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  • 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
  • Written by: Daniel Z. Lieberman MD, Michael E. Long
  • Narrated by: Tom Parks
  • Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (205 ratings)

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The Molecule of More

Written by: Daniel Z. Lieberman MD, Michael E. Long
Narrated by: Tom Parks
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Publisher's Summary

Why are we obsessed with the things we want and bored when we get them?

Why is addiction “perfectly logical” to an addict?

Why does love change so quickly from passion to disinterest?

Why are some people diehard liberals and others hardcore conservatives?

Why are we always hopeful for solutions even in the darkest times - and so good at figuring them out?

The answer is found in a single chemical in your brain: dopamine. Dopamine ensured the survival of early man. Thousands of years later, it is the source of our most basic behaviors and cultural ideas - and progress itself.

Dopamine is the chemical of desire that always asks for more - more stuff, more stimulation, and more surprises. In pursuit of these things, it is undeterred by emotion, fear, or morality. Dopamine is the source of our every urge, that little bit of biology that makes an ambitious business professional sacrifice everything in pursuit of success, or that drives a satisfied spouse to risk it all for the thrill of someone new. Simply put, it is why we seek and succeed; it is why we discover and prosper. Yet, at the same time, it’s why we gamble and squander.

From dopamine’s point of view, it’s not the having that matters. It’s getting something - anything - that’s new. From this understanding - the difference between possessing something versus anticipating it - we can understand in a revolutionary new way why we behave as we do in love, business, addiction, politics, religion - and we can even predict those behaviors in ourselves and others.

In 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, George Washington University professor and psychiatrist Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD, and Georgetown University lecturer Michael E. Long present a potentially life-changing proposal: Much of human life has an unconsidered component that explains an array of behaviors previously thought to be unrelated, including why winners cheat, why geniuses often suffer with mental illness, why nearly all diets fail, and why the brains of liberals and conservatives really are different.

©2018 Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD, and Michael E. Long. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Publishing by arrangement with BenBella Books.

What the critics say

"One might consider it Freakonomics for the mind."— Greg Roth, "The Idea Enthusiast"

"Daniel Lieberman and Michael Long have pulled off an amazing feat. They have made a biography of a neurotransmitter a riveting read. Once you understand the power and peril of dopamine, you’ll better understand the human condition itself.” —Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and When

"Meet a molecule whose fingerprint rests upon every aspect of human nature—from desire and drugs to politics and progress. Lieberman and Long tell the epic saga of dopamine as a page-turner that you simply can't put down."—David Eagleman, PhD, neuroscientist at Stanford and New York Times bestselling author

What listeners say about The Molecule of More

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A book that explains humanity

This book talks about dopamine in a way that has you hooked! It’s so interesting how one neurotransmitter has such an affect on everything we do. It makes sense of people’s personalities, why they do the things they do, creativity, even psychiatric disorders. It was all fascinating! Also, the narration was very good, which is fortunate for a neuroscience book. I highly recommend this book for anyone - not just neuroscience nerds like me.

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Great overview of the role of dopamine on human behaviour/evolution

Great summary of the neuroscience & research on dopamine. Great storyteller. Makes topic so accessible for lay audience,

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The basics on figuring out people

I didn’t expect such a clear explanation on how to consider people’s tendencies including my own.

Well put together with one idea building on the next.

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Definitely worth listening to

This was an interesting an engaging audiobook - well narrated and well structured. The content was fascinating.

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Life Changing

Wow! I just finished this book and the amount of self reflection I received through every bit of info was profound. I will forever be changed in the way that I relate to my motivation and what drives me. There is still a lot to learn, but I am going to start implementing right away. Thank you so much for this book! I will be checking out more of your work! 🙏🙏

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The Up and Down Worlds

This book does for the dopaminergic and h&n circuits what the Master and his Emissary did for the brain's left and right hemispheres. This book will change the way you think about human drives and contentment.

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Super interesting!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It covered every topic I had hoped for and took my understanding of dopamine to a deeper level.

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Couldn't stop listening!!!

loved it!! It explains a lot of things that I know idea why I did.

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I loved it

Really fascinating to me. Many people just want more all the time. No matter what they have it is never enough. This book is a rare discussion of why that is. It helps understand the Human Condition.

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btilliant

perfect for the layman. very comphrehensive. very infortmative. highly reccomend. id read "Dopamine Nation" first and then immediately follow it up with this.

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