If you can't say anything nice...
Jul. 2nd, 2007 10:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ann_leckieRight. So I was frustrated with the last book, it's only fair to praise the next one I picked up.
Messengers of Paradise: Opiates and the Brain by Charles F. Levinthal is readable, fairly entertaining, definitely interesting, and I came away with the understanding of opioid receptors that I was looking for to begin with. I admit I get major squick thinking too hard about the physical details of my actual brain--it makes me want to put on a really thick helmet. But the information more than made up for the squick, and there were really cool moments too (even squicky ones!). There was even a moment of "awww!" Among the various photos (courtesy this or that lab or researcher or organization) is one meant to illustrate the section on the role of endorphins in childbirth and parental bonding. It's a very sweet photo of a mother and newborn, and it's labeled "Mother and newborn, aged thirty minutes. (Courtesy Dr. & Mrs. Charles F. Levinthal)"
The edition I read is from 1988, so hardly up to date, but I have a better idea now of how to search for anything more current that I might need.
Messengers of Paradise: Opiates and the Brain by Charles F. Levinthal is readable, fairly entertaining, definitely interesting, and I came away with the understanding of opioid receptors that I was looking for to begin with. I admit I get major squick thinking too hard about the physical details of my actual brain--it makes me want to put on a really thick helmet. But the information more than made up for the squick, and there were really cool moments too (even squicky ones!). There was even a moment of "awww!" Among the various photos (courtesy this or that lab or researcher or organization) is one meant to illustrate the section on the role of endorphins in childbirth and parental bonding. It's a very sweet photo of a mother and newborn, and it's labeled "Mother and newborn, aged thirty minutes. (Courtesy Dr. & Mrs. Charles F. Levinthal)"
The edition I read is from 1988, so hardly up to date, but I have a better idea now of how to search for anything more current that I might need.