The Comfort Crisis

Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self

By: Michael Easter

Narrated by: Michael Easter

“If you've been looking for something different to level up your health, fitness, and personal growth, this is it.” (Melissa Urban, Whole30 CEO and New York Times best-selling author)

Discover the evolutionary mind and body benefits of living at the edges of your comfort zone and reconnecting with the wild.

In many ways, we’re more comfortable than ever before. But could our sheltered, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged lives actually be the leading cause of many our most urgent physical and mental health issues? In this gripping investigation, award-winning journalist Michael Easter seeks out off-the-grid visionaries, disruptive genius researchers, and mind-body conditioning trailblazers who are unlocking the life-enhancing secrets of a counterintuitive solution: discomfort.

Easter’s journey to understand our evolutionary need to be challenged takes him to meet the NBA’s top exercise scientist, who uses an ancient Japanese practice to build championship athletes; to the mystical country of Bhutan, where an Oxford economist and Buddhist leader are showing the world what death can teach us about happiness; to the outdoor lab of a young neuroscientist who’s found that nature tests our physical and mental endurance in ways that expand creativity while taming burnout and anxiety; to the remote Alaskan backcountry on a demanding 33-day hunting expedition to experience the rewilding secrets of one of the last rugged places on Earth; and more.

Along the way, Easter uncovers a blueprint for leveraging the power of discomfort that will dramatically improve our health and happiness, and perhaps even help us understand what it means to be human. The Comfort Crisis is a bold call to break out of your comfort zone and explore the wild within yourself.

©2021 Michael Easter (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Changes the way we think about the modern world and how everyday conveniences are eroding our understanding of what it mean to be human.” (Richard Dorment, editor in chief, Men’s Health)

“I read The Comfort Crisis in three straight sittings and was so motivated and inspired that I immediately made changes to my daily routines. Two months later, I've never been fitter, more self-confident, or happier. If you've been looking for something different to level up your health, fitness, and personal growth, THIS IS IT.” (Melissa Urban, Whole30 CEO and six-time New York Times best-selling author)

“Entertaining and enlightening, Easter’s quest for a ‘rewilded’ diet, creative boredom, and other sensation - restoring discomforts is chock-full of solid science as well as a rollicking adventure.” (Dan Fagin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation)

Have we been living a dream?

I’ve read a lot of books about similar subjects. In the end I usually feel like I’m being sold something unattainable or the quick and easy guide to X and a better Y. The Comfort Crisis on the other-hand strikes a different tone. I didn’t feel like I was being sold anything or promised anything. I felt like I was being shown a memory that I’d forgotten. Something that I already knew but ignored or pretended was out of reach for good due to (insert excuse). I don’t feel that I’m alone in experiencing this kind of nameless yearning that I can’t seem to drown with drink or trinkets. There’s something that I know that I at least am missing that I’ve been conditioned to believe I’m not missing. I thank the author and the amazing people he worked with to make this book come to life. If you’re like me, this book will strike at the essence of your soul. 100% worth the read, the re-read, and the action it’ll inspire you to take. Thank you, Mike!

wow!!

this book is life changing! a must read for anyone looking to change their life

Motivating

Easter does an incredible job both in describing his adventures, but also in articulating and simplifying the scientific studies quoted.

So good!!!!!!!

One of the best books I’ve ever listened to! So motivational and well written…inspiring!

Great concepts, long winded

This book has some inspiring concepts if you’re willing to stick it out. I definitely zoned out a few (several) times. Read if you’re feeling too comfortable in life.

Inspiring

I enjoyed the research quoted and life experiences that help to make the authors points. It was informative and inspiring and practical. I liked being able to listen and in the author’s voice while I work at home but would have preferred if the use of the ‘F’ word and a couple of crude references to sex could have been edited for the audio version since my children were in the home and within earshot and I felt they could benefit from this book as well.

Fascinating!

Amazing perspectives brought out. I would definitely recommend it. Shows how much modernizing actually affects us.

Entertaining Story, weaved in with great mentalism

kept my attention well
went over some fascinating psychology and other science stuff related to not being a lazy bum
very good

Challenging basic beliefs on comfort & its impacts

When you get to a point in life where you overcome childhood struggle and start building comfort to bring joy and peace, you realize... May too much comfort is not what you need at all to stay healthy and happier

Absolutely a must listen!

This is a critical read especially for this generation.
We need to have things that are hard and difficult in our lives in order to see some of the blessings that we have created such as comfort. This book will give you a better understanding of life in moderation