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Steven Kotler's book recommendations
Across 2 podcasts. Every show Steven Kotler appears on, in one place — not just one.
Steven Kotler’s most recommended books
- Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- Range by David J. Epstein
- Deep Work by Cal Newport
- Effortless attention by Unknown
- Mindset by Carol S. Dweck
- The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
- The Breakout Principle by Herbert Benson
Steven Kotler is an American author, journalist, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his nonfiction books, including Abundance, A Small Furry Prayer, West of Jesus, Bold, The Rise of Superman, and Stealing Fire. Across various podcast appearances, including Modern Wisdom and The Knowledge Project, Kotler has discussed, analyzed, and critiqued numerous books concerning peak performance, human psychology, and cognitive science. On Modern Wisdom, he praised David Epstein's work on range in the book Range, discussed Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Susan Jackson's Flow and Sports as an early attempt to apply flow psychology to athletics, and referenced Carol S. Dweck's Mindset regarding attitudes toward learning. He also highlighted the textbook Effortless Attention as a source exploring theories on flow. During his discussion on The Knowledge Project, Kotler cited Herbert Benson and William Proctor's The Breakout Principle while explaining the four-stage flow cycle and Benson's ideas on healing. In the same episode, he critiqued Bessel van der Kolk's The Body Keeps the Score, calling it a problematic direct rebuttal against opposing views, and he debated Cal Newport's Deep Work, arguing that the concept described flow under a newly coined term while referencing his own book, The Rise of Superman, to compare research efforts with reading times.
Books recommended by Steven Kotler
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Flow
Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a psychological masterpiece that explores the state of optimal experience, immersion, and deep engagement where challenges perfectly match an individual's skill level, resulting in profound fulfillment and distorted perceptions of time.
Discussed“They wrote a book together called flow and sport and they tried to teach leading athletes using the psychology how to use flow”
Where to get it
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Range
Range by David J.
Recommended“yeah david's work on range um in where he talks about range is brilliant”
Where to get it
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Deep Work
Deep Work by Cal Newport is a productivity and self-help guide that argues for the immense value of cultivating distraction-free concentration in a hyper-connected world, asserting that focused effort is the key to achieving extraordinary professional outcomes and personal fulfillment.
Discussed“I'm like, deep work is another word for flow, brother. Like I'm sorry. You've coined a new term when he says, well, no, you're, you're going to need a lot of struggle”
Where to get it
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Effortless attention
Discussed“um and uh I think that argument is made actually in this book effortless attention which is a book on of one of the textbooks on flow”
Where to get it
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Mindset
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S.
Discussed“when carol dweck gets stamford's mindset she means attitude towards learning”
Where to get it
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The Body Keeps the Score
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk is a comprehensive exploration of how trauma physically impacts the human mind and body.
Critiqued“And it is a direct rebuttal against Vanderbilt, who I think is totally wrong. And I think that book is very problematic.”
Where to get it
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The Breakout Principle
Discussed“He actually mapped the original neural chemistry, the flow cycle flows a four stage cycle. It's not a light switch experience. And he mapped it. And he looked at healing.”
Where to get it
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The Rise of Superman
The Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler explores the neuroscience of flow states and how extreme athletes achieve peak performance.
Discussed“That's not bad ROI, but if you read a book, they take Rises Superman. My books on, on average, about 70, 72,000 words to take most people at six to seven hours reading them.”
Where to get it
Books by Steven Kotler
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Abundance
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The Future Is Faster Than You Think
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West of Jesus
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The Art of Impossible
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Stealing Fire
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The Rise of Superman
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A small furry prayer
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Science of Doing Your Best Work | The Knowledge Project | 2026-10-27 | 4 |
| A Complete Recipe For Peak Performance - Steven Kotler - #305 | Modern Wisdom | 2021-04-08 | 5 |
Other mentions (10: passing, ad reads, own books)
“So David, when you wrote incognito and you presented your information on synesthesia, that's really interesting. But it conflicts with what Helmholtz said back in blah”
“If you go if you open up West Jesus, which is the book I wrote where I tell the sort of this story we just walked through, I don't really write about much about the lime.”
“he once pointed out and i wrote about this in residency meant or stealing fire”
“um so the work i did that i wrote about in a small furry prayer um sort of put forth a different idea that a bunch of us sort of think might be true”
“um so the work i did that i wrote about in a small furry prayer um sort of put forth a different idea”
“if you read the art of impossible and you're let's say your top 30 percent of whatever it is you're doing that could be stamp collected right i don't care”
“basically in the book of the beginning of art impossible i talk about how do you line up all your intrinsic motivators”
“so art impossible comes out right right the new book comes out”
“because you know in stealing fire we write about jerusalem syndrome”
“so are impossible breaks down the flow triggers or you know stevencottler.com or flowresearchcollective.com”