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Primal Intelligence: You Are Smarter Than You Know
Tap into your hidden intelligence and transform your life
How are some people so much smarter than the rest of us? Where do visionary creatives and savvy decision-makers like Vincent van Gogh, Steve Jobs, Abraham Lincoln, Maya Angelou, Nikola Tesla, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Wayne Gretzky, Warren Buffett, and William Shakespeare get their extraordinary mental abilities?
In 2021, researchers at Ohio State’s Project Narrative, renowned for collaborations with NASA, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley, announced they had the answer. They named it Primal Intelligence. And they published scientific proof that Primal Intelligence was impossible for computers—but could be strengthened in humans.
Intrigued, U.S. Army Special Operations developed Primal training for its most classified units. The training succeeded. The Operators saw the future faster. They healed quicker from trauma. In life-and-death situations, they chose wiser.
The Army then authorized trials on civilian entrepreneurs, doctors, engineers, managers, salesforces, coaches, teachers, investors, and NFL players. Their leadership and innovation improved significantly. They coped better with change and uncertainty. They experienced less anger and anxiety. Finally, the Army provided Primal training to college and K-12 classrooms. It produced substantial effects in students as young as eight.
That revolutionary training is now available for the first time in this book. It’s not an optimization hack or a cheat code. It’s a different way of using your brain. It offers a new neuroscientific approach to intuition, imagination, emotion, and commonsense, helping you think more like van Gogh and Jobs, Lincoln and Shakespeare.
It’s your edge over AI. Your human genius. Your Primal Intelligence.
* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF containing visuals, a Primal Self-Assessment Quiz, and a list of further reading on Primal Intelligence from the book.
PLEASE When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
How are some people so much smarter than the rest of us? Where do visionary creatives and savvy decision-makers like Vincent van Gogh, Steve Jobs, Abraham Lincoln, Maya Angelou, Nikola Tesla, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Wayne Gretzky, Warren Buffett, and William Shakespeare get their extraordinary mental abilities?
In 2021, researchers at Ohio State’s Project Narrative, renowned for collaborations with NASA, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley, announced they had the answer. They named it Primal Intelligence. And they published scientific proof that Primal Intelligence was impossible for computers—but could be strengthened in humans.
Intrigued, U.S. Army Special Operations developed Primal training for its most classified units. The training succeeded. The Operators saw the future faster. They healed quicker from trauma. In life-and-death situations, they chose wiser.
The Army then authorized trials on civilian entrepreneurs, doctors, engineers, managers, salesforces, coaches, teachers, investors, and NFL players. Their leadership and innovation improved significantly. They coped better with change and uncertainty. They experienced less anger and anxiety. Finally, the Army provided Primal training to college and K-12 classrooms. It produced substantial effects in students as young as eight.
That revolutionary training is now available for the first time in this book. It’s not an optimization hack or a cheat code. It’s a different way of using your brain. It offers a new neuroscientific approach to intuition, imagination, emotion, and commonsense, helping you think more like van Gogh and Jobs, Lincoln and Shakespeare.
It’s your edge over AI. Your human genius. Your Primal Intelligence.
* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF containing visuals, a Primal Self-Assessment Quiz, and a list of further reading on Primal Intelligence from the book.
PLEASE When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Audible Audio
Published August 19, 2025
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About the author
Angus Fletcher
31 books32 followersAngus Fletcher was Distinguished Professor Emeritus, City University of New York, and the author of Allegory: The Theory of a Symbolic Mode, Colors of the Mind, and A New Theory for American Poetry, among other books.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 23, 2025
This book took me a while to get through, but I found it interesting—especially all of the factual and conceptual aspects of the brain and development. I wasn’t expecting the personal anecdotes that the author shared, which helped humanize the work. Nor was I anticipating the historical info, which was a big plus, as it helped ground the more nebulous premise of the book while making a case for it. I recommend reading this one in chunks, either by chapters or sections, as it’s thought-provoking but a lot to digest. Glad I won a paperback ARC of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
December 11, 2025
Excellent analysis of the development of decision making in new situations that assists leaders, inventors, problem solvers, sales departments, marketing, to think in creative ways beyond and better than AI. Long and detailed read that takes time to fully digest because it is highly insightful to our development of intelligence and it's components and evolution. However it is well worth the effort.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews