Head Strong

I've been following Dave's podcast and Facebook (and applying his advice) for a couple of years now, so I wasn't sure how much new information I'd find in this book. In fact, I ordered it mainly out of gratitude to Dave because the information he's disseminated has been largely responsible for giving me my life back. After a couple of concussions and disabling post-concussion syndrome, extreme food sensitivities, and mysterious and severe cognitive problems that had plagued me for the last decade, applying Dave's advice from Bulletproof Radio and social media posts has been THE difference between being totally debilitated and being able to function. I truly don't even want to imagine where I'd be if I hadn't discovered Dave's work by watching his TED talk two years ago. That being said, I was surprised and impressed at the amount of hacks and information in this book that I'd never heard before. Several bits of info he gives about how the body functions on a cellular and mitochondrial level explained patterns I'd noticed in my health that had previously been a mystery to me. I've been trying some of the hacks he presents, and have noticed a significant improvement in how I feel and function. This book finally convinced me to try two things I'd been putting off for a while. One is the Wim Hof breathing method, which Dave explains succinctly and clearly; I've been doing it every morning for a few days and I'm amazed at how much it energizes me and clears my head. The other is true Bulletproof coffee - Head Strong contains an explanation for why actually blending the butter and oil into the coffee (rather than just gently mixing it all together by hand as I usually do) makes it more effective. So this morning I broke out the blender, and blended one tablespoon each of XCT oil (I haven't graduated to Brain Octane quite yet) and pastured, cultured butter with mold-free coffee. Now I finally see why Dave's always talking about Bulletproof coffee. I feel like I can take on the whole world this morning. This is definitely my new daily breakfast. I found pretty much all of the information in the book extremely helpful; even the parts that were review for me were presented so well that I felt I gained a new understanding of them. Everything in this book should be common knowledge, and hopefully the book will help that happen. The book's focus on mitochondrial health makes the biohacks it contains relevant to and useful for pretty much all health problems, not just cognitive ones. Dave is a fantastic writer as well; I struggle with reading comprehension as part of my lingering post-TBI issues, but Head Strong was so coherently written and well-organized that I found it easy and quite enjoyable to read. He intersperses little jokes throughout the more technical information that keeps it light and reader-friendly, which I appreciated. The bullet points at the end of every chapter are quite useful as well. It's clear that Dave put an immense amount of effort into this book, really values the readers' time, and genuinely wants to help others live life on a higher level. I don't normally review books, but this one inspired me to write this lengthy and glowing review. That's how much I value it and hope it gets widely read and distributed. My sister, who has fibromyalgia but is resistant to trying anything that might improve her condition, even decided to read this book since she's heard me mention Dave's work so many times. I'm positive that applying almost anything in this book will help her. As someone who's steadily conquering my multitude of health problems one by one using the information in this book and following the Bulletproof lifestyle, I sincerely and emphatically recommend Head Strong to anyone who wants better health.

This book makes the case that optimizing your Mitochondria is the ultimate performance enhancing Biohack because your Mitochondria are the fundamental energy generation mechanism that underlie everything else. Mitochondria are billions of tiny, ancient bacteria that power your individual cells. You've probably heard of them before, I'll explain more in depth later what Mitochondria are but for now I think a Star Wars metaphor will suffice. In Star Wars the Jedi have their powers because of the midichlorians, which are a microscopic life form that are shared by all living things, that give the life force to all living things. That's not far off from what Mitochondria actually are! There's an important point I want to you to remember... Mitochondria are to genes what free will is to predetermination. This idea of Predetermination seems to be very popular, this is this idea that every molecule in your body and indeed every atom in the universe is bound by laws of physics and mathematics. You can often predict quiet accurately what a given atom, molecule, cell, organism, group, species, environment or even planet is going to do based upon established natural laws. We know, almost exactly, where Mars in going to be in 6 months. We know when a species is going to do their seasonal migration. We often know what's going to make a tumor of cancer cells grow and take over a vital organ. It would seem that the universe is quite predictable maybe even predetermined, with one exception, us humans. We seem to make some very random decisions that sometimes totally surprise everyone. From the insides of our own heads it certainly seems like we have free will doesn't it? We will debate back and forth with ourselves on decisions and finally go with the option that was seemingly quite unpredictable. Making a big decision we will write down a big list of prose vs cons to help us decide carefully between options. As I write this very article I make decide between the words, prose and metaphors that will best communicate the ideas my mind is refining. So this presents a big question, perhaps the biggest question, do we have free will or are we just playing out script that's already been written for us? Religion, since time immemorial, did a pretty good job at addressing this seeming paradox. In religion, god knows what you are going to do. God knows what's going to happen in the future. God has laid out of a path of challenges and lessons for us so that we can ultimately end of leaving this world better than we found it. Yet, in most religions god gives us free will or agency. God encourages us to be moral. God offers us incentives to be better people or communities but ultimately leaves the decision up to us. But, as many atheists have pointed out, this is on the surface a contradiction. Well, it's a contradiction that's reflective of the paradox of free will vs predetermination that profoundly confuses astrophysicists, neuroscientists, quantum physicists and social scientists and philosophers Here's my take on this... It would seem that, at scale, we have very little free will. Here's what I mean by this... When you get a statistically significant, similar group of people together you can quiet accurately predict what they are going to do. If you get a group of people with a specific IQ range you can quite accurately predict how many of them will get jobs, how much money they will make, if they will get married, have kids or go to jail. At scale, viewed as group, they have disappointingly little free will. Similarly, if you look at the grand course of your life, at scale, predetermined factors seem to really limit what you'll do and what you can become. For example; I was one of these ambitious young adults that was really determined to became a millionaire by the time I was 30 and I read a lot of books about what this was going to take and tried really hard, yet I totally failed. Now I probably have a pretty average net worth of an male, American 30 year old. Despite all my agency, I ended up quiet average. So even though we seem to have quiet a lot of micro-agency or free will in our short term, moment-to-moment, day to day decisions long term, at scale, you will likely end up being statistically quiet average for... Your sex Your race Your height Your attractiveness Your intelligence The social class you were born into These predetermined factors define almost everything about how your life is going to go. And what is the programming that fundamentally underlies these things? Your genes. More than anything else, your genes determine whether you are going to be really successful, happy or end up in jail. Your genes are your destiny This is an uncomfortable and politically incorrect truth that... The self help gurus won't admit to you because it undermines their transformation via positive thinking, self esteem or just be confident messaging. The genetic researchers and scientists won't admit to you because politically incorrect opinions can get them fired from their institutions or get their funding denied. Politicians certainly won't admit this to you because they sell you the illusion of free will and self determination via democracy. Even the companies that sell Biohacking products and Mitochondrial supplements won't admit this to you because they don't want to insult their potential customers. Defy your genes So if everyone in your family, is really successful and happy then that's a good sign that you have the kinds of genes that will lead you inevitably to become successful and happy. But if not, if your family is kind of a disaster, then it's going to take really herculean energy, discipline and motivation for you to defy your genes and resist this gravity of epigenetic trauma that is powerfully and subtly pulling you down a path of mediocrity. If you've ever felt like you kind of repeat the same mistakes and the same relationships and no matter how hard you try it doesn't seem like you can reach escape velocity of momentum away from the black hole that is your past then that's good sign that your genes are running your life. Genes vs Mitochondria The good news is that you can overcome your genes with your Mitochondria, sometimes in a quiet literal way, where fully functional Mitochondria allows us to overcome epigenetic trauma, it switches off vestigial defense mechanisms in our genes and psychology that don't serve us. And having our Mitochondria working right gives us the energy and motivation to consistently practice helpful habits because, ultimately we are what we repeatedly do. About Head Strong Like Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss, the book is a refined version of Dave Asprey's podcast, you could learn everything in this book by just listening to the Bulletproof podcast. So you could of course save yourself the $12 and the 9 hours of reading by just listening to all his podcast episodes, but this book does a really great job of summarizing the best Biohacks discussed in the podcast and putting them in a holistic context of optimizing your Mitochondria. I don't recommend you buy and read every book I review, but this book I really do!

If there was a prize for writing the word "mitochondria" in a book, Dave Asprey would be the winner by a MILE. That's not such a bad thing, since he's teaching people how to hack their biology, with mitochondria as the basis of that, but wow - the last time I saw the word written so much was in high school biology. The book is quite a good one, and surprisingly quick to read. It's got good summaries that go at the beginning and end of the chapters, so if you read those first and then the chapters it makes it a bit easier. The advice is good, and while I think some of the ideas are even a little farther out in the future that I have a tolerance for, I'll be open-minded enough to at least try some of them. That being said, I'll try those that don't cost $1500. I get that Dave has a seemingly unlimited budget, but the rest of us likely don't, and while a "vibe plate" isn't entirely necessary to get earth grounding effects (you can walk in the grass in bare feet to accomplish the same) some of the ideas in here are fairly expensive. Of course, those expenses do contribute to Dave's seemingly unlimited budget, in that he sells any number of the products he uses and/or recommends in the book. To be fair, and to his great credit, he does provide alternatives and recommendations for things that either he doesn't sell, or that are cheaper, or both. This book could easily have come off as one giant sales pitch, and while there is some of that, Dave does indeed not only temper his urge to push you into all his BulletProof products, he uses self-deprecating humour to point out (most of the time) that hey, he does sell this stuff, and he makes no bones about that fact. As good as most of the information is, there were things I would have like to have seen that for me would have made it a five star book. First, not everyone does, or wants to, drink coffee. I get that it's the world's most popular beverage and that it does actually have a lot of health benefits. There are some of us though that can't stand the sight or smell, and have no desire to get near it. Tea has some health benefits, and there are no attempts to address any of those, or even make a comparison, and certainly it doesn't seem that tea merits even testing in Bulletproof format. (I get that Dave might not drink it, but there are plenty of people who do.) Though he does occasionally mention green tea, those mentions are few and far between and don't cover black teas or any other kind. Second, I'd have liked a "planner" for the two week Headstrong programme. A list of recommendations is good, but I was expecting throughout the course of the book a "Day 1,do this, Day 2, do this..." and etc.... while it's only a "neutral" detraction as such, perhaps an appendix or something similar would be possible in the second edition. (I know not everyone would benefit from this, but some would and it seems easy enough to include.) Overall, a really good book with some really cutting edge information that I enjoyed reading and hope to put into practise.

I am one of those people who constantly has cycled into the idea of a healthy lifestyle and eventually failed to stay with the program. I have failed because of numerous reasons like many other people. All it takes is a weakness in your will power, failure to have strong habits, lack of enough time, and/or improper planning for your daily decisions to fall off the bandwagon real quick. And it is always much harder to get back going at that point. I am getting a lot out of this book. I like the fact that it is educational with science (not some magic mysterious potions). It does go against the grain of some of the past incorrect medical / diet advice. I have both audible and Kindle versions. I have listened to it on the way to and from work and then look at the Kindle version afterward to get scientific terms for further internet investigation / research. I like the idea that if I get my brain function along with my body at its maximum then I can also enhance my entire health, financial earning power, and happiness with myself. This is not my first self-improvement book. Recently I have went through at least twenty different ones. My reading also includes the medical/diet books by Steven Gundry. There are people who are putting the infomercial label on some books like both of these authors simply because the they also sell other products that are intended to help you. If you are truly reading this book you will find that it is not only cutting edge but generic enough that you can use the information with numerous products offered by different companies. This isn't quackery. You can take the technical information and recommendations of this book and apply it on your lifestyle, along with assorted products, foods, etc. that focus on the necessary nutrients. You don't need the author's products to improve your situation. But if you don't choose to go with high quality supplement products of some sort, you won't get the maximum results from what is needed to maximize your brain function. Unfortunately the grocery stores, restaurants, primary vitamin manufacturers, etc. are so far off track that you will get evil stuff that may continue to cause harm to you. You need to take control. This book will help you with the knowledge to improve your brain and overall diet. EDIT* I am creating an order for supplements as well and will update this review after testing the technical advice. EDIT** I am now using BulletProof Brain Octane oil and XCT Oil along with their coffee and grain-fed ghee. The coffee mixture definitely allows me to extend my morning with nothing else for breakfast. I have ordered the "Smart Mode" supplement. I tried the protein bars but won't get more of them. They taste fine, but I failed to notice they contain cashews. I have never had a major problem with lectins in peanuts or cashews but have chosen to stop eating them for this reason. Steven Gundry's philosophy prevails on the lectin part.

I have been studying health and nutrition for years. My body would LOVE to be fat, but I don't want to be! My brain seems to swing both ways! I am concerned with health as well as aesthetics, and, I'm a life long learner, it's very interesting how all these things work together, or don't. As a techie myself, I find it very easy to read Dave Asprey's book, I get the geek humor, I can totally relate to how he thinks, but I am truly grateful that he has had the motivation, money and need to do all this research and discovery, then make the effort to share it! I appreciate his perspective on things that are must do, or are over the top, for if you have extra time, need , or money. A fair amount of the information is rock solid, main stream knowledge, just never pulled together like this, he's connected a lot of dots that have needed connecting. But he has cutting edge stuff with a little bit of bleeding edge in here as well. It's brought together nicely in a way that is easily consumable by most people. You can do a few or you can do all of his recommendations, or add things over time. As he says, while we have a lot in common, we are all different too. I read this initially for my own benefit, I am always trying to improve myself, physically and mentally. But I have two children with Aspergers that I know this will help. also have a daughter in college who was recently diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, and she has joined me on the Bulletproof road to recovery as well. I admit that between the book and Bulletproof Radio, I'm turning into a "fangirl", but, I have seen and felt the results. I've gone from 30% body fat to 17.5%. I feel good, I look good, my blood looks much better, along with other health markers. My family teases me, but they are all doing better as well. I give this book as a gift to people I love and respect. Oh, and for the record, I am NOT a coffee drinker, I drink tea. But my first meal of the day is a green drink with a scoop of Bulletproof collagen protein, some fiber and two tablespoons of brain octane oil. I would drink the coffee but my food sensitivity test says I am reactive to coffee, and , of course, we want to keep the inflammation down! But the main point is you don't HAVE to drink Bulletproof coffee, it just is a good option, especially if you like coffee! Go forth and be healthy!!!

This book is a surprisingly quick read, especially if you focus on the advice sections and skim through the science explanations. The book is well organized, and each chapter ends with a nice and short summary. The advice is simple and most of it was known to me from other sources. E.g. blue light and sleep / stress, avoid EMF, eating fat is good for you, etc. The author also includes a refreshingly short and well organized chapter on supplements. A novel angle is that he relates most of the advice to mitochondrial health, which other sources of similar advice did not mention (at least from what I have read before). My main beef with this book, and most other "biohacking" is that it is very person-specific. The author had some serious metabolic and brain abnormalities in his youth. Through a long journey of various bio hacks, he was able to put those problems behind him. However, you and I may not have the same issues that he started with. For example, he is preoccupied with mycotoxins, which are also the premise behind his Bulletproof Coffee business. I think this is irrelevant for most people. Just like a minority of people are sensitive to gluten, an even smaller minority is probably sensitive to the mycotoxins supposedly present in coffee. Becoming dependent on coffee or getting too wired to sleep are probably more common coffee issues than mycotoxic shock :) Recommended, esp. if it is one of your first books on healthy living. If you have been immersed in this field longer, it may not add much new information.

In Head Strong, Dave Asprey carefully describes what mitochondria are and the role they play in our brains and bodies. The book maps out all the ways that these incredible elements of our micro-biology play a major role in our brains, life style choices and decisions, performance and even our overall levels of happiness. Concrete evidence is given to provide a solid foundation for Dave's insights and personal expertise as he reveals all the ways he's been working on and with his own mitochondria for enhanced performance and longevity. His desire to share his successes is what this book is all about. A clear road map is provided in order to easily translate the powerful information from the book into practical ways to apply the ideas in your own life to immediately start feeling the major benefits of improved and improving performance. Having found Dave's work through a random try at Bulletproof coffee several years ago I knew instantly that I could trust the information he was offering. The coffee alone began to drastically change my relationship to and the functionality of my own brain; something I thought impossible given the significant history of Alzheimer's in my family. The more I drank the coffee with butter and Brain Octane Oil, the more my memory improved and the more stamina I began enjoying. In pursuing a Bulletproof Diet and lifestyle I've had the opportunity to steadily increase my overall health and performance. Now with Head Strong, a most readable book, the directions for even more improved performance are made super simple to follow. If you apply the principles laid out in the book and follow Dave's direction you'll join many others who find this lifestyle incredibly rewarding on so many levels. This is a stay up all night or pray for a rainy weekend to stay in and read it through kind of book!! Besides once you really see how cute mitochondria are you'll just want to take as good care of them as you possibly can. This book will show you how and your life and all those around you can only benefit!! Thanks for such a great work Dave!! I look forward to many more years to come improving my life using the tools you provide so generously through your own discoveries.

I'm sure that Dave doesn't know this but he has literally changed my life and quite possibly saved it. I had struggled with health problems my whole life. Growing up I had a mother who fancied herself a gourmet cook, however the food tasty was as I understand it now was slowly poisoning not only her but my whole family. My mother struggled with Diabetes, Hypothyroidism, Obesity, Heart disease etc. She then passed away about about 7 weeks shy of her 60th birthday. My older brother had a triple coronary bypass surgery at the ripe old age of 40. I take the time to explain this to help paint the picture of where my health and future were headed. A few years ago I was working in sales and came across a gentleman who asked me if I had ever heard of Bulletproof Coffee. He explained it and I thought he was nuts when he told me that I should be putting butter and coconut oil in my coffee instead of milk and agave syrup. The long story short is that if we flash forward a few months later I had a health situation that put me out of work. It was then in a really depressed state that I remembered that earlier conversation about coffee. I decided to get a copy of Dave's book, read it and the pieces all began to fall into place. Why the Atkins, Dean Ornish, and Raw Food diets had failed me in the past. Dave had truly done the hard work and research for all of us who really needed it. I began putting the principals to work, and the results were nothing short of miraculous in my life (100 lb weight loss, debilitating pain gone, brain fog gone, almost limitless energy etc). The Bulletproof Diet is a Fantastic Tool, and Head Strong is more of the same. It is quite enlightening, using data and science to get down to the details and information that we need to not only perform at a level that society would deem as average but be able to truly excel in whatever we do. Thank you for everything you do Dave.

First of all: the book reads phenomenally. You notice that Dave is indeed Head Strong, as he has not only delivers the goods in terms of content but in terms of style too - very 'tongue-in-cheek' and with little puns here and there that will ignite a humorous spark in your brains. Clearly written in a state of mental abundance :-) Second: half of the book is very well referenced; the other half may be speculative which is not always explicitly stated (but obvious given the lack of a reference). This might put some people off. You will however find a free episode of Bulletproof Radio in the internet for every one of these cases, where Dave talks to an according expert and you can assess the validity of the hypotheses for yourself.

I've been on the Bulletproof Keto diet for about 5 years now. I feel cognitively better- more clear, more focused and have a better memory than when I was younger in my twenties, thirties etc. I'm 78 years old. This book has new information and is helping me improve my sleep and exercise routines. Recommend this book and all his others!

Es un anuncio mal documentado de la compañía de Dave Asprey. Básicamente te invita a a seguir una dieta cetogénica y a comprar sus productos. Está obsesionado con el moho porque tuvo problemas de chico y cree que todo lo contiene.

I've been on the BP path for 2 years now, highly invested in the measurable improvement of my performance. Dave used to bring lots of cutting edge technology, supported with science and solid narratives on how it works, and ways I could check with whether it worked. Lately, he has moved into seriously dubious woo-woo land (4th state of water, really?) and relentlessly pushing his supplements. I've lost trust and belief in this. Content-wise: if you've followed the podcast, you've heard all that is in the book. If not, it is a reasonable (but not great) summary of it.

bulletproof dietが非常に面白かったので続編head strongも購入。正直前書ほど期待しておらず、せいぜい二番煎じ程度かと思っていたが。。失礼しました。 前書が主に食事に焦点を絞っていたが、本書の主役はミトコンドリア。食事のみならず睡眠、エクササイズ、呼吸法、カビの弊害から太陽光の恩恵に至るまで、いかに体内のミトコンドリアを活性化させるかに焦点があてられる。たいして金をかけずに実践可能な活性法も多く紹介されており、実際二ヶ月ほど実際にやってみると結構体の変化が実感できる。(全てがいい方向にというわけではないが。) 二番煎じどころかasprey氏はまだ2,3冊は楽に書けるのではないかと思える良書。