Fear Illusions: How Your Brain Gets Hacked Every Day

Neil StraussNeil

I’ve spent the last three months researching fear and anxiety, and how they work on a psychological and neurobiological level, for a big Rolling Stone article. In this time of pre-election hysteria and fear-mongering in the U.S., and so many other places around the world, I thought I’d write an email sharing some of the findings here. The goal is … Read More

The Truth Barrel, Episode 3: Laird Hamilton and Greg Long on Re-Evaluating Death to Improve Performance

Neil StraussPodcast

Listen ➙ The Truth Barrel, Episode 3: Laird Hamilton and Greg Long What makes extreme surfers and athletes Laird Hamilton and Greg Long so successful at what they do? In this podcast, Neil Strauss and Gabby Reece explore an idea rarely, if ever, discussed: That it is your relationship with death that makes you great at life. It is your relationship … Read More

The Truth Barrel, Episode 1: Mark Healey on Facing Fear, Surviving Shark Attacks, & Extreme Breath Holding

Neil StraussPodcast

Listen ➙ The Truth Barrel, Episode 1: Mark Healey In the debut episode of The Truth Barrel, Neil Strauss and Gabrielle Reece sweat it out in the barrel sauna with extreme waterman Mark Healey. He is a big-wave surfing champion, winner of the Spearfishing World Cup, a shark-tagger, a free-diver, a movie stuntman, and much more. In this episode, they … Read More

WHAT IT TAKES TO BE THE BEST (A CONTROVERSIAL LESSON FROM A WARLORD)

Neil StraussBooks

I was reading a new book, The Ego is the Enemy, by Ryan Holiday, who I had met when he was working with Robert Greene. I remember encouraging him to write a book, and him saying he wasn’t sure what to write about. Considering that he’s written or co-written at least six books in some three years since then, I … Read More

The Lost Afterword from Jerzy Kosinski’s The Painted Bird

Neil StraussBooks

When I first read The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski, I was struck not just by the power of the book but by the parallels in the author’s biography at the end of the book. It was learning that there was some element of truth in this savage book about the human condition that put it at the top of … Read More

My Last Conversation With Prince, R.I.P.

Neil StraussNeil

I just heard moments ago the tragic news that Prince, one of the greatest recording and live artists of our time, passed away. Over the years of writing about music, I’ve interviewed him, seen him perform big and small shows,  and even run afoul of him. The following obituary of sorts is from my last encounter with him, when the tables … Read More

Goodbye Merle Haggard: The Last Interview

Neil StraussNeil, Uncategorized

Today, the world lost one of the greatest country musicians of all time. Merle Haggard, who died on the day he turned 79 today, is the American dream personified. Born to a hardscrabble family, he lost his father at age nine, was in juvenile detention homes by the time he was thirteen for shoplifting from a lingerie store, and was … Read More