THE MOLECULE OF MORE

By Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD, and
Michael E. Long

How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity – and
Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race

Why are we obsessed with the things we want and bored when we get them?
Why is addiction perfectly logical to an addict?
Why does love change so quickly from passion to indifference?
Why are some people diehard liberals and others hardcore conservatives, no matter the argument against them?
Why are we always hopeful for solutions even in the darkest times—and so good at figuring them out?

The answer is found in a single chemical in your brain: dopamine. Dopamine ensured the survival of early man. Thousands of years later, it is the source of our most basic behaviors and cultural ideas—and progress itself.

Dopamine is the chemical of desire that always asks for more—more stuff, more stimulation, and more surprises.

It is undeterred by emotion, fear, or morality.

It is why we seek and succeed; it is why we discover and prosper.

Yet it’s also why we gamble and squander.

From dopamine’s point of view, it’s not the having that matters. It’s getting something—anything—that’s new. From this, we can understand in a revolutionary new way why we behave as we do in love, business, addiction, politics, religion – and we can even predict those behaviors in ourselves and others.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

As a guy who creates musical stuff for a living and reads science books for kicks, I was doubly hooked by The Molecule of More. Lieberman and Long lay out the astoundingly wide-ranging effects of dopamine with nimble metaphors and fat-free sentences. And the research linking creativity and madness, with dopamine as the hidden culprit—let’s just say it hit home. Reading each chapter, I felt myself fitting a key smoothly into a locked door, opening onto a fresh-yet-familiar room.

Robbie Fulks
Grammy-nominated recording artist

Daniel Lieberman and Michael Long have pulled off an amazing feat. They have made a biography of a neurotransmitter a riveting read. Once you understand the power and peril of dopamine, you’ll better understand the human condition itself.

Daniel H. Pink
Author of Drive and When

Jim Watson, who deciphered the genetic code, famously said, ‘There are only molecules; the rest is sociology,’ adding fuel to C. P. Snow's complaint that Science and the humanities are two fundamentally different "cultures" which will never meet. The authors argue provocatively, yet convincingly, that the molecule that allows us to bridge the chasm between them is dopamine. Though written for ordinary people, the narrative is sprinkled throughout with dazzling new insights that will appeal equally to specialists.

V.S. Ramachandran, PhD
Professor at the University of California, San Diego, and at Salk Institute and author of The Emerging Mind

Why do we crave what we don’t have rather than feel good about what we do—and why do fools fall in love? Haunting questions of human biology are answered by The Molecule of More, a must-read about the human condition.

Gregg Easterbrook
Author of It’s Better Than It Looks

I've worked as an artist for forty years, and the question ‘Why am I like this?’ has been a puzzle, a mystery, a plea, and an occasional cry to the heavens. Lieberman and Long have created a road map for all those wrestling between insatiable longing and the here and now.

Thomas F. Wilson
Actor and comedian; co-star of Back to the Future trilogy

Meet a molecule whose fingerprint rests upon every aspect of human nature — from desire and drugs to politics and progress. Lieberman and Long tell the epic saga of dopamine as a page-turner that you simply can't put down.

David Eagleman, PhD
Neuroscientist at Stanford and New York Times bestselling author

WHY READ THE MOLECULE OF MORE?

The Molecule of More explains how dopamine impacts and drives different aspects of your life including:

LOVE

Why is it so difficult to transition from a dating relationship to something permanent? Is there a way to make it easier? Explore the connection between dopamine and romantic love – and the chasm that must be crossed to making love stay.

CREATIVITY

Learn the dopamine-driven reason why some people are more creative than others, which is also why creative types are often a little more forgetful, even “scatter-brained” than others, too. If you’re creative or just want to be, learn how to better access your gift.

BUSINESS

Find out what makes dopaminergic people more ambitious than others, how to leverage that neurochemical ability, and what every busy person can do to make life beyond the office more satisfying.

ADDICTION

Understanding how dopamine’s pursuit of more can become all-consuming helps us get inside the mind of those struggling with addiction to see why, to an addict, addiction seems “perfectly logical.”

POLITICS

Why is politics so vicious, and why now? The Molecule of More identifies the neurochemical difference between liberals and conservatives, how it orients both left and right toward certain kinds of beliefs, and why, whatever your politics, the “other side” never seems to “get it.”

WORK/LIFE BALANCE

Dopamine makes us want more, but life is more than pursuit and ambition. Learn easy ways to balance the dopamine-driven life with the pleasures of what’s around us in the here and now.

PREVIEW THE MOLECULE OF MORE

Get the first chapter

Read the first chapter of revolutionary book, The Molecule of More, by
Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD, and Michael E. Long.

Media Inquiries

For media inquiries, contact Jennifer Canzoneri at Jennifer@BenBellaBooks.com.

IN THE NEWS

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

DANIEL Z. LIEBERMAN, MD

Daniel Z. Lieberman, M.D. is professor and vice chair for clinical affairs in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at George Washington University. Dr. Lieberman is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a recipient of the Caron Foundation Research Award, and he has published over 50 scientific reports on behavioral science. He has provided insight on psychiatric issues for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the US Department of Commerce, and the Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy, and has discussed mental health in interviews on CNN, C-SPAN, and PBS. Dr. Lieberman studied the Great Books at St. John’s College. He received his medical degree and completed his psychiatric training at New York University.

For more info go to DanielZLieberman.com

Michael E. Long

Trained as a physicist, Michael E. Long is an award-winning speechwriter, screenwriter, and playwright. As a playwright, more than 20 of his shows have been produced, most on New York stages. As a screenwriter, his honors include finalist for the grand prize in screenwriting at the Slamdance Film Festival. As a speechwriter, Mr. Long has written for members of Congress, U.S. cabinet secretaries, governors, diplomats, business executives, and presidential candidates. A popular speaker and educator, Mr. Long has addressed audiences around the world, including in a keynote at Oxford University. He teaches writing at Georgetown University, where he is a former director of writing. Mr. Long pursued undergraduate studies at Murray State University and graduate studies at Vanderbilt University.

For more info go to MikeLongOnline.com