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Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine by Deepak Chopra, Candace B. Pert
morgan_blackledge's review against another edition
2.0
Oh man I really took a chance on this one.
And oh man do I feel like a dip.
Who ate skittles and farted?
My brain did when I bought this book.
It's by Candice Pert (1946 – 2013) an American neuroscientist and pharmacologist who discovered the opiate receptor, the cellular binding site for endorphins in the brain, as well as being a distinguished lead researcher at the NIMH, who published over 250 scientific articles on peptides and their receptors and the role of these neuropeptides in the immune system.
I decided to read the book despite her association with the new age movement and appearance in the film What the #$*! Do We Know!? (a major black mark against anyone, regardless of their scientific accomplishments).
So I held my nose and did it. The first part of the book is a surprisingly lucid account of Perts groundbreaking research, told in an autobiographical form that reads like part feminist critique of the old boy network of research science circa 1970, and part confessional of a rather ruthless woman who got hers by all means necessary.
In other words, when she gets passed over or ripped off by a male colleague, she's righteous and indignant (and rightly so), and when she flat out rips off male colleagues, she's brawling with the boys and doing what it takes to be successful in science (and that's life so what ever).
In addition to being a fascinating and entertaining glimpse into the cutthroat world of bench science. The book is also an informative tour of affective neuroscience and endocrinology. If you're a fan of Robert Sapolsky's work you will dig some or most of the science Ms. Pert drops.
As I read the book, I found myself waiting for her to veer south of hard science and float some rainbow flavored new age doucery. But every time it looked like she was going off the rails, she made a reasonable, evidence based claim.
So I cautiously preceded despite the lingering, faint sound and smell of skittle colored farts! When would the other shoe drop. When would she fly off the rails on a crystal Pegasus?
It's like one of those scary movies that keeps tricking you into thinking the killer is about to jump out at the victim, and then it turns out to be the goofy roommate with a mask on, or a cat in the bushes. You're tension is relieved for a moment but you know what's going to happen, so you're right back on the edge of your seat waiting for the massacre, and then you let your guard down and PAPOW!
And so it goes, slowly but surely Dr. Perts apparent personality flaws seem to catch up to her, and she goes to science jail (i.e. she pulls a slow mo Lindsey Lohan and alienates her colleagues to the point that they no longer support her and shwoop. She's suddenly an outsider, misunderstood righteous victim who's down with the Depak Chopra, and from there its a full on crystal catastrophe, replete with Christian conversion and dream healing experiences.
Ewe it stinks like a men's room at a Dairy farm all the sudden! Pure gas! I'm as ashamed as if it were I who dealt it.
I'm fully aware that I like what the other reviewers hated about the book, and disliked what other reviews seem to be after, i.e. the so called "Mind Body" medicine stuff of Dr. Perts later career.
Side rant: the fact that people still say mind body any more is totally irritating, the mind is a property of the brain, and last time I checked, the brain is a part of the body. Saying mind body is like saying vista view, what a lovely view of the vista. Calling the mind "non-physical" is not even wrong. That's how lame the idea is. For that matter, calling anything "non-physical" is not even wrong.
Anyway.
Before you write me off as a total dick skeptic, no wait a minute, I kind of am a total dick skeptic so go ahead and write me off. But if you're still reading this, I want to say that I'm not your average total dick skeptic.
I’m a therapist. I’m pretty close to finished with a doctorate degree. I teach psychology at a Buddhist University. I practice a mindfulness based psychotherapy modality as a mental health clinician, I have been meditating seriously for over 30 years. I have been doing Yoga for almost as long. I lived in India for a bit, meditated in a cave, the whole nine. But I also love science and I am a total neuroscience dork. All I can say is, there is really interesting hard science exploring mindfulness and wellbeing. Don't waste your time with this shit if you're really interested in this subject.
And oh man do I feel like a dip.
Who ate skittles and farted?
My brain did when I bought this book.
It's by Candice Pert (1946 – 2013) an American neuroscientist and pharmacologist who discovered the opiate receptor, the cellular binding site for endorphins in the brain, as well as being a distinguished lead researcher at the NIMH, who published over 250 scientific articles on peptides and their receptors and the role of these neuropeptides in the immune system.
I decided to read the book despite her association with the new age movement and appearance in the film What the #$*! Do We Know!? (a major black mark against anyone, regardless of their scientific accomplishments).
So I held my nose and did it. The first part of the book is a surprisingly lucid account of Perts groundbreaking research, told in an autobiographical form that reads like part feminist critique of the old boy network of research science circa 1970, and part confessional of a rather ruthless woman who got hers by all means necessary.
In other words, when she gets passed over or ripped off by a male colleague, she's righteous and indignant (and rightly so), and when she flat out rips off male colleagues, she's brawling with the boys and doing what it takes to be successful in science (and that's life so what ever).
In addition to being a fascinating and entertaining glimpse into the cutthroat world of bench science. The book is also an informative tour of affective neuroscience and endocrinology. If you're a fan of Robert Sapolsky's work you will dig some or most of the science Ms. Pert drops.
As I read the book, I found myself waiting for her to veer south of hard science and float some rainbow flavored new age doucery. But every time it looked like she was going off the rails, she made a reasonable, evidence based claim.
So I cautiously preceded despite the lingering, faint sound and smell of skittle colored farts! When would the other shoe drop. When would she fly off the rails on a crystal Pegasus?
It's like one of those scary movies that keeps tricking you into thinking the killer is about to jump out at the victim, and then it turns out to be the goofy roommate with a mask on, or a cat in the bushes. You're tension is relieved for a moment but you know what's going to happen, so you're right back on the edge of your seat waiting for the massacre, and then you let your guard down and PAPOW!
And so it goes, slowly but surely Dr. Perts apparent personality flaws seem to catch up to her, and she goes to science jail (i.e. she pulls a slow mo Lindsey Lohan and alienates her colleagues to the point that they no longer support her and shwoop. She's suddenly an outsider, misunderstood righteous victim who's down with the Depak Chopra, and from there its a full on crystal catastrophe, replete with Christian conversion and dream healing experiences.
Ewe it stinks like a men's room at a Dairy farm all the sudden! Pure gas! I'm as ashamed as if it were I who dealt it.
I'm fully aware that I like what the other reviewers hated about the book, and disliked what other reviews seem to be after, i.e. the so called "Mind Body" medicine stuff of Dr. Perts later career.
Side rant: the fact that people still say mind body any more is totally irritating, the mind is a property of the brain, and last time I checked, the brain is a part of the body. Saying mind body is like saying vista view, what a lovely view of the vista. Calling the mind "non-physical" is not even wrong. That's how lame the idea is. For that matter, calling anything "non-physical" is not even wrong.
Anyway.
Before you write me off as a total dick skeptic, no wait a minute, I kind of am a total dick skeptic so go ahead and write me off. But if you're still reading this, I want to say that I'm not your average total dick skeptic.
I’m a therapist. I’m pretty close to finished with a doctorate degree. I teach psychology at a Buddhist University. I practice a mindfulness based psychotherapy modality as a mental health clinician, I have been meditating seriously for over 30 years. I have been doing Yoga for almost as long. I lived in India for a bit, meditated in a cave, the whole nine. But I also love science and I am a total neuroscience dork. All I can say is, there is really interesting hard science exploring mindfulness and wellbeing. Don't waste your time with this shit if you're really interested in this subject.
bookishliz_'s review against another edition
4.0
I've been gripped by the entire book, and as an undergrad in the science field, feel much appreciation to gain an insight about everything within the field research wise. The importance of communication, proper, informative and understandable communication, dawned on me and inspires me to communicate to the best of my abilities, and with utmost honesty, the extent of my knowledge where needs are.
I have a great appreciation to have borrowed this book, it enriched my passion for science as a whole, and just about every chapter amplified it.
Furthermore, the scientific literature and jargon are well explained if it is used, and a glossary can help with further explanations if some of the terms/concepts are a bit hard to grasp.
It is a work of non-fiction that can be read by anyone, regardless of whether you are in the field, familiar with science as a field, or someone that find the title intriguing and would like to broaden your knowledge.
I have a great appreciation to have borrowed this book, it enriched my passion for science as a whole, and just about every chapter amplified it.
Furthermore, the scientific literature and jargon are well explained if it is used, and a glossary can help with further explanations if some of the terms/concepts are a bit hard to grasp.
It is a work of non-fiction that can be read by anyone, regardless of whether you are in the field, familiar with science as a field, or someone that find the title intriguing and would like to broaden your knowledge.
kaflurbaleen's review against another edition
4.0
Honestly, I read it for the academic drama. Advisor troubles? Being ostracized from the scientific community after doing great work because you were standing up against sexism, and also having a different perspective that doesn’t quite “fit” with the mainstream?
bodiesofwater's review against another edition
5.0
This book is a fascinating confirmation of the complete interconnectedness of the entire body. Candace Pert conducted some of the most significant research I have ever read. The book itself gets dry at times with detailed descriptions of lab politics or other context, but her discoveries are worth it all. Amazing!
trogdor19's review against another edition
4.0
This is more autobiographical than I was hoping, but it is an interesting historical look at the plight of women in science and the ways in which the politics of science impedes the progress of knowledge. Also very interesting and readable science as far as the descriptions of peptides and neurotransmitters, but less science than I was hoping for I'm afraid!
peaching's review against another edition
1.0
Terrible, terrible book with some of the worst scientific methodology presented that I've read in a long time. If you really found a cure for AIDS, someone would have backed up your research. Sadly quackable.
smileyriley's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book! I loved how it chronicled her experience as a female scientist in a man dominated profession. I loved how she talk about how her spiritual beliefs evolved through her work as a scientist. I loved learning about the biochemistry of emotions. The only thing I didn’t like was I felt the author sometimes overstated her involvement with the new age movement but overall this was mild and didn’t effect my overall impression of the book
elements_of_wednesday's review against another edition
1.0
To be honest, I'm not a science person so I would not normally pick this book to read, but I had to read it for a class so here it goes. From an I-don't-understand-science perspective the book did an okay job of explaining how emotions and other sciency things work in our body. My main problem with this book was the inconsistency of writing style; it kind of jumps from scientific mumbo jumbo to Dr. Pert's life experiences, skips to the past, and the present, jumping from giving a presentation, to just normally speaking, and uses random italics and paragraph splits as transitions. This made it really hard to follow the timeline of what was happening and just confused me a lot. Besides that, I found Dr. Pert to be kind of obnoxious in that she was always saying she was treated unfairly because she was a woman, which yes, that may be true, but throwing a hissy fit every time that happens is not how to overcome that problem, and actually, makes men feel more like women should not be in high positions.
coraline_wilde's review
4.0
She discovered the brain's opiate receptor and was a pioneer in peptide treatments (Peptide T if you recall from Dallas Buyer's Club). Always wanted to get around to reading her book so finally doing so. Pretty standard knowledge now in neuroscience classes but nevertheless a fascinating read =]