Scott Carney is an award-winning investigative journalist and anthropologist whose stories blend narrative nonfiction with ethnography. His reporting has taken him to some of the most dangerous and unlikely corners of the world. He is a senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism and a fellow at the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is the author of The Red Market and A Death on Diamond Mountain, and has been a contributing editor at Wired. Other works of his have appeared in Mother Jones, Foreign Policy, Playboy, Details, Discover, Outside, and Fast Company, among other publications. He lives in Denver with his wife, Laura, and their cat, Lambert.
'[Wim Hof] has become a phenomenon, and Carney is an entertaining
guide to his world and his followers.’
*The Times 'Book of the Week'*
‘I always knew that jumping into freezing water makes you feel
brilliant afterwards, but now I know why.’
*The Spectator*
‘When it's cold outside, do you turn the heating up? Do you always
put a coat on before going out? Do you think your comfortable life
is good for you? If so, you have to read Scott Carney's What
Doesn't Kill Us. Through some great stories — which often involve
Carney in the snow without much on — and some serious research, he
shows us how to escape the bland, shuffling gait of our
centrally-heated, fleece-jacketed, molly-coddled lives by diving
head first into the ice-cold, axe-sharp, scary
experiences that made our ancestors' hearts beat faster every day.
If we do that, we can awake from the dull slumber of modern life,
and open our eyes to a better, healthier dawn of crisp air, better
circulation, and the ability to truly mean it when we say: I'm
alive. Buy this book, and you'll emerge a stronger,
healthier, more human human.’
*author of Stuffocation: Living More With Less*
‘Climbing a mountain in nothing but a pair of shorts seems idiotic
to most, but for Wim Hof and his companions, it’s just another day.
When investigative journalist and anthropologist Carney heard about
Hof’s mind-boggling methods and claims that he could ‘hack’ the
human body, he knew he had to venture to Poland to expose this
fraud. But in just a few days, Hof changed Carney’s mind, and so
began a friendship and a new adventure. Carney now chronicles his
journey to push himself mentally and physically using Wim Hof’s
method of cold exposure, breath-holding, and meditation to tap into
our primal selves. Our ancestors survived harsh conditions without
modern technology, while we live in comfortable bubbles with little
to struggle against and wonder how they survived. The question
is, ‘What happens when we push our bodies to the
limit?’ Carney calls on evolutionary biology and other modern
scientific disciplines to explore and explain Hof’s unconventional
methods. Fresh and exciting, this book has wide appeal for readers
interested in health, sports, self-improvement, and extreme
challenges.’
*Booklist*
‘As this engaging autoethnography relates, anthropologist and
investigative journalist Carney was skeptical upon encountering a
photo of a nearly naked Wim Hof sitting on a glacier in the Arctic
Circle. Hof, a Dutch fitness guru who runs a training camp in
Poland’s wilderness, claims he can control his body temperature and
immune system solely with his mind; though Carney set out to prove
Hof a charlatan, he was instead won over. Carney documents his
interactions with Hof and the many others who have learned to
control their bodies in seemingly impossible ways: he learned Hof’s
breathing techniques for tricking the body into doing things it
isn’t evolutionarily designed for, and underwent training to face
extreme cold while barely clothed. It is this training that enables
Hof and Carney to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro in 28 hours while wearing
shorts. This is part guide and part popular science book; readers
will learn about how Neanderthals used the body’s ‘brown fat’ to
keep warm and how exposure nearly reverses the symptoms of
diabetes. The accomplishments Carney documents are unbelievable and
fascinating; this isn’t a how-to for those looking to perform
extraordinary feats, but it is an entertaining account that will
appeal to the adventurous.’
*Publishers Weekly*
‘Scott Carney is so curious about getting to the truth of things
that he is willing to endure great pain and suffering to get there.
While investigating the controversial methods of Wim Hof and others
operating on the scientific fringe, Carney entered a skeptic yet
emerged a true believer. In What Doesn't Kill Us, readers
get to follow him along on his transformational journey, and the
insights are truly fascinating. Informative, fun, and with a
healthy degree of danger, this is a book for the adventurer in all
of us.’
*Co-founder of XPT (Extreme Performance Training)*
‘The further we get from the harsh environmental conditions that
once threatened our existence, the more we need them. I see this
every weekend at a Spartan Race somewhere in the world. Millions of
otherwise sane people line up to suffer and push themselves to
their physical limits, and it feels good. What Doesn't Kill
Us is a fascinating investigation into the innate urge that
drives people like these, and reveals how some have managed to use
environmental conditioning to accomplish truly extraordinary
things.’
*founder of Spartan Race*
‘As a Navy SEAL, you live by the mantra ‘What doesn’t kill us only
makes us stronger.’ We would hear this phrase and repeat it, but we
never had any proof that it was factual. Yet through comprehensive
study, Scott Carney has brilliantly documented how engaging in
environmental conditioning, breathing, meditation, and other
techniques can actually make us physically and mentally
stronger. What Doesn’t Kill Us is a fascinating book that
will captivate all who read it and that will be of immense value to
those in the military, those who are active in sports, and those
who seek an alternate means of developing greater mental and
physical strength.’
*Don D. Mann, New York Times bestselling
author, Inside SEAL Team SIX*
‘The narrative is filled with personal details that will engage,
astonish, and even repel readers … Couch potatoes take warning: the
experiences described in this testimonial are often tough to read
about, and the conclusions, while sometimes convincing, might best
be taken with a touch of skepticism.’
*Kirkus Reviews*
‘Carney writes with considerable narrative verve, slamming home the
misery of what he has witnessed with passion and visceral
detail.’
*The New York Times*
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