Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • Dopamine Nation

  • Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence
  • By: Dr Anna Lembke
  • Narrated by: Dr Anna Lembke
  • Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,298 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Dopamine Nation

By: Dr Anna Lembke
Narrated by: Dr Anna Lembke
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

All around us people are looking at their phones too much, eating too much, drinking too much. Our world is addicted to fleeting distracting pleasures that get us nowhere. Dr Anna Lembke provides a clear way back to a balanced life.

This audiobook is about pleasure. It's also about pain. Most importantly, it's about how to find the delicate balance between the two, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential. We're living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting.... The increased numbers, variety and potency are staggering. The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation. As such, we've all become vulnerable to compulsive overconsumption.

In Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke, psychiatrist and author, explores the exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain...and what to do about it. Condensing complex neuroscience into easy-to-understand metaphors, Lembke illustrates how finding contentment and connectedness means keeping dopamine in check. The lived experiences of her patients are the gripping fabric of her narrative. Their riveting stories of suffering and redemption give us all hope for managing our consumption and transforming our lives. In essence, Dopamine Nation shows that the secret to finding balance is combining the science of desire with the wisdom of recovery.

©2021 Anna Lembke (P)2021 Penguin Random House Audio
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2
activate_samplebutton_t1

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Molecule of More cover art
I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t) cover art
Naked Money cover art
Sort Your Head Out cover art
Lost Connections cover art
The Addictoholic Deconstructed cover art
Escaping the Chaos cover art
The Lean Startup cover art
Complex PTSD cover art
The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure cover art
The Addiction Inoculation cover art
The Empath's Survival Guide cover art
Running on Empty cover art
The Craving Mind cover art
Fresh Air cover art
Laziness Does Not Exist cover art

Critic reviews

"Dr Anna Lembke is a whiz on why we get hooked on things - and how we can enjoy pleasurable things in healthier doses." (The Guardian)

What listeners say about Dopamine Nation

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    898
  • 4 Stars
    271
  • 3 Stars
    89
  • 2 Stars
    26
  • 1 Stars
    14
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    804
  • 4 Stars
    217
  • 3 Stars
    66
  • 2 Stars
    24
  • 1 Stars
    15
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    780
  • 4 Stars
    220
  • 3 Stars
    77
  • 2 Stars
    26
  • 1 Stars
    17

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A crash course in brain chemistry & addiction

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Too much pleasure leads to pain. It can be a long road back.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I loved it!

Really helped me while I was giving up vaping. Thank you so much ❤️ I will recommend

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Essential

Deep, personal and essential. This books condensates years of experience and scientific evidence to explain what we do what we do and why we get addicted to things.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Pain-pleasure balance concept

The pain-pleasure dichonomy was new to me.
This audio showes how overstimulated we are on the pleasure side, which results in more experienced pain in our confortable lives than what past generations experienced.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great voice

Insightful and helpful understanding your brain mechanics. Easy to consume without any need for intricate words or scientific terms

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very informative in an easy to hear way

Very happy to have chosen this as a first listen for a new year. A subject close to my heart through which I have lost very dear people in my life, both dead and living. It explains with great examples some of the essential functions of the brain and scientific discoveries which should be accessible to all from a young age and I hope shall help humanity re-balance itself.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good and Insightful

I'm not a fan of books read by their authors however this was well worth it.

Some of her own addictions bear no parallels to peoples with severe addiction and I believe they'd be better left out.

However Anna undoubtedly knows her subject well I think the 10 points it finishes up with sums up the Dopamine World or today and the Anna gives some good tips of how to cope.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Everyone needs this

This should be taught in school. Everyone needs to listen to this and incorporate it into their lives.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent

I’ve read a number of books on addiction, this feels different in that not every case history is an extreme and the book highlights how vulnerable we all are in modern life with the potential to distract ourselves and indulge at every turn. Well narrated too. Some of the animal studies get a bit dry but overall very thought provoking and interesting.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enlightening

The author has a soothing voice that allows reflection and introspection in relation to her patient’s stories, even at their most harrowing. As someone diagnosed with ADHD, this book has been filled with epiphany moments for me, and has brought more clarity to my life and behaviours. Thank you.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!