- Hardcover: 192 pages
- Publisher: OUP USA; 1 edition (19 Aug 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0195388542
- ISBN-13: 978-0195388541
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 14.5 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 313,718 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Your Brain on Food
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Product Description
Review
"An absolutely fascinating read (or book) peppered with gems of surprising information on how certain foods, plants, nicotine and drugs (legal and illegal) alter the very essence of your brain cells' functioning and thus your behavior and mood. Don't deprive yourself of the pleasure of reading it."
--Jean Carper, author of Your Miracle Brain and 100 Simple Things You Can Do To Prevent Alzheimer's and Age-Related Memory Loss.
"Your Brain on Food provides ample and important food for thought in a delightfully written reader-friendly style. Kernels of history sprinkled throughout the book provide both interest and insight into how our appetites influence our brains and, and thus, our thoughts and actions. Gary Wenk has provided a compelling and much-needed antidote to commonly available misinformation about nutrients and brain function. Readers will be richly informed--as well as entertained."
--James L. McGaugh, Research Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior, Univ
Product Description
Why is eating chocolate so pleasurable? Can the function of just one small group of chemicals really determine whether you are happy or sad? Does marijuana help to improve your memory in old age? Is it really best to drink coffee if you want to wake up and be alert? Why is a drug like PCP potentially lethal? Why does drinking alcohol make you drowsy? Do cigarettes help relieve anxiety? Can eating less food preserve your brain? What are the possible side effects of pills that claim to make you smarter? Why is it so hard to stop smoking? Why did witches once believe that they could fly? In this book, Gary Wenk demonstrates how, as a result of their effects on certain neurotransmitters concerned with behavior, everything we put into our bodies has direct consequences for how we think, feel, and act. The chapters introduce each of the main neurotransmitters involved with behavior, discuss its role in the brain, and explain ways to influence it through what we consume.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Truth be told, the title of this book is a bit of a misnomer. It should be called Your Brain on Chemicals, because that's what Wenk spends most of the book discussing. And even more to the point, what Wenk accomplishes in a scant 165 pages is a wonderful tour of the brain and how it works, at least the parts that especially affect thoughts, feelings, and memories. I'd never been able to understand the difference between glutamate and GABA, let alone what an "action potential" is, but in Wenk's hands, these concepts were all easy to grasp. He's got a wonderfully light touch, too, that helps as he makes some very difficult concepts become clear.
One of the main points in his tour of the brain and how chemicals affect it--and thus our moods, thoughts, and actions--is that for chemicals to affect our brains, they must have an exact analogue in our many different kinds of neurotransmitters. How does marijuana affect the brain, for example? Its key molecules are able to cross the blood-brain barrier, and latch onto like minded neurotransmitters, and produce a distinct effect. The same is true of all drugs that affect us, and, yes, some foods, too.
Wenk ends with a discussion of what he calls "brain enhancement and other magical beliefs." Sure, he says, you can load up on caffeine and other drugs, and they speed up your brain's processing, but none of them make you any smarter. Likewise, nothing's going to stop the normal effects of aging on your brain and eventual cognitive decline. Still, understanding how the brain works--at least a little more than I did before--makes me feel a bit smarter, another benefit to this excellent book.
One of the main points in his tour of the brain and how chemicals affect it--and thus our moods, thoughts, and actions--is that for chemicals to affect our brains, they must have an exact analogue in our many different kinds of neurotransmitters. How does marijuana affect the brain, for example? Its key molecules are able to cross the blood-brain barrier, and latch onto like minded neurotransmitters, and produce a distinct effect. The same is true of all drugs that affect us, and, yes, some foods, too.
Wenk ends with a discussion of what he calls "brain enhancement and other magical beliefs." Sure, he says, you can load up on caffeine and other drugs, and they speed up your brain's processing, but none of them make you any smarter. Likewise, nothing's going to stop the normal effects of aging on your brain and eventual cognitive decline. Still, understanding how the brain works--at least a little more than I did before--makes me feel a bit smarter, another benefit to this excellent book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A friend told me about this book and it is indeed very interesting.
I can highly recommend it. I have learned quite a few things!
Ingrid
I can highly recommend it. I have learned quite a few things!
Ingrid
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
21 reviews
79 of 79 people found the following review helpful
C+. The title is misleading
6 Mar 2011
Format:Hardcover
This was a pretty decent book. It discussed chemicals found in nature and their effects on your brain. The title is very misleading though. It discussed almost nothing about normal food you eat, but rather drugs like cocaine, nicotine, etc. Aside from coffee and chocolate there are few foods discussed. I doubt the author chose that title. I bet it was the marketing people who pushed it to sell more books. For misleading the reader I give a C+ to this book.
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful
A fast and interesting read
6 Aug 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have had the pleasure of taking Dr. Wenk's class titled "Drugs and Behavior" at The Ohio State University as an undergraduate and I have to say that this book incorporates the best things from the class including Dr. Wenk's own research, odd stories from college students experimenting with drugs such as caffeine and marijuana, his extensive knowledge on neuroscience and its history - all influenced in the telling by his hilarious, dry humor.
The book explores an incredible number of topics ranging from the history of the drug which killed King Hamlet in Shakespeare's play to how Advil works in your brain to stop you from aching in pain. Although Dr. Wenk describes a lot of neuroscience concepts and terms, he always does an excellent job of explaining background information while simultaneously teaching you something new. This is including the concise paragraphs of summary at the end of every chapter which state the big picture.
I'm particularly interested in how the brain works and different types of the neurotransmitters but what I enjoyed most about this book is the cultural and historical contexts of drugs from around the world. For example, there exists a certain mushroom which, when ingested, produces a type of hallucination which causes people to see normal objects a lot bigger or smaller than they actually are. This mushroom and its effect could very well have influenced Lewis Carroll while he was writing Alice in Wonderland (as seen in Alice's adventure in a land of size disproportions). Now this statement is definitely something everyone would be interested in learning, especially at cocktail hour!
The book explores an incredible number of topics ranging from the history of the drug which killed King Hamlet in Shakespeare's play to how Advil works in your brain to stop you from aching in pain. Although Dr. Wenk describes a lot of neuroscience concepts and terms, he always does an excellent job of explaining background information while simultaneously teaching you something new. This is including the concise paragraphs of summary at the end of every chapter which state the big picture.
I'm particularly interested in how the brain works and different types of the neurotransmitters but what I enjoyed most about this book is the cultural and historical contexts of drugs from around the world. For example, there exists a certain mushroom which, when ingested, produces a type of hallucination which causes people to see normal objects a lot bigger or smaller than they actually are. This mushroom and its effect could very well have influenced Lewis Carroll while he was writing Alice in Wonderland (as seen in Alice's adventure in a land of size disproportions). Now this statement is definitely something everyone would be interested in learning, especially at cocktail hour!
32 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Bait & Switch
29 Mar 2011
Format:Hardcover
The title and subtitle of this book were highly misleading; there was almost nothing about food, thoughts and feelings. Although stuffed with useful and potentially interesting information, the book primarily dealt with the neurochemical details of how drugs affect the body and interact with the brain to create the sensations one experiences.
The transitions between new examples and topics were lacking, making the book feel somewhat choppy, and I found the author's constant, unnecessary references to evolution both annoying and distracting.
Unless you're specifically looking for a primer on drug interaction, I strongly recommend The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children, Potatoes Not Prozac: Solutions for Sugar Sensitivity or Natural Prozac: Learning to Release Your Body's Own Anti-Depressants instead - all will be much more useful in exploring the affects of food on mood and human functioning.
The transitions between new examples and topics were lacking, making the book feel somewhat choppy, and I found the author's constant, unnecessary references to evolution both annoying and distracting.
Unless you're specifically looking for a primer on drug interaction, I strongly recommend The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children, Potatoes Not Prozac: Solutions for Sugar Sensitivity or Natural Prozac: Learning to Release Your Body's Own Anti-Depressants instead - all will be much more useful in exploring the affects of food on mood and human functioning.
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