Description

Radically simple experimental tools to help anyone tap into a high-energy brain state to fire up innovative potential and shape their lives with intention—by the founder of a Harvard biomedical engineering innovation lab.

In an age of convenience and information overload, it’s easy to go through the motions, pressured, distracted, and seeking instant gratification rather than harnessing our potential for meaningful and impactful lives. When we’re accustomed to a low energy brain state and lulled by the comfort zone it creates, it’s difficult to rouse ourselves to act with intention and create the lives we truly want to lead. 

In LIT, Jeff Karp, Ph.D., professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and biotech innovator, helps us look to nature as a vital source of humankind’s best wisdom, most inspired action, and greatest good.

Diagnosed with learning differences at a young age, he persisted through nearly insurmountable struggles with support from his mom in developing ways to achieve hyper-awareness and maximize decisions based on his curiosity, passion, creativity, and connection to nature. As a student at McGill University and at the University of Toronto, as a researcher at MIT, and as a professor at Harvard Medical School, he evolved these approaches into LIT (Life Ignition Tools) —and road-tested these tools daily in his own personal life and with his lab team to innovate medical discoveries inspired by the “problem solving” process they find throughout the natural world

LIT teaches us to:

• turn inward and connect with what is truly important to us
• turn outward to act on that, connecting with others and different ways of knowing
• question assumptions—break out of habitual thinking and other patterns to discover what really serves you best
• navigate multiple streams of sensory input and manage information overload
• recognize manipulative messaging that can throw us off course
• explore, experiment and discover fresh approaches to old challenges
• intercept routine patterns to actively think and decide versus just jumping in with habitual responses

LIT takes us off autopilot and helps us stay alert, present, and fully engaged in our lives. 

Dr. Karp also shares insights from some of the world’s most accomplished people, including Nobel Prize winners, the founder of an Indigenous wellness center, a visionary photographer, a social justice activist, a five-time US memory champion, an Olympic medalist, a neurosurgeon who founded a center for compassion, and numerous professors, inventors, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and members of his laboratory—all creatives in their own ways.

Using Dr. Karp’s principles, anyone can redirect their lives with energy, focus, creativity, motivation, intention, and impact to create the lives they truly want to lead. Learning to be lit is the ultimate renewable energy and is accessible to everyone, anytime, wherever you are.

About the Author

Jeff Karp, Ph.D., is an acclaimed mentor and biomedical engineering professor at Harvard Medical School and MIT, a Distinguished Chair at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He has dedicated his research to bioinspired medical problem-solving, and his lab’s technologies have led to the formation of twelve companies. The technologies they have developed include a tissue glue that can seal holes inside a beating heart; targeted therapy for osteoarthritis, Crohn’s disease, and brain disorders; “smart needles” that automatically stop when they reach their target; a nasal spray that neutralizes pathogens; and immunotherapy approaches to annihilate cancer. Dr. Karp is also head of innovation at Geoversity, Nature’s University, a rainforest conservancy located in one of the top biodiversity hotspots in the world. He was selected as the Outstanding Faculty Undergraduate Mentor among all faculty at MIT and the top graduate student mentor of Harvard-MIT students. Dr. Karp lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife, children, and two Cavalier King Charles spaniels.

Praise For…

“Don’t we all want to tap our innermost talents of creativity, the full power of our good brains? I know I do. I am in a perpetual search to spark every fiber of my potential. And here, with LIT, I have discovered myriad tools and concepts to guide me. Drawing on the grandeur of Mother Nature, the discipline of repetition, the courage to not only accept but seek failure, LIT is a blueprint for a richer, deeper life." — Diana Nyad

“As an adventurer—deeply engaged with the natural world and its gifts—I highly recommend LIT. Instead of getting discouraged and overwhelmed by our current world and problems, Jeff Karp offers us a path toward inner illumination and innovation.” — Colin O'Brady, New York Times bestselling author

“Jeff Karp's much-needed book LIT provides a spark and helps us light ourselves up from within — while lighting up the world around us, bringing joy and creativity to all aspects of our lives.” — Arianna Huffington, Founder & CEO, Thrive Global

“Good news for us all: We can be happier, smarter, more effective, more fulfilled than we ever knew. This book could change your life.” — Geoff Colvin, bestselling author, Talent Is Overrated

"In this illuminating guide, Jeff Karp illustrates how we can break free from the routines that limit our thinking. LIT is an essential toolkit for converting intentions into actions that matter.” — Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Regret, When, and Drive

“In LIT, Jeff Karp teaches us the profound value of living from the 'inside out.' He makes it abundantly clear how mindful attention to what we truly want inside is the only way to make effective and meaningful change outside. The book is true gift in a time when so much social distraction can prevent us from attaining our loftiest goals. Bravo!” — Rudy Tanzi, PhD, professor of neurology, Harvard Medical School, and New York Times bestselling author of Super Brain

“Jeff Karp takes the reader on a journey of humble self-discovery through the bruising challenges of his learning disabilities and an uncontainable impatience as a student, scientist, parent, and entrepreneur. He speaks from the heart of the questions that drove him forward, the mistakes that woke him up, and the inspiring people and moments that ‘lit’ the way toward a life of enduring value. LIT is the ultimate mentors’ manual.” — Nathan Gray, president and co-founder, Geoversity: Nature’s University