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  • Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance

  • By: Alex Hutchinson
  • Narrated by: Robert G. Slade
  • Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (484 ratings)
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Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance

By: Alex Hutchinson
Narrated by: Robert G. Slade
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Summary

How high or far or fast can humans go? And what about individual potential: what defines a person's limits? From running a two-hour marathon to summiting Mount Everest, we're fascinated by the extremes of human endurance, constantly testing both our physical and psychological limits.

In Endure, Alex Hutchinson, PhD, reveals why our individual limits may be determined as much by our heads and hearts as by our muscles. He presents an overview of science's search for understanding human fatigue, from crude experiments with electricity and frogs' legs to sophisticated brain imaging technology. Going beyond the traditional mechanical view of human limits, he instead argues that a key element in endurance is how the brain responds to distress signals - whether heat or cold or muscles screaming with lactic acid - and reveals that we can train to improve brain response.

An elite distance runner himself, Hutchinson takes us to the forefront of the new sports psychology - brain electrode jolts, computer-based training, subliminal messaging - and presents startling new discoveries enhancing the performance of athletes today, showing us how anyone can utilize these tactics to bolster their own performance - and get the most out of their bodies.

©2018 Alex Hutchinson (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"This book is amazing!" (Malcolm Gladwell)
"If you want to gain insight into the mind of great athletes, adventurers, and peak performers then prepare to be enthralled by Alex Hutchinson's Endure." (Bear Grylls)
"Anyone who has ever felt exhausted, whether from heat or cold or altitude or pain or simply a loss of will, is going to find their own experience in this book." (David Epstein, author of The Sports Gene)

What listeners say about Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

academic book

A good book but not what I expected. very academically focused. hard to stay motivated.

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7 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating and thought provoking

Relates to all avenues of life - not just physical exertion. A fascinating listen.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

An encapsulating journey of endurance

As a Sport and Exercise scholar, beginning my academic pathway further into the world of physiology and the psychology behind it, I utterly loved each chapter of this book. It was broken down into divisions of endurance exploring what can effect performance supported by history & peer reviewed science. I like the curious venture of Hutchinson and believe he highlighted some important topics. There’s definitely a dominance in the omnipresence of Noakes and his role in our understanding of performance; it-is what it is I suppose. All - On - All a great read (Listen), which reminds me to highlight that the spoken ‘performance’ was great and easy to consume.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good Book...Learn to Pronounce People's Names

Author is great, but narrator can learn to pronounce running legends names properly. Pre-reading prep?

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great read (listen)

After recent doping allegations, this restored some of my faith in human performance. It is amazing what the human mind and body can achieve.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Good stuff

I found this very interesting and not too heavy on the science behind it all

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Superb summary of the field

Alex provides a fascinating and seriously useful summary of the various strands of scientific studies on the topic of endurance - and he weaves (for me) just the right amount of stories of feats of endurance (or conversely tragedies) to bring it all to life. Great book.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Worth a listen (and a re-listen)

Just finished my second play through of Endure, and it was just as fascinating as the first. A thorough, deep dive in to the factors that may (or may not) define our limits of endurance, with a series of terrific narratives framing each section.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great Listen

Heard an interview with Alex on a podcast recently and decided to get his book to listen to while training and it was a great listen

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • Jo
  • 14-09-23

I endured!

Not great as an audio book, probably better to buy the book. I was interested enough to persevere to the end....but rather bored by then.

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