Synopses & Reviews
The New York Times bestselling author examines how our sense of touch and emotion are interconnected Johns Hopkins neuroscientist and bestselling author of The Compass of Pleasure, David J. Linden presents an engaging and fascinating examination of how the interface between our sense of touch and our emotional responses affects our social interactions as well as our general health and development. Accessible in its wit and clarity, Touch explores scientific advances in the understanding of touch that help explain our sense of self and our experience of the world.
From skin to nerves to brain, the organization of the bodyand#8217;s touch circuits powerfully influences our livesand#151;affecting everything from consumer choice to sexual intercourse, tool use to the origins of language, chronic pain to healing. Interpersonal touch is crucial to social bonding and individual development. Linden lucidly explains how sensory and emotional context work together to distinguish between perceptions of what feels good and what feels bad. Linking biology and behavioral science, Linden offers an entertaining and enlightening answer to how we feel in every sense of the word.
Review
Reviews and#8220;The sensation of touch, so ubiquitous in how we interact with our world, gets a sensualist pop-biology treatment . . . . His exploration of the relationship between the things we feel with our fingertips and those we feel in our hearts begins with social touch and its lasting effects on babies and rats. Linden covers the basics of tactile receptor types and sensory maps before diving into several chaptersand#8212;all appropriately science-based, yet somehow slightly lurid and intimateand#8212;on caresses, sexual arousal, and orgasm . . . . Linden sandwiches a surprising amount of anatomical information between the stories of bad hand jobs and children who die young because they canand#8217;t feel pain.and#8221;
and#8212;Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
A leading brain scientist's look at the neurobiology of pleasure-and how pleasures can become addictions. Whether eating, taking drugs, engaging in sex, or doing good deeds, the pursuit of pleasure is a central drive of the human animal. In The Compass of Pleasure Johns Hopkins neuroscientist David J. Linden explains how pleasure affects us at the most fundamental level: in our brain.
As he did in his award-winning book, The Accidental Mind, Linden combines cutting-edge science with entertaining anecdotes to illuminate the source of the behaviors that can lead us to ecstasy but that can easily become compulsive. Why are drugs like nicotine and heroin addictive while LSD is not? Why has the search for safe appetite suppressants been such a disappointment? The Compass of Pleasure concludes with a provocative consideration of pleasure in the future, when it may be possible to activate our pleasure circuits at will and in entirely novel patterns.
About the Author
DAVID J. LINDEN is a professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the New York Times bestselling author of The Compass of Pleasure and The Accidental Mind. He lives in Baltimore with his two children.