For a decade, it's been a constant drumbeat, from our nation to corporations to employees to our youngest students: we must all be more competitive. But no one's really given us an understanding of how to compete. Finally-that's about to change. As President Dwight Eisenhower said, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog." And in Top Dog, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman reveal the size of the fight in all of us.

Top Dog exposes the hidden factors behind every sort of win and loss-from bringing home a Gold in Olympic swimming to bombing the SAT. Exploring the psychology of rankings, the neuroscience of mistakes, and the DNA of fearlessness, Top Dog's filled with cutting-edge science told through stories of pilot flight training, NASCAR brawls, political try-outs, ballroom dancing, CIA spies, Wall Street, and so much more. You'll discover the forces that compel each one of us to compete.