Person
Anna Lembke's book recommendations
Key facts
- Anna Lembke has recommended or discussed 7 books on podcasts, as of January 22, 2026.
- Anna Lembke has talked about books on 5 podcasts, as of January 22, 2026.
- Those books came up in 5 episodes, as of January 22, 2026.
- The 3 books Anna Lembke has mentioned in the most episodes, not counting Anna Lembke's own, as of January 22, 2026: The Twilight Saga, How to Change Your Mind and 50 Shades of Gray.
- The latest episode with a book mention from Anna Lembke aired on January 22, 2026.
Updated
Across 5 podcasts. Every show Anna Lembke appears on, in one place — not just one.
Anna Lembke’s most recommended books
- The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer
- How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan
- 50 Shades of Gray by Mxj Press
- Addiction and Virtue by Kent Dunnington
- Humility, Pride, and Christian Virtue Theory by Kent Dunnington
- The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
Anna Lembke is an American psychiatrist practicing in the field of addiction medicine who is chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic at Stanford University. She is a specialist in the opioid epidemic in the United States and the author of Drug Dealer, MD, How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop. Her book, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, was released in August 2021 and became a New York Times bestseller. Dr. Lembke discussed her personal transition into reading romance novels, noting that she got hooked on Stephenie Meyer's The Twilight Saga in her early forties and later read Mxj Press's 50 Shades of Gray. She also touched upon findings from her own book, Dopamine Nation, regarding the correlation between national wealth and unhappiness, a concept she contrasted with Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations. Furthermore, she mentioned Kent Dunnington's Addiction and Virtue while exploring philosophical perspectives on whether addiction is a disease.
Books recommended by Anna Lembke
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Dopamine Nation
Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke is a prominent exploration of how modern society's constant pursuit of pleasure leads to compulsive overconsumption and mental distress, written by a Stanford medical school psychiatrist and addiction expert.
Discussed“so i mean when i was doing the research for my book one of the most fascinating things that that i discovered was that unhappiness of nations is directly correlated with wealth of nations”
Where to get it
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The Twilight Saga
The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer is a commercially successful young adult vampire romance series that follows the relationship between a teenage girl and an immortal vampire.
Discussed“And they said oh it's the Twilight Saga. And I thought huh okay that sounds you know I've never read a book like that. I'll go check it out.”
Where to get it
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How to Change Your Mind
How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan is an exploration of the renaissance in psychedelic research and therapy.
Critiqued“So that's very concerning to me 'cause like, you know, Pollan's "How to Change Your Mind", I respect that work, but on the other hand, it's penetrated the culture-”
Where to get it
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50 Shades of Gray
50 Shades of Gray by Mxj Press is a commercially massive romance novel and cultural phenomenon that delves into explicit erotica and unconventional relationships.
Discussed“um first of all it was finding myself up at 3: in the morning on a week night reading 50 Shades of Gray which is like sta masochistic porn basically and being like what am I doing”
Where to get it
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Addiction and Virtue
Discussed“And I first came across a book he wrote called, "Addiction and Virtue." Which is this philosophical lens through to consider whether or not addiction really is a disease and whether or not people have a choice and what that choice looks like, and he uses Aristotle.”
Where to get it
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Humility, Pride, and Christian Virtue Theory
Discussed“And I first came across a book he wrote called, "Addiction and Virtue." Which is this philosophical lens through to consider whether or not addiction really is a disease and whether or not people have a choice and what that choice looks like, and he uses Aristotle.”
Where to get it
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The Wealth of Nations
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith is a foundational 1776 text by the Scottish thinker often regarded as the father of modern economics, exploring free markets, capitalism, and the mechanics of national wealth.
Discussed“you know we have adam smith's wealth of nations this idea that capitalism would solve all ills and the invisible hand and the free market and once people you lived in free and capitalist societies you know all they would be so happy”
Where to get it
Books by Anna Lembke
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Dopamine Nation
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Drug Dealer, MD
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Best-Selling Series by Dr. Anna Lembke. Dopamine Nation Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (hardcover) & the Official Dopamine Nation Workbook. a Practical Guide to Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (paperback)
Appearances
Other mentions (7: passing, ad reads, own books)
“and you know, kind of the big idea in Dopamine Nation is that we've essentially drugified everything, whether it's substances or behaviors or work or relationships.”
“but also as I as I talk about in in my book dopamine Nation a kind of leveraging the shame within the group”
“and specifically in terms of what can be done beyond the kinds of individual and family interventions that I talk about in my book”
“the first is Johns Hopkins University press and the dopamine nation is published by Dutton penguin Random House”
“as i talk about in the book i got addicted to romance novels i started with the twilight saga and i eventually you know over time graduated to socially sanctioned pornography for women which is these erotica novels not consistent with my values”
“so i just really want to emphasize that we're talking about a spectrum disorder and my book is mainly targeting people who are a little bit addicted”
“The other thing that we know, and this is really kind of what the book is about, is that if we expose ourselves chronically to substances or behaviors that repeatedly release large amounts of dopamine in our brains reward pathway, that we can change our tonic baseline and actually lower it over time”