Memoirs of an Addicted Brain
Marc Lewis
'It's a vivid portrait of a confused young man's struggle to escape himself. PICK OF THE WEEK'
(The Age)'Dr Lewis can write. The result is not just a book about a brain on drugs, but a picture of addiction as an unavoidable urge of human nature.'
Ian Brown (Globe and Mail)'Great writers create new genres, and that’s exactly what Lewis has done ... A heartwrenching story, beautifully written, and no one should be allowed to pronounce about addiction without having read it.'
Evan ThomasA gripping, triumphant memoir about the power of addiction and its effect on the brain
Marc Lewis knows addiction: that desperate ambition to get high accompanied him around the world for many years. In the 1960s, Lewis was a teenager in boarding school, experimenting with cough syrup and alcohol to assuage his depression. When he moved to Berkeley, California, the pulsing heart of the counter-cultural movement, he began using LSD and heroin. His spiralling journey of addiction eventually led him to Asia, where he sniffed nitrous oxide in the Malay jungle, took speed in Kuala Lumpur, and lost himself in the opium dens of Calcutta. This was the beginning of his descent into a moonlit world of crime, poverty, and desperation. Returning to Toronto, Lewis lived a double life: by day, he was a psychology student; and by night, he stole from homes and laboratories to get high.
Thirty-four years on, Lewis is a neuroscientist, and he studies the brains of troubled children. But he never forgets that he was once one of those kids — and that, no matter how many scientific conferences he attends, he always will be.
In this mesmerising memoir, Lewis recounts his relationship with drugs from the inside out, giving a revelatory analysis of the chemical changes in his brain that sustained his addiction. This is not just the story of a man who found his calling while fighting a habit that crossed continents and brought him in contact with the wilder edges of life. It is also a penetrating, powerful analysis of addiction, offering a fascinating insight into the human brain, and what drives it to self-destruction.
'An engrossing and vividly written swirl of raw drama, themes of despair, loss and triumph, brilliantly rendered brain science, and clear thinking on the experience and essence of addiction.'
Gabor Maté, MD, author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts'A smoothly entertaining interplay between lived experience and the particulars of brain activity.'
Kirkus'Splendid, moving, and highly informative.'
Nico Frijda'His analysis of brain mechanisms comes alive in a way that is unprecedented in modern literature.'
Professor Don Tucker'Beautifully crafted and illuminating on multiple levels, this is a book you won’t want to set down.'
Kent BerridgeMarc Lewis
Author photo
Duncan de Fey
Dr Marc Lewis is a developmental neuroscientist and professor of human development and applied psychology at Radboud University Nijmegen, one of the top five universities in the Netherlands, and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, where he taught and conducted research from 1989 to 2010. The author of over 50 journal publications in neuroscience and developmental psychology, he is at the forefront of knowledge of the emotional brain and the neural foundations of personality development.
Buy from Readings
Extent: 320pp
Size: 210mm x 135mm
ISBN (13): 9781921844607
RRP: $29.95
Pub date: January 2012
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