The Chimp Paradox is actually a pretty easy concept to get your head around - and once you do, it may be as life-changing for you as it has been for me. It really helps me understand myself better, and gives you tools for controlling your own emotional outbursts, your own procrastination - helping you control many aspects of your own emotions and behavior that are hard for you yourself to understand. That said, I recommend watching some of the many Youtubes on the Chimp Paradox, and also getting the book. This is a model well-worth becoming a fan of. By far the best self-help methodology I've come across in my 60 years on earth, second only to to the concept of loving and trusting God.

As a recreational cyclist of 50 years or so and an amateur racer for the past 30 years and a follower of pro cycling, I had read frequent references to chimps in relation to the elite athletes of British Cycling. I had also read of Dr Steve Peters who works with British Cycling and the Sky Procycling Team. I also knew that his work with the athletes had been extremely successful in helping them win a string of Olympic Gold Medals in Beijing 2008.

I was therefore curious as to what the fuss was about. This book neatly and clearly sums up the concepts applied by the author in his work. His thesis is that we all have 3 parts to our brain, a Chimp who works on emotion and sees things in black and white and a Human who is calm, sensible and logical. Both struggle for control and often the Chimp wins and make us do things in sport and everyday life that we might regret. The Chimp and the Human program the third part of our brain which is the Computer. In other words the part that allows us (amongst other things) to ride a bike, drive a car, and behave in a reasonable manner towards our fellow humans.

Using the concepts and ideas in the book, one can learn how to manage the Chimp to get the best out of sport, work and life. It also teaches us how to recognize and work around other people's Chimps.

I found this book gave me a great insight into the way I used to react to sporting, work and general life situations. It alerted me to the existence of my Chimp and gave me some tools to manage it.

The book is an excellent tool for planning sporting objectives.

Don't expect this book to give you the answers to life's problems but it will certainly give you the tools to help you deal with them.

Highly recommended

I really liked this book. I would challenge anybody to read it and not get some useful stuff out of it. Easy to understand both linguistically and concepts-wise. I have read it once and have recommended it to friends. I will also read it again and do some of the exercises in it. I found it helpful as a tool to manage the mind and get a handle on where one might be sabotaging oneself without even realising it.

I write on the same subject matter, but I've decided that this book will be my recommended "course book" to explain in a vivid and very effective manner how the brain works and then how to work it. I will use this book for this essential piece that helps build what I call "The Only Sure Path To The Greatest Life" and for my upcoming book called, tentatively, Smart (and easy) Self Control.

It is very understandable, very usable, and excellently written.

I've read many, many, many books on the brain, emotions, behaviors, but I would say this is one of the best overall and, I think, the best for most people to read and learn from - and to implement from. I've taken the liberty on my site of doing an overview chart of the functions and characteristics of these three brains, which I think will help people to understand better how the pieces fit together.

I highly recommend this book to everyone who needs to learn how the brain operates and how to operate it - which should be every human on the planet.

Keith D. Garrick

This book compares three brains that are present in our minds. The Chimp, Human, and the Computer brain and how they interact with one another. How each brain interpendently works towards a specific problem and share insights on how they determine their actions. The Chimp is Quick to act and think it's too dangerous or it's not worth it to take action. The Human uses logic to develop a plan a think I can move forward, and the Computer puts the thoughts together and uses the human experiences and to move forward.

The paperback version of this book was offered to me a couple of years ago and now I decided to buy the Kindle version since I prefer to read my books using it.

I was thinking to upgrade to the audio version since I read that the audio upgrades would have a discount to those who buy the Kindle version. To my amazement, the audio upgrade costs $31 which is almost 3x the book price. Is this the discount you talk about? Who in his right mind will pay $31 for the audio version after buy the Kindle version? How ridiculous is this?

I'm not into self help books, but this one is a readable explanation of how the parts of your mind work together or against each other and gives tactics on where to spend your energy to get your mind in order. The author uses readable language, and understandable concepts to explain how it works.

While not the authorial intent, if you are a Christian, this is a nuts and bolts explanation of what Paul is talking about in the latter part of Romans 7. This is where Paul describes his two selves, the one that does what he wants to do (the human), and the one that does stupid stuff despite his best efforts (the chimp). I suspect there are parallels in other religious traditions and would be interested in their writings on the topic.

This was a real eye opener, so my written it covers complex psychological and behavioural issues with really useful tools to deal with them. Not just a self-help book, more a awy to understand how others behave and how you can help get the best from them (and yourself)

This is one of those books that I recommend to all my clients, and as a leadership coach and trainer I ALWAYS do a session on Chimp Management and this is always the session that resonates most with participants. It’s simple, visual, and makes perfect sense, and gets people talking the same language… “oh my Chimp is awake again!” Very simple but very effective. I discovered Prof Steve Peters on the Podcast “Diary of a CEO” and have been a fan ever since! Use it myself every day - so many Chimp moments :-)

Great Book!

A must!! Really good to understand why we react the way we do; either good or bad. In my top 5!

Very good read! Very useful! And an easy book to follow. Totally enjoyable.

Must read book on mind management and understanding human psychology

There is a reason this book is a best seller, it deals with a very complex subject, a subject that has a major impact on the lives of everyone, and it make it something you can understand and work with.

This is not an easy book, it has a lot. to say and takes some sustained effort fro you in working through it. This is not one of those change your life in five minutes books, but it can change your life.

Based on long experience the author has found a way to describe neurobiological brain functions in a way you can grasp and work with. From the first chapter on you will start to understand why you and the people you know act the way you do. You will also learn what you can do to change that, and improve things.

I have read a lot of books that detail brain science, explaining many of the things dealt with in this book in detailed ways, but rarely have I come across a book that makes this information available to the masses. Well here it is. Don't miss out on this opportunity