Full Stack Human (Paperback)

If you feel increasingly disconnected from what makes you human, you’re not alone. Our brains today are exhausted from trying to keep up with endless change and relentless stimulation. Productivity hacks and wellness apps aren't working; they only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. As humans, we’ve evolved for a different world entirely. We're operating with ancient biology, archaic institutions and superhuman technology ― no wonder we can’t keep up.

Full Stack Human will transform how you navigate chaos and complexity at work and in daily life. Authors Dara Simkin (Australia’s leading play-at-work specialist) and Tâne Hunter (data scientist and futurist) combine cutting-edge neuroscience, behavioural psychology and stories from the real world to show you how to rewire your mental operating system. Full Stack Human is your field guide for staying human when everything keeps accelerating. Learn how to:

• Turn obstacles into opportunity by embracing flexibility and serious play
• Combat confusion and despair by developing strategic hope and intelligent optimism
• Develop mindsets and practices to dig yourself out of existential dread
• Unleash dangerous curiosity to unlock breakthrough insights others miss
• Strengthen your adaptability and learn to bend without breaking

Full Stack Human is a much-needed reset for professionals, entrepreneurs and anyone who refuses to sacrifice their humanity for success. It’s time to rewire your human operating system and press play on your potential. This is the upgrade you’ve been waiting for.

A brave, clear-eyed look at what’s breaking us―and a warm, intelligent answer we urgently need.

It’s 3 am and your brain won’t shut up.

Your to-do list multiplies. Your inbox feels sentient. AI is rewriting your job description while you doomscroll and somehow you’re supposed to ‘optimise’ your way to happiness as everything around you glitches.

Here’s the truth: you’re not broken. Your brain just wasn’t built for this.

With algorithms hijacking your attention and a culture that mistakes exhaustion for achievement, staying human can feel impossible.

Dara Simkin (Australia’s leading voice in play at work) and Tāne Hunter (systems scientist and world-class science communicator) reveal the five-layer upgrade your mind has been craving―a practical system for staying deeply human in a world ruled by technology.

Smart, soulful and thoughtfully rebellious, this isn’t another wellness fad or productivity hack. It’s neuroscience and real talk―a research-backed guide to staying gloriously, messily, authentically human while the world races towards artificial efficiency.

Full Stack Human is the reset for anyone who refuses to sacrifice their humanity for success.

The essential field guide every leader needs to make innovation joyful, human and sustainable again.
―BRENDAN BOYLE, founder of IDEO Play Lab and Stanford Design Professor

Hits your brain and your heart at the same time.
―DAVID PEARL, author of Will There Be Donuts and Story for Leaders

Two playful, whip-smart thinkers willing to ask some of the hairiest questions, like what are we really doing here? And what happens next?
―HONOR EASTLY, Australian Mental Health Prize-winning artist