Addiction by Design
by Natasha Dow Schüll
Mentioned once across 1 show · first heard Jan 2026 on Huberman Lab.
The general take
Keith Humphreys recommends Addiction by Design as a tremendous book about gambling, noting that it profiles video poker players, many of whom work in casinos. He's uncertain about the author's name but confident enough in the book itself to bring it up as a worthwhile read on the topic.
About
This audiobook narrated by Kelly Burke traces the intimate connections between gambling addiction and casino industry design tactics Recent decades have seen a dramatic shift away from social forms of gambling played around roulette wheels and card tables to solitary gambling at electronic terminals. Slot machines, revamped by ever more compelling digital and video technology, have unseated traditional casino games as the gambling industry's revenue mainstay. Addiction by Design takes listeners into the intriguing world of machine gambling, an increasingly popular and absorbing form of play that blurs the line between human and machine, compulsion and control, risk and reward.
Who said what
Keith Humphreys👍 Recommends
…reference to scholarly book examining design of addictive gambling machines
“There's a tremendous book, Addiction by Design. And I'm afraid I'm going to mispronounce the name of the person who wrote it. I think it's Shull, but I'm not sure, but I know the title, Addiction by Design, about gambling. And she profiles people who play video poker, many of whom work in the casino.”
Huberman Lab — How to Overcome Addiction to Substances or Behaviors | Dr. Keith Humphreysat 1:00:01
Listener reviews
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