Print List Price:	$23.99
Kindle Price:	$11.99 Save $12.00 (50%)
Sold by:	HarperCollins Publishers CA This price was set by the publisher.

You have subscribed to ! We will pre-order your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we’ll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Follow the authors

Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work Kindle Edition

by Steven Kotler (Author), Jamie Wheal (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.4 2,675 ratings

See all formats and editions

Great on Kindle

Great Experience. Great Value.

Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.

National Bestseller

CNBC and Strategy + Business Best Business Book of the Year

It’s the biggest revolution you’ve never heard of, and it’s hiding in plain sight. Over the past decade, Silicon Valley executives like Eric Schmidt and Elon Musk, Special Operators like the Navy SEALs and the Green Berets, and maverick scientists like Sasha Shulgin and Amy Cuddy have turned everything we thought we knew about high performance upside down. Instead of grit, better habits, or 10,000 hours, these trailblazers have found a surprising short cut. They're harnessing rare and controversial states of consciousness to solve critical challenges and outperform the competition.

New York Times bestselling author Steven Kotler and high performance expert Jamie Wheal spent four years investigating the leading edges of this revolution—from the home of SEAL Team Six to the Googleplex, the Burning Man festival, Richard Branson’s Necker Island, Red Bull’s training center, Nike’s innovation team, and the United Nations’ Headquarters. And what they learned was stunning: In their own ways, with differing languages, techniques, and applications, every one of these groups has been quietly seeking the same thing: the boost in information and inspiration that altered states provide.

Today, this revolution is spreading to the mainstream, fueling a trillion dollar underground economy and forcing us to rethink how we can all lead richer, more productive, more satisfying lives. Driven by four accelerating forces—psychology, neurobiology, technology and pharmacology—we are gaining access to and insights about some of the most contested and misunderstood terrain in history. Stealing Fire is a provocative examination of what’s actually possible; a guidebook for anyone who wants to radically upgrade their life.

Product description

Review

An electrifying, fast-paced journey into the deep potential of the human brain.

-- "David Eagleman, neuroscientist, New York Times bestselling author, presenter of PBS's The Brain"

From the Back Cover

It’s the biggest revolution you’ve never heard of, and it’s hiding in plain sight. Over the past decade, Silicon Valley executives like Eric Schmidt and Elon Musk, special operators like the Navy SEALs and the Green Berets, and maverick scientists like Sasha Shulgin and Amy Cuddy have turned everything we thought we knew about high performance upside down. Instead of grit, better habits, or 10,000 hours, these trailblazers have found a surprising shortcut. They’re harnessing rare and controversial states of consciousness to solve critical challenges and outperform the competition.

New York Times bestselling author Steven Kotler and high-performance expert Jamie Wheal spent four years investigating the leading edges of this revolution—from the home of SEAL Team Six to the Googleplex, the Burning Man festival, Richard Branson’s Necker Island, Red Bull’s training center, Nike’s innovation team, and the United Nations headquarters. And what they learned was stunning: In their own ways, with differing languages, techniques, and applications, every one of these groups has been quietly seeking the same thing: the boost in information and inspiration that altered states provide.

Today, this revolution is spreading to the mainstream, fueling a trillion-dollar underground economy and forcing us to rethink how we can all lead richer, more productive, more satisfying lives. Driven by four accelerating forces—psychology, neurobiology, technology, and pharmacology—we are gaining access to and insights about some of the most contested and misunderstood terrain in history. Stealing Fire is a provocative examination of what’s actually possible; a guidebook for anyone who wants to radically upgrade their life.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01GCCT3G6
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dey Street Books; Reprint edition (Feb. 21 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2233 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 309 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #123,347 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #24 in Futurology
- #28 in Pharmacology (Kindle Store)
- #37 in Military Engineering

Customer Reviews:
4.4 2,675 ratings

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Jamie Wheal
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.
Jamie Wheal is the author of Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work and the founder of the Flow Genome Project, an international organization dedicated to the research and training of human performance.
His work and ideas have been covered in The New York Times, Financial Times, Wired, Entrepreneur, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Inc., and TED. He has spoken at Stanford University, MIT, the Harvard Club, Imperial College, Singularity University, the U.S. Naval War College and Special Operations Command, Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, the Bohemian Club, and the United Nations.
He lives high in the Rocky Mountains in an off-grid cabin with his partner, Julie; two children, Lucas and Emma; and their golden retrievers, Aslan and Calliope. When not writing, he can be found mountain biking, kitesurfing, and backcountry skiing.
See more on the author's page
Steven Kotler
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.
Steven Kotler is a New York Times-bestselling author, an award-winning journalist, and the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective. He is one of the world’s leading experts on human performance. He is the author of nine bestsellers (out of thirteen books total), including The Art of Impossible, The Future Is Faster Than You Think, Stealing Fire, The Rise of Superman, Bold and Abundance. His work has been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes, translated into over 40 languages, and appeared in over 100 publications, including the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Atlantic Monthly, TIME and the Harvard Business Review. Steven is also the cohost of Flow Research Collective Radio, a top ten iTunes science podcast. Along with his wife, author Joy Nicholson, he is the cofounder of the Rancho de Chihuahua, a hospice and special needs dog sanctuary.
See more on the author's page

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from Canada

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Amazon Customer

this book is nothing like any of those

Reviewed in Canada on February 23, 2017

Verified Purchase

Absolutely mind blown, as an individual who is very interested in highjacking flow states and creating a life where I can have access to bliss, awe and wonder at my fingertips, this book is the key missing factor on my journey that I have been waiting for. I did the Celestine Prophecy thing, I did the Eckhart Tolle thing, I did The Secret, this book is nothing like any of those. This book uses hard cold facts and data to demonstrate to us how and why any of us can access these deep mystical flow states. For a psychology nerd like myself there is the perfect balance of research and first person perspectives fused with historical, transcendental narratives. This book was my final missing puzzle piece to truly mastering and harnessing ecstasis! This book tells us that happiness can be a baseline. Moreover, that in order to solve complex international problems we need to start looking at the world through new perspectives and challenge our minds to come up with complex, multilayered, holistic, dynamic, humanistic and sustainable solutions!

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Pilloried

Very well written

Reviewed in Canada on September 24, 2017

Verified Purchase

Great story propelled by sharp writing. It is a genuine page-turner that flagged briefly in the middle but regained steam for a strong finish.

Helpful

Gina-Dianne

This is a must read if you want practical applications for living in floe

Reviewed in Canada on February 23, 2017

Verified Purchase

I ordered this book in prelaunch but since it wont be arriving til march 2, i couldnt wait and got a kindle copy. So glad i did.
This fascinating book needs to be read by anyone who is interested in living an enhanced productive life. The ideas presented in it are critical knowledge of the newest research in neruobiology, psychology, technology and pharmacology and their practical application. The authors have real life examples that make it so much more enjoyable. I had trouble putting it down once I started. It is so important to have this data open sourced and widely known so it can't be misused for marketing or military manipulation. With the information shared in this book we have the potential to live in ecstasis- a flow state of Selflessness, Timelessness, Effortlessness and Richness, without being bliss junkies. Bravo Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Gordon Sandford

Highly recommend this book if you are thinking about to BE DIGITAL

Reviewed in Canada on April 29, 2019

Verified Purchase

Full disclosure - this book was written by several of my colleagues at Deloitte. That said, I think its a very insightful and useful read for anyone who worried about Digital Disruption. I have worked very closely with my colleague Garth Andrus (one of the authors) and I know him to be very insightful and action oriented. This book reflects these attributes..its got great data to support the insights - but most importantly a pragmatic approach to getting started

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Ian Beattie

Very leading edge

Reviewed in Canada on March 27, 2017

Verified Purchase

Leading edge information. Very useful to understand how best to experience my Mind.

Helpful

coachjohn2020

compelling and fully validate update of the science and story behing what we are expereincing at the edge of life

Reviewed in Canada on August 2, 2017

Verified Purchase

a great review of historical data on how we are what we are as human beings in search of self and the deeper meaning of our lives
this CD set was played more than once to get the subtlest details of how we act our desire to experience beyond what we know and who we think we are that is limited by the 'ego ' self
very timely for those that are edgewalkers and know there is more to life and our current experience
great leaders own the edge because the experience from beyond the edge .

Helpful

Kindle Customer

The information in this book is powerful

Reviewed in Canada on May 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

With the information from this book, you could do great things, unimaginable feats, but you could also go the other way and afflict great pain to yourself and people around you. Be wise! Be responsible! Take the final chapter seriously!

Reviewed in Canada on March 12, 2021

Verified Purchase

Learned a lot, still remember the group flow.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

Guadalupe Elena Ramos Villarreal

Top book

Reviewed in Mexico on November 30, 2022

Verified Purchase

This is one of the best books I read this year. As a RIM facilitator and Coach I truly believe altered states of consciousness can take us to self awareness and healing.

Livia

Perfeito!

Reviewed in Brazil on July 15, 2022

Verified Purchase

Chegou rápido e conforme o anúncio.

Translate review to English

Jan

Sehr interessantes und einzigartiges Buch

Reviewed in Germany on September 12, 2022

Verified Purchase

Das Besondere an dem Buch ist, dass die Kapitel so komplementär geschrieben sind, dass man nie den Eindruck hat, dass der Autor Seiten füllen musste. Eher das Gegenteil ist der Fall, der Autor kennt sich bestens aus und gibt auch teils interessante Anhaltspunkte, aus anderen Büchern und Zitaten wieder. Für den Preis kann ich Bücher dieser Qualität nur empfehlen.

Translate review to English

Amish Shah

Insightful story on 'Flow State'

Reviewed in India on August 10, 2022

Verified Purchase

Steven's work on flow state is an outstanding read a great insight into peak performance and the making the art of impossible sound possible.

Providential

Good book

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2019

Verified Purchase

This is a great book about how "flow states" can revolutionize how you interact with the world. I see a lot of complaints that this book is too simple, that there's not enough detail in it. This is one case where I totally disagree. This isn't just a self-help book that can be summarized in one page - it actually earns its page count.

The plot: Stealing is an attempt to demystify and scientifically quantify what it means when an athlete or a soldier says they feel "in the zone". We've known for a long time that professionals in any field - from manufacturing workers on a production line to soldiers in a war zone - enter an odd brain state where a mixture of training and instinct seem to put their body on autopilot. Their reflexes are sharper, their movements seem choreographed even when encountering complex challenges, yet if you ask them what they're feeling at the time they may very well tell you they just "zoned out" and weren't really thinking about what they were doing. Stealing Fire poses and answers a simple question - what can we learn about these states, and can we reliably create them in our own lives to enhance our own performance? (The answers are "a lot" and "yes").

Why it's a good book: A mixture of engaging narrative and research, this book contains as many anecdotes and personal testimonies as it does footnotes to peer-reviewed literature. A lot of people complain in equal parts that the book "doesn't contain practical tips" and also that it "just tells you to do drugs to achieve this state" - that's contradictory. The truth is that this is a good book for getting your brain going. It will help you think differently about performance and accomplishment, and give you some ideas about how to get started, without giving you a diet or workout regimen.

The only catch: Yes, these guys are salesmen. Like many self-help books, there are some subtle and not-so-subtle hits given throughout the book that the reader could choose to purchase other materials and courses now that the authors have set up their own training camps to help clients learn about flow states. However, they don't "black box" much of the information. This isn't like the opening pamphlet of a meditation retreat that gives you two sentences about how nice the view is without telling you what an actual day looks like. Stealing Fire is full of plenty of practical advice, and you don't have to buy into any of the sales pitch at all. To be completely fair as well, the authors and their business partners really are on the cutting edge with these studies and - at the time of writing - their courses were some of the only ways out there to get up on the latest information.

Overall: Almost every critic of this book complains that they "just tell you do to do drugs". This is silly. Most of the examples in the book - especially from the military - deal with people who've never touched drugs in their life. One of the main points in the book is that although psychadelic drugs are a (frankly very safe when done correctly) way to get acquainted with altered brain states, almost everyone gets to a flow state through completely natural - though extreme - circumstances. Maybe your flow comes from putting on earbuds and running a 5k. Maybe your flow comes from lighting some incense and concentrating on your laptop for work. However you get there - the point is to go there, because that's where your creativity and your peak performance are waiting for you.

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	Amazon Advertising Find, attract and engage customers	Amazon Business Everything for your business	Amazon Drive Cloud storage from Amazon	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	Amazon Photos Unlimited Photo Storage Free With Prime	Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	Warehouse Deals Open-Box Discounts

	Whole Foods Market We Believe in Real Food	Amazon Renewed Like-new products you can trust	Blink Smart Security for Every Home

Follow the authors

Image Unavailable

Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work Kindle Edition

Customers who read this book also read

Product description

Review

From the Back Cover

About the Author

Product details

About the authors

Jamie Wheal

Steven Kotler

Customer reviews

Top reviews from Canada

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries