Stealing Fire

How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work

De: Steven Kotler, Jamie Wheal

Narrado por: Fred Sanders

The authors of the best-selling Bold and The Rise of Superman explore altered states of consciousness and how they can ignite passion, fuel creativity, and accelerate problem solving, in this groundbreaking book in the vein of Daniel Pink's Drive and Charles Duhigg's Smarter Faster Better.

Why has generating "flow" and getting "into the zone" become the goal of the world's most elite organizations? Why are business moguls attending Burning Man? Why has meditation become a billion-dollar industry? Why are technology gurus turning to psychedelic drugs to unlock creativity?

All of these people are seeking to shift their state of mind as a way of unlocking their true potential. Altered states, the authors reveal, sharpen our decision-making capabilities, unleash creativity, fuel cooperation, and let us tap in to levels of inspiration and innovation unavailable at all other times. Stealing Fire combines cutting-edge research and firsthand reporting to explore a revolution in human performance - a movement millions of people strong to harness and utilize some of the most misunderstood and controversial experiences in history.

Building a bridge between the extreme and the mainstream, this groundbreaking and provocative book examines how the world's top performers - the Navy SEALS, Googlers, Fortune 100 CEOs - are using altered states to radically accelerate performance and massively improve their lives, and how we can, too.

Ultimately, Stealing Fire is a book about profound possibility - about what is actually possible for ourselves and our species when we unlock the full potential of the human mind.

©2017 Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Amazing narrative about the "other" world.

I loved this book. Gives very clean perspective on many things that I always thought were socially irresponsible and awful. I didn't know that there's so much research happening in this area of altered states. A must read if you ever wandered about the limitlessness of human consciousness. I wish there was little more content about flow and ways to achieve flow states in daily activities.

Extremely informative and insightful.

Extremely informative and insightful. I listened to the whole thing and was fully engaged. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in understanding the different resources available for expanding consciousness and flow states.

Amazing Book I Will Look Deeper Into the Subjects

This book will make you question your level of excellence. You will want to push yourself to the next level, because this book shows you the next level. Enjoy!

Final message: balance is key

This is a well researched book, arguing for a fourth motivation - ecstasis. Another book “curiosity” by Ian Leslie is recommended for another view that curiosity is the fourth motivator. Overall there are some interesting thoughts on flow and it’s connection to innovation, creativity, collaboration and breakthroughs. But the underlying lesson or key takeaway is to balance these non-ordinary conscious states. Staying grounded, humble, and understanding the need for daily habits is hugely important. Read this with an open mind but a critical eye and there are nuggets of insight to be gleaned.

a navigational aid

After reading this amazing book, I believe it safe to say my course is set.

Most Relevant Book I’ve Read Out of 70+ Books

This answered many unsettled questions I’ve had about consciousness, psychedelics and elite performers, and flow states. History, science, and fresh culture all wrapped up beautifully.

Fantastic book

One of the most interesting and relevant books I have read. An absolute must read!

Fantastic summary of the topic

This is the first time I’ve come across a summary unifying the topics related to peak states and performance. Thank you!

fascinating!

breezed right through it. examines how altered states can propel you forward using state of the art technologies and and old school wisdom.

Meditation, Mushrooms, and Mind-Melds

This book is revolutionary in its subject matter, it’s breadth, and its synthesis of sober-minded business insights from the realm of (formerly) esoteric woo-woo.

I came to personally appreciate that synthesis, as I listened to the first half of this book during a trek across the Rockies to participate in a psychedelic mushroom ceremony seeking new perspectives that would help me in business and parenting, and in life.

Two days later, I pondered a raft of insights I gained on that “medicine journey” as I listened to the second half of the book for the return trip back home to Denver.

The author’s premise is that we stand at the edge of a new era, where a broad segment of people can utilize “ecstasis” - altered states - to reach a higher level of performance and insights than ever, to meet the new and ever-more complex challenges this age faces.

Kotler also posits the idea that unlike in ages past, the people are not waiting for permission to learn and implement these ecstatic technologies, but are storming the gates:

From the phenomenon of Burning Man to mass adoption of Yoga and meditation, to float tanks and hallucinogenic compounds, we are indeed Stealing Fire for our own use, politicians and priests be damned.

Kotler cautions that, like fire, these things can burn us if we are not cautious and careful - but his plethora of hidden-in-plain-sight examples of historical use by a well-guarded elite certainly serve to mitigate fear of the gatekeepers’ warnings.

As a practitioner of Yoga, fitness, meditation, and recently, “plant medicine” ceremonies, I, for one, needed little convincing that Steven Kotler is onto something.

Many will see this movement as opening a Pandora’s Box of ills - but I believe many more still will see wide access to these altered states as a source of the forgotten Hope the fable told us remained inside that Box.

Read the book, try the modalities it profiles, and decide for yourself - but please, do not limit my rights and those of the other would-be psychonauts from exploring the potential benefits to heart and soul, and the broader innovation and collective wealth they often produce.

You just may end up joining us.