SEX, DRUGS AND CHOCOLATE: The Science of Pleasure

Dr. Paul Martin

‘I know the ways of pleasure, the sweet strains, The lullings and relishes of it’ George Herbert This is a book about the lengths people will go to nuzzle out some pleasure – and the scientific reasons that lie behind those impulses, written in an accessible and entertaining way. Paul Martin looks at changing attitudes to pleasure over the centuries, including religious and philosophical lawgiving on the subject, before moving on to the scientific hardwiring that supports all this human frenzy. He looks too at chemical pleasures, at our attempts to bottle the pleasure-giving principle for easy access and regular self-medication –- from caffeine to heroin, from tobacco to glue. Which brings us to addiction, and the darker side of pleasure’s many moons – before coming back full circle to the therapeutic bliss of pleasure, its key role in an individual’s health, and that least-promoted, most-undervalued but most satisfying daily pleasure of all – sweet sleep.

More by this author

MAKING HAPPY PEOPLE: The nature of happiness and its origins in childhood

Release date: 2nd Jul 2010

Author: Dr. Paul Martin

All parents want their children to be happy – but no parent knows how to guarantee it. Now this groundbreaking book explores the ways in which parents can influence their children’s happiness, providing a positive framework for emotional growth.

4th Estate