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I'll be gracious and acknowledge that maybe I wasn't the target audience of this book but... this was bad. The very worst of the cult of productivity and hustle culture that permeates the internet. (I imagine if you're not spiritual and looking to fill that hole in your life, maybe this is how you'd try?) I mostly found myself skimming through it, which the format was set up very well for.
Skip the first third of the book and you'll save yourself some frustration. While some of the interviews are very interesting, the author himself seems very shallow and self-involved in a tone that stretches over 500 pages. Avoid it if you can.
If you enjoy thinking about how to spend your hours better, how to develop routines that will make you healthier and wiser, then this is a good place to start. 650 pages of wit and wisdom--I've listened to half of the interviews already, yet still I couldn't put the book down and read it all in 2 days. I'll be going back to it frequently for inspiration.
The limits of my language mean the limits of my word.
- Ludwig Wittgenstein
You must never, ever fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. - Richard Feynman
"Honor those who seek the truth, beware of those who've found it." - Voltaire
People are busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they're addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in its absence.
There is more freedom to be gained from practicing poverty than chasing wealth. Suffer a little regularly and you often cease to suffer. - Kevin Kelly
"The world is this continually unfolding set of possibilities and opportunities, and the tricky thing about life is, on the one hand having the courage to enter into things that are unfamiliar, but also having the wisdom to stop exploring when you've found something worth sticking around for. " - Sebastian Junger
"It's not what you know, it's what you do consistently." If more information was the answer, we'd all be billionaires with perfect abs. " - Derek Sivers
The limits of my language mean the limits of my word.
- Ludwig Wittgenstein
You must never, ever fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. - Richard Feynman
"Honor those who seek the truth, beware of those who've found it." - Voltaire
People are busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they're addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in its absence.
There is more freedom to be gained from practicing poverty than chasing wealth. Suffer a little regularly and you often cease to suffer. - Kevin Kelly
"The world is this continually unfolding set of possibilities and opportunities, and the tricky thing about life is, on the one hand having the courage to enter into things that are unfamiliar, but also having the wisdom to stop exploring when you've found something worth sticking around for. " - Sebastian Junger
"It's not what you know, it's what you do consistently." If more information was the answer, we'd all be billionaires with perfect abs. " - Derek Sivers
I tend to like Ferriss’ writing and I did like the perusing aspect of this book. I found some of it became repetitive. I liked hearing from many different people, but after a while, it became a lot of the same.
I will also note that, in this book more than others, I found Ferriss inserting himself and “me too-ing” a lot. It was getting a bit annoying and made him seem like he needs that recognition and for others to know just how smart he is.
Overall, I really do think the book does a good job of collecting small nuggets of information and strategies.
I will also note that, in this book more than others, I found Ferriss inserting himself and “me too-ing” a lot. It was getting a bit annoying and made him seem like he needs that recognition and for others to know just how smart he is.
Overall, I really do think the book does a good job of collecting small nuggets of information and strategies.
informative
slow-paced
I'm not the target audience for this book, but I thought it was pretty interesting. He interviewed a wide range of people, including entrepreneurs, elite athletes, scientists, etc, and shares their strategies in reaching peak health, wealth, and wisdom. I think the basic idea is if we emulate them, we too will be successful, but given how unconventional and random some of these strategies are, there doesn't seem to be one formulaic path to peak success.
Outstanding read. This is more of a resource guide to come back to than a story...but it's still excellent.
If you want to see how other have achieved outstanding success, this is the book for you. Ferriss interviews people of all backgrounds and abilities to get insider tips on how they scale the heights in whatever their field is.
Many practical suggestions to go along with the life philosophies. Terrific resources for those seeking more knowledge and further information.
Many practical suggestions to go along with the life philosophies. Terrific resources for those seeking more knowledge and further information.
Not a book not a guide but lots of pearls
Tim Ferris is a very special person and his way of reasoning is very peculiar, and I think you need to have a somehow similar way of thinking to really enjoy his writings.
That being said, I personally have some similarities, (I’m also a list person) but in many things I’m different.
I would have organized this book in a different way, that would be more efficient for me to read. It’s all about efficiency remember...
Nevertheless I enjoyed finding amazing pearls of wisdom and getting new ideas of things to do in my daily life.
I believe nobody will read this and think time was lost, because one good thing is enough to make your time worth it.
Tim Ferris is a very special person and his way of reasoning is very peculiar, and I think you need to have a somehow similar way of thinking to really enjoy his writings.
That being said, I personally have some similarities, (I’m also a list person) but in many things I’m different.
I would have organized this book in a different way, that would be more efficient for me to read. It’s all about efficiency remember...
Nevertheless I enjoyed finding amazing pearls of wisdom and getting new ideas of things to do in my daily life.
I believe nobody will read this and think time was lost, because one good thing is enough to make your time worth it.
Tim Ferriss is a self-help guru and host of The Tim Ferriss Show, one of the most popular podcasts online. He's known for conducting experiments on himself to find the perfect way to live his life, and his podcasts feature a host of who's who in the self-help world.
Tools of Titans is Ferriss' attempt to bundle all the knowledge contained in those podcasts into one tome. At over 700 pages, it covers a lot of ground. It's divided into three parts: Healthy (mostly exercise), wealthy (mostly entrepreneurial advice) and wise. Because I don't exercise a lot and because I don't really own my own business (save for my publishing company), I didn't get a lot out of the first two sections. The meat was in the last section. Here's what I found interesting:
- More than 80% of the interviewees have some sort of daily mindfulness or meditation practice.
- A surprising number of males over 45 never eat breakfast, or eat only a small amount.
- Gabby Reece on going first: "I always say that I'll go first. . . . That means if I'm checking out at the store, I'll say hello first. If I'm coming across somebody and make eye contact, I'll smile first.
- Tim Ferriss: "If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole."
- "If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense o f pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. . . Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter.
- The use of a Morning Pages or 5-Minute Journal
- Meditation. If you spend even a second noticing your mind wandering and bringing your attention back to you mantra (or whatever), that is a successful session.
- The Joy of Living. - If Mindfulness practice feels like a chore, it's not sustainable.
- Just Note Gone - Train the mind to notice that something previously experienced is no more. For example, at the end of a breath, notice that the breath is over. Gone. As a sound fades away, notice when it is over. At the end of a thought, notice that the thought is gone. At the end of an experience of emotion - notice it is over.
- Loving-kindness - Once an hour, randomly identify two people and just think, "I wish for this person to be happy."
- Go to all the meetings you can, even if you're not invited to them, and figure out how to be helpful. If people wonder why you're there, just start taking notes.
- Marc Andreesen - "The question I'll never answer is, 'What would you have done differently had you known X?' I never, ever play that game because you didn't know X."
- Be so good they can't ignore you.
- Derek Sivers - "You can do everything you want to do. You just need foresight and patience."
- Tony Robbins - "What you can always compete on, the true egalitarian aspect to success, is hard work. You can always work harder than the next guy.
- Scott Adams - "All you do is you pick a goal and you write it down 15 times a day in some specific sentence form. And you do that every day."
- If you want an average, successful life, it doesn't take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths: 1) Become the best at one thing. 2) Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things.
- Neil Strauss - "Draft ugly and edit pretty."
- Paulo Coelho - "Keep it simple. Trust your reader. He or she has a lot of imagination. Don't try to describe things. Give a hint, and they will fulfill this hint with their own imagination."
- Stephen J. Dubner - "Worst advice: 'Write what you know.' Why would I want to write about what little I know? Don't I want to use writing to learn more?"
Bryan Johnson - "Where in hour life are you pacing in a 10-by-10-foot patch of grass?. . . Oftentimes, everything you want is a mere inch outside of your comfort zone. Test it."
Tools of Titans is Ferriss' attempt to bundle all the knowledge contained in those podcasts into one tome. At over 700 pages, it covers a lot of ground. It's divided into three parts: Healthy (mostly exercise), wealthy (mostly entrepreneurial advice) and wise. Because I don't exercise a lot and because I don't really own my own business (save for my publishing company), I didn't get a lot out of the first two sections. The meat was in the last section. Here's what I found interesting:
- More than 80% of the interviewees have some sort of daily mindfulness or meditation practice.
- A surprising number of males over 45 never eat breakfast, or eat only a small amount.
- Gabby Reece on going first: "I always say that I'll go first. . . . That means if I'm checking out at the store, I'll say hello first. If I'm coming across somebody and make eye contact, I'll smile first.
- Tim Ferriss: "If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole."
- "If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense o f pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. . . Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter.
- The use of a Morning Pages or 5-Minute Journal
- Meditation. If you spend even a second noticing your mind wandering and bringing your attention back to you mantra (or whatever), that is a successful session.
- The Joy of Living. - If Mindfulness practice feels like a chore, it's not sustainable.
- Just Note Gone - Train the mind to notice that something previously experienced is no more. For example, at the end of a breath, notice that the breath is over. Gone. As a sound fades away, notice when it is over. At the end of a thought, notice that the thought is gone. At the end of an experience of emotion - notice it is over.
- Loving-kindness - Once an hour, randomly identify two people and just think, "I wish for this person to be happy."
- Go to all the meetings you can, even if you're not invited to them, and figure out how to be helpful. If people wonder why you're there, just start taking notes.
- Marc Andreesen - "The question I'll never answer is, 'What would you have done differently had you known X?' I never, ever play that game because you didn't know X."
- Be so good they can't ignore you.
- Derek Sivers - "You can do everything you want to do. You just need foresight and patience."
- Tony Robbins - "What you can always compete on, the true egalitarian aspect to success, is hard work. You can always work harder than the next guy.
- Scott Adams - "All you do is you pick a goal and you write it down 15 times a day in some specific sentence form. And you do that every day."
- If you want an average, successful life, it doesn't take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths: 1) Become the best at one thing. 2) Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things.
- Neil Strauss - "Draft ugly and edit pretty."
- Paulo Coelho - "Keep it simple. Trust your reader. He or she has a lot of imagination. Don't try to describe things. Give a hint, and they will fulfill this hint with their own imagination."
- Stephen J. Dubner - "Worst advice: 'Write what you know.' Why would I want to write about what little I know? Don't I want to use writing to learn more?"
Bryan Johnson - "Where in hour life are you pacing in a 10-by-10-foot patch of grass?. . . Oftentimes, everything you want is a mere inch outside of your comfort zone. Test it."