THe molecule of more

How A Single Chemical In Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity – and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race

This book by Daniel Z. Lieberman and Michael E. Long which is a wonderful introduction to our modern understanding of dopamine. The book explores the foundation of impulsive behaviours as well as strategic thinking and even our ability of abstraction altogether. It also goes into social and political implications of different levels of dopamine among people and does all this in a way where every couple of pages you find a new revelation about yourself and the world.

Dopamine nation

Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence

An absolute gem of a book by one of the world’s leading experts on addiction, Anna Lembke. She boldly opens up about her own situation as well as sharing captivating stories of her patients. This book focuses more on addictive behaviours (which as you will find out happen to most of us throughout our lives). The core concept, which is eloquently explained, is the pain-pleasure balance behind dopamine and how crucially it affects our everyday lives.

If you’d like a short summary of the book in the form of a lecture by Anna Lembke herself, you can find one from The Weekend University over here.

THe circadian code

Lose Weight, Supercharge Your Energy and Sleep Well Every Night

Another work by a recognised world leading expert, The Circadian Code by Satchidananda Panda, gives a succinct overview of all the various ways in which our natural daily cycle affects our lives (and it turns out it affects everything). For those interested in gaining more control over their health, motivation or emotions, the book offers a window into understanding how we can execute our conscious decisions much more efficiently by not going against our natural rhythms but instead working together with them.

Huberman lab podcast

I don’t think my words can express just how big of a goldmine is the Huberman Lab Podcast. A series of lectures and interviews, it is filled with simple-yet-scientific analysis, explanations and tools that we can apply in our everyday lives.

If you are most interested about using dopamine to be in control of motivation, check out Episode #39 – Controlling Your Dopamine For Motivation, Focus & Satisfaction.

The podcast is created by Andrew Huberman, professor of neurobiology, psychiatry and behavioural sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Psychology of habit

Published in “Annual Review of Psychology”, Vol67:289-314

An incredible concise overview of scientific literature that forms our current understanding of habits. This is a good gateway read to understand the science underlying all aspects of our habits and habitual behaviours as humans.

The review is divided into following topics: habit automaticity, habit formation, neurobiology of habits, habits in relation to goal pursuit, habit performance and changing habits.

It’s available to read on the website of Annual Reviews over here. 

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