurology
- By: Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 46
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 41
Brainstorm follows the stories of people whose medical diagnoses are so strange even their doctor struggles to know how to solve them. A man who sees cartoon characters running across the room; a girl whose world suddenly seems completely distorted, as though she were Alice in Wonderland; another who transforms into a ragdoll whenever she even thinks about moving. The brain is the most complex structure in the universe. Neurologists must puzzle out life-changing diagnoses from the tiniest of clues, the ultimate medical detective work.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Not As Compelling...
- By Douglas on 11-08-18
-
The Pain Chronicles
- Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing, and the Science of Suffering
- By: Melanie Thernstrom
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 152
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 67
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 64
Each of us will know physical pain in our lives, but none of us knows when it will come or how long it will stay. Today as much as 10 percent of the population of the United States suffers from chronic pain. It is more widespread, misdiagnosed, and undertreated than any major disease. While recent research has shown that pain produces pathological changes to the brain and spinal cord, many doctors and patients still labor under misguided cultural notions and outdated scientific dogmas.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Informative, well researched and nicely written
- By Nathan O'Hara on 08-21-10
-
Manufacturing Depression
- The Secret History of a Modern Disease
- By: Gary Greenberg
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
Am I happy enough? This has been a pivotal question since America's inception. "Am I not happy enough because I am depressed?" is a more recent version. Psychotherapist Gary Greenberg shows how depression has been manufactured---not as an illness but as an idea about our suffering, its source, and its relief. He challenges us to look at depression in a new way.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Modern Gonzo Tour de Force
- By S. Frank on 11-12-11
By: Gary Greenberg
-
Suspicious Minds
- How Culture Shapes Madness
- By: Joel Gold, Ian Gold
- Narrated by: Joel Gold, Ian Gold
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 109
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 100
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 101
Mr. A. was admitted to Dr. Joel Gold’s inpatient unit at Bellevue Hospital in 2002. He was, he said, being filmed constantly, and his life was being broadcast around the world "like The Truman Show" - the 1998 film depicting a man who is unknowingly living out his life as the star of a popular soap opera. Over the next few years, Gold saw a number of patients suffering from what he and his brother, Dr. Ian Gold, began calling the "Truman Show Delusion," launching them on a quest to understand the nature of this particular phenomenon and the nature of madness itself.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Intriguing
- By L. K. on 04-18-16
By: Joel Gold, and others
-
The Brain That Changes Itself
- Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science
- By: Norman Doidge M.D.
- Narrated by: Jim Bond
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 537
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 447
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 445
An astonishing new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable. Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Norman Doidge, MD, traveled the country to meet both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they've transformed - people whose mental limitations or brain damage were seen as unalterable.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
***MIND BLOWN***
- By Laura Elsasser on 04-04-21
-
The Book of Woe
- The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry
- By: Gary Greenberg
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 63
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 62
For more than two years, author and psychotherapist Gary Greenberg has embedded himself in the war that broke out over the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM) - the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) compendium of mental illnesses and what Greenberg calls "the book of woe". Since its debut in 1952, the book has been frequently revised, and with each revision, the "official" view on which psychological problems constitute mental illness has changed.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Disappointment
- By NYNM on 06-03-13
By: Gary Greenberg
-
Brainstorm
- Detective Stories from the World of Neurology
- By: Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 46
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 41
Brainstorm follows the stories of people whose medical diagnoses are so strange even their doctor struggles to know how to solve them. A man who sees cartoon characters running across the room; a girl whose world suddenly seems completely distorted, as though she were Alice in Wonderland; another who transforms into a ragdoll whenever she even thinks about moving. The brain is the most complex structure in the universe. Neurologists must puzzle out life-changing diagnoses from the tiniest of clues, the ultimate medical detective work.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Not As Compelling...
- By Douglas on 11-08-18
-
The Pain Chronicles
- Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing, and the Science of Suffering
- By: Melanie Thernstrom
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 152
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 67
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 64
Each of us will know physical pain in our lives, but none of us knows when it will come or how long it will stay. Today as much as 10 percent of the population of the United States suffers from chronic pain. It is more widespread, misdiagnosed, and undertreated than any major disease. While recent research has shown that pain produces pathological changes to the brain and spinal cord, many doctors and patients still labor under misguided cultural notions and outdated scientific dogmas.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Informative, well researched and nicely written
- By Nathan O'Hara on 08-21-10
-
101 Theory Drive
- A Neuroscientist's Quest for Memory
- By: Terry McDermott
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 167
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 63
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 65
It's not fiction: Gary Lynch is the real thing, the epitome of the rebel scientist - malnourished, contentious, inspiring, explosive, remarkably ambitious, consistently brilliant. He is one of the foremost figures of contemporary neuroscience, and his decades-long quest to understand the inner workings of the brain's memory machine has begun to pay off.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Pretty Dang Funny
- By Will on 05-14-10
By: Terry McDermott
-
Falling into the Fire
- A Psychiatrist's Encounters with the Mind in Crisis
- By: Christine Montross
- Narrated by: Christine Montross
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 92
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 85
Falling into the Fire is psychiatrist Christine Montross's thoughtful investigation of the gripping patient encounters that have challenged and deepened her practice. Beautifully written, deeply felt, Falling into the Fire brings us inside the doctor’s mind, illuminating the grave human costs of mental illness as well as the challenges of diagnosis and treatment. At once rigorous and meditative, Falling into the Fire is an intimate portrait of psychiatry, allowing the reader to witness the humanity of the practice and the enduring mysteries of the mind.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Buy this book! and READ it
- By joyce on 08-15-13
-
Crazy Like Us
- The Globalization of the American Psyche
- By: Ethan Watters
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 149
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 126
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 124
America has been the world leader in generating new mental health treatments and modern theories of the human psyche. We export our psychopharmaceuticals packaged with the certainty that our biomedical knowledge will relieve the suffering and stigma of mental illness. We categorize disorders, thereby defining mental illness and health, and then parade these seemingly scientific certainties in front of the world.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
He is a reporter...
- By Briana on 05-07-18
By: Ethan Watters
-
Everything in Its Place
- First Loves and Last Tales
- By: Oliver Sacks
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 157
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 140
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 139
From the best-selling author of Gratitude and On the Move, a final volume of essays that showcase Sacks's broad range of interests - from his passion for ferns, swimming, and horsetails, to his final case histories exploring schizophrenia, dementia, and Alzheimer's.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Missing Sacks
- By Brandy on 12-02-19
By: Oliver Sacks
-
The Psychopath Inside
- A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain
- By: James Fallon
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 592
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 506
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 501
The memoir of a neuroscientist whose research led him to a bizarre personal discovery, James Fallon had spent an entire career studying how our brains affect our behavior when his research suddenly turned personal. While studying brain scans of several family members, he discovered that one perfectly matched a pattern he’d found in the brains of serial killers. This meant one of two things: Either his family’s scans had been mixed up with those of felons or someone in his family was a psychopath.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Entertaining story with some quick neuroscience
- By smarmer on 09-21-14
By: James Fallon
-
The Gift of Adversity
- The Unexpected Benefits of Life's Difficulties, Setbacks, and Imperfections
- By: Norman E. Rosenthal M.D.
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 71
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 59
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 58
The noted research psychiatrist explores how life's disappointments and difficulties provide us with the lessons we need to become better, bigger, and more resilient human beings. Adversity is an irreducible fact of life. Although we can and should learn from all experiences, both positive and negative best-selling author Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal believes that adversity is by far the best teacher most of us will ever encounter.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Book ruined by the narrator
- By David C. on 12-07-22
-
Smarter
- The New Science of Building Brain Power
- By: Dan Hurley
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 159
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 136
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 132
Expanding upon one of the most-read New York Times Magazine features of 2012, Smarter penetrates the hot new field of intelligence research to reveal what researchers call a revolution in human intellectual abilities. Shattering decades of dogma, scientists began publishing studies in 2008 showing that "fluid intelligence" - the ability to learn, solve novel problems, and get to the heart of things - can be increased through training. But is it all just hype?
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
People Who Like This Sort of Thing....
- By W Perry Hall on 10-10-15
By: Dan Hurley
-
The Body Keeps the Score
- Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
- By: Bessel van der Kolk M.D.
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 11,764
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 9,896
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 9,805
Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent more than three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Overall Worthwhile, Lingers Too Long in the Why
- By LittleBeadsOfMercury on 04-07-21
-
Anatomy of an Epidemic
- Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America
- By: Robert Whitaker
- Narrated by: Ken Kliban
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 586
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 414
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 416
In this astonishing and startling book, award-winning science and history writer Robert Whitaker investigates a medical mystery: Why has the number of disabled mentally ill in the United States tripled over the past two decades? Every day, 1,100 adults and children are added to the government disability rolls because they have become newly disabled by mental illness, with this epidemic spreading most rapidly among our nations children. What is going on?
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
The author does not use a fair scientific approach
- By Michael on 08-15-10
By: Robert Whitaker
-
The Psychopath Whisperer
- The Science of Those Without Conscience
- By: Kent A. Kiehl
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 973
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 855
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 856
We know of psychopaths from chilling headlines and stories in the news and movies - from Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy to Hannibal Lecter and Dexter Morgan. As Dr. Kent Kiehl shows, psychopaths can be identified by a checklist of symptoms that includes pathological lying; lack of empathy, guilt, and remorse; grandiose sense of self-worth; manipulation; and failure to accept one’s actions. But why do psychopaths behave the way they do? Is it the result of their environment - how they were raised - or is there a genetic component to their lack of conscience?
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
An autobiography with splatter of neuropsychology.
- By DORIS H. on 08-16-14
By: Kent A. Kiehl
-
Mind Wide Open
- Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life
- By: Steven Johnson
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 563
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 138
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 139
Brilliantly exploring today's cutting edge brain research, Mind Wide Open allows readers to understand themselves and the people in their lives as never before. Using a mix of experiential reportage, personal storytelling, and fresh scientific discovery, Steven Johnson describes how the brain works and how its systems connect to the day-to-day realities of individual lives.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A totally new perspective on life
- By Jonathan on 09-16-04
By: Steven Johnson
-
Counterclockwise
- Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility
- By: Ellen J. Langer
- Narrated by: Sandra Burr
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 157
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 121
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 120
If we could turn back the clock psychologically, could we also turn it back physically? For more than 30 years, award-winning social psychologist Ellen Langer has studied this provocative question, and now has a conclusive answer: opening our minds to what's possible, instead of clinging to accepted notions about what's not, can lead to better health at any age.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Surprisingly disappointing
- By Stephen on 06-23-09
By: Ellen J. Langer
What listeners say about The Pleasure Shock
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 12-30-22
Thought provoking
Thought provoking, not just on the topic but how we veiw things based on societal norms. Good for and easy to listen to.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- JohnDoe
- 04-17-22
VERY informative
A liitle slow initially, but picked up. I love it when acientists are also good writers
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 03-30-18
Great book
Super interesting history about deep brain stimulation. Although this is not particularly important, I appreciated the description of Alik Widge’s facial hair.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!