A brilliant scientist embarks on a journey to discover the answer to an essential question: How can we become truly satisfied?
In a fascinating investigation of the brain and its hunger for new experiences, Dr. Gregory Berns plumbs the lessons of fields as diverse as neuroscience, economics, and evolutionary psychology to find answers to the fundamental question of how we can find a more satisfying way to think and live.
A distinguished researcher, Berns bridges the gap between everyday experience and cutting-edge research by guiding the reader through the labs and hospitals where he and others are developing the science of how and why the brain is satisfied. We join him as he follows ultramarathoners across the Sierra Nevadas, enters a suburban S&M club to explore the deeper connection between pleasure and pain, partakes of a truly transporting meal, and ultimately examines his own marriage, where he faces the challenge of incorporating novelty into a long-term relationship.
In a riveting narrative filled with trenchant insights, Satisfaction proposes nothing less than a new way of understanding our own lives. By its conclusion, this truly inspiring book will convince you that the more complicated and even downright challenging a life you pursue, the more likely it is that you will be satisfied.
Gregory Berns, M.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University. Profiled twice in the Science section of The New York Times, Berns and his research have been featured in media as diverse as O, The Oprah Magazine; Forbes; Nature; Money; New Scientist; Psychology Today; Self; Reader’s Digest; International Herald Tribune; and on CNN, NPR, and the BBC. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife and children.
Gregory Berns, M.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor of
psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University. Profiled twice in the
Science section of The New York Times, Berns and his research have been featured in Forbes, the Los Angeles Times, Nature, Money, New Scientist, Psychology Today, and on CNN, NPR, ABC, and the BBC. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.