Memoirs of an addicted brain : a neuroscientist examines his former life on drugs / Marc Lewis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lewis, Marc D.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lewis, Marc D.

Neuroscientists--Canada--Biography.

Neuroscientists.

Drug addicts--Canada--Biography.

Drug addicts.

Brain--Effect of drugs on.

Brain.

Drug abuse.

Canada.

Genre:

Biographies.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

327 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : PublicAffairs, 2012.

Summary:

A neuroscientist's unique and fascinating journey into his own addiction--for readers of Oliver Sacks and Andrew Solomon Marc Lewis's relationship with drugs began in a New England boarding school where, as a bullied and homesick fifteen-year-old, he made brief escapes from reality by way of cough medicine, alcohol, and marijuana. In Berkeley, California, in its hippie heyday, he found methamphetamine and LSD and heroin; he sniffed nitrous oxide in Malaysia; and frequented Calcutta's opium dens. Ultimately, though, his journey took him where it takes most addicts: into a life of desperation, deception, and crime. But unlike most addicts, Lewis recovered to become a developmental psychologist and researcher in neuroscience. In Memoirs of an Addicted Brain , he applies his professional expertise to a study of his former self, using the story of his own journey through addiction to tell the universal story of addictions of every kind.

Contents:

pt. 1. The Tabor chronicles. Changing state ; Giving up control ; Into the fire ; Dopamine and desire : a romantic interlude

pt. 2. Life and death in California. Pulling out the stops ; Psychedelics, sex, and violence ; A psychedelic finale : cops and angels ; Heroin, the Heap, and the sleep of the dead ; Getting down

pt. 3. Going places. Travel broadens the mind ; Consciousness lost and found ; The opium fields

pt. 4. In sickness and in health. Night life in Rat Park ; Crime and punishment ; Healing.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781610391474

1610391470

OCLC:

759175901