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SEXO, DROGAS Y CHOCOLATE: LA CIENCIA DEL PLACER
Este libro es el tratado esencial sobre el el sexual, con los misterios del orgasmo; el de la comida, el del juego… y las vías químicas para experimentarlo con el alcohol y las drogas. Y, por supuesto, el chocolate. Todo ello aderezado con sabrosas anécdotas que abarcan desde la vida sexual de los chimpancés hasta el papel de los genes en la consecución del orgasmo.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 5, 2009
16 people are currently reading
187 people want to read
About the author
Paul R. Martin
34 books8 followersPaul Martin was educated at Cambridge University and at Stanford University, California, where he was Harkness Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences. He lectured and researched in behavioural biology at Cambridge University, and was a Fellow of Wolfson College, before leaving academia to pursue other interests including science writing.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 23, 2022
Despre hedonism, dar nu numai.
Lucrarea reprezintă o analiză psihologică a omului modern din perspectiva principalelor adicții care ne marchează cotidianul.
Recomand.
Lucrarea reprezintă o analiză psihologică a omului modern din perspectiva principalelor adicții care ne marchează cotidianul.
Recomand.
March 12, 2009
"I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex."
"Anything becomes a pleasure if one does it too often."
Oscar Wilde
Mr Martin would disagree: pleasure, in any form, is anything but simple and our propensity to perform the acts we associate with pleasure often has little or nothing to do with joy.
Wilde was a man who had plenty to say regarding most things and, like Suetonius' twelve caesars (all too briefly mentioned by Martin), he thought he knew a thing or two about pleasure. He's not the only one. Apparently, scientists now tell us, along with the other mood-enhancers like sugar, chocolate, caffeine, broccoli, and even curly kale, we've been self-medicating with salt even though we know too much is bad for us. Hardly surprising considering that archaeological evidence dating the use of psychoactive substances back at least 10,000 years and the provenance of the world's oldest paid occupation would both suggest that people have been trying to enjoy themselves for quite a while now.
Given the inventiveness with which man has sought to satisfy his urges over the years it is not unreasonable to expect a book dealing with pleasure to provide some measure of the stuff itself but by concentrating almost solely, albeit in disappointingly little real detail, on the (secondhand) science whilst providing only a cursory overview of the history and culture of pleasure this book feels like a missed opportunity (for a shot of instant gratification along historical lines you could try John Brewer's 'The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century' or T H White's 'Age of Scandal'. However, if you prefer your pleasures deferred why not wait for the promised new history from Penguin by Oswyn Murray). An approach which focuses on the biology in an effort to explain the evolutionary benefits that pleasure (and its subtle relationship to pain) has for the individual might have provided some respite from the onslaught of received opinion contained within and, in turn, produced a more interesting read by applying its thesis in more depth to the case studies of some of history's more infamous libertines and bon vivants. Unfortunately not. It is an approach that also allows for no proper consideration of those collective outbursts of merriment and mayhem that periodically litter history (the Restoration of the English monarchy and the late Eighteenth century, as already mentioned, and following as it did on the heels of the 'Age of Reason' are two periods that spring nimbly to mind but are given short shrift by the book). With this lack of depth the book offers itself no choice but to head out at a tangent: after taking great pains to establish as distinct from pleasure both desire and addiction it then expends long sections of the book dealing with both.
The workman-like writing lacks the graceful prose of, say, a Steven Pinker: someone capable of rendering more detailed, complex and sometimes contentious issues in a manner that can make them seem self-evidently sensible even to the layperson. Not to say that this is a difficult read, far from it. Rather, it is just dull. All of which disappointments, ultimately, had me seeking solace in substances with a high-cacao content.
"Anything becomes a pleasure if one does it too often."
Oscar Wilde
Mr Martin would disagree: pleasure, in any form, is anything but simple and our propensity to perform the acts we associate with pleasure often has little or nothing to do with joy.
Wilde was a man who had plenty to say regarding most things and, like Suetonius' twelve caesars (all too briefly mentioned by Martin), he thought he knew a thing or two about pleasure. He's not the only one. Apparently, scientists now tell us, along with the other mood-enhancers like sugar, chocolate, caffeine, broccoli, and even curly kale, we've been self-medicating with salt even though we know too much is bad for us. Hardly surprising considering that archaeological evidence dating the use of psychoactive substances back at least 10,000 years and the provenance of the world's oldest paid occupation would both suggest that people have been trying to enjoy themselves for quite a while now.
Given the inventiveness with which man has sought to satisfy his urges over the years it is not unreasonable to expect a book dealing with pleasure to provide some measure of the stuff itself but by concentrating almost solely, albeit in disappointingly little real detail, on the (secondhand) science whilst providing only a cursory overview of the history and culture of pleasure this book feels like a missed opportunity (for a shot of instant gratification along historical lines you could try John Brewer's 'The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century' or T H White's 'Age of Scandal'. However, if you prefer your pleasures deferred why not wait for the promised new history from Penguin by Oswyn Murray). An approach which focuses on the biology in an effort to explain the evolutionary benefits that pleasure (and its subtle relationship to pain) has for the individual might have provided some respite from the onslaught of received opinion contained within and, in turn, produced a more interesting read by applying its thesis in more depth to the case studies of some of history's more infamous libertines and bon vivants. Unfortunately not. It is an approach that also allows for no proper consideration of those collective outbursts of merriment and mayhem that periodically litter history (the Restoration of the English monarchy and the late Eighteenth century, as already mentioned, and following as it did on the heels of the 'Age of Reason' are two periods that spring nimbly to mind but are given short shrift by the book). With this lack of depth the book offers itself no choice but to head out at a tangent: after taking great pains to establish as distinct from pleasure both desire and addiction it then expends long sections of the book dealing with both.
The workman-like writing lacks the graceful prose of, say, a Steven Pinker: someone capable of rendering more detailed, complex and sometimes contentious issues in a manner that can make them seem self-evidently sensible even to the layperson. Not to say that this is a difficult read, far from it. Rather, it is just dull. All of which disappointments, ultimately, had me seeking solace in substances with a high-cacao content.
July 30, 2011
amazing book - very entertaining and at the same time hugely informative. highly recommended to everyone :)
August 22, 2017
Es un libro interesante, con muchos datos científicos sobre el placer. ¿Por qué los elementos del título (sexo, drogas y chocolates) son placenteros y pueden crear adicciones? un libro que invita a leer, tiene datos curiosos y en general está bien documentado. Una perspectiva fresca sobre un tema poco abordado en algunas sociedades.
Read
July 30, 2011this books i about our pleasure,desire and happiness and its relation to addiction,etc, its very well researched
and it goes on a ramble at times but its very intersting and well laid out, humourous and witty.
its a pleasure to read.
and it goes on a ramble at times but its very intersting and well laid out, humourous and witty.
its a pleasure to read.
June 16, 2010
illuminating information on satisfaction and what it takes to makes us satisfied.
highly recommended.
highly recommended.
December 31, 2025
Esté es uno de los mejores libros que leí en todo el año, tal como lo dice el titulo, el autor habla sobre el placer y la ciencia detrás del sexo, el chocolate y las drogas, si bien el capitulo del sexo se quedó algo corto porque no profundizo en como sucede y porque las personas sienten placer con el sexo pero de igual forma con el resto de temas profundiza a fondo, por ejemplo en el caso de las drogas explica como cada continente tuvo una droga en particular que llamo la atención de las personas, con el chocolate explica que la adicción no es por el chocolate sino por la azúcar que contiene, además habla de como regular las drogas en general o reemplazarlas por unas que no generen los efectos negativos de las actuales y por ultimo muestra como se puede sentir placer de diferentes maneras en cosas que podemos hacer a diario sin consecuencias negativas ni excesos, definitivamente un libro recomendado para entender a fondo el placer y el deseo.
September 28, 2024
best book! 🤍
August 23, 2011
SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS, CONCLUSIONS, FACTS AND FUNNY HISTORICAL CHARACTERS... EVERYTHING ABOUT HEDONISM AND THE SCIENCE OF PLEASURE WITH SCIENTIFIC FACTS ON HOW THE BRAIN WORKS IN RELATION TO PLEASURE. ------- Experimentos científicos, Conclusiones, HECHOS Y DIVERTIDOS PERSONAJES HISTÓRICOS ... TODO SOBRE el hedonismo y la ciencia del placer con los hechos científicos sobre cómo el cerebro funciona en relación con el placer.
December 11, 2012
I Love this book. It talks about how something so simple that you do very often can become and addiction. Another thing that i liked was that i can relate to this book a lot, it makes me go back in the days where all I thought of was drugs and chocolate ! which I still love chocolate though but about drugs I have nothing to do with it anymore. I recommend this book ! :]
Want to read
March 9, 2011The title is wrong in goodreads - how do you change that?
August 4, 2014
clar- sunt un hedonist moderat
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews