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    The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains
    Unavailable
    The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains
    Unavailable
    The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

    Published by Penguin Random House Audio

    4.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    "Explores how industry has manipulated our most deep-seated survival instincts."—David Perlmutter, MD, Author, #1 New York Times bestseller, Grain Brain and Brain Maker

    The New York Times–bestselling author of Fat Chance reveals the corporate scheme to sell pleasure, driving the international epidemic of addiction, depression, and chronic disease.
     
    While researching the toxic and addictive properties of sugar for his New York Times bestseller Fat Chance, Robert Lustig made an alarming discovery—our pursuit of happiness is being subverted by a culture of addiction and depression from which we may never recover.
               
    Dopamine is the "reward" neurotransmitter that tells our brains we want more; yet every substance or behavior that releases dopamine in the extreme leads to addiction. Serotonin is the "contentment" neurotransmitter that tells our brains we don't need any more; yet its deficiency leads to depression. Ideally, both are in optimal supply. Yet dopamine evolved to overwhelm serotonin—because our ancestors were more likely to survive if they were constantly motivated—with the result that constant desire can chemically destroy our ability to feel happiness, while sending us down the slippery slope to addiction. In the last forty years, government legislation and subsidies have promoted ever-available temptation (sugar, drugs, social media, porn) combined with constant stress (work, home, money, Internet), with the end result of an unprecedented epidemic of addiction, anxiety, depression, and chronic disease. And with the advent of neuromarketing, corporate America has successfully imprisoned us in an endless loop of desire and consumption from which there is no obvious escape.
               
    With his customary wit and incisiveness, Lustig not only reveals the science that drives these states of mind, he points his finger directly at the corporations that helped create this mess, and the government actors who facilitated it, and he offers solutions we can all use in the pursuit of happiness, even in the face of overwhelming opposition. Always fearless and provocative, Lustig marshals a call to action, with seminal implications for our health, our well-being, and our culture.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 12, 2017
    ISBN9780525498308
    Unavailable
    The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

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    Reviews for The Hacking of the American Mind

    4.5/5

    25 ratings4 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Thought provoking, scary, and insightful. Everyone should read this book to understand the corporate built environment we live in and how to beat it.
    • 5/5
      A must read if we are to stop eating and doing things that ruin our chances to be happy.
    • 5/5
      If you feel like our society is working against our true human nature to experience peace and contentment, you're right. This book provides a compelling, research-based presentation of the physiological, historical, psychological, industrial, and economic factors that lead us to depression, addiction, disease, and obesity. Lustig provides strategies to avoid being manipulated by the system and to live our most fulfilling lives regardless of the insanity of our 21st-century lifestyles. In case you're wondering, this book is not about fat-shaming or conspiracy theories. It's worthwhile for those who want to experience a simple life that isn't dictated by their smartphone, bank account, or dopamine hits.
    • 5/5
      The central premise of the book is that that the manipulation of neural pleasure systems by savvy scientists and corporate moguls is the leading cause of the obesity epidemic and food company profits.

      He points out that sugar, added to all processed foods, is a nonessential chemical that triggers the brain’s reward system and establishes a junk-food addiction. The author details the biochemical aspects of his theory that the obesity crisis is being caused by sugar filled processed food-like stuff.

      Lustig also addresses the complicity of regulatory agencies, the Congress and Supreme Court in allowing harmful chemicals to pollute of food supply. He notes how money has corrupted the sensibilities of those involved and how criminal actions of individuals can be shielded by corporate laws that make crime legal.

      In recent years there have been a number of books written by medical doctors detailing how the poisoned food supply is creating metabolic disease epidemics and I have read several more written by nonmedical types detailing how “food science” has created a Frankenstein monster that is running wild in the developed world. A visit to any grocery store will tell you that this message has fallen on deaf ears.

      1 person found this helpful