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Your Brain on Food: How Chemicals Control Your Thoughts and Feelings 1st Edition

by Gary Wenk (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars 37 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0195388541
ISBN-10: 0195388542
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 200 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (July 30, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0195388542
  • ISBN-13: 978-0195388541
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 0.8 x 5.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #770,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsC+. The title is misleading
By Martin D Ronan on March 6, 2011
Format: Hardcover
This was a pretty decent book. It discussed chemicals found in nature and their effects on your brain. The title is very misleading though. It discussed almost nothing about normal food you eat, but rather drugs like cocaine, nicotine, etc. Aside from coffee and chocolate there are few foods discussed. I doubt the author chose that title. I bet it was the marketing people who pushed it to sell more books. For misleading the reader I give a C+ to this book.
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5.0 out of 5 starsA fast and interesting read
By buckeye10 on August 5, 2010
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I have had the pleasure of taking Dr. Wenk's class titled "Drugs and Behavior" at The Ohio State University as an undergraduate and I have to say that this book incorporates the best things from the class including Dr. Wenk's own research, odd stories from college students experimenting with drugs such as caffeine and marijuana, his extensive knowledge on neuroscience and its history - all influenced in the telling by his hilarious, dry humor.

The book explores an incredible number of topics ranging from the history of the drug which killed King Hamlet in Shakespeare's play to how Advil works in your brain to stop you from aching in pain. Although Dr. Wenk describes a lot of neuroscience concepts and terms, he always does an excellent job of explaining background information while simultaneously teaching you something new. This is including the concise paragraphs of summary at the end of every chapter which state the big picture.

I'm particularly interested in how the brain works and different types of the neurotransmitters but what I enjoyed most about this book is the cultural and historical contexts of drugs from around the world. For example, there exists a certain mushroom which, when ingested, produces a type of hallucination which causes people to see normal objects a lot bigger or smaller than they actually are. This mushroom and its effect could very well have influenced Lewis Carroll while he was writing Alice in Wonderland (as seen in Alice's adventure in a land of size disproportions). Now this statement is definitely something everyone would be interested in learning, especially at cocktail hour!

EDIT: The real title for this book should be "Your Brain on Drugs.Read more ›
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2.0 out of 5 starsBait & Switch
By Burgundy Damsel VINE VOICE on March 29, 2011
Format: Hardcover
The title and subtitle of this book were highly misleading; there was almost nothing about food, thoughts and feelings. Although stuffed with useful and potentially interesting information, the book primarily dealt with the neurochemical details of how drugs affect the body and interact with the brain to create the sensations one experiences.

The transitions between new examples and topics were lacking, making the book feel somewhat choppy, and I found the author's constant, unnecessary references to evolution both annoying and distracting.

Unless you're specifically looking for a primer on drug interaction, I strongly recommend The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children, Potatoes Not Prozac: Solutions for Sugar Sensitivity or Natural Prozac: Learning to Release Your Body's Own Anti-Depressants instead - all will be much more useful in exploring the affects of food on mood and human functioning.
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4.0 out of 5 starsUnexpected, but worthwhile
By Deb on December 9, 2011
Format: Hardcover
While reading this book, I felt like I was a student who signed up for a class called "Your Brain on Food" but instead was somehow switched into one called "Your Brain on Drugs." Not that this was a undesirable switch...just an unexpected one.

And, it's no coincidence that I felt like I was in class while reading this book--the author is, after all, a college professor. The book's presentation, style, and content are rather lecture-like, but, nonetheless effectively accomplish the author's mission of showing how: "anything you consume--the drugs you take, the foods you eat--can affect how your neurons behave, and subsequently, how you think and feel." (p. X)

In the beginning of the book, the author/professor presents a clear overview of basic neurochemistry, nicely summarizing the path of neurotransmitter production, release, reuptake, and inactivation. (I've actually marked this section to revisit again whenever I need a quick neurochemistry refresher.) The rest of the book focuses on how:
"Drugs and the contents of our diet can interact with any of these various processes and impair, or even sometimes enhance, the production of neurotransmitters, as well as impair their storage into synaptic vesicles, alter their release from neurons, modify their interaction with receptor proteins, slow their reuptake, and possibly even stop their enzymatic inactivation. Because your brain is the organ of the mind, drugs and food that do any of these things can have a profound influence on how you think, act, and feel." (pp.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsNot About Food
By Maureen L. Buck on January 12, 2011
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
As an aging adult, I feel the title is misleading. I was looking forward to learning about the effects of food on the brain because that is how I interpreted the title.

For anyone who is raising children and wants to know how drugs affect the brain, this is an excellent book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

awsome

Published 9 months ago by Linda A.
3.0 out of 5 starsnot to the point for an average reader

content not what I expected......the word "food" is misleading

Published 13 months ago by Gloria Roka
5.0 out of 5 starsInteresting, fun, readable

It is easy to see why Dr. Wenk is a sought after lecturer and researcher. His book is informative, funny and well researched. Read more

Published 13 months ago by re
1.0 out of 5 starsWhy mention food in the title?

This book was misrepresented thoroughly by the title. very little of the book has to do with food. Mostly it is about how drugs affect your brain. Read more

Published 18 months ago by American Girl
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

ok

Published 20 months ago by Lorraine
4.0 out of 5 starsUnderstanding food and what it does to y'r brain...

I chose this rating as it helped me understand a little about how the brain works and what vitamins can do....

Published on July 3, 2013 by Terry 3
2.0 out of 5 starsmisleading.

i agree with the other reviewers in that this sounded more like a typical undergraduate intro to neuroscience 101 lecture with cautionary tales about marijuana, alcohol and... Read more

Published on June 25, 2013 by Rebecca Emmons
4.0 out of 5 starsMore food, please!

Nice neurological background, but I was expecting a bit more about food influence on the brain... How about vitamins, minerals, omega fatty acids? They do matter, too!

Published on April 1, 2013 by Janek
2.0 out of 5 starsMore Text Book Than Layman

I actually thought I was buying an interesting little book, where I could easily understand why different veggies, or other foods made my brain and body feel a certain way. Read more

Published on March 8, 2013 by Mars
3.0 out of 5 starsAs if the title were an afterthought

Mr Wenk provided me with a good introduction to some basic facts about neurochemistry. Some passages were well-written and offered refreshing ideas about life, the universe and... Read more

Published on February 26, 2013 by Rachel McLaughlin

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