The author Steven Kotler and high-performance expert Jamie Wheal spent four years investigating how Silicon Valley executives, the Navy SEALS, and maverick scientists are harnessing rare and controversial states of consciousness to solve critical challenges and outperform the competition.-- Adapted from book jacket.

Introduction. The never-ending story ; Accidental Prometheans -- Part one: The case for ecstasis -- What is this fire?. The switch ; The high cost of Ninja assassins ; Google goes fishing ; Hacking ecstasis ; The mind gym ; The altered states economy -- Why it matters. The ambassador of ecstasis ; Selflessness ; Timelessness ; Effortlessness ; Richness ; Wicked solutions to wicked problems -- Why we missed it. Beyond the pale ; The pale of the church ; The pale of the body ; The pale of the state ; Pipers, cults, and commies -- Part two: The four forces of ecstasis -- Psychology. Translating transformation ; The bell tolles for thee ; Mad men ; Taking the kink out of kinky ; Good for what ails you ; Altered states to altered traits -- Neurobiology. Outside the jar ; I can't feel my face ; The AI shrink ; Precognition is here (but you knew that already) ; The birth of neurotheology ; OS to UI -- Pharmacology. Everybody must get stoned ; The Johnny Appleseed of psychedelics ; This is your brain on drugs ; The hyperspace lexicon ; The molecules of desire -- Technology. Dean's dark secret ; Things that go boom in the night ; The digital shaman ; Enlightenment engineering ; The flow dojo -- Part three: The road to eleusis -- Catch a fire. The sandbox of the future ; When the levee breaks ; Disrupting the brahmins ; High times of Main Street ; Nothing new under the sun -- Burning down the house. The atomic donkey ; He who controls the switch ; Spooks to kooks ; Soma, delicious soma! ; Ecstasy wants to be free -- Hedonic engineering. "Known issues" of STER ; Selflessness: it's not about you ; Timelessness: it's not about now ; Effortlessness: don't be a bliss junkie ; Richness: don't dive too deep ; The ecstasis equation ; Hedonic calendaring ; There is a crack in everything -- Conclusion. Row your boat or fly your boat? ; An afterthought -- A quick note on inside baseball.