SIMON & SCHUSTER — JUNE 2026

The Dopamine Code

How to Rewire Your Brain for Happiness and Productivity

By Dr. Sydney Ceruto

You are not lacking motivation. Your brain’s reward system is misfiring — chasing more while delivering less. The Dopamine Code reveals the neuroscience behind why ambition burns out, why satisfaction never holds, and what is structurally required to change both.

Dr. Sydney Ceruto’s Dopamine Menu framework gives you the architecture to recalibrate your brain’s motivation and reward pathways — permanently. Not willpower. Not another productivity hack. The actual science of why your brain does what it does, and how to rewire it.

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PUBLISHED BY:

Simon & Schuster publisher logo — Dr. Sydney Ceruto's The Dopamine Code published by Simon & Schuster
Forbes
USA Today
Huffington Post
Newsweek
Associated Press
Cosmopolitan
Business Insider
Forbes
USA Today
Huffington Post
Newsweek
Associated Press
Cosmopolitan
Business Insider
THE NEUROSCIENCE OF SUSTAINABLE AMBITION

Your Brain Already Knows
How to Drive

It Just Needs a Better Map

The pursuit of more is neurological, not motivational. Your brain is wired to chase — but without the right architecture, that drive produces diminishing returns: the promotion that doesn’t satisfy, the achievement that feels empty 48 hours later, the restlessness that no amount of success seems to quiet.

The Dopamine Code explains why. Dr. Sydney Ceruto translates three decades of behavioral neuroscience into a framework anyone can use. At its center is the Dopamine Menu — a personalized system for structuring your motivation, focus, and reward pathways so the drive that already exists in your brain starts working for you instead of burning you out.

This is not another book about dopamine detoxes, cold plunges, or morning routines. It is the science of how your brain predicts reward, why that prediction system misfires, and how to recalibrate it permanently — so satisfaction actually holds.

Written for anyone caught in the cycle of chasing more without understanding why the payoff never lasts — whether that cycle shows up in your career, your relationships, your health, or all three at once.

A 3D dopamine molecule symbol constructed from microscopic copper nanobots and blue data streams on a cream background. Symbolizing the dopamine code.

What You Will Build

Recalibrate Your Baseline

The reason the last win didn’t feel like enough is not a mindset problem — it is a baseline shift. Your brain adapted to the reward — then it raised the bar. The Dopamine Code shows you exactly how your reward threshold drifted and gives you the tools to reset it so the energy you spend today is not borrowed from tomorrow.

Build Your Dopamine Menu

The core framework of the book. Your Dopamine Menu is a personalized system built from three courses — Main Courses for deep engagement, Side Dishes for novelty and resets, and Restorative Desserts for mental renewal. Design the combination that keeps your motivation architecture stable and self-renewing.

Harness Neuroplasticity

Small wins are not just motivational — they are structural. Every time reality exceeds your brain’s expectation — a positive reward prediction error — it physically reinforces that pathway. The Dopamine Code teaches you to use this to rewire your neural architecture, turning intentional choices into automatic defaults.

THE FRAMEWORK EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT

Your Dopamine Menu

A Prix Fixe Tasting for the Modern Brain

The Dopamine Menu is the core framework of The Dopamine Code — a personalized system for structuring your brain’s motivation and reward pathways the way a chef structures a tasting menu. Main Courses for deep engagement. Side Dishes for novelty and resets. Restorative Desserts for mental renewal. Each course calibrated to your neurology, not borrowed from someone else’s.

The concept is simple. The neuroscience behind it is not. In The Dopamine Code, Dr. Ceruto walks you through the complete Menu-building process — how to identify your courses, sequence them, and adapt the system as your brain recalibrates over time.

Top-down view of a sophisticated "Dopamine Menu" card titled "The Dopamine Protocol" resting on a copper-rimmed fine china plate, listing productivity tasks as gourmet courses.
PRE-ORDER BONUS

The Early Adopter Initiative

Start Rewiring Before the Book Ships

Pre-order The Dopamine Code from any retailer and instantly access the Dopamine Menu Workshop — a $500 digital masterclass extracted from the core framework of the manuscript. Build your personalized reward architecture now, so you are already applying the neuroscience before the book arrives.

The workshop walks you through the same Dopamine Menu framework Dr. Ceruto uses with her private clients — adapted into a structured, self-paced format you can complete on your own timeline.

How to Claim Your Workshop

Complete this form after your purchase:

Mockup of the Dopamine Code digital workshop and Dopamine Audit included with pre-order.
ORGANIZATIONS & TEAMS

Corporate & Volume Orders

Equip Your Team with the Neuroscience of Sustainable Drive

Burnout is not a personnel issue — it is a neurological one. The Dopamine Code gives teams a shared framework for understanding motivation, reward, and sustained output. Volume orders are fulfilled through our partnership with Porchlight Books, with single-invoice billing and tiered pricing.

Self-Guided (25+ Copies)

Volume Discount via Porchlight Books

Every copy includes a license to the Dopamine Menu Workshop ($500 value). Your team receives the book and the complete self-paced framework — one workshop license per copy ordered.

Best for department book clubs, reading initiatives, and self-paced learning.

Team Briefing Included (50+ Copies)

Volume Discount via Porchlight Books

Everything in Tier 1 — the book, the Porchlight discount, and a workshop license for every copy ordered.

Exclusive Bonus: Includes a Private Virtual Briefing with Dr. Ceruto (45 minutes) to install the protocol directly with your team.

Best for leadership teams and organizational rollouts.

All volume orders fulfilled by Porchlight Books. Single-invoice billing available. For orders of 500+, contact us directly for custom arrangements.

Stacks of The Dopamine Code books on a boardroom table with a leadership team collaborating in the background.
COMING OCTOBER 2026

The Dopamine Code Workbook

Your Guided Companion

The companion workbook to The Dopamine Code — structured exercises for building and implementing your personalized Dopamine Menu. Work through each chapter’s framework at your own pace with guided prompts, self-assessments, and the complete Menu-building process laid out step by step.

Published by Simon & Schuster. Available for pre-order soon.

Dopamine Workbook
FOUNDER & CEO

Dr. Sydney Ceruto

Pioneer of Real-Time Neuroplasticity™

Founder & CEO of MindLAB Neuroscience, Dr. Sydney Ceruto is the pioneer of Real-Time Neuroplasticity™ — a proprietary methodology that permanently rewires the neural pathways driving behavior, decisions, and emotional responses. She works with a select number of clients, embedding into their lives in real time across every domain — personal, professional, and relational.

Dr. Ceruto is the author of The Dopamine Code: How to Rewire Your Brain for Happiness and Productivity (Simon & Schuster, June 2026) and The Dopamine Code Workbook (Simon & Schuster, October 2026).

  • PhD in Behavioral & Cognitive Neuroscience — New York University
  • Master’s Degrees in Clinical Psychology and Business Psychology — Yale University
  • Lecturer, Wharton Executive Development Program — University of Pennsylvania
  • Executive Contributor, Forbes Coaching Council (since 2019)
  • Inductee, Marquis Who’s Who in America
  • Founder, MindLAB Neuroscience (est. 2000 — 26+ years)
Dr. Sydney Ceruto, founder of MindLAB Neuroscience and creator of Real-Time Neuroplasticity™, wearing professional navy blazer against blue background

Ships June 9, 2026. Published by Simon & Schuster.

Purchasing 25+ copies for a team?

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The Intelligence Brief

Neuroscience-backed analysis on how your brain drives what you feel, what you choose, and what you can’t seem to change — direct from Dr. Ceruto.