# Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke

6 Hacker News commenters recommended Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a good, worthwhile book on dopamine and addiction, explaining how pleasure and pain are balanced in the brain.

## Why people recommend it

- Good book on the subject (3 comments): "There are some good books on the subject if you're interested" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47470281)) "Both excellent books and perspectives worth reading." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49915467)) "Dopamine nation is a good book on the subject" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48240753))
- Explains pleasure and pain balance in brain (1 comments): "She talks about how pleasure and pain and experienced by the same region of the brain and they need to be balanced." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46526151))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter](https://hackerapproved.com/p/g-del-escher-bach.md): 47 recommend
- [Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/thinking-fast-and-slow.md): 17 recommend
- [Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows](https://hackerapproved.com/p/thinking-in-systems.md): 17 recommend
- [The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins](https://hackerapproved.com/p/selfish-gene.md): 14 recommend
- [Cosmos by Carl Sagan](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cosmos.md): 13 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1524746738?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781524746735) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke", https://hackerapproved.com/p/dopamine-nation/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).