Robert H. Lustig

Subtitle in pre-publication: Inside the sugar-coated plot to confuse pleasure with happiness.

The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

The Hacking of the American Mind

Nick Simson

Health class for adults. Or maybe a crash course in biology and nutrition, plus some economics and sociology for good measure. 

A good layperson’s introduction to brain science and how addiction works. Personally, I appreciated Lustig’s critique of the the health insurance industry, and corporate wellness technology intrusions. The book shines in the sections where Lustig explores how contemporary economic features/bugs of late capitalist America—subsidized agriculture (Big Sugar), weaponized social media, Citizens United—play into and against our natural serotonin and dopamine functions.

Ends with advice any good therapist or primary care doctor would recommend. All those things you already know you probably should be doing. Lustig uses the analogy of Jimminy Cricket (repeatedly) to describe the prefrontal cortex and Hungry Hungry Hippos to describe the dopamine receptors in the brain. For me, some of these visual aides were the most valuable parts of the book.

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

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