I had heard of Wim Hoff prior to requesting this book from NetGalley - I think anyone who has spent time in the running and CrossFit communities probably knows his name, but I was not familiar with him beyond ice baths and brown fat. So I was requested this book with that curiosity. This book is not about the Wim Hof Method (WHM).It's a phot-memoir of his life and exploits, which includes his ideas (mainly that you are more than you think you are). It has some very moving parts, particularity in part 1. Part 3 feels a bit like 'how I became a cult leader', but people like to call anything that other people are passionate about a cult, so I'm not going to do that. The stories are beautifully illustrated with photos, and by poems written by Wim. I would buy this as a gift for someone who already knows and likes the WHM, or leave it around as a beautifully illustrated coffee table book.

Wim Hof is known as the real life, Iceman since he has personally beat records of conducting ice challenges. He received his first Guinness World Record in 1999, in Paris. He sat with his body in the cold for 30 full minutes. He explained to readers the importance of slowly working your way up in cold conditions. He shared how he had near death experiences from his high-risk challenges. He believed that he was an outcast and for the longest time, he was searching for a way to understand his soul on a deeper level. He has written this book to encourage readers to fully live their lives. We can have our heart and soul and to learn to laugh along the way. We can all do more than we think that we can. He has learned a lot by living in nature. He shared how he met his good friend, Henry and how he has been along for the ride to photography his adventures. He also discussed how he met his wife, Olaya and they had four children together. He shared about how she was in a very dark place in her life. She eventually ended her life in 1995. He explained how being in the cold conditions helped him to live and to heal. He learned how to breathe properly. This helped him to feel his body and to have energy. This taught him discipline and sticking with what you commit too. He learned to love to climb rocks, kayaked, and explored nature throughout the world in different areas. He opened up about how yoga helped him and he grew in his flexibility.


It was crazy in seeing the photos through the book and how he did all sorts of wild adventures. It was interesting to also see how flexibility he was and his body was in some weird positions that I personally couldn’t do. There are tons of beautiful photography that really helped the book along. It was very eye opening also to read about his lost and how it helped him to overcome his own personal loss and grief. He encouraged readers to live their lives in nature and to seek the light. It doesn’t have to be extreme adventures like he has done. It could help us in our own thinking and to refocus. I liked how he enclosed small poems in each chapter to teach us lessons. I would recommend this awesome book to anyone who is ready to learn more about his breathing method and to fully embrace true living.


“I received this book free from Sounds True for my honest review.”

This was an absolutely stunning photographic memoir of Wim Hof. Although it's a book on his journey and life, there's a lot of inspiration in these pages to remind us that we can do anything we set our minds to do. Thank you to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review.