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

This was a well-researched review of what the authors and others describe as the pursuit of “ecstasis,” an admittedly eye-roll worthy extrapolation of the Greek idea of ecstasy (not the party drug but the philosophy). Yes, there are anecdotes in the book that I felt were somewhat impotent and inapplicable, but Kotler and Wheal are hitting on a fascinating and important age-old phenomenon that shouldn’t be discounted or trivialized just because it is currently a Silicon Valley trend.

The idea of pursuing whatever tools allow one to enter an altered state of consciousness, whether as a means of more productive work, as a means of experiencing a form of mysticism, or both, is a legitimate one. Understanding the latest in the domains that govern this search, including psychopharmacology, group physiology, biological engineering and network theory is quite valuable, and for that reason, I thought this book was helpful and quite worth the time.