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booknerd_therapist's review
5.0
High Price is a brilliantly written memoir that will challenge everything you think you know about race, drugs, crime, and even academia.
Dr. Carl Hart began life in inner-city Miami, one of eight siblings raised by his mother and grandmothers. He did not take school seriously and did the bare minimum in order to participate in football and basketball. Upon graduation, he joined the Air Force, and his life began a long journey of challenges that ultimately led him to become an accomplished neuroscientist.
Dr. Hart is not only a neuroscientist, but also an educator and activist. His book does justice to all three areas of focus. It is not merely a narrative of the changes in scientific understanding of substance use, but also a history lesson -- and current events lesson -- about the dynamics of race and criminal justice relating to substance use. Even in his experiences in academia, he recounts the obstacles he faced as a black man "with dreads and three gold teeth." For sure, you will learn plenty about pharmacology and neuroscience -- but also about social issues surrounding young black men.
This book affected me in a very positive way. I am pursuing my master's in social work and have been struggling to overcome my biases against people who use substances. Reading this book has helped me put substance use into perspective and respond in a compassionate, effective way when working with clients who use substances. I highly recommend this book!
Dr. Carl Hart began life in inner-city Miami, one of eight siblings raised by his mother and grandmothers. He did not take school seriously and did the bare minimum in order to participate in football and basketball. Upon graduation, he joined the Air Force, and his life began a long journey of challenges that ultimately led him to become an accomplished neuroscientist.
Dr. Hart is not only a neuroscientist, but also an educator and activist. His book does justice to all three areas of focus. It is not merely a narrative of the changes in scientific understanding of substance use, but also a history lesson -- and current events lesson -- about the dynamics of race and criminal justice relating to substance use. Even in his experiences in academia, he recounts the obstacles he faced as a black man "with dreads and three gold teeth." For sure, you will learn plenty about pharmacology and neuroscience -- but also about social issues surrounding young black men.
This book affected me in a very positive way. I am pursuing my master's in social work and have been struggling to overcome my biases against people who use substances. Reading this book has helped me put substance use into perspective and respond in a compassionate, effective way when working with clients who use substances. I highly recommend this book!
izzyruby's review
5.0
Second reading: The material came across like it was definitely by someone in the sciences, who spends a lot of time thinking about the mechanisms that influence human behavior. That being said, still an A+ read. The way he uses the personal to provide anecdotes is effective and reminds me of what Ibram X. Kendi does in how to be an anti racist but with an attention to our racist/classist understandings of behavior, drug abuse, and debunking the myths. A must read for anyone who:
1) provides health and human services
2) is a white person who uses recreational drugs
3) interested in understanding beyond just why the war on drugs is bad but in fact the result of racist propaganda and misinformation
1) provides health and human services
2) is a white person who uses recreational drugs
3) interested in understanding beyond just why the war on drugs is bad but in fact the result of racist propaganda and misinformation
jess0270's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
socraticgadfly's review
2.0
Sorry; upon further review, this has been moved down to two-star level. See the end for why
Carl Hart is good on the basics of what we know, and don't know, about addiction and neuroscience. He's decent on telling the story of his life, and on public policy, minorities and the "War on Drugs." However, where parts 1 and 2 intersect, he sometimes seems to soft-pedal part 1 for the sake of part 2.
Basic point 1 is that he is African-American, and grew up in lower-class neighborhoods in greater Miami, and therefore in a unique position to talk about race and addiction, race and other races' beliefs about addiction, etc.
But, that's not my first primary point. Rather, per ideas I've heard from people who think that AA is unscientific, it's about "following the science" on addiction. More specifically, it's about updating one's scientific knowledge of what may cause addiction, the little knowledge we have, being updated rather than being 20 years old. More specifically yet, that involves moving beyond simple, or simplistic, ideas that we can reduce addiction to a matter of brain neurotransmitters.
And, specifically, addiction is NOT "All about the dopamine," or anything similar. I quote from his book:
I knew a fair amount of this before I read Hart's book. But, his directly applying it to addiction, combined with his ethnicity and sociological background, gave me the perfect excuse, or reason, to blog about it more directly.
For more on neurotransmitters, which may, depending on how widely the term is defined, include a variety of peptides and even minerals like zinc, see Wikipedia. I mean, histamine and products related to several amino acids are neurotransmitters. It's much more than the few neurotransmitters that health-food stores, and Big Pharma, try to pitch us on. More on that in a minute
And, folks, that's why addiction isn't all about the dopamine. And why truly understanding addiction will proved to be more complex than current ideas. ....
On public policy issues, I do agree that much of the alarm over meth in the last decade or so mirrors the 80s alarm over cocaine and specifically crack. And just as much of the crack alarm was race driven, a lot of the meth mythos is class driven.
I don’t totally agree with Hart by any means, though. I think he tilts the scale toward “abuse” rather than “addiction” at times, and doesn’t allow for even people who are addicts, not just abusers, still having enough self-control to moderate their behavior in lab settings. I mean, the stories of alcoholics and addicts trying to pull one over on people are legion, and at some point, per the old cliche, "anecdotes" become "data." Hart talks about how some of his test subjects appeared intimidated about getting to the lab, but doesn't ask if any were still intimidated later.
Nor does he seem to ask himself if he’s over-reacting to some of his own personal, and his larger background as an African-American’s, take on things like the “crack menace” or “reefer madness” long before that.
Related to both points, he doesn't ask, as a very rare minority Ph.D. neuroscientist, if some of his test subjects are "trying to help a brother out." I hate to stereotype, and I'm not a minority, but, I've been around a boatload of drinkers and users. I'm liberal enough to know the War on Drugs is a crock, but I've been plenty a person be sober or clean for years, even a decade or more, "slip," and not be able to get back on track.
I originally went back and forth between 3 and 4 stars for this book. Again, ideally, this is a 3.5, but Ye Olde Book Review sites don't offer such nuances. So, it's a 3 here. And, I'm not even sure about that. The only real takeaway for me was that addiction by neurotransmitter problems is too simplistic. His wanting to make it look like addiction isn't that common approaches simplicity itself.
And, speaking of simplicity? Why is this now a 2-star rating?
Finally, I raise at least a partial eyebrow at his crediting Maia Szalavitz for helping get the book done. Szalavitz at least has a few of her toes in the pool of right-wing funded journalism, or "journalism," or is at minimum a "fellow traveler." Her association with places like STATS.org, which, per Wiki, has connections with Scaife money, American Enterprise Institute, etc., and is affiliated with George Mason University, is a red alert right there. That would probably explain, per some Amazon reviewers, Hart visiting Fox News, and ... more than once!
In summation ...
You can find the neuroscience work, including on neurotransmitters and related issues, from other neuroscientists, or else from psychiatrists doing research work. In many cases, it won't be explicitly tied to the decriminalization issues, and possible peddling of harm reduction over abstinence, which reportedly Hart has done on some of his TV appearances.
This is a book that has more froth than substance, after a first look.
Carl Hart is good on the basics of what we know, and don't know, about addiction and neuroscience. He's decent on telling the story of his life, and on public policy, minorities and the "War on Drugs." However, where parts 1 and 2 intersect, he sometimes seems to soft-pedal part 1 for the sake of part 2.
Basic point 1 is that he is African-American, and grew up in lower-class neighborhoods in greater Miami, and therefore in a unique position to talk about race and addiction, race and other races' beliefs about addiction, etc.
But, that's not my first primary point. Rather, per ideas I've heard from people who think that AA is unscientific, it's about "following the science" on addiction. More specifically, it's about updating one's scientific knowledge of what may cause addiction, the little knowledge we have, being updated rather than being 20 years old. More specifically yet, that involves moving beyond simple, or simplistic, ideas that we can reduce addiction to a matter of brain neurotransmitters.
And, specifically, addiction is NOT "All about the dopamine," or anything similar. I quote from his book:
When dopamine's prominent role in reward was first proposed, there were only about six known neurotransmitters: dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, acetylcholine, glutamate and GABA. Now there are more than a hundred. Furthermore, we now know that there are specific receptors -- or specialized structures that recognize and respond to a particular neurotransmitter -- for each neurotransmitter, and most neurotransmitters have more than one type of receptor. For example, dopamine has at least five receptor subtypes -- D1-D5. We also now know that hormones like oxytocin and testosterone can act as neurotransmitters.
But despite these ever-intensifying complexities, our theory about dopamine's role in reward has not been appreciably revised since it was first proposed [in the early 1990s]. And, as you will see later, a growing body of evidence casts doubt on this simplistic view of reward.
I knew a fair amount of this before I read Hart's book. But, his directly applying it to addiction, combined with his ethnicity and sociological background, gave me the perfect excuse, or reason, to blog about it more directly.
For more on neurotransmitters, which may, depending on how widely the term is defined, include a variety of peptides and even minerals like zinc, see Wikipedia. I mean, histamine and products related to several amino acids are neurotransmitters. It's much more than the few neurotransmitters that health-food stores, and Big Pharma, try to pitch us on. More on that in a minute
And, folks, that's why addiction isn't all about the dopamine. And why truly understanding addiction will proved to be more complex than current ideas. ....
On public policy issues, I do agree that much of the alarm over meth in the last decade or so mirrors the 80s alarm over cocaine and specifically crack. And just as much of the crack alarm was race driven, a lot of the meth mythos is class driven.
I don’t totally agree with Hart by any means, though. I think he tilts the scale toward “abuse” rather than “addiction” at times, and doesn’t allow for even people who are addicts, not just abusers, still having enough self-control to moderate their behavior in lab settings. I mean, the stories of alcoholics and addicts trying to pull one over on people are legion, and at some point, per the old cliche, "anecdotes" become "data." Hart talks about how some of his test subjects appeared intimidated about getting to the lab, but doesn't ask if any were still intimidated later.
Nor does he seem to ask himself if he’s over-reacting to some of his own personal, and his larger background as an African-American’s, take on things like the “crack menace” or “reefer madness” long before that.
Related to both points, he doesn't ask, as a very rare minority Ph.D. neuroscientist, if some of his test subjects are "trying to help a brother out." I hate to stereotype, and I'm not a minority, but, I've been around a boatload of drinkers and users. I'm liberal enough to know the War on Drugs is a crock, but I've been plenty a person be sober or clean for years, even a decade or more, "slip," and not be able to get back on track.
I originally went back and forth between 3 and 4 stars for this book. Again, ideally, this is a 3.5, but Ye Olde Book Review sites don't offer such nuances. So, it's a 3 here. And, I'm not even sure about that. The only real takeaway for me was that addiction by neurotransmitter problems is too simplistic. His wanting to make it look like addiction isn't that common approaches simplicity itself.
And, speaking of simplicity? Why is this now a 2-star rating?
Finally, I raise at least a partial eyebrow at his crediting Maia Szalavitz for helping get the book done. Szalavitz at least has a few of her toes in the pool of right-wing funded journalism, or "journalism," or is at minimum a "fellow traveler." Her association with places like STATS.org, which, per Wiki, has connections with Scaife money, American Enterprise Institute, etc., and is affiliated with George Mason University, is a red alert right there. That would probably explain, per some Amazon reviewers, Hart visiting Fox News, and ... more than once!
In summation ...
You can find the neuroscience work, including on neurotransmitters and related issues, from other neuroscientists, or else from psychiatrists doing research work. In many cases, it won't be explicitly tied to the decriminalization issues, and possible peddling of harm reduction over abstinence, which reportedly Hart has done on some of his TV appearances.
This is a book that has more froth than substance, after a first look.
morgan_blackledge's review
5.0
Once and a while a book reaches into your heart. For me, this is one of those.
This book resonated with me in a way that felt uncanny, almost as if the author was speaking directly to me. For reasons I can't easily describe, this book moved me to tears again and again.
Reading some of the negative and lukewarm reviews was equally odd for me. Did we read the same book? The answer must be yes. So I'm left to conclude that the book is particularly resonant with me for some very personal reasons.
As a man. As a father. As an aspiring professor that spent time in the learning disability "trailer" too. As a hard core functional contextual big B cognitive behavioral therapist. As a neuroscience fanatic. As a clinician working with dual diagnosed, low SES, substance dependent populations. As a human that strives and struggles, I relate to this part memoir, part neuroscience, part behavioral analysis, part political critique, part sociological analysis part confused rant book.
Will everyone love this book? Fuck no! Obviously not. But for me, reading it was an immensely powerful, validating, invigorating, transformative experience.
Dr. Carl is a fucking ROCK STAR. Thank you for sacking up and giving voice to this dangerous and important perspective. It needed to be said, and it took huge balls to say it. I don't agree with every little utterance. But this book is a game changer and I'm grateful to have read it.
This book resonated with me in a way that felt uncanny, almost as if the author was speaking directly to me. For reasons I can't easily describe, this book moved me to tears again and again.
Reading some of the negative and lukewarm reviews was equally odd for me. Did we read the same book? The answer must be yes. So I'm left to conclude that the book is particularly resonant with me for some very personal reasons.
As a man. As a father. As an aspiring professor that spent time in the learning disability "trailer" too. As a hard core functional contextual big B cognitive behavioral therapist. As a neuroscience fanatic. As a clinician working with dual diagnosed, low SES, substance dependent populations. As a human that strives and struggles, I relate to this part memoir, part neuroscience, part behavioral analysis, part political critique, part sociological analysis part confused rant book.
Will everyone love this book? Fuck no! Obviously not. But for me, reading it was an immensely powerful, validating, invigorating, transformative experience.
Dr. Carl is a fucking ROCK STAR. Thank you for sacking up and giving voice to this dangerous and important perspective. It needed to be said, and it took huge balls to say it. I don't agree with every little utterance. But this book is a game changer and I'm grateful to have read it.
lauren_endnotes's review
4.0
Dr. Hart is a brilliant person with both real world knowledge, and years of clinical and scholarly research to bolster his research.
This book was largely a memoir of his childhood and youth in Miami, his education, and his research in neuroscience and the effects of drugs on the brain. This book, written a few years ago now, could easily have a follow up with more information on his research projects and his activism and advocacy.
This book was largely a memoir of his childhood and youth in Miami, his education, and his research in neuroscience and the effects of drugs on the brain. This book, written a few years ago now, could easily have a follow up with more information on his research projects and his activism and advocacy.
jhuynh848's review
3.0
3.5
Enjoyable read with a lot of biographical information. I wish there was more information about Addition, his research and about his later years.
Enjoyable read with a lot of biographical information. I wish there was more information about Addition, his research and about his later years.
mkcordisco's review
3.0
second half of this book was really interesting. this is when you get into his post doc work with addiction and drug use. first half is fine but mostly memoir that i think is a little drawn out.