THE RISE OF SUPERMAN Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance

As Jeff Cummings convincingly intones, “We are our own revolution.” While not a primer on “flow,” this audiobook serves as a useful, and exciting, introduction to or refresher on the concept popularized by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, using the experiences of adventure-sport athletes as a focus. Cummings's energetic performance embraces the gnarly without getting hung up on the preponderance of tragic loss. He fumbles accents occasionally, but his enthusiasm and inflections never waver. As a result, the discussion of flow becomes almost as addictive as the feeling of flow described by practitioners. Listeners may sense some ulterior motive when the Flow Genome Project, of which the author is a founder, is introduced, turning the message from science to business aims. But the rollicking, often shocking, vicarious adventure ride there is worth the listen. A.S. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2014]