The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

Pediatric endocrinologist Lustig (The Fat Chance Cookbook, with Heather Millar) makes his unoriginal thesis very clear up front: Americans are miserable and suffer from addiction, depression, and illness because American culture, corporations, and pop psychology promote dopamine-based pleasure and reward over serotonin-mediated contentment and happiness. The result is a “death spiral” for physical and psychological health. Lustig’s strongest tool in making this argument is his ability to lucidly explain neuroscience, specifically regarding the neural pathways developed by pleasure-seeking behaviors and cortisol-driving chronic stress. He also reiterates ideas from his previous books, which share an obsession with a generalized “metabolic syndrome” as the core American affliction and sugar as the most obviously guilty culprit. Though his tone remains authoritative, Lustig’s reach here exceeds his expertise as he also points his finger at antagonists as varied as social media, Big Pharma’s and Big Food’s marketing strategies, and the federal government’s administration of Social Security. His “four Cs” solution—connect, contribute, cope, and cook—urges a return to a slowed-down style of life from before the rise of fast food and the internet. Lustig aims at big thinking but his exposé is mostly unshocking, his ideas rehashed rather than cutting-edge, and his advice curmudgeonly, albeit also humanistic and sensible. (Sept.)