A Wall Street Journal bestseller. In this groundbreaking book, New York Times bestselling author Steven Kotler decodes the mystery of ultimate human performance. Drawing on over a decade of research and firsthand reporting with dozens of top action and adventure sports athletes like big wave legend Laird Hamilton, big mountain snowboarder Jeremy Jones, and skateboarding pioneer Danny Way, Kotler explores the frontier science of "flow," an optimal state of consciousness in which we perform and feel our best. Building a bridge between the extreme and the mainstream, The Rise of Superman explains how these athletes are using flow to do the impossible and how we can use this information to radically accelerate performance in our own lives. At its core, this is a book about profound possibility; about what is actually possible for our species; about where--if anywhere--our limits lie.

Dog rescue is one of the largest underground movements in America. It is also one of the least understood. This insider look at the culture of dog rescue begins with Kotler's personal experience working with an ever-peculiar pack of dogs and becomes a much deeper investigation into exactly what it means to devote one's life to the furry and the four-legged, in the end showing why living in a world of dogs may be the best way to uncover the truth about what it really means to be human. Praise for A Small Furry Prayer : "It's amazing and also very encouraging to find a book like this one, filled with original thought and plenty of new information. And if that's not enough, it's a great read, a real page-turner. I strongly recommend it to anyone." - Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Hidden Life of Dogs "This gritty journey into ,'a world made of dog' is unlike any dog story you've ever read." - Christian Science Monitor "Anyone who is interested in the human-animal connection, the bond that we feel with our dogs, will find this book fascinating. It's almost a guarantee that you will look at your dog in a totally different way." - San Francisco Examiner "Joyous...Brimming with humor, gratitude, and grace, this is a remarkable story." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)