"Andrew B. Gross" <andrewgr at microsoft.com> wrote in
news:41b60198 at news.microsoft.com:
> I am looking for a book recommendation.
>> What I'm after is a book that gives me a basic understanding of brain
> chemistry. I'd like to be able to read the description of a drug-- a
> painkiller, or an anti-depressant, or an illigal drug like cocaine, or
> whatever-- and be able to puzzle out how the drug is supposed to work.
> E.g., if something is a dopamine re-uptake inhibitor, what does that
> mean, etc.
>> My last chemistry or biology class was 20 years ago, in high school,
> so you'll need to assume that I'm essentially completely uneducated on
> those subjects. On the other hand, I'm fairly bright, have good
> reading comprehension, and am willing to put some effort in.
>> Thanks in advance for any help,
>> Andrew
>>>>
You'd probably want a collection; The biochemical basis of
neuropharmacology by Cooper Bloom and Roth is quite good, but it's
lacking in some areas (and the discription of the pharmacology of
hallucinogens therein is surprisingly poor). Molecular neuropharmacology
by Nestler et al., isn't bad either.
There are many forums that also discuss topic like that for instance:
http://brainmeta.com/forum/index.phphttp://bluelight.nu