Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll
Subtitle: the science of hedonism and the hedonism of science
By: Zoe Cormier
Publisher: Profile Books
Published: 2014
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 331
ISBN-13: 9781781250921; 9781847659491
Subjects: Science; Popular works; Hedonism; Drugs; Sex; Rock music
Description: From tortoiseshell condoms to superstar athletes on hallucinogens, these burning questions are explored and dissected, mixed with insights from some of the world's bravest, cleverest and downright weirdest scientists experimenting on the edge - and themselves. Along the way we find big questions about consciousness, happiness and humanity in the strange hedonistic recesses of research. Without our most insatiable drives, science and the world would be very different. ..."--Back cover.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Foreword / Jen Wong; title: Sex (Evolution's climax ; The human animal; title: 'So pretty and useful a thing' ; Come as you are ; ̀The tyranny of the clitoris' ; 'Die of shame' ; Made to measure ; Of monkey balls and millionaires; title: Pills and potions ; Chacun à son goût ; Gross indecency ; Evolution's rainbow ; Inconceivable... ; Intoxicating odours ; Feast of stenches ; Just one? ; Sperm bombs ; 'A cold, dark sea'; title: Mind-body dance); title: Drugs (Botanical battles ; Animal nature ; 'The ideal dreams of wild desire' ; Before the Boomers ; Of parasites, bicycles and saints ; Silence of the science ; Experimental revelations ; Renegade research ; Reclaim the dream ; Cures what ails you ; Addicted to addiction ; Drugs for drugs ; Surgery of the soul ; Shaking up a snow globe ; Better dying through chemistry); title: Rock 'n' roll (Intoxicating influences ; Substance and character ; Redemption and recovery ; Technological transformations ;Rock, bone and water ; Immortalising sound ; Magnetic music ; Sound on sound ; Synthesised sounds ; Turn up the bass ; Piscine origins ; Relic bones ; Sonic spiral staircase ; Organised sound ; An exquisite illusion ; No music; title: 'Evolutionary parasite' ; Synaptic symphonies ; Chemical crescendos ; Hardwired ; Neural nutrition ; Medicinal music ; Sonic bonds ; Musical monkeys ; Duets with nightingales ; Insight and inspiration); title: Conclusion; title: Epilogue.