Stealing Fire

Rare and contested states of consciousness, rather than grit, better habits or 10,000 hours of practice, are the shortcut to high performance that Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal say trailblazers have found. The authors spent four years reporting from places including the home of SEAL Team Six, Burning Man, Red Bull's training center, the Googleplex, Richard Branson's Necker Island and the United Nations headquarters. They describe executives such as Eric Schmidt and Elon Musk, special operators in the Navy SEALs and Green Berets, and scientists such as Sasha Shulgin and Amy Cuddy all seeking the information and inspiration that altered states provide. The book ties the trend to pharmacology, technology, neurobiology and psychology, and to a trillion-dollar underground economy.

Joe Rogan listened to it on a run after Ben Askren recommended it and called it an excellent book on meditation, altered states and performance. Tim Ferriss praised how it balances the promise, the risks and the practical methods of reaching peak states such as flow.