Take a photo of a barcode or cover
113 reviews for:
Your Brain On Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction
Gary Wilson, Anthony Jack
3.99 AVERAGE
113 reviews for:
Your Brain On Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction
Gary Wilson, Anthony Jack
3.99 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
fast-paced
Really interesting read. Dives into extremely new and novel research and teaches a lot about how the brain works in relation to compulsive action, dopamine and other similar chemical connections as well. As young men I, think it’s definitely worth reading. It can be a bit sporadic, but the research and sources are mostly credible, and it’s a very light read, so I recommend.
Fantastic book and can probably apply to any addiction but delves into aspects unique to pornography.
Wilson doesn't push any religious agenda or voice moral qualms with pornographic content. He seeks to explain the harmful effects unique to modern day internet porn (compared to other forms of erotica available before the 2000's). The book is well researched, you'll find a citation every other sentence.
Lots of takeaways, but on thing is clear and its that the effects of modern pornography is woefully under researched, and it will likely be decades before scientific consensus is reached. The limited scope of research is clear because Wilson goes over every single neuro-scientific study on porn (he also explains why studies are so difficult to conduct). In the meantime there is a wealth of anecdotes and a foundation of neuroscience to draw on. How do we approach something that is on the edge of science?
Wilson doesn't push any religious agenda or voice moral qualms with pornographic content. He seeks to explain the harmful effects unique to modern day internet porn (compared to other forms of erotica available before the 2000's). The book is well researched, you'll find a citation every other sentence.
Lots of takeaways, but on thing is clear and its that the effects of modern pornography is woefully under researched, and it will likely be decades before scientific consensus is reached. The limited scope of research is clear because Wilson goes over every single neuro-scientific study on porn (he also explains why studies are so difficult to conduct). In the meantime there is a wealth of anecdotes and a foundation of neuroscience to draw on. How do we approach something that is on the edge of science?
3.2/5
It is nice to see such topic discussed in an open, scientific manner instead of being regarded as a taboo. I am uncertain, however, as to whether I belong to the intended audience of the book. Regardless, it is quite interesting to view the topic from another perspective.
Another personal viewpoint of mine is that the book would have conveyed a better nuance, had the author not utilised much content from different Reddit posts.
p/s: Thanks James for the audiobook copy.
It is nice to see such topic discussed in an open, scientific manner instead of being regarded as a taboo. I am uncertain, however, as to whether I belong to the intended audience of the book. Regardless, it is quite interesting to view the topic from another perspective.
Another personal viewpoint of mine is that the book would have conveyed a better nuance, had the author not utilised much content from different Reddit posts.
p/s: Thanks James for the audiobook copy.
Most under-reported health crisis beyond the 2010's. Would highly recommend to parents with children approaching their mid-teens.
informative
fast-paced
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
informative
fast-paced
This book is full of self reports of reddit users and has very little science to back up some sweeping statements of what removing porn can "cure". The only evidence that it gives is that frequent porn users have abnormal reward circuitry (fair enough) and reduced grey matter in the frontal lobe. They do not really attempt to explain how porn could cause social anxiety, depression, poor social skills etc. at all - it just kind of does, apparently. Give it a skim if you're interested, but don't expect any conclusive evidence for their claims.
Everyone should read this. Especially relatively young people as myself, whose puberty coincided with the beginning of freely available internet porn. This topic doesn't really come out often, but most of us know that feeling of sadness and shame that clings at you after fapping to porn. Deep down we know we would feel better if we gave it up, but no real idea about how this behaviour deeply modifies our brains and, consequently, our behaviour regarding not only sex, but also other aspects of our life.
There are mainly two things in this book, as the author himself states:
- testimonies collected from forums and websites
- discussion about arising scientific evidence
The scientific evidence cannot really be debate, more and more studies are now dealing with new kind of addictions that were not considered before, like social networks, betting and, obviously, porn. The effects on the brain are tangible, and not only for deeply addicted individuals, moderate consumers are also affected.
Testimonies should be read with a bit of suspicion. Considering them as a whole, they depict a pretty dim picture and leave no doubts that many people's lives were ruined by porn. However, some of them are also very particular cases in which people suddenly felt like Superman and solved all their life's problems by giving up porn. I'm not saying it can't be true, but also it's not really something you can realistically expect and I don't see the point in using them in the book.
Overall it's a very good book, it has a lot of scientific evidence to support what it says but also reports of many people whose life changed after giving up porn consumption.
There are mainly two things in this book, as the author himself states:
- testimonies collected from forums and websites
- discussion about arising scientific evidence
The scientific evidence cannot really be debate, more and more studies are now dealing with new kind of addictions that were not considered before, like social networks, betting and, obviously, porn. The effects on the brain are tangible, and not only for deeply addicted individuals, moderate consumers are also affected.
Testimonies should be read with a bit of suspicion. Considering them as a whole, they depict a pretty dim picture and leave no doubts that many people's lives were ruined by porn. However, some of them are also very particular cases in which people suddenly felt like Superman and solved all their life's problems by giving up porn. I'm not saying it can't be true, but also it's not really something you can realistically expect and I don't see the point in using them in the book.
Overall it's a very good book, it has a lot of scientific evidence to support what it says but also reports of many people whose life changed after giving up porn consumption.
medium-paced