10% Happier

Dan Harris, a national TV news anchor who had covered wars, had always counted the restless voice in his head as an asset; then he had a panic attack live on the air. A chain of events that included a self-help guru, a gift from his wife and a disgraced evangelical pastor led him to meditation, which he first viewed with deep suspicion. Faced with scientific evidence that a few minutes a day can change the brain, he spent years among scientists, executives and marines, became a daily meditator and sat a ten-day silent retreat. Told as a memoir set in a hectic newsroom, it also makes a case for meditation as a public health tool.

In a podcast interview, Peter Attia said reading it got him interested in managing stress. WiderFunnel founder Chris Goward, put off by the religious framing of many Buddhist authors, valued how Harris described his skepticism and his discovery of meditation's practical benefits.