Episode · The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett · 2026-01-05
Books mentioned on Dopamine Expert: Short Form Videos Are Frying Your Brain! This Is A Dopamine Disaster!
Dopamine expert DR ANNA LEMBKE reveals how addiction is hijacking your brain, why dopamine addiction is rising fast, the danger of social media, porn, AI, GLP-1 drugs, and how to regain control FAST!
Steven Bartlett discussed Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke and others, Abundance by Peter H. Diamandis and others, Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman, and Infinite jest by David Foster Wallace.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Dopamine Nation
Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke, MD is a contemporary masterpiece written by a Stanford medical school professor and psychiatrist that examines the biological and psychological roots of addiction, abundance, and compulsive behaviors in modern society.
Discussed“and I'm wondering how everything you write about in Dopamine Nation is related to and critical to understand if I am going to shake some of these bad habits that I have or pick up some new ones.”
Where to get it
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Abundance
Abundance by Peter H.
Discussed“Specifically, advances in AI and robotics will create the age of abundance. And he said, 'Humanity's not constrained in any real fashion.' I thought your first book, when he was talking to a guy called Peter Diamandis, was pretty accurate. It was called Abundance.”
Where to get it
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Amusing Ourselves to Death
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman is a seminal media ecology critique arguing that television and modern visual media degrade public discourse by reducing serious thought to mere entertainment.
Discussed“I mean, and and this is what Neil Postman warned about in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death, a theme that was picked up by David Foster Wallace in Infinite Jest. You know, beginning with television and now the internet and digital media in all its various forms, we are entertaining ourselves to death.”
Where to get it
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Infinite jest
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace is a sprawling, maximalist novel exploring addiction, entertainment, and modern American culture.
Discussed“I mean, and and this is what Neil Postman warned about in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death, a theme that was picked up by David Foster Wallace in Infinite Jest. You know, beginning with television and now the internet and digital media in all its various forms, we are entertaining ourselves to death.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“You wrote this um iconic book about this word dopamine. Why does it matter so much?”