Some people get obsessed with romance and fantasy novels. What's the science behind this kind of guilty pleasure? proxyminder/Getty Images/E+ hide caption In the past few months, romance and fantasy books have taken the internet by storm. One of these is The Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros.
These books became a bit of an obsession for me. (What’s not to love about a college full of love triangles and magic dragons?) I devoured these books and many of my coworkers and friends did, too. A single mention of the series quickly prompted both gushing reviews and groans from the people around me.
Despite the fun I had reading, I noticed that I felt the need to add a disclaimer before recommending the series: “I mean, it’s all kind of silly,” I’d say. I got curious about this need to separate myself from this thing that was bringing me joy. Of course, I decided to turn to science.
What could it tell me about this experience of a guilty pleasure? Maybe yours is romantasy books like mine, or maybe it's video games, reality TV or obscure corners of TikTok . I spoke with neuroscientist Morten Kringelbach at the University of Oxford and several other researchers to get answers. This story is adapted from an episode of Short Wave .
Kringelbach, who directs a center dedicated to studying human flourishing, pleasure and meaningfulness in the brain, says experiencing pleasure is critical to humanity’s survival. “We need to be able not just to survive for ourselves, but also su.