Grudging tribute from the porn/sex industry:
Wilson’s book has been an unbeatable Amazon bestseller in the “pornography studies” category since publication.
~ Gustavo Turner, XBIZ: The Industry Source (2021)
Praise from Nordic Model Now:
Isn’t it better for women and children if men kick their porn habit? And if that takes understanding the addictive neurological, biological, and evolutionary forces underlying that behaviour, let’s go for it.
Which brings me to Your Brain on Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction by Gary Wilson, because it provides the tools to make that happen. Frankly everyone who wants to understand the world we now live in needs to read this book. But especially so if you are a parent, teacher, youth worker, politician, policy maker, counsellor, therapist or health professional. Or a feminist.
The Your Brain on Porn book was first published in 2014. Since then it has helped readers to better understand the science of addiction and the possible effects of internet pornography. A substantially revised and updated 2nd edition was published in December, 2017. This takes into account a wealth of later research. The new edition is an ideal way to step offline and take stock of what we now know about technology. Learn about the problems it can cause when combined with sexually explicit content. Addiction is big business. A working knowledge of modern neuroscience might keep you from becoming its product.
Your Brain on Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction is available as a Kindle ($5.99 / £4.99 / €4.99) and in pdf format via Paypal. 180 pages, 50,000 words. Customers using the Safari browser might run into problems downloading the PDF edition. Please use an alternative browser, or contact Commonwealth.
The book is also available in hardcopy and audiobook versions:
- Order paperback here for the UK. In the USA you can get it from Barnes and Noble.
- So far, Your Brain on Porn has been translated into Spanish, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Dutch, Arabic, Hungarian, German, Korean, Turkish, Russian, Korean and Japanese. More translations are on the way. View translations.
- Order the audiobook on Audible US.
Visit the Your Brain on Porn FaceBook page or Twitter for relevant updates.
Note: All YBOP proceeds from these items go to a UK charity that promotes education and research on porn’s effects.
Over 100,000 copies sold!
Reviews of the book:
“In this book, Gary Wilson presents a wealth of evidence that fast Internet porn can have harmful addictive effects. The series of highly favourable reviews of this newly-released book on both American and UK Amazon bear witness to just how relevant and helpful it has already been. The book is written in a simple clear language appropriate for expert and layperson alike. It is rooted firmly within the principles of neuroscience, behavioural psychology and evolution theory. The suggested ways of addressing the problem are also based upon established principles of behavioural psychology. They do not involve probing the depths of the unconscious mind or years of expensive therapy. The book does not preach a moralistic message. As an experimental psychologist, I have spent over 40 years researching the bases of motivation and I can confirm that Gary’s analysis fits very well to all that I have found.”
~ (Professor) Frederick Toates, Open University, England author of `How Sexual Desire Works: The Enigmatic Urge‘
“As is the case so often with new phenomena, science lags behind lived experience. Gary Wilson brings the two together powerfully as he explores the addiction that dare not speak its name. This book crackles with energy, urgency and humour. It offers up the hope of recovery to those struggling with internet porn addiction and it does so with compassion and informed authority. As a clinician I recognise the stories within its pages and I recognise the value of the solutions offered. This book is not to be missed.”
~ David McCartney, MD, Primary Care Addiction Specialist, Edinburgh
In this important book, Gary Wilson correctly identifies the obsession with pornography as a fetish – using an inanimate object for sexual arousal/gratification – and discusses the biopsychosocial consequences that often result from compulsive use of pornography for sexual arousal. The book describes many examples of the “rebooting” process that is necessary for sexual functioning to heal. He also explains the changes in brain physiology when sexual addiction hijacks normal sexual behavior – including why recovery takes time.
~Reid Finlayson, MD, Medical Director, Vanderbilt Comprehensive Assessment Program, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
At last a morally neutral and scientifically robust explanation for why so many people are getting hooked on porn. This book provides a comprehensive biological and sociological exploration of how and why pornography addiction is damaging so many people’s lives and provides strategies for reclaiming control that are backed up by hundreds of stories of personal experience. This is essential reading for therapists, sex educators and everyone who cares about enjoying sex.
~ Paula Hall, PhD, Sex Therapist, Author Understanding & Treating Sex Addiction
For too long discussions about whether pornography is harmful and/or addictive have been dismissed by many sexologists as arbitrary moralistic infringement on First Amendment rights. It is now clear to anyone whose opinion on this issue is informed by current neuroscience models of reward leaning, and who therefore have an understanding of neuroplasticity, that natural rewards can become addictive in a neural modulating context.
Wilson has tapped into and opened a window into the experience of an emerging generation who have been taught that sex is pornography. They see the sexual world pornography portrays with its endless novelty, fake orgasms, and enhanced breasts as the sexual norm by which real females must be compared. As Naomi Wolf said, “Today, real naked women are just bad porn;” she was merely describing what Tinbergen had coined with the term “supernormal stimulus.”
Academic sexologists are finding it increasingly difficult to hide behind their veil of apologism and ignorance, and Gary Wilson’s vast knowledge and skillful presentation of the neurobiological literature is contributing to this unmasking. Even more critically, the first person voices in this book of those experiencing the negative effects of the pathological neuroplastic learning process pornography facilitates can no longer be silenced.
~ Donald L. Hilton, Jr., MD, FAANS, University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio
Your Brain on Porn is the most considered, thorough and accurate account of internet porn addiction that exists at the time of writing.
~Anthony I. Jack, PhD, Professor of Philosophy, Psychology, Neurology and Neuroscience. Research Director of the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence at Case Western Reserve University
Watch short YOUTUBE video describing the book by a reader (who is not affiliated with YBOP).
YouTube interview of author Gary Wilson by recovered porn user Noah Church
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