A review by librarylapin
High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know about Drugs and Society by Carl L. Hart

3.0

I really enjoyed this eye opening book. In this memoir laced with scientific discovery, Dr. Hart demonstrates a lot of the ideas we have been sold in the war on drugs culture we inhabit. He talks about race and how our views on drugs, the media coverage, and the scientific ignorance about them have all lead to a social construct that devastates communities. In his unique perspective, in which he tackles the role of race in science and drug perceptions based on his personally lived story and his story as a scientist, the reader is able to to see how many myths can be decoded and demonstrated to be false. I did feel that there was an overabundance of bravado in the book. I realize much of it was intentional as the author's point about defending his reputation and having a lot of pride speaks to a motivational factor but at other points it felt like just bragging. When he makes a point to debunk the idea that scientists are "antisocial" (read nerdy), I didn't feel like there was any relevance to his thesis other than letting the reader know that he was very popular, athletic, etc. Aside from this I really enjoyed the format because I love memoir and the science was very methodically inserted into the story being told.