Is a book I highly recommend for several reasons. On the personal
level he is the personal Dr. for myself and for Perry Metzger.
It is a very interesting book clearly for the subject matter it covers
but also for the way the information has been presented.
The basic premise of the book is how certain Nuro chemicals can
trigger addiction of any kind. Dr. Ruden takes a very evolutionary
view of things. For example he explains that 12 Step programs work,
basically because they trigger the Nuro chemical response that mammals
and other animals would get when in a "herd;" he may or may not be
correct but it is a more philosophically pleasing answer than it works
because someone invoked their higher power. He also touches on some
things which give sound scientific basis to the Extropian principal of
Dynamic Optimism.
The book is divided into two sections. A very easy to read six
chapters that details Dr. Ruden's Point of View (POV). Then there is
an other six chapters on the very same topics but with a more
scientific approach, far less easy to read but with significantly more
information. The type of information an Extropian might like to sink
his or her intellectual teeth into. I think more books should be
written this way; you get easy to read and you don't have to leave out
any of the hard details.
It is available via WWW.amazon.com and from other fine book sellers.
/hawk
Hardcover, 240 pages List: $23.00 -- Amazon.com Price: $20.70 -- You
Save: $2.30(10%) Published by Harpercollins Publication date: May 1997
Dimensions (in inches): 8.61 x 5.82 x 1.18
ISBN: 0060186984
Abr Cssts Edition Audio Cassette List: $18.00 -- Amazon.com Price:
$16.20 -- You Save: $1.80(10%) Published by Harper Audio Publication
date: March 1,1997 Dimensions (in inches): 7.10 x 4.52 x .87
ISBN: 069451795X
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Philadelphia Federal Judges Panel ( Dolores K. Sloviter, chief judge of
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Ronald L. Buckwalter and Stewart Dalzell.)