What Doesn't Kill Us: How Freezing Water, Extreme Altitude, and Environmental Conditioning Will Renew Our Lost Evolutionary Strength Paperback – December 11, 2018

Great storying telling, and great story. Started reading, and finished on the second day. Could not put it down, and it really helps me to better understand my personal journey in the cold and WHM.

Overall a good read on how our bodies have capabilities that most people have long forgotten. While I am no fan of extremes or needing some otherworldly physical acheivement, the book does remind us that we often forget that humans weren't born in jackets and shoes. Not only that, but our early ancestors struck out over harsh and extreme environments with zero technology and coverd the earth. Now, most people can barely get to the grocery store without their GPS, plush cushioned shoes, and cozy warm jacket.While I'm not the type to follow the extremes of any advice, I did get a lot of less extreme ideas for slowly increasing my bodies ability to generate heat by combining cold exposure, hot exposure, breathing practice, and visualization. Not sure what all health benefits I will experience, but at the very least I expect to find hiking in the cold/wet winters of the Pacific Northwest more enjoyable by embracing the challenges of the elements.It seems some people feel that near death intensity is the only way to experience real progress, breakthroughs, etc. This book supports that type of thinking which is why I gave it 4 stars. Maybe that level of intensity ends with benefits and positive results for some, but I usually find that simply being consistent over the long term and incrementally adding small levels of challenge works just fine also.

Got this book for my birthday, and man has it changed how I view health and the human body in general. It always bugged me in the back of my mind how our ancestors managed to get by without air conditioning and hot showers. When I heard about Wim Hof, I instantly knew that he was on to something with his cold tolerance stuff. Seeing him break the world records, go under scientific scrutiny, and even resist an endotoxin and only get a slight headache, I was sold.Before I even got this book I started doing cold showers and saw results within just around 3 days or so. Before, I would take really hot showers and as soon as I got out, the evaporation made me shiver uncontrollably. After doing cold showers (man, did they sting at first!), I'm able to go outside in the snow with no shirt on and it feels more comfortable than what hot showers used to feel like. No shivering, I'm just chill (haha).I also bought Wim Hof's 10 week course for about $190 and can already hold my breath for around 3 minutes without really trying, and I've only been doing these breath exercises for like 3 days. I can do 40 pushups without breathing! I don't need coats and jackets when it's cold outside and my family is complaining and shivering and I'm fine. Just be aware that people can be really resistant to this sort of knowledge because it runs so counter-intuitive to the drug-addicted culture we live in. Prescribed pill popping won't get you healthy, it merely manages different conditions and gives you more side effects than positive results in many cases.Cold tolerance exercises your cardio-vascular system and your immune system and makes it so that your heart has to work less hard to keep you warm and moving. It's also very beneficial for stretching parts of your body that are sore. Just go to Wim Hof's youtube channel and look at all the testimonials of people who have diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Multiple Sclerosis, even deep skin burns. This stuff really works.So yeah, buy this book and then do it! You can too can become... THE ICEMAN!

I have heard of Wim Hof, bits & pieces of what he is doing, a video clip here and there. No doubt, he is an exceptional, somewhat crazy guy, who is very, very passionate about what he does. So I was curious to learn more, but from the perspective of someone who has experienced it first hand. I'm no super human big wave rider or extreme sport junkie, just a guy hitting middle age and realizing, bit by bit my energy level & zest has been slowly dripping away. So I'm looking to see if there is anything there for me, based on others experiences. Well the book turned out to be a pretty good read, it bogs here and there, but no matter, I came away more informed, impressed and excited, deciding to give Wim's method a go. The book is not an instruction or technique book, you need to go elsewhere for that, but the book filled the information gap for me, I didn't know anyone who has tried it or what is it truly all about. The book gave me a nudge to try it. Bottom line is what have you got to lose...10 minutes breathing & couple minutes of cold water at the end of a shower a day, pretty simple and it definitely worked for me on several levels. So if you are curious, want to learn more about what this "wild and crazy guy" named Wim Hof is up to and why so many people embrace his method, give the book "What Doesn't Kill Us" a read and maybe, just maybe, you will take the plunge too