Christopher McDougall visits Google to discuss his book “Born to Run.”

Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, and cutting-edge science, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world's greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong. 

Isolated by the most savage terrain in North America, the reclusive Tarahumara Indians of Mexico's deadly Copper Canyons are custodians of a lost art. For centuries they have practiced techniques that allow them to run hundreds of miles without rest and chase down anything from a deer to an Olympic marathoner while enjoying every mile of it. Their superhuman talent is matched by uncanny health and serenity, leaving the Tarahumara resistant to the diseases and strife that plague modern existence. 

With the help of Caballo Blanco, a mysterious loner who lives among the tribe, Christopher was able not only to uncover the secrets of the Tarahumara but also to find his own inner ultra-athlete, as he trained for the challenge of a lifetime: a fifty-mile race through the heart of Tarahumara country pitting the tribe against an odd band of Americans, including a star ultramarathoner, a beautiful young surfer, and a barefoot wonder. With a sharp wit and wild exuberance, McDougall takes us from the high-tech science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultrarunners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to the climactic race in the Copper Canyons. Born to Run is that rare book that will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that the secret to happiness is right at your feet, and that you, indeed all of us, were born to run.

Originally published in October of 2009.

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Marion Jones visits Google to discuss strength, resilience, and using past experiences to serve as an example of no matter how far you fall down, you can always get back up.

Marion Jones is widely considered to be one of the greatest athletes of all time. She became the first woman to win five medals in a single Olympics in the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia. After a doping scandal that affected over 20 professional athletes, Marion was the only athlete to serve a prison sentence. She has since used that experience to serve as an example of resilience in the face of overwhelming adversity. In 2010, just four months after the birth of her third child, Marion made an impressive comeback to competitive sports earning a spot on the WNBA's Tulsa Shock. That same year she published her book “On the Right Track” and launched her campaign to help youth make better decisions. 

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Barbara Corcoran from ABC's series Shark Tank visits Google to discuss entrepreneurship and her success in the real estate business.

After failing at twenty-two jobs, Barbara Corcoran borrowed $1,000 from a boyfriend, quit her job as a diner waitress, and started a tiny real estate office in New York City. Using the unconventional lessons she learned from her homemaker mom, she gradually built it into a $6 billion dollar business. Now Barbara is even more famous for the no-nonsense wisdom she offers to entrepreneurs on Shark Tank, ABC's hit reality TV show.

Originally published in July of 2015.

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Renowned computer scientist Neil Lawrence visits Google to discuss his book "The Atomic Human: What Makes Us Unique in the Age of AI."

What does Artificial Intelligence mean for our identity? Our fascination with AI stems from the perceived uniqueness of human intelligence. We believe it's what differentiates us. Fears of AI not only concern how it invades our digital lives, but also the implied threat of an intelligence that displaces us from our position at the center of the world.

Neil D. Lawrence's book shows why these fears may be misplaced. Atomism, proposed by Democritus, suggested it was impossible to continue dividing matter down into ever smaller components: eventually we reach a point where a cut cannot be made. In the same way, by slicing away at the facets of human intelligence that can be replaced by machines, AI uncovers what is left: an indivisible core that is the essence of humanity.

Human intelligence has evolved across hundreds of thousands of years. Due to our physical and cognitive constraints over that time, it is social and highly embodied. By contrasting our capabilities with machine intelligence, The Atomic Human reveals the technical origins, capabilities and limitations of AI systems, and how they should be wielded. Not just by the experts, but ordinary people. Understanding this will enable readers to choose the future we want – either one where AI is a tool for us, or where we become a tool of AI – and how to counteract the digital oligarchy to maintain the fabric of an open, fair and democratic society.

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Tero Isokauppila visits Google to discuss his book Healing Mushrooms: A Practical and Culinary Guide to Using Mushrooms for Whole Body Health.

Adaptogenic mushrooms are one of today's buzziest superfoods, known for their ability to restore skin's youthful glow, increase energy levels, reduce brain fog, keep your hormone levels in check, and so much more. In this book, you’ll learn about the ten most powerful mushrooms you can add to your daily diet to maximize your health gains. Though some of these mushrooms, like Tremella, Cordyceps, and Reishi will sound exotic, they're all easy to source online in extract form and easier to use in recipes. Even more familiar mushrooms, like Shiitake, Oyster, and Enoki, are full of healing potential--you just have to know how to use them. Packed with practical information, fun illustrations, and 50 mushroom-boosted recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even dessert, Healing Mushrooms unlocks the vast potential of this often-overlooked superfood category and will be the go-to resource for adding mushrooms to your health and wellness regimen.

Tero Isokauppila is the founder of Four Sigmatic, a nature-centric company specializing in functional mushrooms, superfoods, and adaptogens. He is a subject matter expert on all things mushrooms and natural health and was selected as one of the TOP 50 Food Activists by the Academy of Culinary Nutrition.

Originally published in March of 2019.

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Elizabeth L. Block visits Google to discuss her book “Beyond Vanity: The History and Power of Hairdressing” where she explores the diverse history of women’s hair.

In the nineteenth century, the complex cultural meaning of hair was not only significant, but it could also impact one's place in society. After the Civil War, hairdressing was also a growing profession and the hair industry a mainstay of local, national, and international commerce. In Beyond Vanity, Elizabeth Block expands the nascent field of hair studies by restoring women's hair as a cultural site of meaning in the early United States. With a special focus on the places and spaces in which the hair industry operated, Block argues that the importance of hair has been overlooked as well as its misguided association with frivolity and triviality. As Block clarifies, hairdressing was anything but frivolous.

Using methods of visual and material culture studies informed by concepts of cultural geography, Block identifies multiple substantive categories of place and space within which hair acted. These include the preparatory places of the bedroom and hair salon, as well as the presentation places of parties, fairs, stages, and workplaces. Here are also the untold stories of business owners, many of whom were women of color, and the creators of trendsetting styles like the pompadour and Gibson Girl bouffant. Block's ground-breaking study examines how race and racism affected those who participated in the presentation and business of hair, and according to which standards. The result of looking closely at the places and spaces of hair is a reconfiguration that allows a new understanding of the cultural power of hair in the nineteenth century.

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Stephen Pearcy, lead singer and frontman of the rock band RATT, visits Google to discuss his book "Sex, Drugs, RATT and Roll: My Life in Rock."

Women. Spandex. Drugs. Hair spray.

Welcome to heavy metal rock ’n’ roll, circa 1980, when all you needed was the right look, burning ambition, and a chance. Cranking out metal just as metal got hot, RATT was the perfect band at the perfect time, and their hit single “Round and Round” became a top-selling anthem. The bigger RATT got, the more excessive lead singer Stephen Pearcy and his bandmates became. There was nothing these guys wouldn’t snort, drink, bed, or break. But as RATT scrambled up a wall of fame and wealth, they then experienced a gut-wrenching free fall. Pearcy’s stunningly honest rock ’n’ roll confessional, by turns incredible, hilarious, and lyrical, is more than a story of survival—it’s a search for the things that matter most.

Originally published in July of 2013.

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Renowned wildlife ecologist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant visits Google to discuss her book “Wild Life: Finding My Purpose in an Untamed World,” where she explores the ever-shifting relationship between humans, animals, and the Earth. 

Growing up in the diverse and bustling California Bay Area, renowned wildlife ecologist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant always felt worlds away from the white male adventurers she watched explore the wilderness on TV. She dreamed of a future where she could spend sleepless nights under the crowded canopies of the Amazon and the starry skies of the savanna. But as Rae set off on her own expeditions in the wild, she saw nature’s delicate balance in a new light.

Wild Life follows Rae on her adventures and explorations in some of the world’s most remote locales. Hers is a story about a nearly twenty-year career in the wild—carving a niche as one of very few Black female scientists—and the challenges she had to overcome, expectations she had to leave behind, and the many lessons she learned along the way. An incredible journey spanning the Great Plains of North America to the rainforests of Madagascar, Wild Life sheds light on our pivotal relationship and responsibility to the natural world and the relatives—both human and otherwise—that we share it with.

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Pat Dorsey visits Google to discuss his book “The Little Book that Builds Wealth”.

Over time, most businesses with high returns on capital attract competition that forces down profitability. However, a small minority of companies are able to defy the laws of economic gravity by creating competitive advantages, or “economic moats” that insulate them from competition and allow them to maintain high returns on capital. After spending fifteen years analyzing thousands of companies, Pat has identified a handful of structural characteristics that create competitive advantage. In this Talk, he discusses these characteristics, how management teams can create and destroy competitive advantage, and how he applies competitive analysis in managing institutional capital at his firm Dorsey Asset Management.

Pat is the founder of Dorsey Asset Management, which manages concentrated global portfolios for institutional investors. Prior to starting Dorsey Asset, Pat was Director of Research for Sanibel Captiva Trust, an independent trust company with approximately $1 billion in assets under management serving high net worth clients. He has also served as the Director of Equity Research for Morningstar, where he led the growth of Morningstar’s equity research group from 10 to over 100 analysts. Pat developed Morningstar’s economic moat ratings, as well as the methodology behind Morningstar's framework for analyzing competitive advantage.

Originally published in January of 2015.

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Top Olympic swimmer Missy Franklin, ice hockey gold medalist Angela Ruggiero, and two-time track and field gold medalist Ashton Eaton join us for a panel to discuss mindset, goal setting, and resilience in sports and life.

Missy Franklin was raised in Centennial, Colorado, began swimming competitively at the age of 5, and competed in her first international event in 2009 at the age of 14. At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Missy won 4 Gold Medals and 1 Bronze Medal. Missy’s performance in the 200-meter backstroke broke the world record in the event and also marked the first time that an American had won the event in 40 years. Missy brought home her final Gold Medal from the 2016 Rio Olympics for her performance in the 4 x 200 relay.

Angela Ruggiero is a leading figure in the global sports world, having served as an elite athlete, business leader, investor, and advisor. Angela is a four-time Olympian and Gold Medalist for Team USA ice hockey, and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. She has been named to Sports Business Journal's 40 Under 40 List, Forbes’ Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Sport, and is a Member of the US Olympic & Paralympic Committees and the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Hall of Fame.

Ashton Eaton is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon from London 2012 and Rio 2016. He is also an innovation engineer at Nike. Prior to Nike he worked at Intel’s Olympic technology Group on 3D motion capture using computer vision and AI for sport performance analysis.

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