Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. I love a good revenge story,

a novel about a person wronged who goes to the ends of the earth to get revenge. But the beauty

of fiction is that the story ends once you turn the last page. In reality, revenge can have

long-term geopolitical consequences.

Because the thirst for revenge is something we all have hardwired into us.

That's according to Yale psychiatry professor James Kimmel Jr., who's got a new book out titled The Science of Revenge.

Up ahead, he speaks with NPR's Michelle Martin about what's going on in our brains when we seek revenge and how it might actually be pretty similar to drug use.

That's after the break.

A guy cuts you off in traffic. You have the chance to do the same to him at the next light. Do you do it?

Or how about a group that sees itself as oppressed attacks random members of the group they see as their oppressors, even if they're not personally responsible? What should happen?

Our next guest thinks there is a human desire to get even. It might even be an addiction. But he also thinks there's a way out.

James Kimmel Jr. is a lecturer at the Yale School of Medicine and Psychiatry,

and he's the author of a new book titled The Science of Revenge. James Kimball, Jr., thank you so much

for joining us. Thank you, Michelle. It's my pleasure to be here. You know, in the book,

you tell this really poignant story about how you, as a young person, realized that you had a taste for revenge.

I mean, as briefly as you can, do you mind telling us that story?

When I was a teenager, my family had moved to the country, and I wanted to befriend the

neighboring farm kids.

The harder I tried to connect with them, the more they resisted that. And that eventually

turned into several years' worth of bullying, actually. And, you know, it started with unkind words

and moved to some physical forms of violence. They killed my dog, blown up our mailbox,

staged an explosion at our house. And I decided that I needed to

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