This is the book that added a whole lot of jet fuel to the respiratory revolution. James Nestor travels the world talking w/ the world’s leading scientists & experts researching the power of breathing. He goes back into our evolutionary history and traces it up to the problems of today.
Experimenting w/ his own body, he voluntarily goes thru the horror of 10 days of mouth-breathing, and then 10 days of nasal breathing: the results are clear. He also draws on several other classic treatises and scriptural texts extolling the power of breathing – giving the reader the sense that they’re a part of a long continuum of ‘pulminauts’ (people who try different breath-based experiments on themselves). If U get this book, U’ll have a huge pillar of the uThrones System.
Few books have the transformative power of the Permaculture Designers Manual. Bill Mollison was a globalist in the best sense of the word. He aspired to empower the people of the world to live in harmony w/ the natural world while leveraging all of our knowledge to built the types of human cultures that’re capable of permanence. He’s very much missed, but he left a great legacy. This is his opus work. Search for “Global Gardener” on Youtube for more content.
This was a life-altering book for me. James Howard Kunstler has become quite provocative in his recent writings on his blog (kunstler.com), but back in 2012, when this book was published, his ability to concisely synthesize hugely complex ideas into a form that’s strives for a version of righteous truculence, that’s lyrical, logical, emotive & informative. We’ve been overwhelmed w/ information for 50-60+ years now, and we finally have enough civilizational history to see the trajectory of over-consumption, and to begin tapering down to a more efficient society. A healthier, less destructive. I could add that we should be doing the same – uThrones can help.
Like the concept albums of 1970’s rock-n-roll, Timothy Ferriss conducts a masterful symphony of prose compiled from the answers given to the same set of questions directed towards several dozen of the most successful people in the world today.
Having written to each of them w/ the same questions, most-all replied, (he’s even included a ‘thanks, but I can’t’ letter), each w/ fascinatingly unique responses that’ll leave U feeling enriched. Not only is the advice relevant & applicable, but the questions are great (e.g. What advice do people commonly give that the reader should ignore?)!!! U’ve got to have received & taken a lot of advice to learn all of the tricks & tips, shoulds & shouldn’t, etc. to be successful, thus the question takes the interviewee to another dimension. It’s as if U’re getting a book that’s a collaborative work of art to which dozens of people contributed their deepest experiences. U’ll see.
There are few minds that’ve ever existed like those of Daniel Kahnaman & Amos Tversky’s. They blazed an original intellectual trail by confronting some of the basic assumptions about how the human mind works. They fought for their country and worked as a pair for several decades on pioneering challenges that enhanced the safety & decision-making capabilities of human institutions.
Humans are fallible. There are reasons why, and if we take the time to observe & reflect on them, we can understand them, and use that understanding to enhance the human experience further. This is the story of their friendship told by one of the most compelling writers today – Michael Lewis. It’s a treasure.
The Wim Hof Method is another profoundly life-changing book that demonstrates the power of the body &breath. Science is used to confirm and validate the respiratory recipes-of experience that ancient people have been using to survive for thousands of years.
In short breath deeply for 3 minutes, then after the last inhale, exhale completely, and abstain from air until U start to feel ‘air hunger’, then inhale a complete breath and hold that for 10-15 seconds. Repeat this a few times, and then take a cold shower.
Wim often writes that a ‘cold shower a day keeps the doctor away’. What he’s referring to is the simulation of a near-death experience w/ cold showers & ice baths. The cells that are in that new cold environment have a cellular metabolic reaction that increases their efficiency to maintain the same core internal temperature. We experience the adrenaline (epinephrine) rush as soon as the cold hits our flesh, and that makes us choose to ‘fight or flee’. By simply facing the water in a dignified pose, and moving in slow-motion, we optimize our circulatory system’s ability to move the hormones, endogenous opiates, oxygen, cannabinoids & nutrients to the challenged cells. That efficiency also works to dissipate the cortisol and other stress hormones that are associated w/ the stress of the experience. It’s the easiest way to ‘fight’ and win every day. Thanks to Wim we’ve learned a lot about human potential.
Quite possibly the greatest book ever written about all that there ever was, is, and will be. This is the great Carl Sagan’s opus work on the Universe that encapsulates a life & career spent trying to understand the vastness of space & human potential to transcend our superficial divisions. Not to deny those divisions, but to see them, celebrate them and realize that it’s the knowledge of our place in the Universe that overrides all of the tragedy & triumph of the past and unifies our species.
I wish Carl was still here, but we must carry-on as he would’ve – w/ cautious optimism & a yearning for the awesomeness of the Truth.
Given the transformative power of Tai Qi, it’s entirely possible that this could’ve been the first book listed, but there’s not much rhyme or reason to this book list – they’re like children, I love them all in equal measures.
Kidding aside, in this book, Waysun Liao weaves together the works of several Chinese writers who focused on the physiological & spiritual practice of Tai Qi. This book provides the descriptions of the visuals used by Tai Qi practitioners for hundreds of years to induce specific sensations & perceptions that reveal & develop one’s inner-potential.
Boundless is a book compiling the life’s-work of Ben Greenfield. Ben was a college athlete who’s maintained his commitment to perfecting all that he can. This book is the encyclopedia of information for everyone to begin their own study & experimentation.
Alice Waters, Bob Carrau, and Cristina Mueller have provided the example for what a modern conscious cuisine can become. From sourcing the most nutritious molecules that sustain life, to the ethical preparation of them to give the greatest benefits to the human experience, it’s all covered in this book. The path to a new world must be accompanied by a new philosophical approach to food consumption – it’s who we are.
This is the book that I first read after coming home from China. It collects all of the latest research (as of 2012) and presents a new way of vision for how for how we can summon all that we’ve learned as a species to combat cancer.
David Servan-Schreiber writes in a very readable/listenable style that’s convincing and non-dogmatic. He merges dietary lifestyle changes w/ a holistic approach to cancer management that doesn’t deny the traditional style’s treatment-successes, nor the intuitive enhancements that one can feel from caring for the whole body.
We can build a healthier & more collaborative world.
Here’s another example of how disordered and random this list is. Flow makes the case that optimal experience is something that we can all experience. The author, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, analyses different people who’ve experienced a great amount of satisfaction & fulfillment from life – the sense of flow is the common feature for each person. This book will give U the clues for discovering ways that U can find ‘flow’ in ur life. It’s a phenomenal & enlightening achievement.
One of America’s greatest historians, David McCullough, tries to define the transcendent power of the American ideal to excite, animate, and inspire some of the greatest feats of genius, fortitude, strength & compassion in the history of humankind. We need his words now more than ever before.
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond was a life-changing book for me. I was in my early 20’s when I read it, and it helped shape some of my core principles that influence my life. It helped me to re-define our human history, to empathize w/ the plight of human beings, and to understand how the world came to be.
By simplifying the explanation for the world’s inequality to 3 singular concepts, Diamond creates a new prism for viewing the forces that’ve been influencing history in ways both seen & unseen. It’s an astonishing achievement.