But unlike most addicts, Lewis recovered and became a developmental psychologist and researcher in neuroscience. In Memoirs of an Addicted Brain, he applies his professional expertise to a study of his former self, using the story of his own journey through addiction to tell the universal story of addictions of every kind. He explains the neurological effects of a variety of powerful drugs, and shows how they speak to the brain -- itself designed to seek rewards and soothe pain -- in its own language. And he illuminates how craving overtakes the nervous system, sculpting a synaptic network dedicated to one goal -- more -- at the expense of everything else.