Name: Into the Impossible Volume 2: Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner
Author: Brian Keating

About the Book

What’s the secret behind the world’s most brilliant scientific minds? It’s not just intelligence—it’s focus. In this inspiring follow-up to Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, physicist and author Brian Keating reveals how Nobel laureates harness deep concentration, radical prioritization, and collaborative intensity to produce paradigm-shifting discoveries—and how you can too. Drawing from exclusive interviews with laureates across physics, economics, and beyond, Keating distills a powerful lesson: success belongs not to the most scattered or the most “well-rounded,” but to those who Follow One Course Until Successful—FOCUS. Whether you’re an aspiring scientist, curious student, or creative thinker of any kind, Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner will challenge you to aim narrower—and go deeper. From resisting the illusion of multitasking to structuring your day like a discovery lab, you’ll learn to reclaim attention in a world designed to distract. You’ll learn to think deeply, lead boldly, and leave a lasting mark. Because the impossible isn’t out of reach. It’s just out of focus.

Praise

“Professor Keating's Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner distills the surprising habits, mental models, and mindset shifts shared by the dozens of Nobel Prize winners he's interviewed. Drawing from candid, behind-the-scenes conversations, Keating reveals the hidden scaffolding of genius-and how anyone can adopt it to do their life's best work. It's a masterclass in focus from those who changed the world.”

— Ali Abdaal, bestselling author of Feel-Good Productivity.

“Distraction is easy. Focus takes skill. In Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner, Brian Keating shows how the smartest minds on the planet train theirs. This isn't about hacks-it's about habits that last. If you want to do meaningful work without burning out, read this before your next scroll.”

— Nir Eyal, author of Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life.

“How do you win a Nobel Prize? Focus on what matters and avoid what does not. Keating makes a compelling case that the habits of the world's best scientists hold great value for the rest of us.”

— Cal Newport, New York Times bestselling author of Slow Productivity and Deep Work.

About Brian Keating

Brian Keating is the Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of California San Diego and the author of more than 200 scientific publications, two US patents, and the bestselling memoir Losing the Nobel Prize. In 2007, Keating received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Bush. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and co-leads the Simons Array and Simons Observatory cosmology projects in Chile. Keating also hosts the popular podcast Into the Impossible with Brian Keating and published Into the Impossible: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner: Lessons from Laureates to Stoke Curiosity, Spur Collaboration, and Ignite Imagination in Your Life and Career.