Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers

For the most part, I really enjoyed this book. I found it compulsively readable, engaging, and, at times, fascinating. I highlighted a ton of content, and scribbled in my notebook often while reading.

Some profiles were more interesting and applicable than others (my eyes glossed over much of the first third of the book, which dealt with everything from psychedelics to performance-enhancing pills, neither of which are things I want in my body, no matter how much these "top performers" extoll their virtues).

The best part of the book, by far, is its tremendously practical application - especially in the areas of business, productivity, and mindset. Much of the advice is down-to-earth and instantly applicable. But just like any other show more resource chock-full of a variety of information from a variety of sources, it works best when you can take what seems meaningful and relevant to you, and leave the rest. show less

This is going to be a polarizing book. Some folks will find a lot of inspiration in this book. To them I say "go forth and be inspired".

And then there are the folks who will read this and think "this is essentially an advertisement for Tim's podcast and things that he's invested in".

There are a lot of notable folks in this book, but it started becoming a drinking game of how Timothy was related to the person invited to speak. Take a drink if Timothy invested in that person's company. Make it a double if he was an early investor.

Ultimately I was glad I borrowed this from the library because it's not something I want on my shelf. The signal to noise ratio isn't great for a book that purports to be a notebook of great advice. Worse: the show more interstitial pieces that Timothy writes aren't as much about how folks can re-use the advice but how he coped with whatever problem he had. It's akin to the person who tells you how to make a project for $5 and the first step is "I lucked into a rare thing that nobody else can manage to get for under $500".

This might be the book for you, but it definitely wasn't the book for me. show less

For some reason I feel compelled to explain myself here. Mixed feelings on this book. It is 33% absolute bullshit, 33% hmm maybe that is good advice especially if you are a well off Silicon Valley Tech Bro with lots of time/money/fame, and 33% genuinely good advice from some smart people. I got enough actionable items from it that it squeaked out a three star rating. Highlights for me were Robert Rodriguez, Kevin Kelly, Marc Andreessen, Jamie Foxx, and Tony Robbins (surprisingly). Lowlights are pretty low, Peter Thiel, Kevin Rose, Scott Adams, and Noah Kagan. I would not recommend this book for most people, but if you are a productivity/self-improvement/quantified self nerd and you can stomach tech-bros, then give it a shot.

An excellent book collecting wisdom from 100+ leading artists, entrepreneurs, actors and more. If you loved the Tim Ferriss Show podcast, you'll like the book.

It's more than a "transcript" of the podcast though. Each profile segment is edited and annotated for the best insights. There are also additional essays (e.g. "5 Morning Rituals that Help Me Win The Day", "Jar of Awesome" and "How to Create a Real-World MBA" are some of my favorites). The end of the book presents lists of the interviewees favorite books, documentaries and movies.

The chapter 'Testing the Impossible': 17 Questions That Changed My Life" is also outstanding.

As a fan of "The 4 Hour Workweek," I was somewhat disappointed that there wasn't more substantial business show more material. There are great business pieces here and there (e.g. "Hacking Kickstarter" and "The Law of Category") but I would have liked greater depth in those areas. In any case, it was an excellent book and I was excited to read and explore it. show less

The size of the book is intimidating, I found myself wondering how long it would take to get through it. However I found it a fairly quick read and one maybe to keep around for reference and inspiration. I don't know a lot about Tim Ferriss but he seems to come from the motivational group ala Tony Robbins type.

There are an amazing variety of successful people gathered here for bits and pieces of advice and guidance on what has worked for them as well as their experiences. Some of it has been out there for some time other things new and innovative. I liked their favorite books recommendations for further reading. Also I have tried out some of the techniques and applications with interesting results.

This is a big one! It's chock full of great thoughts, processes, ideas and more from Tim Ferriss' interviews with all sorts of "elites". There are a ton of things that I could see myself using and lots of books and websites I'm going to research. There's also a LOT of stuff in here I would just never do. But we're all different ... what works for me might not work for you. Definitely worth picking up and browsing through.

Ferriss has broken the book into three sections: Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise. So pick the section that pertains most to your needs and start reading. I sat down and read through the whole thing, front to back. Probably a little too much all at once.

This book is big enough to sub as the kettlebells needed for some of the exercised described in the Healthy section. The other two sections - Wealthy and Wise - are about entrepreneurship and finding meaning. I dashed through all 600+ pages in the course of two domestic flights. Ferriss' has distilled all of his interviews and interactions with noteworthy people down into the most novel and powerful ideas. It would be impossible to read and not find at least a handful of ideas to try.