HarperCollins Endure: Mind, Body & the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance Alex Hutchinson

Endure: Mind, Body & the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance by Alex Hutchinson, Ph.D., explores questions about how high, far, or fast humans can go, and what defines an individual’s limits. This book looks at human endurance and the physical and psychological boundaries people continue to test.

Key details

• Author: Alex Hutchinson, Ph.D.
• Focuses on the science of human fatigue and endurance
• Discusses both physical and psychological factors in performance limits
• References research methods from early experiments to brain imaging technology

Synopsis

From attempts to run a two-hour marathon to summiting Mount Everest, the extremes of endurance continue to capture attention and drive new questions about human potential. Alex Hutchinson examines why limits may be shaped as much by the head and heart as by muscles, and surveys science’s efforts to understand fatigue, from crude experiments involving electricity and frogs’ legs to sophisticated brain imaging.

Moving beyond a purely mechanical view, he argues that endurance is closely linked to how the brain responds to distress signals such as heat, cold, or the sensation of muscles overwhelmed by lactic acid. Drawing on developments at the forefront of sports psychology, he describes approaches including brain electrode jolts, computer-based training, and subliminal messaging, and outlines discoveries being used to enhance athletic performance today.