Mind-hacking: everyone's doing it. Of course, being Americans, it's not enough for us to just do drugs for pleasure or escape—we want to be more productive, more efficient, better workers. More American.

Silicon Valley's overstuffed with gadgets to "upgrade" your mind, and the coders behind the products are stuffed themselves with modafinil, or tiny hits of LSD, or short sessions with their hypnosis apps. Maybe it's magic. Or maybe it's all Palo Alto New Age wackadoo.

Nellie Bowles's "An Evening With the Consciousness Hackers," from 2015, is probably the most fun introduction, if only because it digs into "telekinesis," courtesy of the co-founder of InteraXon, makers of the Muse meditative headband.

“You can make your phone vibrate from a distance. We’ve made thought-control toasters,” she said. “There’s a thought-control beer tap in our office. I have a levitating chair, and you close your eyes and relax and it goes back down.”