
The Explorer's Gene
Why We Seek Big Challenges, New Flavors, and the Blank Spots on the Map
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $25.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Michael David Axtell
-
By:
-
Alex Hutchinson
About this listen
New York Times-bestselling author of Endure Alex Hutchinson returns with a fresh, provocative investigation into how exploration, uncertainty, and risk shape our behavior and help us find meaning.
Off the beaten path, following unmarked trails, we are wired to explore. More than just a need to get outside, the search for the unknown is a primal urge that has shaped the history of our species and continues to mold our behavior in ways we are only beginning to understand. In fact, the latest neuroscience suggests that exploration in any form—whether it’s trying a new restaurant, changing careers, or deciding to run a marathon—is an essential ingredient of human life. Exploration, it turns out, isn’t merely a hobby—it’s our story.
In this much-anticipated follow-up to his New York Times bestseller Endure, Alex Hutchinson refutes the myth that, in our fully mapped digital world, the age of exploration is dead. Instead, the itch to discover new things persists in all of us, expressed not just on the slopes of Everest but in the ways we work, play, and live. From paddling the lost rivers of the northern Canadian wilderness to the ocean-spanning voyages of the Polynesians to the search for next-generation quantum computers, The Explorer’s Gene combines riveting stories of exploration with cutting-edge insights from behavioral psychology and neuroscience, making a powerful case that our lives are better—more productive, more meaningful, and more fun—when we break our habits and chart a new path.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2025 Alex Hutchinson (P)2025 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?
- Fitness Myths, Training Truths, and Other Surprising Discoveries from the Science of Exercise
- By: Alex Hutchinson
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?, physicist and award-winning journalist Alex Hutchinson tackles dozens of commonly held beliefs and looks at just what research science has - and has not - proven to be true. This myth-busting book covers the full spectrum of exercise science and offers the latest in research from around the globe, as well as plenty of practical tips on using proven science to improve fitness, reach weight loss goals, and achieve better competition results.
By: Alex Hutchinson
-
Life Is a Marathon
- A Memoir of Love and Endurance
- By: Matt Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An endurance athlete and coach reveals how the marathon transforms the lives of everyone who attempts it - and how it has helped his own family cope with serious adversity.
-
-
Not my favorite running book
- By riogirl1992 on 03-05-22
By: Matt Fitzgerald
-
Endure
- Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance
- By: Alexander Hutchinson, Malcolm Gladwell - foreword
- Narrated by: Robert G. Slade
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Writing from both the cutting edge of scientific discovery and the front-lines of elite athletic performance, National Magazine Award-winning science journalist Alex Hutchinson presents a revolutionary account of the dynamic and controversial new science of endurance.
-
-
Loved the content; narration frustrated me
- By Riverside Fan on 03-01-18
By: Alexander Hutchinson, and others
-
Better Faster Farther
- How Running Changed Everything We Know About Women
- By: Maggie Mertens
- Narrated by: Maggie Mertens, Lauren Fleshman - introduction
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
More than a century ago, a woman ran in the very first modern Olympic marathon. She just did it without permission. Award-winning journalist Maggie Mertens uncovers the story of how women broke into competitive running and how they are getting faster and fiercer every day—and changing our understanding of what is possible as they go.
-
-
Well researched, covered vast history and viewpoints
- By FJ83 on 10-25-24
By: Maggie Mertens
-
A Crack in Everything
- How Black Holes Came in from the Cold and Took Cosmic Centre Stage
- By: Marcus Chown
- Narrated by: Clive Mantle
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Crack in Everything is the story of how black holes came in from the cold and took cosmic centre stage. As a journalist, Marcus Chown interviews many of the scientists who made the key discoveries, and, as a former physicist, he translates the most esoteric of science into everyday language. The result is a uniquely engaging audiobook that tells one of the great untold stories in modern science.
-
-
Complex science, good narrative
- By David Benjamin on 02-24-25
By: Marcus Chown
-
The Front Runner
- The Life of Steve Prefontaine
- By: Brendan O'Meara
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the fifty years since his tragic death in a car crash, Steve Prefontaine has towered over American distance running. One of the most recognizable and charismatic figures to ever run competitively in the United States, Prefontaine has endured as a source of inspiration and fascination—a talent who presaged the American running boom of the late 1970s and helped put Nike on the map as the brand’s first celebrity-athlete face. Now on the anniversary of his untimely death, author Brendan O’Meara, host of the Creative Nonfiction podcast, offers a fresh, definitive retelling of Prefontaine’s life.
-
-
Pre’s legacy is strong to this day
- By justinashworth on 07-05-25
By: Brendan O'Meara
-
Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?
- Fitness Myths, Training Truths, and Other Surprising Discoveries from the Science of Exercise
- By: Alex Hutchinson
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?, physicist and award-winning journalist Alex Hutchinson tackles dozens of commonly held beliefs and looks at just what research science has - and has not - proven to be true. This myth-busting book covers the full spectrum of exercise science and offers the latest in research from around the globe, as well as plenty of practical tips on using proven science to improve fitness, reach weight loss goals, and achieve better competition results.
By: Alex Hutchinson
-
Life Is a Marathon
- A Memoir of Love and Endurance
- By: Matt Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An endurance athlete and coach reveals how the marathon transforms the lives of everyone who attempts it - and how it has helped his own family cope with serious adversity.
-
-
Not my favorite running book
- By riogirl1992 on 03-05-22
By: Matt Fitzgerald
-
Endure
- Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance
- By: Alexander Hutchinson, Malcolm Gladwell - foreword
- Narrated by: Robert G. Slade
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Writing from both the cutting edge of scientific discovery and the front-lines of elite athletic performance, National Magazine Award-winning science journalist Alex Hutchinson presents a revolutionary account of the dynamic and controversial new science of endurance.
-
-
Loved the content; narration frustrated me
- By Riverside Fan on 03-01-18
By: Alexander Hutchinson, and others
-
Better Faster Farther
- How Running Changed Everything We Know About Women
- By: Maggie Mertens
- Narrated by: Maggie Mertens, Lauren Fleshman - introduction
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
More than a century ago, a woman ran in the very first modern Olympic marathon. She just did it without permission. Award-winning journalist Maggie Mertens uncovers the story of how women broke into competitive running and how they are getting faster and fiercer every day—and changing our understanding of what is possible as they go.
-
-
Well researched, covered vast history and viewpoints
- By FJ83 on 10-25-24
By: Maggie Mertens
-
A Crack in Everything
- How Black Holes Came in from the Cold and Took Cosmic Centre Stage
- By: Marcus Chown
- Narrated by: Clive Mantle
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Crack in Everything is the story of how black holes came in from the cold and took cosmic centre stage. As a journalist, Marcus Chown interviews many of the scientists who made the key discoveries, and, as a former physicist, he translates the most esoteric of science into everyday language. The result is a uniquely engaging audiobook that tells one of the great untold stories in modern science.
-
-
Complex science, good narrative
- By David Benjamin on 02-24-25
By: Marcus Chown
-
The Front Runner
- The Life of Steve Prefontaine
- By: Brendan O'Meara
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the fifty years since his tragic death in a car crash, Steve Prefontaine has towered over American distance running. One of the most recognizable and charismatic figures to ever run competitively in the United States, Prefontaine has endured as a source of inspiration and fascination—a talent who presaged the American running boom of the late 1970s and helped put Nike on the map as the brand’s first celebrity-athlete face. Now on the anniversary of his untimely death, author Brendan O’Meara, host of the Creative Nonfiction podcast, offers a fresh, definitive retelling of Prefontaine’s life.
-
-
Pre’s legacy is strong to this day
- By justinashworth on 07-05-25
By: Brendan O'Meara
-
Is a River Alive?
- By: Robert Macfarlane
- Narrated by: Robert Macfarlane
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Robert Macfarlane brings his glittering style to a profound work of travel writing, reportage, and natural history. Is a River Alive? is a joyful, mind-expanding exploration of an ancient, urgent idea: that rivers are living beings who should be recognized as such in imagination and law. Macfarlane takes listeners on three unforgettable journeys teeming with extraordinary people, stories, and places: to the miraculous cloud-forests and mountain streams of Ecuador, to the wounded creeks and lagoons of India, and to the spectacular wild rivers of Canada.
-
-
One of the few books I will return
- By Amazon Customer on 06-28-25
-
The Other Talent
- The Curiously Complex Role of Mental Health in Athletic Greatness and Why It's Never Too Late to Harness Your Potential
- By: Matt Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Gregory Abbey
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the playing field, natural talent isn’t enough—there’s a mental component that determines whether athletes win the race or wipe out before the finish line. But what separates standout sports stars from the rest? In a paradigm-shifting new theory, acclaimed sportswriter Matt Fitzgerald identifies two key traits behind athletic success: strict self-regulation over thoughts and emotions and an unquenchable psychological need to pursue victory—even when it means enduring extreme mental and physical suffering.
-
-
Excellent
- By CC Coach Mike on 12-18-24
By: Matt Fitzgerald
-
Undeniable
- How to Reach the Top and Stay There
- By: Cameron Hanes
- Narrated by: Andrew D. Huberman Ph.D., Cameron Hanes
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You become the best you can be by learning from others. That is how bowhunter and ultramarathoner Cameron Hanes approaches each day in his pursuit of greatness in this essential guide to finding success.
-
-
an embarrassment
- By Cynthia Callison on 05-10-25
By: Cameron Hanes
-
In the Spell of the Barkley
- Unravelling the Mystery of the World's Toughest Ultramarathon
- By: Michiel Panhuysen
- Narrated by: Rupert Holliday-Evans
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to the Barkley Marathons, a fever dream of an ultra event, inspired by a prison break, heralded by a conch blast, paid for in cigarettes and socks, and completed only by a select few. A race in which competitors haul themselves up mountains, through extreme weather conditions, beyond pain and exhaustion, mile after mile. Completed 60 miles? That’s just the fun run. In the Spell of the Barkley is a story of sporting obsession, exploring what drives individuals to challenge themselves at the limits of what is possible – and what it takes to succeed.
-
-
3/5 - a fun run but not a finish.
- By C. Oestreich on 12-19-23
-
Choosing to Run
- A Memoir
- By: Des Linden, Bonnie D. Ford - contributor
- Narrated by: Des Linden
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Des woke up on April 16, 2018, the morning of the Boston Marathon, it was 39 degrees and raining, with high, gusty winds. The weather didn’t bother her. In fact, she thought it might be a blessing. She was far from peak form—recovering from illness and questioning her running future—and didn’t expect much of herself that day. But as she ticked off mile after mile in the brutal conditions, passing familiar landmarks on the course she knew and loved, something shifted. Opportunity unexpectedly presented itself. Des tapped into her inner strength and found a reason to race.
-
-
Not great
- By Anonymous User on 04-26-23
By: Des Linden, and others
-
The Looming Tower
- Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
- By: Lawrence Wright
- Narrated by: Lawrence Wright
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright's remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States.
-
-
Supremely thorough and interesting
- By Josh on 10-05-17
By: Lawrence Wright
-
Solo
- What Running Across Mountains Taught Me About Life
- By: Jenny Tough
- Narrated by: Jenny Tough
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in the Canadian Rockies, the mountains have always been home for Jenny Tough. Travelling the world, she's always discovered commonalities with mountains—and mountain people. Her major project is to run solo and unsupported across a mountain range on every continent where indigenous mountain people live isolated from the outside, urban world. Running solo and unsupported comes with obvious logistical as well as physical challenges, but running is also a common language.
-
-
Bravery
- By Wild on 11-25-22
By: Jenny Tough
-
Wild Courage
- Go After What You Want and Get It
- By: Jenny Wood
- Narrated by: Jenny Wood
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To be successful you need to be Weird, Selfish, Shameless, Obsessed, Nosy, Manipulative, Brutal, Reckless, and Bossy. And that takes courage. As a former Google leader and top career coach who chased an attractive stranger off the subway and later married him, Jenny Wood knows her way around courage. In this book, Wood shatters conventional wisdom about achieving your goals. She gives you permission to ditch your fear and chase after what you want, unapologetically.
-
-
Liberal Views
- By RP on 04-07-25
By: Jenny Wood
-
Billionaire Wilderness
- The Ultra-Wealthy and the Remaking of the American West
- By: Justin Farrell
- Narrated by: John Chancer
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Billionaire Wilderness takes you inside the exclusive world of the ultra-wealthy, showing how today's richest people are using the natural environment to solve the existential dilemmas they face. Justin Farrell spent five years in Teton County, Wyoming, the richest county in the United States and a community where income inequality is the worst in the nation. He conducted hundreds of in-depth interviews, gaining unprecedented access to tech CEOs, Wall Street financiers, oil magnates, and other prominent figures in business and politics.
-
-
Incredible! An accurate, insightful look at Teton County, Wyoming and the very wealthy in America. Scathing!
- By James D Woods on 03-11-20
By: Justin Farrell
-
What You're Made For
- Powerful Life Lessons from My Career in Sports
- By: George Raveling, Ryan Holiday, Michael Jordan
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Orphaned at just thirteen in a still-segregated Washington, D.C., George Raveling was introduced to a relatively unpopular sport—basketball—in high school. The rest, as they say, is history. Raveling went on to become one of the winningest coaches of all time, a mentor to legendary athletes, and a confidant of the sport’s greatest coaches, including Bob Knight and John Wooden. He convinced Michael Jordan to collaborate with Nike on the Air Jordan. He led the 1984 U.S. men’s Olympic team to their ninth gold medal.
-
-
Inspiring!
- By Robbi Dickens on 06-09-25
By: George Raveling, and others
-
Shatterproof
- How to Thrive in a World of Constant Chaos (and Why Resilience Alone Isn't Enough)
- By: Tasha Eurich
- Narrated by: Tasha Eurich
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We’ve been taught that resilience is the secret to navigating life’s most difficult moments. According to New York Times bestselling author and organizational psychologist Dr. Tasha Eurich, there is just one problem with this assumption. Scientifically, resilience isn’t an unlimited resource, especially with the growing pressure, uncertainty, and chaos we’re experiencing today. But what if, instead of merely “bouncing back” from stressors and setbacks, we could harness them for forward growth?
-
-
Profound and simple and practical
- By C. L. Johnson on 06-07-25
By: Tasha Eurich
-
Let Your Mind Run
- A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory
- By: Deena Kastor, Michelle Hamilton
- Narrated by: Deena Kastor
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Deena Kastor was a star youth runner with tremendous promise, yet her career almost ended after college, when her competitive method - run as hard as possible, for fear of losing - fostered a frustration and negativity and brought her to the brink of burnout. On the verge of quitting, she took a chance and moved to the high altitudes of Alamosa, Colorado, where legendary coach Joe Vigil had started the first professional distance-running team. There she encountered the idea that would transform her running career: the notion that changing her thinking - shaping her mind to be more encouraging, kind, and resilient - could make her faster than she’d ever imagined possible.
-
-
Great book
- By steve finkelstein on 05-19-18
By: Deena Kastor, and others
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Endure
- Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance
- By: Alexander Hutchinson, Malcolm Gladwell - foreword
- Narrated by: Robert G. Slade
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Writing from both the cutting edge of scientific discovery and the front-lines of elite athletic performance, National Magazine Award-winning science journalist Alex Hutchinson presents a revolutionary account of the dynamic and controversial new science of endurance.
-
-
Loved the content; narration frustrated me
- By Riverside Fan on 03-01-18
By: Alexander Hutchinson, and others
-
Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?
- Fitness Myths, Training Truths, and Other Surprising Discoveries from the Science of Exercise
- By: Alex Hutchinson
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?, physicist and award-winning journalist Alex Hutchinson tackles dozens of commonly held beliefs and looks at just what research science has - and has not - proven to be true. This myth-busting book covers the full spectrum of exercise science and offers the latest in research from around the globe, as well as plenty of practical tips on using proven science to improve fitness, reach weight loss goals, and achieve better competition results.
By: Alex Hutchinson
-
Win the Inside Game
- How to Move from Surviving to Thriving, and Free Yourself Up to Perform
- By: Steve Magness
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Striving is in our nature. We all want to perform at our best when it matters most. But in today's world, many of us feel lost, isolated, and overwhelmed. We're paralyzed by fear of failure and crippled by insecurities. We know we’re capable of more, yet no matter how hard we try, we feel stuck. We’ve been sold the wrong path to success and personal fulfillment. Renowned performance scientist and bestselling author Steve Magness reveals a new path to sustainable success.
-
-
Research, concepts discussed
- By vishwas Hosur Ravishankar on 06-06-25
By: Steve Magness
-
How I Learned to Understand the World
- A Memoir
- By: Hans Rosling, Dr. Anna Paterson, Fanny Härgestam
- Narrated by: Simon Slater, Christina Delaine
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was facts that helped him explain how the world works. But it was curiosity and commitment that made the late Hans Rosling, author of the best-selling book Factfulness with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund, the most popular researcher of our time. How I Learned to Understand the World is Hans Rosling’s own story of how he became a revolutionary thinker, and takes us from the swelter of an emergency clinic in Mozambique, to the World Economic Forum at Davos.
-
-
Very good follow-up to Factfulness
- By Dave on 01-08-23
By: Hans Rosling, and others
-
Adaptable
- How Your Unique Body Really Works and Why Our Biology Unites Us
- By: Herman Pontzer PhD
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adaptable takes us on a tour of the human body. In each chapter, we learn how our bodies navigate an uncertain world: how we grow and mature; how our brains develop and learn; how our hearts, lungs, and digestive systems deliver oxygen and nutrients; how we manage toxins, temperature, and water balance; how we move and reproduce; how our immune system keeps invaders at bay; and how we age and decline. Along the way, we learn how to take care of our remarkable bodies, and that the universe of healthy lifestyles is vast (we don’t need the latest fad diet or cleanse!).
-
-
Surprisingly Engaging
- By user7720393 on 04-11-25
-
Science Fictions
- How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth
- By: Stuart Ritchie
- Narrated by: Stuart Ritchie
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Science is how we understand the world. Yet failures in peer review and mistakes in statistics have rendered a shocking number of scientific studies useless—or, worse, badly misleading. Such errors have distorted our knowledge in fields as wide-ranging as medicine, physics, nutrition, education, genetics, economics, and the search for extraterrestrial life. As Science Fictions makes clear, the current system of research funding and publication not only fails to safeguard us from blunders but actively encourages bad science—with sometimes deadly consequences.
-
-
Needed Now More Than Ever
- By Todd on 08-06-20
By: Stuart Ritchie
-
Endure
- Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance
- By: Alexander Hutchinson, Malcolm Gladwell - foreword
- Narrated by: Robert G. Slade
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Writing from both the cutting edge of scientific discovery and the front-lines of elite athletic performance, National Magazine Award-winning science journalist Alex Hutchinson presents a revolutionary account of the dynamic and controversial new science of endurance.
-
-
Loved the content; narration frustrated me
- By Riverside Fan on 03-01-18
By: Alexander Hutchinson, and others
-
Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?
- Fitness Myths, Training Truths, and Other Surprising Discoveries from the Science of Exercise
- By: Alex Hutchinson
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?, physicist and award-winning journalist Alex Hutchinson tackles dozens of commonly held beliefs and looks at just what research science has - and has not - proven to be true. This myth-busting book covers the full spectrum of exercise science and offers the latest in research from around the globe, as well as plenty of practical tips on using proven science to improve fitness, reach weight loss goals, and achieve better competition results.
By: Alex Hutchinson
-
Win the Inside Game
- How to Move from Surviving to Thriving, and Free Yourself Up to Perform
- By: Steve Magness
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Striving is in our nature. We all want to perform at our best when it matters most. But in today's world, many of us feel lost, isolated, and overwhelmed. We're paralyzed by fear of failure and crippled by insecurities. We know we’re capable of more, yet no matter how hard we try, we feel stuck. We’ve been sold the wrong path to success and personal fulfillment. Renowned performance scientist and bestselling author Steve Magness reveals a new path to sustainable success.
-
-
Research, concepts discussed
- By vishwas Hosur Ravishankar on 06-06-25
By: Steve Magness
-
How I Learned to Understand the World
- A Memoir
- By: Hans Rosling, Dr. Anna Paterson, Fanny Härgestam
- Narrated by: Simon Slater, Christina Delaine
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was facts that helped him explain how the world works. But it was curiosity and commitment that made the late Hans Rosling, author of the best-selling book Factfulness with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund, the most popular researcher of our time. How I Learned to Understand the World is Hans Rosling’s own story of how he became a revolutionary thinker, and takes us from the swelter of an emergency clinic in Mozambique, to the World Economic Forum at Davos.
-
-
Very good follow-up to Factfulness
- By Dave on 01-08-23
By: Hans Rosling, and others
-
Adaptable
- How Your Unique Body Really Works and Why Our Biology Unites Us
- By: Herman Pontzer PhD
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adaptable takes us on a tour of the human body. In each chapter, we learn how our bodies navigate an uncertain world: how we grow and mature; how our brains develop and learn; how our hearts, lungs, and digestive systems deliver oxygen and nutrients; how we manage toxins, temperature, and water balance; how we move and reproduce; how our immune system keeps invaders at bay; and how we age and decline. Along the way, we learn how to take care of our remarkable bodies, and that the universe of healthy lifestyles is vast (we don’t need the latest fad diet or cleanse!).
-
-
Surprisingly Engaging
- By user7720393 on 04-11-25
-
Science Fictions
- How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth
- By: Stuart Ritchie
- Narrated by: Stuart Ritchie
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Science is how we understand the world. Yet failures in peer review and mistakes in statistics have rendered a shocking number of scientific studies useless—or, worse, badly misleading. Such errors have distorted our knowledge in fields as wide-ranging as medicine, physics, nutrition, education, genetics, economics, and the search for extraterrestrial life. As Science Fictions makes clear, the current system of research funding and publication not only fails to safeguard us from blunders but actively encourages bad science—with sometimes deadly consequences.
-
-
Needed Now More Than Ever
- By Todd on 08-06-20
By: Stuart Ritchie
-
Stronger
- The Untold Story of Muscle in Our Lives
- By: Michael Joseph Gross
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stronger tells a story of breathtaking scope, from the battlefields of the Trojan War in Homer’s Iliad, where muscles enter the scene of world literature; to the all-but-forgotten Victorian-era gyms on both sides of the Atlantic, where women build strength and muscle by lifting heavy weights; to a retirement home in Boston where a young doctor makes the astonishing discovery that frail ninety-year-olds can experience the same relative gains of strength and muscle as thirty-year-olds if they lift weights.
-
-
Compelling well researched, lots of information for lovers of science kinesiology, and the history of muscle
- By Cat on 07-06-25
-
Natural Born Heroes
- How a Daring Band of Misfits Mastered the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance
- By: Christopher McDougall
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best-selling author of Born to Run now travels to the Mediterranean, where he discovers that the secrets of ancient Greek heroes are still alive and well on the island of Crete, and ready to be unleashed in the muscles and minds of casual athletes and aspiring heroes everywhere.
-
-
Excellent!!
- By Brian Flanagan on 05-11-15
-
Sailing the Graveyard Sea
- The Deathly Voyage of the Somers, the U.S. Navy's Only Mutiny, and the Trial That Gripped the Nation
- By: Richard Snow
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On December 16, 1842, the US brig-of-war Somers dropped anchor in the New York Harbor at the end of a voyage intended to teach a group of adolescents the rudiments of naval life. But this routine exercise ended in catastrophe. Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie came ashore claiming he had prevented a mutiny that would have left him and his officers dead. Some of the thwarted mutineers were being held under guard, but three had already been hanged at sea.
-
-
the day to day brutality
- By L. Lombard on 01-15-24
By: Richard Snow
-
Do Hard Things
- Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness
- By: Steve Magness
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From beloved performance expert, executive coach, and coauthor of Peak Performance Steve Magness comes a radical rethinking of how we perceive toughness and what it means to achieve our high ambitions in the face of hard things.
-
-
Starts alright, but ends up going nowhere
- By Joseph G. Chernowski on 08-11-22
By: Steve Magness
-
The Passion Paradox
- A Guide to Going All In, Finding Success, and Discovering the Benefits of an Unbalanced Life
- By: Brad Stulberg, Steve Magness
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The coauthors of the bestselling Peak Performance dive into the fascinating science behind passion, showing how it can lead to a rich and meaningful life while also illuminating the ways in which it is a double-edged sword. Here’s how to cultivate a passion that will take you to great heights—while minimizing the risk of an equally great fall.
By: Brad Stulberg, and others
-
How to Fall in Love with Questions
- A New Way to Thrive in Times of Uncertainty
- By: Elizabeth Weingarten
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What if our questions—the ones we ask about relationships, work, meaning, identity, and purpose—are not our tormentors, but our teachers? Inspired by 150-year-old advice from Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke and backed by contemporary science, Elizabeth Weingarten offers a fresh approach for dealing with these seemingly unsolvable questions. In her quest, Weingarten shares her own journey and the stories of many others, whose lives have transformed through a different, and better, relationship with uncertainty.
-
-
too much personal anecdote
- By Landsurveyor on 07-01-25
-
The Determined Spy
- The Turbulent Life and Times of CIA Pioneer Frank Wisner
- By: Douglas Waller
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 19 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An intimate and expertly researched biography of little-known early CIA leader Frank Wisner, whose behind-the-scenes influence on Cold War policy—and hundreds of highly secret anti-Soviet missions—resonates with the international crises we see today.
-
-
Essential For Understanding The Cold War
- By Demetrius Walker on 05-13-25
By: Douglas Waller
-
Into the Ice
- The Northwest Passage, the Polar Sun, and a 175-Year-Old Mystery
- By: Mark Synnott
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times bestselling author Mark Synnott has climbed with Alex Honnold. He’s scaled Mount Everest. He's pioneered big-wall first ascents, including the north-west face of the mile-high Great Trango Tower, and skied monster first descents. But in 2022, he realized there was a dream he’d yet to achieve: to sail the Northwest Passage in his own boat—a feat only four hundred or so sailors have ever accomplished—and in doing so, try to solve the mystery of what happened to legendary nineteenth-century explorer Sir John Franklin and his ships, HMS Erebus and Terror.
-
-
Awesome read
- By Amazon Customer on 06-05-25
By: Mark Synnott
-
The Art of Uncertainty
- How to Navigate Chance, Ignorance, Risk and Luck
- By: David Spiegelhalter
- Narrated by: David Spiegelhalter
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Renowned statistician David Spiegelhalter shows how we can become better at dealing with what we don't know to make smarter choices in a world so full of puzzling variables. In lucid, lively prose, Spiegelhalter guides us through the principles of probability, illustrating how they can help us think more analytically about everything from medical advice to sports to climate change forecasts.
-
-
Terrific
- By Roger March on 04-01-25
-
Exercised
- Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding
- By: Daniel E. Lieberman
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this myth-busting book, Daniel Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a pioneering researcher on the evolution of human physical activity, tells the story of how we never evolved to exercise - to do voluntary physical activity for the sake of health. Using his own research and experiences throughout the world, Lieberman recounts without jargon how and why humans evolved to walk, run, dig, and do other necessary and rewarding physical activities while avoiding needless exertion.
-
-
Great book to listen to in the gym!
- By aaron on 01-22-21
-
Carbon
- The Book of Life
- By: Paul Hawken
- Narrated by: Peter Coyote
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Carbon is the only element that animates the entirety of the living world. Though comprising a tiny fraction of Earth’s composition, our planet is lifeless without it. Yet it is maligned as the driver of climate change, scorned as an errant element blamed for the possible demise of civilization. Here, Paul Hawken looks at the flow of life through the lens of carbon. Embracing a panoramic view of carbon’s omnipresence, he explores how this ubiquitous and essential element extends into every aperture of existence and shapes the entire fabric of life.
-
-
aweful narration
- By Brettskie on 06-15-25
By: Paul Hawken
-
Shatterproof
- How to Thrive in a World of Constant Chaos (and Why Resilience Alone Isn't Enough)
- By: Tasha Eurich
- Narrated by: Tasha Eurich
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We’ve been taught that resilience is the secret to navigating life’s most difficult moments. According to New York Times bestselling author and organizational psychologist Dr. Tasha Eurich, there is just one problem with this assumption. Scientifically, resilience isn’t an unlimited resource, especially with the growing pressure, uncertainty, and chaos we’re experiencing today. But what if, instead of merely “bouncing back” from stressors and setbacks, we could harness them for forward growth?
-
-
Profound and simple and practical
- By C. L. Johnson on 06-07-25
By: Tasha Eurich
Explore More!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Useful topic, but boring
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Life Changing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A good reminder to keep looking
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.