What do you think?
Rate this book
Похватите на титаните
ŷ Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Nonfiction (2017)В книгата са събрани интервютата ми с близо 200 личности от световна величина, гостували в „Шоут� на Тим Ферис�, което наскоро надхвърли 100 милиона сваляния.
Сред тях има блестящи шахматисти, кинозвезди, висши генерали, професионални атлети, мениджъри и инвеститори. Едно голямо и пъстро множество. Животът ми се подобри във всяко едно отношение в резултат на уроците, които научих от тях. Всяка препоръка е проверена, изпитана и приложена в моя собствен живот. Използвал съм много от предложените подходи и възгледи при важни преговори, рисковани ситуации и големи бизнес сделки. Научените уроци са ми донесли милиони долари и са ми спестили години напразни усилия и терзания. И досега, щом се почувствам затруднен, притеснен, обезкуражен, ядосан, в конфликт със себе си или просто объркан, първото, което правя, е да разлистя тези страници. И правилният лек винаги изскача. Нуждаете се от окуражително потупване по гърба? Има на кого да разчитате. Трябва ви някой, който да ви зашлеви безкомпромисна плесница в лицето? И за това има достатъчно хора. Някой, който да ви даде да разберете, че страховете ви са неоснователни... или че извиненията ви не струват? Готово.
В тази книга са цитирани множество мъдри думи, но тя е много повече от сборник с цитати. Тя съдържа набор от похвати, с помощта на които бихте могли да промените живота си.
Тим Ферис
ОТ КНИГАТА НЕЯ ЩЕ НАУЧИТЕ:
- Кои са „корекционните� сутрешни упражнения на Тони Робинс
- Какви са психологическите номера на Арнолд Шварценегер, с които натрупва милиони
- Как „Магьосникъ� на Холивуд� Робърт Родригес превръща недостатъците в достойнства
- Как да превъзмогваме неуспехите и провалите като бившия морски тюлен Джоко Уилинк
- Как да победим страховете си и да придобием самоувереност като Джейми Фокс
- Как да задаваме въпроси като бестселъровия автор Малкълм Гладуел
- Как да преодолеем застоя в творческата си работа с Паулу Коелю
- Как се възползва от отрицателните емоции прочутата учителка по медитация Тара Брак
- Как да развием психическа издръжливост с практиките на генерал Стенли Маккристъл
- Как иновативният пионер в Гугъл Чейд-Менг Тан откри тайните на щастието и др.
Сред тях има блестящи шахматисти, кинозвезди, висши генерали, професионални атлети, мениджъри и инвеститори. Едно голямо и пъстро множество. Животът ми се подобри във всяко едно отношение в резултат на уроците, които научих от тях. Всяка препоръка е проверена, изпитана и приложена в моя собствен живот. Използвал съм много от предложените подходи и възгледи при важни преговори, рисковани ситуации и големи бизнес сделки. Научените уроци са ми донесли милиони долари и са ми спестили години напразни усилия и терзания. И досега, щом се почувствам затруднен, притеснен, обезкуражен, ядосан, в конфликт със себе си или просто объркан, първото, което правя, е да разлистя тези страници. И правилният лек винаги изскача. Нуждаете се от окуражително потупване по гърба? Има на кого да разчитате. Трябва ви някой, който да ви зашлеви безкомпромисна плесница в лицето? И за това има достатъчно хора. Някой, който да ви даде да разберете, че страховете ви са неоснователни... или че извиненията ви не струват? Готово.
В тази книга са цитирани множество мъдри думи, но тя е много повече от сборник с цитати. Тя съдържа набор от похвати, с помощта на които бихте могли да промените живота си.
Тим Ферис
ОТ КНИГАТА НЕЯ ЩЕ НАУЧИТЕ:
- Кои са „корекционните� сутрешни упражнения на Тони Робинс
- Какви са психологическите номера на Арнолд Шварценегер, с които натрупва милиони
- Как „Магьосникъ� на Холивуд� Робърт Родригес превръща недостатъците в достойнства
- Как да превъзмогваме неуспехите и провалите като бившия морски тюлен Джоко Уилинк
- Как да победим страховете си и да придобием самоувереност като Джейми Фокс
- Как да задаваме въпроси като бестселъровия автор Малкълм Гладуел
- Как да преодолеем застоя в творческата си работа с Паулу Коелю
- Как се възползва от отрицателните емоции прочутата учителка по медитация Тара Брак
- Как да развием психическа издръжливост с практиките на генерал Стенли Маккристъл
- Как иновативният пионер в Гугъл Чейд-Менг Тан откри тайните на щастието и др.
712 pages, Paperback
First published December 6, 2016
23.5k people are currently reading
103k people want to read
About the author
Timothy Ferriss
51books10.5kfollowersTim Ferriss is author of three #1 NYT/WSJ bestsellers: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, and The 4-Hour Chef. He is also a start-up advisor specializing in positioning, PR, and marketing (Uber, Evernote, etc.). When not damaging his body with abusive sports, he enjoys chocolate, bear claws, and Japanese animation.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,490 reviews
December 23, 2016
I'm the kind of person who laps up inspirational books like this one. I greatly enjoyed Tools of Titans, but I have to deduct a star because what kind of message does it send when out of the 114 people the author profiles for nuggets of greatness, insight, and wisdom, only 12 are women? (Yes, I counted.)
March 25, 2017
What an awful book.
With Tim there is this status quo that you must say "wow" on everything he does, because he is very enthusiastic and controversial, but to be honest its not the case here.
I found out that people feel liberal and sophisticated and modern because they listen to Tim.
This is why he is going to get "best seller New York Times" from "sophisticated" wannabes .
Basically the book is like surfing the web and read about eclectic products with ads.
The ads are cross promotions Tim does to his friends and companies, and the products are things he tried and most of the time are too specific and not in public interest .
( e.g being too specific about kinds of tea, and minutes it takes to drink them, what he drinks first)
Too many cross promotional of other products ( or startups he invested in, friends, etc)
Too many details on things that really does not interesting nobody/ no one has the time to do them.
I can just visit my daily websites and consume the same content( with ads blocker).
Who cares that if you do sauna at 170.5 degrees 4 times a week its good for injury ? how many people really injured? who can visit sauna 4 times a week ?
If you count all the things he writes as his "morning rituals" you would end up in a full day, and thats not including evening rituals.
The "business" section, interviewing such amazing people, but asking them so many stupid questions, sometimes so specific like how many times you visit the toilet.
I think there is overrated hype about him only because he is controversial, and people think if they listen they will also have such a diversity in their life.
Does not worth reading, specially not 700 pages.
With Tim there is this status quo that you must say "wow" on everything he does, because he is very enthusiastic and controversial, but to be honest its not the case here.
I found out that people feel liberal and sophisticated and modern because they listen to Tim.
This is why he is going to get "best seller New York Times" from "sophisticated" wannabes .
Basically the book is like surfing the web and read about eclectic products with ads.
The ads are cross promotions Tim does to his friends and companies, and the products are things he tried and most of the time are too specific and not in public interest .
( e.g being too specific about kinds of tea, and minutes it takes to drink them, what he drinks first)
Too many cross promotional of other products ( or startups he invested in, friends, etc)
Too many details on things that really does not interesting nobody/ no one has the time to do them.
I can just visit my daily websites and consume the same content( with ads blocker).
Who cares that if you do sauna at 170.5 degrees 4 times a week its good for injury ? how many people really injured? who can visit sauna 4 times a week ?
If you count all the things he writes as his "morning rituals" you would end up in a full day, and thats not including evening rituals.
The "business" section, interviewing such amazing people, but asking them so many stupid questions, sometimes so specific like how many times you visit the toilet.
I think there is overrated hype about him only because he is controversial, and people think if they listen they will also have such a diversity in their life.
Does not worth reading, specially not 700 pages.
February 24, 2023
There is no need to write any introduction about Timothy Ferriss as most of you will be already familiar with him due to his books and his podcasts. This book contains interviews he did for his podcasts. You should be able to pick up the ideas that will help you from the plethora of information in this book. If you are a person who doesn't have this ability, there is a probability that it might confuse you as some of the interviewees are giving contrasting information in their interviews. This is a big book with around 700 pages, and you will take some time to finish it. As all the interviews are separated perfectly, you can pick up the interviews of people you like. But I strongly recommend you to read this book cover to cover as I got some valuable information from some of the interviews I least expected to help me.
What I learned from this book
1) Shame vs guilt
What is the difference between shame and guilt? It is discussed in detail in this book by Brene Brown.
�Shame is I am a bad person. Guilt is I did something bad. Shame is a focus on self. Guilt is a focus on behavior.�
2) 8 step process of maximizing efficacy
In this book, an eight-step process of maximizing efficacy is discussed, which can be useful to most of us.
"Wake up at least 1 hour before you have to be at a computer screen. Email is the mind-killer. Make a cup of tea and sit down with a pen/pencil and paper. Write down the 3 to 5 things—and no more—that are making you the most anxious or uncomfortable. They're often things that have been punted from one day's to-do list to the next, to the next, to the next, and so on. Most important usually equals most uncomfortable, with some chance of rejection or conflict. For each item, ask yourself: "If this were the only thing I accomplished today, would I be satisfied with my day?" "Will moving this forward make all the other to-dos unimportant or easier to knock off later?" Put another way: "What, if done, will make all of the rest easier or irrelevant?" Look only at the items you've answered "yes" to for at least one of these questions. Block out at 2 to 3 hours to focus on ONE of them for today. Let the rest of the urgent but less important stuff slide. It will still be there tomorrow. TO BE CLEAR: Block out at 2 to 3 HOURS to focus on ONE of them for today. This is ONE BLOCK OF TIME. Cobbling together 10 minutes here and there to add up to 120 minutes does not work. No phone calls or social media allowed. If you get distracted or start procrastinating, don't freak out and downward-spiral; just gently come back to your ONE to-do"
3) Sleep and Hustle culture
This is a crucial topic that should be broached upon by the Millenials. Many people burlesquely boast that they sleep significantly less to show that they are hard workers. I am bemused by the lack of awareness of these callow influencers who are coercing their followers to sleep less by calling themselves the hustle culture perpetrators.
"Ours is a culture where we wear our ability to get by on very little sleep as a kind of badge of honor that symbolizes work ethic, or toughness, or some other virtue—but really, it's a total profound failure of priorities and of self-respect"
4) What is the most important investment you can make?
People only think from a monetary perspective when they hear the word investment. The author tells us that there is a more important investment than money.
"Investing in yourself is the most important investment you'll ever make in your life. . . . There's no financial investment that'll ever match it, because if you develop more skill, more ability, more insight, more capacity, that's what's going to really provide economic freedom. . . . It's those skill sets that really make that happen."
5) Is being busy a form of laziness?
Being busy is not lack of time; it's lack of priorities. You have to learn to say no to activities which are not at all our priorities inorder to manage the time more effectively.
“Being busy is a form of laziness. Lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being busy is most often used by the guys for avoiding a few of the critically important but uncomfortable actions. And when despite your best efforts, you feel like you are losing in your lives, remember even the best of the best sometimes feel this way. �
My favourite three lines from this book
“Fighting emotions is like flailing in quicksand—it only makes things worse. Sometimes, the most proactive “defense� is a mental nod and wink.�
“Productivity is for robots. What humans are going to be really good at is asking questions, being creative, and experiences.�
“If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.- LaoTzu �
What could have been better?
I think Timothy Ferriss should have included more women interviewees. The number of women interviewed is significantly less compared to men. Some of the recommendations, like book recommendations, seemed like cross advertisements of their friend's books which will make us cognizant and question the authenticity of some people interviewed in this book. Most of the interviewees seemed to have given genuine opinions, though. Only 2 or 3 people interviewed have this authenticity problem.
Rating
4/5 This book is like a condensed updated modern version of the book which will be useful to almost everyone.
December 28, 2020
It is difficult to be exceptional.
When I say "exceptional," I don't mean many of other adjectives people often use as synonyms: "gifted" or "genius." I mean quite simply, it is difficult to be an exception. A person who does not prove the rule. A person who experiences any part of the world differently than the majority. Everyone is exceptional in some department of their life. They have more or less aptitude for a skill. They have more or less eye sight, more or less focus, more or less physical strength, more or less attraction to Star Wars facts.
At every step of life there are exceptions. Children who mature faster than their peers, children who cannot pick up the alphabet as easily. Women who get tall, men who stay short. Artists and anti-social personalities, leaders and insomniacs. "Exceptional" is neither good nor bad. It simply means that in that department, this person does not match. And when you don't match, it means that the world has probably not be set up for you in that area. It's been built around the majority. A lecture hall is set up to assume you have average hearing. School is structured to accommodate average learning styles. Cars are set up for people of average height. Society is set up to assume an average amount of extroversion, average sexuality, etc. etc. etc.
When that lines up with how you experience the world, it means it's easier to travel through the world. You can either use the systems already in place, or you can watch how other people have succeeded and follow their paths.
It becomes more complicated in each place that you are an exception, because you have to forge an exceptional road with fewer role models.
This is a long-winded introduction for why I enjoyed this book. Ferriss has interviewed exceptional people from many corners of industry to find out their strategies for success. Many are celebrities folks will have heard of; others are successes who do their work out of the public eye. Athletes, actors, businesspeople. I found myself newly impressed by some of the humans inside this book and newly appalled by others. Regardless, they are all exceptions, and this book is about the different paths exceptional people have taken to cope, improve, and advance with the ways they are exceptional. Do I agree with all of them? No. Can I use all of them? No. Did many of them spur me to think about my habits differently and provide me with a fresh blueprint for new habits? Yes.
Bonus: each interview is quite short, so one can skip around and read a few minutes here and there.
We're all exceptional in some way, and this is a book that reminds one that exceptional journeys require exceptional solutions. Nice.
When I say "exceptional," I don't mean many of other adjectives people often use as synonyms: "gifted" or "genius." I mean quite simply, it is difficult to be an exception. A person who does not prove the rule. A person who experiences any part of the world differently than the majority. Everyone is exceptional in some department of their life. They have more or less aptitude for a skill. They have more or less eye sight, more or less focus, more or less physical strength, more or less attraction to Star Wars facts.
At every step of life there are exceptions. Children who mature faster than their peers, children who cannot pick up the alphabet as easily. Women who get tall, men who stay short. Artists and anti-social personalities, leaders and insomniacs. "Exceptional" is neither good nor bad. It simply means that in that department, this person does not match. And when you don't match, it means that the world has probably not be set up for you in that area. It's been built around the majority. A lecture hall is set up to assume you have average hearing. School is structured to accommodate average learning styles. Cars are set up for people of average height. Society is set up to assume an average amount of extroversion, average sexuality, etc. etc. etc.
When that lines up with how you experience the world, it means it's easier to travel through the world. You can either use the systems already in place, or you can watch how other people have succeeded and follow their paths.
It becomes more complicated in each place that you are an exception, because you have to forge an exceptional road with fewer role models.
This is a long-winded introduction for why I enjoyed this book. Ferriss has interviewed exceptional people from many corners of industry to find out their strategies for success. Many are celebrities folks will have heard of; others are successes who do their work out of the public eye. Athletes, actors, businesspeople. I found myself newly impressed by some of the humans inside this book and newly appalled by others. Regardless, they are all exceptions, and this book is about the different paths exceptional people have taken to cope, improve, and advance with the ways they are exceptional. Do I agree with all of them? No. Can I use all of them? No. Did many of them spur me to think about my habits differently and provide me with a fresh blueprint for new habits? Yes.
Bonus: each interview is quite short, so one can skip around and read a few minutes here and there.
We're all exceptional in some way, and this is a book that reminds one that exceptional journeys require exceptional solutions. Nice.
December 13, 2016
American author, public speaker Timothy Ferriss has compiled a book perfect for the generation obsessed with famous people. Apparently, the famous have some infinite wisdom/quotes which will elevate the rest of us peasants to success. First problem. The foreward is done by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Someone who cheats on his wife with a woman who works for the family and has a child with her is no role model for anyone. At over 600 pages this hardcover book would be a useful tool to hit someone over the head with to get them motivated as nothing in here is inspiring. Rather than read this nonsense use these tools if you want to succeed; listen to the one or two friends who support and care about you, tap into what makes you happy each day, trust your instincts as they never lie, be a compassionate human being regardless of how much you have, be active, eat well, get adequate sleep and have a laser focus to make your passion come true. It's possible just believe in yourself.
February 7, 2017
Ugh. Tim Ferriss. First of all, you blew your credibility with me years ago in your debut "Four Hour Work Week" book - when you touted someone who quit their job to open a great surf camp in Brazil and I knew this person and it was a huge failure and that person is now back at a desk job.
So another one. Tough to get through and then some life changing gem of a sentence pops up amongst the B.S. so you keep pushing through the nonsense. The health and work out advice up front from various "experts" is quite monotonous (and I am a work out nut myself.) And the advice from the psycho hallucinogenic expert person who recommends taking a light level of mushrooms every 6-8 weeks to improve their life - I just don't think that will work for me and not sure it will improve my life (I wish I had the life where it did - it sounds fun.)
In a nutshell, Tim Ferriss is a privileged Princetonian riding on this mindless start-up craze in the Bay Area - if everyone was an "expert" or outsourced all of the work in their life or spent all of their time working out and hob nobbing with the "titans" - what would get done in the world? who would do the coding at these tech start-ups? Is it the elite Princeton grads who are to delegate the work to Asia or India? It all makes no sense.
Some of his "world class" performers include media freaks like Arnold Schwarzenegger - I don't want to hear any advice from him - dude cheated on his wife with his maid and watched that boy grow up in his household - I could give him advice. (If you are going to have an affair with your maid - use protection.)
Tim Ferris -keep living in your bubble - I am putting your book down now and I am sorry that I paid any $ for it which might go to fuel your insanity.
Oh forgot to add - he talks about his equivalent of a Stanford MBA - he invested 120k in various start up companies and made money. Dude missed the point completely (as a Stanford MBA I can say this)- the network, taking ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE courses and having that stamp of having taken such courses. Most people who go to business school don't have 120k in cash to invest in start ups - they take on the debt in the hopes of earning that cash or a stable career that will provide them with cash flow and a net that will help them when things get challenging. I get what he is saying in terms of ROI - but that was where I lost all respect for him. Another data point of where it is someone spouting off on something they know absolutely nothing about.
So another one. Tough to get through and then some life changing gem of a sentence pops up amongst the B.S. so you keep pushing through the nonsense. The health and work out advice up front from various "experts" is quite monotonous (and I am a work out nut myself.) And the advice from the psycho hallucinogenic expert person who recommends taking a light level of mushrooms every 6-8 weeks to improve their life - I just don't think that will work for me and not sure it will improve my life (I wish I had the life where it did - it sounds fun.)
In a nutshell, Tim Ferriss is a privileged Princetonian riding on this mindless start-up craze in the Bay Area - if everyone was an "expert" or outsourced all of the work in their life or spent all of their time working out and hob nobbing with the "titans" - what would get done in the world? who would do the coding at these tech start-ups? Is it the elite Princeton grads who are to delegate the work to Asia or India? It all makes no sense.
Some of his "world class" performers include media freaks like Arnold Schwarzenegger - I don't want to hear any advice from him - dude cheated on his wife with his maid and watched that boy grow up in his household - I could give him advice. (If you are going to have an affair with your maid - use protection.)
Tim Ferris -keep living in your bubble - I am putting your book down now and I am sorry that I paid any $ for it which might go to fuel your insanity.
Oh forgot to add - he talks about his equivalent of a Stanford MBA - he invested 120k in various start up companies and made money. Dude missed the point completely (as a Stanford MBA I can say this)- the network, taking ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE courses and having that stamp of having taken such courses. Most people who go to business school don't have 120k in cash to invest in start ups - they take on the debt in the hopes of earning that cash or a stable career that will provide them with cash flow and a net that will help them when things get challenging. I get what he is saying in terms of ROI - but that was where I lost all respect for him. Another data point of where it is someone spouting off on something they know absolutely nothing about.
December 6, 2016
standard Tim. many interesting things, many not so much... If I learned one thing from this book it's that it is very easy to write a book.
February 7, 2017
I just finished reading the book “Tools of Titans� by Tim Ferriss. In this 673-page compendium of successful individuals, Ferriss proposes two outcomes: (1) “Success, however you define it, is achievable if you collect the right field-tested beliefs and habits� and (2) “the superheroes you have in your mind (idols, icons, titans, billionaires, etc.) are nearly all walking flaws who’ve maximized 1 or 2 strengths.�
The book is organized around the themes of healthy, wealthy, and wise. There are patterned questions for each of the individuals, but despite its length it doesn’t feel repetitive.
Some common themes across domains are:
-80% of the world-class performers meditate daily
-an essential variable to success is the ability to stay calm
-daily habit of writing promotes better thinking
I highly recommend the Kindle edition, as the numerous references and highlighted bookmarks enable you to jump around from person to person while staying within the theme in front of you.
Key insights that I will try:
-for intense focus, listen to same song on repeat
-if there is something that you want to learn, really learn on a deep level, then reading about it isn’t sufficient; you need to write about it, you need to teach others about it
-experiment with cold exposure, start with cold finishes in shower for 30 to 60 seconds | “It can improve immune function, increase fat loss (partially by increasing levels of the hormone adiponectin), and dramatically elevate mood�
-rolling your foot on top of a golf ball on the floor to increase “hamstring� flexibility
-create morning ritual with easy wins: make your bed, read a few pages of stoic writing like Marcus Aurelius, meditate, do 5-10 reps of something
-smell wine with your mouth open, it gives you better input
-drink more tea
-for better sleep, drink honey (1 tbsp) + apple cider vinegar (2 tbsp) in cup of hot water
-perform visual overwriting just before bed to eliminate open loops in your head [10 minutes of Tetris]
If you see an idea that can fit your life, then take it. As Ferriss says, “borrow liberally, combine uniquely, and create your own bespoke blueprint.�
Happy Reading!
The book is organized around the themes of healthy, wealthy, and wise. There are patterned questions for each of the individuals, but despite its length it doesn’t feel repetitive.
Some common themes across domains are:
-80% of the world-class performers meditate daily
-an essential variable to success is the ability to stay calm
-daily habit of writing promotes better thinking
I highly recommend the Kindle edition, as the numerous references and highlighted bookmarks enable you to jump around from person to person while staying within the theme in front of you.
Key insights that I will try:
-for intense focus, listen to same song on repeat
-if there is something that you want to learn, really learn on a deep level, then reading about it isn’t sufficient; you need to write about it, you need to teach others about it
-experiment with cold exposure, start with cold finishes in shower for 30 to 60 seconds | “It can improve immune function, increase fat loss (partially by increasing levels of the hormone adiponectin), and dramatically elevate mood�
-rolling your foot on top of a golf ball on the floor to increase “hamstring� flexibility
-create morning ritual with easy wins: make your bed, read a few pages of stoic writing like Marcus Aurelius, meditate, do 5-10 reps of something
-smell wine with your mouth open, it gives you better input
-drink more tea
-for better sleep, drink honey (1 tbsp) + apple cider vinegar (2 tbsp) in cup of hot water
-perform visual overwriting just before bed to eliminate open loops in your head [10 minutes of Tetris]
If you see an idea that can fit your life, then take it. As Ferriss says, “borrow liberally, combine uniquely, and create your own bespoke blueprint.�
Happy Reading!
December 12, 2016
In short: Tim Ferris at his most stereotypical: engaging, informative, and accessible.
Tools of Titans is extremely readable and really smart. Ferris' curiosity about other people's habits is contagious. It's also the first book in a while that I couldn't put down-- and was personally helpful as someone on the cusp of college graduation to help vet some important decisions in my life. (I.E. If a career/personal decision isn't an automatic "HELL YES!", it's an automatic "No".)
If you're-- as another another reviewer put it, "well-traversed" in the self-improvement/self-development book sphere-- you may find this book lacks existential and philosophical depth. Ferris explores the "How?" of successful people, but not the "Why?". Sure, these billionaires, icons, and world-class performers use meditation and the law of category to become successful-- but why did these icons choose to become venture capitalists or writers? Are these people satisfied in their careers? Are icons helping others?
However, I am of the opinion that a fulfilling life is built through two categories. The first through selfish personal development: confidence-building, independence, raw ambition, exploration, travel, and goal-setting. The second through building meaning: service, relationship-building, investing in community, and spirituality. Tools of Titans exists solely in the former. Which is totally fine, just expect that category. Tools of Titans is 100% about personal maximization.
Anyways, stepping off my soapbox because this book is awesome and thoroughly recommend it to anyone who wants to maximize their productivity and fangirl over Malcolm Gladwell more than they already do. Also, he interviews the Bobby Fisher guy, which makes this book in itself completely legendary. Highly recommend.
Tools of Titans is extremely readable and really smart. Ferris' curiosity about other people's habits is contagious. It's also the first book in a while that I couldn't put down-- and was personally helpful as someone on the cusp of college graduation to help vet some important decisions in my life. (I.E. If a career/personal decision isn't an automatic "HELL YES!", it's an automatic "No".)
If you're-- as another another reviewer put it, "well-traversed" in the self-improvement/self-development book sphere-- you may find this book lacks existential and philosophical depth. Ferris explores the "How?" of successful people, but not the "Why?". Sure, these billionaires, icons, and world-class performers use meditation and the law of category to become successful-- but why did these icons choose to become venture capitalists or writers? Are these people satisfied in their careers? Are icons helping others?
However, I am of the opinion that a fulfilling life is built through two categories. The first through selfish personal development: confidence-building, independence, raw ambition, exploration, travel, and goal-setting. The second through building meaning: service, relationship-building, investing in community, and spirituality. Tools of Titans exists solely in the former. Which is totally fine, just expect that category. Tools of Titans is 100% about personal maximization.
Anyways, stepping off my soapbox because this book is awesome and thoroughly recommend it to anyone who wants to maximize their productivity and fangirl over Malcolm Gladwell more than they already do. Also, he interviews the Bobby Fisher guy, which makes this book in itself completely legendary. Highly recommend.
August 28, 2020
"Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise" by Benjamin Franklin
The content of this book follows this format. Tim Ferriss, the author, concocted tools/principles by many successful people in various domains and categorized them into 3 sections, health, wealth and wisdom.
The book is inspiring and motivating to take action, you would find different perspectives and definitions of success. It includes suggestions, advice and their routines of celebrities, athletes and entrepreneurs. Additionally, Tim advices on the principles which worked for him and elaborates them in detail.
Good one.
The content of this book follows this format. Tim Ferriss, the author, concocted tools/principles by many successful people in various domains and categorized them into 3 sections, health, wealth and wisdom.
The book is inspiring and motivating to take action, you would find different perspectives and definitions of success. It includes suggestions, advice and their routines of celebrities, athletes and entrepreneurs. Additionally, Tim advices on the principles which worked for him and elaborates them in detail.
Good one.
October 13, 2018
Amazing. This book is a compilation of gems and jewels from iconic and world-class achievers.
There is soooo much wisdom to digest and absorb.
This book is the result of Tim Ferris Show podcast in which he interviews with ultra-successful figures. The material is divided in three section: Health, Wealth, and Happiness after Benjamin Franklin's famous quote:
I am so happy to have read it. I feel like there is a huge weight (of wisdom) on my shoulders which compels me to actively engage with them, digest them, absorb them and incorporate them into my daily life.
Happy thriving
There is soooo much wisdom to digest and absorb.
This book is the result of Tim Ferris Show podcast in which he interviews with ultra-successful figures. The material is divided in three section: Health, Wealth, and Happiness after Benjamin Franklin's famous quote:
Early to bed, early to rise, keeps a man healthy, wealthy and wise.I strongly recommend this book to anyone. Not every page are gonna be useful o the everyone. This book, however, must be looked like a mountain of jewels from which you have to carve out the gems that resonate with you the most.
I am so happy to have read it. I feel like there is a huge weight (of wisdom) on my shoulders which compels me to actively engage with them, digest them, absorb them and incorporate them into my daily life.
Happy thriving
April 26, 2017
@ 58%, Did not finish.
This isn't a book about the routines and personalities of celebrities, billionaires and world-beaters, it's a book about Tim Ferriss.
Tim is the kind of man who wants you to know that he is on the Self-Actualisation level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Having to endure the constant interjections, the claims of how successful the author is just wore me down until I gave up and switched to something a little less self-centered.
Perhaps Tim could fund his next start up venture in the San Fran tech scene by selling a condensed version of the book-a version that doesn't contain Tim. That's the book I wish this was.
2 out of 5 stars, which is representative of the ratio of the genuinely useful content to the author's bragging inside it's 700 page bulk.
This isn't a book about the routines and personalities of celebrities, billionaires and world-beaters, it's a book about Tim Ferriss.
Tim is the kind of man who wants you to know that he is on the Self-Actualisation level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Having to endure the constant interjections, the claims of how successful the author is just wore me down until I gave up and switched to something a little less self-centered.
Perhaps Tim could fund his next start up venture in the San Fran tech scene by selling a condensed version of the book-a version that doesn't contain Tim. That's the book I wish this was.
2 out of 5 stars, which is representative of the ratio of the genuinely useful content to the author's bragging inside it's 700 page bulk.
April 9, 2017
Mediocre at best. This is a collection of interviews from billionaires, athletes, and people in the top of their field. I enjoyed reading some of the interviews, and learning stories of how people overcame failures is always inspiring.
However, the premise of this book seems to be a formula: "Read this, and you will learn to be successful". Even after reading a few interviews in this book, it's very clear that there is no one formula at all. In fact, habits of one of the interviewees may have have a high probability of contradicting those of another. In that, the book didn't do justice to how it portrayed itself in the beginning.
However, the premise of this book seems to be a formula: "Read this, and you will learn to be successful". Even after reading a few interviews in this book, it's very clear that there is no one formula at all. In fact, habits of one of the interviewees may have have a high probability of contradicting those of another. In that, the book didn't do justice to how it portrayed itself in the beginning.
January 11, 2020
Who else is hyped for the December release?!?!
December 24, 2016
I introduced myself to Tim Ferriss last year when I randomly found a post on his blog in which he had interviewed Maria Popova. Actually, I was searching for Brain Picking’s Maria Popova’s interviews as she is such an inspiring blogging personality, the way she curate the content for every post is amazing and seems an example of a creative process, just right out of her imagination.You must check out Brain Pickings. Moreover, scan through Tim Ferriss� blog which is called FourHourWorkWeek.com and got introduced to his podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show [Podcast Link]. He has done an amazing job by taking more than hundred 60+ minute interviews with some of the successful and interesting people by digging deep into their “mind�, process of their workings, process of maintaining their bodies, listening to their suggestions and how do they motivate, inspire, live and do something that they love to do.
Tools of Titans is an enormous collection of bits and pieces of interviews that are available on his podcast and highlights the major theme of most of the interviews Tim has included in this book. The book is huge, exceeding 700 pages and is certainly not meant to be read all at once. It’s not Tolstoy’s War and Peace or David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest that you can read continuously without moving your body parts for next 7 to 10 days or so. Bear in mind, reading Tools of Titans will take more than that many days since it has a sheer amount of practical information to be processed by our mind. I’d recommend you to take your time with each interview described by Tim, think over it, if there’s a book recommended in between as there are so some interesting book recommendations, try to read few of them or at least do a little research on why the book is being recommended, what’s there inside and is the book for you? Then you can definitely add it to your TBR.
For the last 18 days I have been getting up early to read a few chapters of this book. I found its better to change my routine of to spending time on Medium or Wordpress for some days and as the sun rises, I get to dwell in a book. I have been reading this book on my Kindle for the sole purpose to take notes comfortably and not to disturb my reading process. I love highlighting and in recent months it has proved beneficiary for me to reuse the highlights in my blog posts as paraphrasing or go through the highlights in later time, to get a glimpse of a particular book that I read and don’t want to re-read it again. (I will be posting a collection of my book notes soon…Look out for it)
The book is divided into three sections: Healthy, Wealthy & Wise. If there’s another title for Tools for Titans, I imagine it’d be “Healthy, Wealthy & Wise�. In the Healthy section, there are professional athletes, researchers and world famous doctors who share their best insights, tips and tricks for a healthy living and having an efficient diet that will help you to go through your day, each day.
The second section is on Wealthy. This is section is the fact that this book is a great business book. Memorable sections that include actionable ideas, suggestions, tools for taking your personal brand and business to the next level. There’s a major theme of this section and that is to learn from other experiences. You can only experience one thing in one moment of a time but reading is a great asset that gets you familiar with more than one experience in one particular moment of time.
Last section: Wise. This is my favourite part of the book. I was really captivated by different process that people implement in their daily working life that includes mental toughness, brevity of language, and observing things. Learning how to learn is probably the best investment you can make in yourself. This part is all about that. On a closer look you will observe how the simple Tim’s questions are and yet they simple ones have more detailed answers. He has even included his rapid fire questionnaire in the end of the book that I am going to take a look into and amend some of them in the interviews that I take.
Another thing that I liked about this book is the way Tim projects his own voice in between these interviews which are a representation of his self-doubting, and self-motivated emotions. This way the book became more interesting with change of dialogs and I find them useful and motivating as they shine more light on a specific topic of discussion.
Everything that is mentioned in this book whether a person or a book, is accurately indexed at the end of this books opening doors for to reference to it later.
Tools of Titans is an enormous collection of bits and pieces of interviews that are available on his podcast and highlights the major theme of most of the interviews Tim has included in this book. The book is huge, exceeding 700 pages and is certainly not meant to be read all at once. It’s not Tolstoy’s War and Peace or David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest that you can read continuously without moving your body parts for next 7 to 10 days or so. Bear in mind, reading Tools of Titans will take more than that many days since it has a sheer amount of practical information to be processed by our mind. I’d recommend you to take your time with each interview described by Tim, think over it, if there’s a book recommended in between as there are so some interesting book recommendations, try to read few of them or at least do a little research on why the book is being recommended, what’s there inside and is the book for you? Then you can definitely add it to your TBR.
For the last 18 days I have been getting up early to read a few chapters of this book. I found its better to change my routine of to spending time on Medium or Wordpress for some days and as the sun rises, I get to dwell in a book. I have been reading this book on my Kindle for the sole purpose to take notes comfortably and not to disturb my reading process. I love highlighting and in recent months it has proved beneficiary for me to reuse the highlights in my blog posts as paraphrasing or go through the highlights in later time, to get a glimpse of a particular book that I read and don’t want to re-read it again. (I will be posting a collection of my book notes soon…Look out for it)
The book is divided into three sections: Healthy, Wealthy & Wise. If there’s another title for Tools for Titans, I imagine it’d be “Healthy, Wealthy & Wise�. In the Healthy section, there are professional athletes, researchers and world famous doctors who share their best insights, tips and tricks for a healthy living and having an efficient diet that will help you to go through your day, each day.
The second section is on Wealthy. This is section is the fact that this book is a great business book. Memorable sections that include actionable ideas, suggestions, tools for taking your personal brand and business to the next level. There’s a major theme of this section and that is to learn from other experiences. You can only experience one thing in one moment of a time but reading is a great asset that gets you familiar with more than one experience in one particular moment of time.
Last section: Wise. This is my favourite part of the book. I was really captivated by different process that people implement in their daily working life that includes mental toughness, brevity of language, and observing things. Learning how to learn is probably the best investment you can make in yourself. This part is all about that. On a closer look you will observe how the simple Tim’s questions are and yet they simple ones have more detailed answers. He has even included his rapid fire questionnaire in the end of the book that I am going to take a look into and amend some of them in the interviews that I take.
Another thing that I liked about this book is the way Tim projects his own voice in between these interviews which are a representation of his self-doubting, and self-motivated emotions. This way the book became more interesting with change of dialogs and I find them useful and motivating as they shine more light on a specific topic of discussion.
Everything that is mentioned in this book whether a person or a book, is accurately indexed at the end of this books opening doors for to reference to it later.
December 15, 2016
This is an EXCEPTIONAL book. Part philosophy, part business, and part story, Ferriss distills some of the most important lessons he has learned through his own experiments with life and work, as well as from the dozens of successful people from all walks of life he has befriended or interviewed for his podcast and writings.
I have tried several times to read the book from the beginning, but have found it impossible because he will cover something that inspires me to jump to another part of the book.
It is also a book, because of its short sections, you can leave near your desk or reading pile and just jump into for a few minutes at a time.
I love this book and it is now in my Top 5er list of more than one category
Note to Tim: Sir, when you update this jewel, I would love to see an index. Please.
I have tried several times to read the book from the beginning, but have found it impossible because he will cover something that inspires me to jump to another part of the book.
It is also a book, because of its short sections, you can leave near your desk or reading pile and just jump into for a few minutes at a time.
I love this book and it is now in my Top 5er list of more than one category
Note to Tim: Sir, when you update this jewel, I would love to see an index. Please.
December 29, 2016
If I could give no stars I would
A very overrated book and one I couldn't bear to keep reading. I rarely stop a book if I started it but I only struggled through half of this one. Literally just notes in typed form. Format is inconsistent and scattered. Definitely would NOT recommend.
A very overrated book and one I couldn't bear to keep reading. I rarely stop a book if I started it but I only struggled through half of this one. Literally just notes in typed form. Format is inconsistent and scattered. Definitely would NOT recommend.
May 5, 2022
This is a completely ridiculous book. I mean that in a good way. A book so long and labyrinthine that you’re not supposed to read it. But I read every word. Tools of Titans is essentially a collection of notes from Tim Ferriss’s podcast taken from the best bits of interviews with people ranging from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ariana Huffington to some random knob jockey that you’ve never heard of but has made a lot of money. It’s split into three sections � Healthy, Wealthy and Wise. For about what feels like the first 2/3 of the book, in the Healthy section, it’s full of advice from freakish superhumans that like to do things like jump in an ice bath or lift heavy objects whilst standing in a river. The only thing that makes that section interesting is it’s so far outside your comfort zone that it pushes the boundaries of what you’d consider normal. There’s some excellent advice, anecdotes and wisdom in the other two sections but it all feels a bit fragmented and the whole is less than the sum of its parts.
April 10, 2017
It's not really a "book," as in a cohesive body of work. It's really just a summary of Mr. Ferriss's podcasts with guests offering advice on a variety of topics. At times it just reads like an advertisement for various products, etc.
A lot of the information is interesting, some is naturally contradictory, and very little will be applicable to any reader.
The most memorable aspect of the book for me personally was the introduction in which Mr. Ferriss talks about how he was working on the book "in a cafe in Paris overlooking the Luxembourg Gardens, just off Rue Saint-Jacques." Then he goes on to say how this is the area where literary giants like Hugo, Stein, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway had lived and worked.
Reading this introduction before diving into the book made me expect I was about to read the next "Great American Novel." Imagine my surprise...
A lot of the information is interesting, some is naturally contradictory, and very little will be applicable to any reader.
The most memorable aspect of the book for me personally was the introduction in which Mr. Ferriss talks about how he was working on the book "in a cafe in Paris overlooking the Luxembourg Gardens, just off Rue Saint-Jacques." Then he goes on to say how this is the area where literary giants like Hugo, Stein, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway had lived and worked.
Reading this introduction before diving into the book made me expect I was about to read the next "Great American Novel." Imagine my surprise...
July 17, 2018
Despite the fact that this book is so American that the title should have been “Tools of American Titans�, I did like it. A better version of this book would be to interview some iconic and non-American citizens by cutting off quite a few people whose content is already limited to one page. Lesser content from more people, in my view, decreases signal over noise ratio. But that’s just my opinion. However, I do think a great deal of personalities interviewed for the book are not relatable to readers outside US, but most probably that doesn’t create any significant impact on the sales of the book because Pareto’s rule.
What I liked about the book :
1) Interesting set of questions to ponder over
2) There is something for everyone, and since usually readers have interests in limited domains, there’s significant section of the book that probably most of the readers skip. But I may be wrong. For me, it were the TV or movie artists.
3) Christopher Sommer and few more have great suggestions on health & fitness.
4) There are success stories of successful businessess which were working on already solved problems, which still made it big by making small changes. The point is it doesn't have to change the world, it just has to make a significant contribution to the society and make you money, of course.
5) Reading such books and my own personal experience lead me to believe that for students who have unlimted access to internet and who don't want to become a scientist going to college is a choice they make because they lack perseverance to learn by themselves and yes it holds true even in developing countries. I'm certainly one of them. However, I'll most probably not do it again. But maybe.
6) Accounts of some interesting personalities such as Casey Neistat, Peter Thiel, James Altucher, Ramit Sethi, Samy Kamkar, Will Mackaskill, Paulo Coelho, Kevin Kelly and Naval Ravikant
7) Giant set of recommendations for books, documentaries, tv shows, films & podcasts from experts in different professions at one place.
8) Some basic but handy hacking & security tips by Samy Kamkar
Best Quotes
1) “No one owes you anything.� - Amelia Boone
2) "It won't make you happy." - Derek Sivers
3) “Where can you put yourself into an environment that gives maximum exposure to new ideas, problems, and people?" - Peter Diamandis
4) "Three to five billion new consumers are coming online in the next 6 years. That’s extraordinary. What do they need? What could you provide for them, because they represent tens of trillions of dollars coming into the global economy, and they also represent an amazing resource of innovation." - Peter Diamandis
5) "FOLLOW YOUR PASSION� IS TERRIBLE ADVICE
I think it misconstrues the nature of finding a satisfying career and satisfying job, where the biggest predictor of job satisfaction is mentally engaging work. It’s the nature of the job itself. It’s not got that much to do with you. . . . It’s whether the job provides a lot of variety, gives you good feedback, allows you to exercise autonomy, contributes to the wider world—Is it actually meaningful? Is it making the world better?—and also, whether it allows you to exercise a skill that you’ve developed.� - Will Mackaskill
6) “If you want to be successful, surround yourself with people who are more successful than you are, but if you want to be happy, surround yourself with people who are less successful than you are.� - Naval Ravikant
7) “In any situation in life, you only have three options. You always have three options. You can change it, you can accept it, or you can leave it. What is not a good option is to sit around wishing you would change it but not changing it, wishing you would leave it but not leaving it, and not accepting it." - Naval Ravikant
8) “What you choose to work on, and who you choose to work with, are far more important than how hard you work.� - Naval Ravikant
9) “Free education is abundant, all over the Internet. It’s the desire to learn that’s scarce.� - Naval Ravikant
Some of the common criticisms of this book and my opinions on the same are :
1) "Out of 114, there are only 12 women. Well, isn't that the statistics of top positions in almost every profession?" Yeah, let's blame Ferris.
2) "Another of sucky book by Tim about Tim. Tim sucks." If you were disappointed by his first book, then why read another. Write constructive reviews or better don't.
Final note, I liked it and somewhere in future, I'll be going through these notes again.
What I liked about the book :
1) Interesting set of questions to ponder over
2) There is something for everyone, and since usually readers have interests in limited domains, there’s significant section of the book that probably most of the readers skip. But I may be wrong. For me, it were the TV or movie artists.
3) Christopher Sommer and few more have great suggestions on health & fitness.
4) There are success stories of successful businessess which were working on already solved problems, which still made it big by making small changes. The point is it doesn't have to change the world, it just has to make a significant contribution to the society and make you money, of course.
5) Reading such books and my own personal experience lead me to believe that for students who have unlimted access to internet and who don't want to become a scientist going to college is a choice they make because they lack perseverance to learn by themselves and yes it holds true even in developing countries. I'm certainly one of them. However, I'll most probably not do it again. But maybe.
6) Accounts of some interesting personalities such as Casey Neistat, Peter Thiel, James Altucher, Ramit Sethi, Samy Kamkar, Will Mackaskill, Paulo Coelho, Kevin Kelly and Naval Ravikant
7) Giant set of recommendations for books, documentaries, tv shows, films & podcasts from experts in different professions at one place.
8) Some basic but handy hacking & security tips by Samy Kamkar
Best Quotes
1) “No one owes you anything.� - Amelia Boone
2) "It won't make you happy." - Derek Sivers
3) “Where can you put yourself into an environment that gives maximum exposure to new ideas, problems, and people?" - Peter Diamandis
4) "Three to five billion new consumers are coming online in the next 6 years. That’s extraordinary. What do they need? What could you provide for them, because they represent tens of trillions of dollars coming into the global economy, and they also represent an amazing resource of innovation." - Peter Diamandis
5) "FOLLOW YOUR PASSION� IS TERRIBLE ADVICE
I think it misconstrues the nature of finding a satisfying career and satisfying job, where the biggest predictor of job satisfaction is mentally engaging work. It’s the nature of the job itself. It’s not got that much to do with you. . . . It’s whether the job provides a lot of variety, gives you good feedback, allows you to exercise autonomy, contributes to the wider world—Is it actually meaningful? Is it making the world better?—and also, whether it allows you to exercise a skill that you’ve developed.� - Will Mackaskill
6) “If you want to be successful, surround yourself with people who are more successful than you are, but if you want to be happy, surround yourself with people who are less successful than you are.� - Naval Ravikant
7) “In any situation in life, you only have three options. You always have three options. You can change it, you can accept it, or you can leave it. What is not a good option is to sit around wishing you would change it but not changing it, wishing you would leave it but not leaving it, and not accepting it." - Naval Ravikant
8) “What you choose to work on, and who you choose to work with, are far more important than how hard you work.� - Naval Ravikant
9) “Free education is abundant, all over the Internet. It’s the desire to learn that’s scarce.� - Naval Ravikant
Some of the common criticisms of this book and my opinions on the same are :
1) "Out of 114, there are only 12 women. Well, isn't that the statistics of top positions in almost every profession?" Yeah, let's blame Ferris.
2) "Another of sucky book by Tim about Tim. Tim sucks." If you were disappointed by his first book, then why read another. Write constructive reviews or better don't.
Final note, I liked it and somewhere in future, I'll be going through these notes again.
December 10, 2016
A meta-reading experience because, having read 150-200 books per year for the past few years and taking notes/insights on all of them, this entire book looks like what my annual book logs look like. Hence, I was highlighting all over the book (195 highlights apparently, since Kindle now integrates highlights into ŷ). Tim Ferriss produced a book from his podcasts like I produce learnings and notes from the books I read, so this book was well-suited to my style.
March 23, 2017
Although this book had a certain lack of consistency in terms of quality of advice (some things are just too self-evident and not exactly earth-shattering tidbits), I enjoyed the wide variety of subject matter explored by such an assorted group of high achievers. This is a good read for when you need a snapshot jolt of common sense, humor, and a kick in the pants to go do something with your time. Hope to eventually read other titles by Tim Ferriss.
September 10, 2020
After listening all of the podcasts I found useful to read all the tips and tricks collected in this book. A real manual on how to improve your life, from so many different voices that it's impossible not to fond something valuable.
January 10, 2017
This is a great book to pick up if you're interested in observing general patterns that highly successful (by most definitions) people tend towards, and less great if you specifically want these patterns largely spelled out for you. Different things work for different people, and this book is certainly no different; some of these very successful people swear by some things and others specifically removed those things from their lives to positive affect. The important thing, I think, is to look at these individual cases and pick out the things that sound like they would work for you, rather than looking for "the answer" to becoming successful.
There did seem to be some common thread that I thought was interesting (although I feel that a LOT of these things point more towards correlation rather than causation) which I will list below.
1. Pretty much all of them meditate
I thought it was explicitly weird how many people in this book regularly practice meditation. I remain somewhat skeptical about this being such a life-changing addition to your habits (this may point towards regular meditation being a strong predictor to "getting along with Tim Ferriss", or "agreeing to appear on podcasts". Perhaps "being a Silicon Valley CEO" / "Living in California" has a strong correlation to regular meditation habits, rather than meditation begin correlated with success) but that said, there's science showing real benefits and meditation is a pretty low-impact lifestyle commitment anyways (at 10-20 minutes per day, maybe less) so I found myself picking up meditation after reading this. Couldn't hurt, right?
2. Making sure you have consistent output is much more important than making sure all of your output is good, especially since not everybody needs to see all of your output
Not explicitly spelled out in Ferriss' "common thread" section but one that I noticed. I particularly liked the idea of just making sure you're doing stuff frequently, and not being so hung up on how good it is. This is suggested many times in this book, but in different ways ("come up with 10 ideas every day, even if they're extremely laughably bad", "treat it like an experiment and don't worry about the results", "find time for just one meditative breath every day", etc etc etc)
3. Being healthy makes you more productive and generally better at everything
Again, perhaps somewhat because wealthier people being more concerned with being beautiful than the average person, but much like meditation this one has some good well-established science behind it so I wasn't that surprised by the idea (but, perhaps, was surprised by the pervasiveness of it.
4. Don't be afraid to explore solutions that nobody has attempted yet, develop your own opinions and don't blindly accept paths provided to you
I think generally good advice that could easily be misconstrued to mean "look for gimmicks answers to everything." Sometimes what is generally considered the "best" way to do something is lacking in some respect and with some clever finagling you can either improve or sometimes outright replace the commonly accepted pathways. One fun, slightly irresponsible idea Tim has is his "personal MBA" where instead of spending $30,000 going to business school, he saved up $30,000 and just started investing in stuff, guns ablaze, with the full expectation that he would eventually lose all of that money but eventually learn what he was doing, sink or swim. Not the safest option, but it worked out well for him.
I definitely added a good number of books on my to-read list, and there were some other ideas in this book I liked ("when in doubt about your next project, follow your anger" gets me every time) but most of those I think speak more towards me as a person rather than the general tendencies of successful people.
All of that said, I greatly enjoyed the content of this book. The reason I'm not awarding this a full 5 is likely the same reason I enjoyed it, which is probably unfair; the entirety of this book really felt like Tim Ferriss' notebook rather than something that ought to be published on it's own. There's a weird amount of this book dedicated to the use of psychedelics, almost all of the first third of the book ("Healthy" among "Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise") seems almost laughably inapplicable to anybody who hasn't already achieved the basic strength training milestones (precious few in the US, myself included), and so on. I recognize that this is kind of the point of the book - kind of a tl;dr of all the content available on his podcast - but it's definitely important to realize that more than any other book Ferriss has published so far, this one was definitely written as the book Tim Ferriss most wanted to read, rather than the one that would contain applicable advice to the most people.
A fun book to flip through, especially to read a little bit about names you recognize.
There did seem to be some common thread that I thought was interesting (although I feel that a LOT of these things point more towards correlation rather than causation) which I will list below.
1. Pretty much all of them meditate
I thought it was explicitly weird how many people in this book regularly practice meditation. I remain somewhat skeptical about this being such a life-changing addition to your habits (this may point towards regular meditation being a strong predictor to "getting along with Tim Ferriss", or "agreeing to appear on podcasts". Perhaps "being a Silicon Valley CEO" / "Living in California" has a strong correlation to regular meditation habits, rather than meditation begin correlated with success) but that said, there's science showing real benefits and meditation is a pretty low-impact lifestyle commitment anyways (at 10-20 minutes per day, maybe less) so I found myself picking up meditation after reading this. Couldn't hurt, right?
2. Making sure you have consistent output is much more important than making sure all of your output is good, especially since not everybody needs to see all of your output
Not explicitly spelled out in Ferriss' "common thread" section but one that I noticed. I particularly liked the idea of just making sure you're doing stuff frequently, and not being so hung up on how good it is. This is suggested many times in this book, but in different ways ("come up with 10 ideas every day, even if they're extremely laughably bad", "treat it like an experiment and don't worry about the results", "find time for just one meditative breath every day", etc etc etc)
3. Being healthy makes you more productive and generally better at everything
Again, perhaps somewhat because wealthier people being more concerned with being beautiful than the average person, but much like meditation this one has some good well-established science behind it so I wasn't that surprised by the idea (but, perhaps, was surprised by the pervasiveness of it.
4. Don't be afraid to explore solutions that nobody has attempted yet, develop your own opinions and don't blindly accept paths provided to you
I think generally good advice that could easily be misconstrued to mean "look for gimmicks answers to everything." Sometimes what is generally considered the "best" way to do something is lacking in some respect and with some clever finagling you can either improve or sometimes outright replace the commonly accepted pathways. One fun, slightly irresponsible idea Tim has is his "personal MBA" where instead of spending $30,000 going to business school, he saved up $30,000 and just started investing in stuff, guns ablaze, with the full expectation that he would eventually lose all of that money but eventually learn what he was doing, sink or swim. Not the safest option, but it worked out well for him.
I definitely added a good number of books on my to-read list, and there were some other ideas in this book I liked ("when in doubt about your next project, follow your anger" gets me every time) but most of those I think speak more towards me as a person rather than the general tendencies of successful people.
All of that said, I greatly enjoyed the content of this book. The reason I'm not awarding this a full 5 is likely the same reason I enjoyed it, which is probably unfair; the entirety of this book really felt like Tim Ferriss' notebook rather than something that ought to be published on it's own. There's a weird amount of this book dedicated to the use of psychedelics, almost all of the first third of the book ("Healthy" among "Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise") seems almost laughably inapplicable to anybody who hasn't already achieved the basic strength training milestones (precious few in the US, myself included), and so on. I recognize that this is kind of the point of the book - kind of a tl;dr of all the content available on his podcast - but it's definitely important to realize that more than any other book Ferriss has published so far, this one was definitely written as the book Tim Ferriss most wanted to read, rather than the one that would contain applicable advice to the most people.
A fun book to flip through, especially to read a little bit about names you recognize.
December 10, 2016
Valuable but lacks sttucture
In Tools of Titans, Tim grabbed some of the best of his podcast and moved it into print. But the content is missing real structure and is mixed with silly nonsense that is meant to be funny but misses the mark such as favorite spirit animals and his useless billboard question. There are some golden nuggets in here and they are worth going after, I just had to work a little harder than I wanted. It was worth the price especially after 200+free episodes of the podcast which I enjoy every week.
In Tools of Titans, Tim grabbed some of the best of his podcast and moved it into print. But the content is missing real structure and is mixed with silly nonsense that is meant to be funny but misses the mark such as favorite spirit animals and his useless billboard question. There are some golden nuggets in here and they are worth going after, I just had to work a little harder than I wanted. It was worth the price especially after 200+free episodes of the podcast which I enjoy every week.
January 19, 2018
What a start of the year!
لم أعتد أن أقرأ كتاباً مباشرة بعد إصداره. ولكنني متشجع للغاية لهذا الكتاب.
من أسرع الكتب التي قمت بقراءتها على الرغم من حجم الكتاب. قرأت الثلثين الأخيرين من الكتاب في يوم واحد.
على الرغم من أنني لست من المعجبين بكتابه السابق كثيراً
The 4-hour Week
إلا أن كتابه هذا يستحق القراءة بحق.
لم أعتد أن أقرأ كتاباً مباشرة بعد إصداره. ولكنني متشجع للغاية لهذا الكتاب.
من أسرع الكتب التي قمت بقراءتها على الرغم من حجم الكتاب. قرأت الثلثين الأخيرين من الكتاب في يوم واحد.
على الرغم من أنني لست من المعجبين بكتابه السابق كثيراً
The 4-hour Week
إلا أن كتابه هذا يستحق القراءة بحق.
December 7, 2016
3,7/5. This book is a buffet you can choose from.
The fact that it’s 674 pages big and the way it’s structured makes it so that it’s a less nice ‘read�, however, that’s also why he advises to skip pages liberally. It gives you a lot of the hows but from what I’ve read so far not a lot of why’s, and this means that it lacks a bit of depth. But that’s not what the book was meant for, it just gives you the Tools of Titans. Generally I liked his other books better but that’s probably because I’m so well traversed in the self-development world. Perhaps reading all the 674 pages might be a bit too much for you so “skip liberally� and find the people/parts that interest you.
Read my summary here:
The fact that it’s 674 pages big and the way it’s structured makes it so that it’s a less nice ‘read�, however, that’s also why he advises to skip pages liberally. It gives you a lot of the hows but from what I’ve read so far not a lot of why’s, and this means that it lacks a bit of depth. But that’s not what the book was meant for, it just gives you the Tools of Titans. Generally I liked his other books better but that’s probably because I’m so well traversed in the self-development world. Perhaps reading all the 674 pages might be a bit too much for you so “skip liberally� and find the people/parts that interest you.
Read my summary here:
December 30, 2016
Frustrating hodgepodge of bits & bobs. Wanted to give it two stars, but annoyingly I found a couple of actual useful ideas in there.
August 14, 2017
I've never been a Tim Ferris fan, but this book still surprised me in how bad it was. (Disclaimer: I only listened to the blinkist summary and read a couple chapters, but saw no reason to read any more)
This felt like he outsourced "write a generic advice book" to someone sourced from the Internet for $5/hr. It was really generic advice motivated with questionable examples. Skip.
This felt like he outsourced "write a generic advice book" to someone sourced from the Internet for $5/hr. It was really generic advice motivated with questionable examples. Skip.
December 6, 2018
A must read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,490 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.