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Head in the Game: The Mental Engineering of the World's Greatest Athletes
The next frontier of sports training doesn’t rest with the body, but with the mind
For years, common wisdom has held that athletic performance is rooted in genetics and peak physical enhancement of the body. But journalist Brandon Sneed has another idea: that mental engineering — training the cognitive process of the brain — presents yet a new level of sports performance, and that athletes, despite already being at the top of the genetic pool, can actually become better.
This is a watershed idea — the conscious alteration of our brains can have drastic effects, so much so that elite athletes around the world are already seeing incredible results: stars like Steph Curry, Kerri Walsh Jennings, Russell Wilson, and dozens others are experimenting with this concept. They are hooking their brains to computers and using other cutting-edge technology that seems like stuff out of sci-fi movies to get at the root of their respective performance. What they are finding helps them is eye-opening, powerful, and, in their words, “life-changing.”
In Head in the Game, Sneed takes on a mesmerizing tour of what seems to be a new frontier in performance enhancement, from neuroscience labs at Duke, to the Super Bowl, to the mountains of Patagonia, to the Taj Mahal of virtual reality, to the jungles of Peru, and beyond. Anchoring all of this is a dynamic cast of characters, from the director of human performance at Red Bull, to the former Nike higher-up who left to start his own cognitive engineering company, to the drug addict who built sensory deprivation chambers in a fit of near-madness only to find them in high demand by the world’s best athletes, to paradigm-shattering neuroscientists who have created technology that allows athletes to look at their brains using a headset and a smartphone, and many more.
What does all of this add up to? Not only is it dramatically altering the gazillion-dollar and ever-expanding landscape of sports business, and revolutionizing how teams and owners analyze athletes — it is changing the way we think about how athletes do what they do, and what we might learn from them. Most of all, this is not going away.
In turns comical and revelatory, shocking and thrilling, thoughtful and moving, Head in the Game brings a new level of understanding to what is possible for our world’s elite athletes — and what is possible for all of us.
For years, common wisdom has held that athletic performance is rooted in genetics and peak physical enhancement of the body. But journalist Brandon Sneed has another idea: that mental engineering — training the cognitive process of the brain — presents yet a new level of sports performance, and that athletes, despite already being at the top of the genetic pool, can actually become better.
This is a watershed idea — the conscious alteration of our brains can have drastic effects, so much so that elite athletes around the world are already seeing incredible results: stars like Steph Curry, Kerri Walsh Jennings, Russell Wilson, and dozens others are experimenting with this concept. They are hooking their brains to computers and using other cutting-edge technology that seems like stuff out of sci-fi movies to get at the root of their respective performance. What they are finding helps them is eye-opening, powerful, and, in their words, “life-changing.”
In Head in the Game, Sneed takes on a mesmerizing tour of what seems to be a new frontier in performance enhancement, from neuroscience labs at Duke, to the Super Bowl, to the mountains of Patagonia, to the Taj Mahal of virtual reality, to the jungles of Peru, and beyond. Anchoring all of this is a dynamic cast of characters, from the director of human performance at Red Bull, to the former Nike higher-up who left to start his own cognitive engineering company, to the drug addict who built sensory deprivation chambers in a fit of near-madness only to find them in high demand by the world’s best athletes, to paradigm-shattering neuroscientists who have created technology that allows athletes to look at their brains using a headset and a smartphone, and many more.
What does all of this add up to? Not only is it dramatically altering the gazillion-dollar and ever-expanding landscape of sports business, and revolutionizing how teams and owners analyze athletes — it is changing the way we think about how athletes do what they do, and what we might learn from them. Most of all, this is not going away.
In turns comical and revelatory, shocking and thrilling, thoughtful and moving, Head in the Game brings a new level of understanding to what is possible for our world’s elite athletes — and what is possible for all of us.
384 pages, Hardcover
Published February 28, 2017
26 people are currently reading
530 people want to read
About the author
Brandon Sneed
6 books22 followersBrandon Sneed is the author of Head in the Game: The Mental Engineering of the World’s Greatest Athletes. He has written for Bleacher Report, ESPN, GQ, and Outside, among other publications. His work has been recognized multiple times in Best American Sports Writing, and he was a finalist for the Livingston Award. He lives in Greenville, North Carolina.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 15 reviews
January 2, 2025
I got this book in a Goodreads Giveaway several years ago but I don’t think that obliges me to leave a glowing review. There was some good content here, but I didn’t really enjoy reading it, and after leaving it untouched for over a year with a bookmark around page 130 I had to push myself to get to the end, driven by a spurt of reading momentum over Christmas.
The author is quite upfront about his own personal story and how his dreams of being a professional baseball player didn’t pan out so he pivoted to the world of sports journalism. The ability to reinvent yourself after a significant setback is highly commendable. Coming from a world of college sports it was not a trivial thing for the author to delve into a more intellectual research-heavy domain, and the reader very much gets the sense that the author is aware of his sporty peers judging this newfound nerdiness. At times he over-justifies the need for brain training, in the face of the implied derision with which the field is viewed in some sporting circles. Perhaps most jarring for me though was his unaccountable dumbing down of certain terms, particularly “Fronty” for the frontal cortex, “Migsby” for the amygdala, and “This Stuff” for cognitive enhancement research. It was rather cringey, and I’m glad he didn’t apply it to every technical term he came across.
In general I found the tone of the book a bit all over the place. The best non-fiction books flit between story and content and are able to strike a balance, like a graceful dance. The dance in this book is rather club-footed. For example, he spends an inordinate number of pages detailing a passage of play in a Seattle Seahawks game, returning to it on a number of occasions. He assumes familiarity with American sports, sporting personalities and sporting jargon while over-explaining aspects of European sports like soccer. Some of the scene-setting is just ungainly, like commenting on an inconsequential “bleary-eyed woman” who leaves an office before he enters, and he also lacks the critical chops to evaluate some of the technologies he investigates, repeatedly deferring to other people’s opinions or being swayed by marketing rhetoric. (For example a whole chapter describes some headwear technology being developed by some companies. The technology could be interesting but the scientific studies don’t give any indication that it works.)
Negative points aside, though, the book is quite well researched and the author has clearly done a lot of journalistic leg-work. The book is an interesting snapshot of the work going on in the field of brain-training for athletes, but there is little to take away from it.
The author is quite upfront about his own personal story and how his dreams of being a professional baseball player didn’t pan out so he pivoted to the world of sports journalism. The ability to reinvent yourself after a significant setback is highly commendable. Coming from a world of college sports it was not a trivial thing for the author to delve into a more intellectual research-heavy domain, and the reader very much gets the sense that the author is aware of his sporty peers judging this newfound nerdiness. At times he over-justifies the need for brain training, in the face of the implied derision with which the field is viewed in some sporting circles. Perhaps most jarring for me though was his unaccountable dumbing down of certain terms, particularly “Fronty” for the frontal cortex, “Migsby” for the amygdala, and “This Stuff” for cognitive enhancement research. It was rather cringey, and I’m glad he didn’t apply it to every technical term he came across.
In general I found the tone of the book a bit all over the place. The best non-fiction books flit between story and content and are able to strike a balance, like a graceful dance. The dance in this book is rather club-footed. For example, he spends an inordinate number of pages detailing a passage of play in a Seattle Seahawks game, returning to it on a number of occasions. He assumes familiarity with American sports, sporting personalities and sporting jargon while over-explaining aspects of European sports like soccer. Some of the scene-setting is just ungainly, like commenting on an inconsequential “bleary-eyed woman” who leaves an office before he enters, and he also lacks the critical chops to evaluate some of the technologies he investigates, repeatedly deferring to other people’s opinions or being swayed by marketing rhetoric. (For example a whole chapter describes some headwear technology being developed by some companies. The technology could be interesting but the scientific studies don’t give any indication that it works.)
Negative points aside, though, the book is quite well researched and the author has clearly done a lot of journalistic leg-work. The book is an interesting snapshot of the work going on in the field of brain-training for athletes, but there is little to take away from it.
April 4, 2017
There are many factors that influence whether an athlete can reach an elite level. Physical factors such as VO2 max (maximum oxygen consumption) and musculature have long been at the fore in the minds of coaches and trainers, but they’ve never told the full story. There are athletes who have the muscles, lungs, and general physiology to dominate their sports who fall apart under pressure. One also sees the occasional athlete who is consistently good even though he seems puny by comparison to his peers. It used to be that mental performance was considered an endowed X-factor--you either had it or you didn’t. Coaches didn’t know how to coach for issues of the mind and often exacerbated problems with old school attitudes and approaches.
We’ve now entered a new era in which a bevy of techniques and technologies are being exploited to strengthen the mind and improve psychological deficiencies, just as gyms have always been used to build the body and combat physical deficiencies. These range from techniques of meditation and visualization that have been known to yogis and Buddhists for centuries to advanced technologies that have only become available in recent decades and which are constantly improving and being made obsolete. Sneed examines the gamut of these approaches as they are applied to improving performance in sports: from the meditative or therapeutic to the electronic or pharmacological. One no longer need give up on athletes who are great at their best, but who get the yips at the worst possible times. The performance of mediocre athletes can be improved and that of the best can be made more consistent.
Sneed has a unique qualification to write this book. He counts himself among the athletes who couldn’t reach his potential because of inconsistency rooted in psychological challenges. His willingness to be forthright about his own problems makes the book more engaging. His own stories are thrown into the mix with those of athletes from football, basketball, soccer, baseball, adventure sports, and mixed martial arts (MMA.)
The book’s 19 chapters are divided among four parts. The first part lays the groundwork, helping the reader understand the rudiments of how the brain works, doesn’t work, or works too hard for a competitor’s own good. A central theme is that the ability to analyze and train through the lens of neuroscience has removed some of the stigma that has always been attached to psychological issues in sports (not to mention the days when they were written off as weakness.) Much of the six chapters of Part I deal with assessment of the athlete’s baseline mental performance. The last chapter (Ch. 6) covers a range of topics that have been around a long time as they’ve been reevaluated through modern scientific research. These include religion, faith, superstition, meditation, visualization, and the immortal question of whether sex is good or bad for athletic performance.
The second part consists of five chapters taking on one fundamental truth: mind and body are not two disparate and independent entities. This section starts at the most logical point: breath. Practitioners of yoga (i.e. pranayama) and chi gong have known for centuries that breath can be used to influence one’s emotional state and level of mental clarity. Sneed evaluates the technology that is being used to help athletes master the same age-old lessons. Having laid the groundwork through breath, the section advances into biofeedback technology. There are two chapters in the book that deal with pharmacological approaches. One is in this section and it deals with legal (at least in some locales) substances such as caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, nootropics (alleged mind enhancing drugs), and marijuana. (The other is in the final part and it deals with hallucinogens.) There are also a couple chapters on technologies used to produce or enhance desired mental states.
For most readers, the third part will be seen as the heart of the book. Having considered how to evaluate an athlete’s mental performance (Part I) and how to influence mind states by way of the body (Part II), this part explores the range of technologies that are used to exercise the mind in a manner analogous to working out the body. These technologies focus on a range of areas including improving the nervous system’s ability to take in information, process that information, and respond appropriately. Much of this part focuses on video games; albeit video games using state of the art virtual reality and which are customized to improvement of athletic performance. Some of the games are used to train general cognitive performance (e.g. Ch. 13) but others are specifically tailored to the game in question (i.e. Ch. 14.) Just as simulators are used in aviation, part of the advantage of these games is the ability to put players in progressively more challenging conditions.
The last part of the book was the most interesting to me, personally. [It’s also the part of the book that will be the most relevant and readable a few years down the road because it’s not as modern technology-centric as most of the book—especially Part III--is.] It’s entitled “The Spirit” and it explores X-factors to performance, but sans the assumption that these are endowments, but rather under the assumption they are trainable. The part has an important introduction that presents the research about how “soft” factors like gratitude play into outlook and performance. Then there are the Part’s three chapters. The first describes an experiment involving taking elite athletes into physically arduous conditions of the kind normally experienced by military special operations forces in survival training. The second tells the story of MMA fighter Kyle Kingsbury’s use of hallucinogenic substances (most intriguingly, Ayuhuasca, a powerful drug long used by Peruvian shamans.) Finally, the last chapter deals with sensory deprivation—a technology some will associate with the movie “Altered States” but which many athletes swear by.
The book has an extensive section on notations and sources organized by chapter. There are no graphics.
I enjoyed this book and found it to be informative. There are a number of books that explore the techniques and technologies of optimal mental performance, but this one develops a niche by focusing on the realm of sports and some of the technologies that are only available with the kind of deep-pockets seen in professional sports. The book is heavily weighted toward the technology part of the equation, which is both good and bad. If you’re reading it now (2017), it’s great because you’re getting an up-to-date discussion of the subject from the perspective of entities that are awash in money for tech. The downside is that this book won’t age well, at least not as well as it would if there was more emphasis on approaches that aren’t based on cutting-edge technology.
I’d recommend this book if you are interested in optimal human performance, and if you have an interest in sports, all the better.
We’ve now entered a new era in which a bevy of techniques and technologies are being exploited to strengthen the mind and improve psychological deficiencies, just as gyms have always been used to build the body and combat physical deficiencies. These range from techniques of meditation and visualization that have been known to yogis and Buddhists for centuries to advanced technologies that have only become available in recent decades and which are constantly improving and being made obsolete. Sneed examines the gamut of these approaches as they are applied to improving performance in sports: from the meditative or therapeutic to the electronic or pharmacological. One no longer need give up on athletes who are great at their best, but who get the yips at the worst possible times. The performance of mediocre athletes can be improved and that of the best can be made more consistent.
Sneed has a unique qualification to write this book. He counts himself among the athletes who couldn’t reach his potential because of inconsistency rooted in psychological challenges. His willingness to be forthright about his own problems makes the book more engaging. His own stories are thrown into the mix with those of athletes from football, basketball, soccer, baseball, adventure sports, and mixed martial arts (MMA.)
The book’s 19 chapters are divided among four parts. The first part lays the groundwork, helping the reader understand the rudiments of how the brain works, doesn’t work, or works too hard for a competitor’s own good. A central theme is that the ability to analyze and train through the lens of neuroscience has removed some of the stigma that has always been attached to psychological issues in sports (not to mention the days when they were written off as weakness.) Much of the six chapters of Part I deal with assessment of the athlete’s baseline mental performance. The last chapter (Ch. 6) covers a range of topics that have been around a long time as they’ve been reevaluated through modern scientific research. These include religion, faith, superstition, meditation, visualization, and the immortal question of whether sex is good or bad for athletic performance.
The second part consists of five chapters taking on one fundamental truth: mind and body are not two disparate and independent entities. This section starts at the most logical point: breath. Practitioners of yoga (i.e. pranayama) and chi gong have known for centuries that breath can be used to influence one’s emotional state and level of mental clarity. Sneed evaluates the technology that is being used to help athletes master the same age-old lessons. Having laid the groundwork through breath, the section advances into biofeedback technology. There are two chapters in the book that deal with pharmacological approaches. One is in this section and it deals with legal (at least in some locales) substances such as caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, nootropics (alleged mind enhancing drugs), and marijuana. (The other is in the final part and it deals with hallucinogens.) There are also a couple chapters on technologies used to produce or enhance desired mental states.
For most readers, the third part will be seen as the heart of the book. Having considered how to evaluate an athlete’s mental performance (Part I) and how to influence mind states by way of the body (Part II), this part explores the range of technologies that are used to exercise the mind in a manner analogous to working out the body. These technologies focus on a range of areas including improving the nervous system’s ability to take in information, process that information, and respond appropriately. Much of this part focuses on video games; albeit video games using state of the art virtual reality and which are customized to improvement of athletic performance. Some of the games are used to train general cognitive performance (e.g. Ch. 13) but others are specifically tailored to the game in question (i.e. Ch. 14.) Just as simulators are used in aviation, part of the advantage of these games is the ability to put players in progressively more challenging conditions.
The last part of the book was the most interesting to me, personally. [It’s also the part of the book that will be the most relevant and readable a few years down the road because it’s not as modern technology-centric as most of the book—especially Part III--is.] It’s entitled “The Spirit” and it explores X-factors to performance, but sans the assumption that these are endowments, but rather under the assumption they are trainable. The part has an important introduction that presents the research about how “soft” factors like gratitude play into outlook and performance. Then there are the Part’s three chapters. The first describes an experiment involving taking elite athletes into physically arduous conditions of the kind normally experienced by military special operations forces in survival training. The second tells the story of MMA fighter Kyle Kingsbury’s use of hallucinogenic substances (most intriguingly, Ayuhuasca, a powerful drug long used by Peruvian shamans.) Finally, the last chapter deals with sensory deprivation—a technology some will associate with the movie “Altered States” but which many athletes swear by.
The book has an extensive section on notations and sources organized by chapter. There are no graphics.
I enjoyed this book and found it to be informative. There are a number of books that explore the techniques and technologies of optimal mental performance, but this one develops a niche by focusing on the realm of sports and some of the technologies that are only available with the kind of deep-pockets seen in professional sports. The book is heavily weighted toward the technology part of the equation, which is both good and bad. If you’re reading it now (2017), it’s great because you’re getting an up-to-date discussion of the subject from the perspective of entities that are awash in money for tech. The downside is that this book won’t age well, at least not as well as it would if there was more emphasis on approaches that aren’t based on cutting-edge technology.
I’d recommend this book if you are interested in optimal human performance, and if you have an interest in sports, all the better.
September 25, 2017
The mind is an amazing thing. Just ask any kung fu master or Tibetan monk. If you don't have either of those handy, this book can give you some insight.
Head in the Game is a documentation of the nascent understanding of neuroscience, and some of the technology and other methods developed to improve brain function, specifically focused on helping athletes become better. While it is focused on sports, there are frequent mentions of how the same methods and technology helps those with mental or physical trauma or disorders. It is told in such a way that you don't need to be a scientist to understand the effects of the methods discussed. Very readable.
I was on board with most of what Brandon Sneed discusses, up until he started advocating the use of psychedelic drugs, as well as nicotine and other legal stimulants, without discussing the addictions and other downsides to using them. While I agree that there are probably positives that can come from many things used in moderation, there was no discussion of the dangers and risks inherent in that approach.
Other than that, I found it very interesting to learn about the technologies that are being developed related to neuroscience, and am excited to see how the science develops.
Head in the Game is a documentation of the nascent understanding of neuroscience, and some of the technology and other methods developed to improve brain function, specifically focused on helping athletes become better. While it is focused on sports, there are frequent mentions of how the same methods and technology helps those with mental or physical trauma or disorders. It is told in such a way that you don't need to be a scientist to understand the effects of the methods discussed. Very readable.
I was on board with most of what Brandon Sneed discusses, up until he started advocating the use of psychedelic drugs, as well as nicotine and other legal stimulants, without discussing the addictions and other downsides to using them. While I agree that there are probably positives that can come from many things used in moderation, there was no discussion of the dangers and risks inherent in that approach.
Other than that, I found it very interesting to learn about the technologies that are being developed related to neuroscience, and am excited to see how the science develops.
May 15, 2018
An interesting book that looks at various attempts to improve one's mind. Many of these are based on the use of hardware and software. Some of these provide simulations or VR to help train the brain by experiencing challenges at a much faster rate than one would actually seem them in sports. Other methods involve measurement and feedback of brain activity. All of these seem very interesting.
In spots it seems like the author is promoting or selling some of the products. It is probably just his excitement about them. That fact that pro sports teams use some of these things gives credibility to their use. From a sports perspective, even if the techniques only increase performance based on a placebo effect that is still a positive results.
If all of these benefits were proven science then everyone would use them. The book probably oversells things, but it should convince you to be open to trying some of these mind development things. I also like the idea that mental shortcomings, similar to deficiency in physical abilities, are accepted and one can try to train and make improvement.
Perhaps I'm being too close minded but the discussion of the use of mind bending drugs should saved for a different book.
In spots it seems like the author is promoting or selling some of the products. It is probably just his excitement about them. That fact that pro sports teams use some of these things gives credibility to their use. From a sports perspective, even if the techniques only increase performance based on a placebo effect that is still a positive results.
If all of these benefits were proven science then everyone would use them. The book probably oversells things, but it should convince you to be open to trying some of these mind development things. I also like the idea that mental shortcomings, similar to deficiency in physical abilities, are accepted and one can try to train and make improvement.
Perhaps I'm being too close minded but the discussion of the use of mind bending drugs should saved for a different book.
March 10, 2017
Good Time
This book is worth your time if you are interested in the study of improving the mind with technology. At some points it started to come off as an infomercial but the author brought the story back by showing real life examples of people's experiences with neurological training.
This book is worth your time if you are interested in the study of improving the mind with technology. At some points it started to come off as an infomercial but the author brought the story back by showing real life examples of people's experiences with neurological training.
March 9, 2017
This is a Goodreads win review. This book talks about making a new generation of great athletes by mental engineering. This is kind of a new idea and concept that cutting edge tecnology can make athletes even better than they are.
June 11, 2021
As much as I enjoy reading about neuro & sports, this book was a lot. My brain often drifted from what the author was writing about. Nevertheless, it was eye opening to read about countless methods used in sports to get a"head" of the game.
May 10, 2023
I liked this book though it wasn’t my favorite. It described different methods pro athletes use to gain a possible edge on opponents. The last few chapters where the best for me because it was stuff that you could most likely do at home to become a better athlete.
December 25, 2019
Book was interesting to start but seemed to drag on and became a laundry list of technologies that author researched. Would have liked a recommendation from author in conclusion.
March 6, 2020
Just a list of modern brain training techniques.
April 2, 2020
Was very interesting to learn about the brain and how athletes are training their minds. Hit some lulls towards the end but overall I enjoyed the read.
Want to read
March 12, 2017I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.
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January 21, 2018Never received this book
January 31, 2018
Head in the Game: The Mental Engineering of the World's Greatest Athletes by Brandon Sneed is an interesting look at the mental part of an athlete. It gives examples by telling of people's experiences with neurological training which make sit easier to understand.
I received a copy thru a Goodreads Giveaway.
I received a copy thru a Goodreads Giveaway.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 15 reviews