Tools of Titans

If I could sum it up: too much of a good thing

Despite this less-than-stellar review, I actually am a fan of Ferris’. I absolutely loved “The 4-Hour Workweek,” I listen to his podcast a decent amount, and I’ve read a lot of his stuff online.

It always pains me to leave less-than-positive reviews for folks I look up to, but I think a few points need to be made here. As to not harp on the negative, however, I’ll start with what’s good about this book.

The Good:

-There are so many high-profile and successful folks (the “titans”) interviewed in this work. Tony Robbins, Seth Rogan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Whitney Cummings, etc. It’s awesome to hear the perspectives of such successful people.
-The book provides countless life hacks, tips, and tricks for the reader to digest and implement.
-In the final hour of the audiobook, Ferris has a section on depression that’s really raw and real. Though mental health is something that’s very important to me, specifically, I think almost anyone would find this section moving.

The Bad:

-The book is way too long. This is something I disliked about “The 4-Hour Body” and “The 4-Hour Chef” as well. Writing is just as much about what you leave in as what you leave out. It’s just my opinion, but I think the deluge of information here feels slightly lazy, which is a shame, because I know just how much work must’ve gone into this book.
-This is where I make myself laugh, but there really is too much good information here. This plays into my previous point. At the end of it, I was frankly overwhelmed — though I had just finished a 700+ page book, I still had a long list of other books and movies to check out thanks to the recommendations made here. I was hoping this one would be a “be-all-end-all” synthesization of good content — not a journey into even more of it.
-In my mind, the formatting and editing miss the mark here. I know Ferris says to jump around and treat the book as an encyclopedia, but I just don’t think the content allows for that. If I buy a book filled with interviews from the world’s best, I’m probably going to read every interview. Jumping around in this one is also difficult because the interviews are not categorized by subject. That is, you can’t jump to the “wellness” part of the book; you can only make guesses as to which interviewees will talk about the subjects you’re interested in, and skip there.
-There are many narrators of the audiobook, which can make listening confusing at times.

Again, as to not harp on the negative, I think I’ll probably leave my points at the above; you likely see my argument by now. Turning back to the positive, however, there is some seriously good content here. The problem, however, as I’ve mentioned, is that you have to wade through so much other content to get to the stuff you’re most interested in.

I saw a review on Amazon that recommended that Ferris come out with a new edition of this book, one that catalogs the information better and provides a useful index. I totally agree. I also don’t think it would’ve hurt to have broken this book into multiple titles.

I don’t really see myself revisiting this book, but what I definitely will do is revisit Ferris’ podcast and his breakout hit, “The 4-Hour Workweek.” That book was one of my favorites when I read it — I think I’m overdue to jump back into it.

So, while I can’t say that I fully recommend this one, I also can’t say that I don’t recommend it. If you are going to jump in, I just suggest that you buckle up and drive slowly. It’s a long ride.

-Brian Sachetta
Author of “Get Out of Your Head”

22 people found this helpful

Disappointed-much bullshit mixed with legit advice

full of "bro-science" health products and practices, name dropping. Feels like he's affiliating the book.

10 people found this helpful

1,000th true fan

First, because I’m a fanboy, hiring Ray Porter as one of the narrators was a solid choice. Realize now that a sizable chunk of my Audible library is full of Ray.

On ward.

Tim Tim Talk Talk is gold, if you have no reference for that fix it.

Tim’s books line my shelves and my Audible and my pdf/kindle library. I buy Tim stuff. I like Tim stuff.

I dig this book so much... super slice of annoyed when the Audible release was pushed. Now, on to Tribe of Mentors. Because I like Tim’s neurosis, they jive with my own.

5 people found this helpful

Killed it!

Tim you killed it once again my man. I love this so much!!! Thanks for always being a guiding light in my life and in so many others. We’re so lucky to call you a virtual mentor.
All the best,

Michel.

3 people found this helpful

So much better as an audiobook

I bought the text when it first came out and ended up flipping through it a few times but never found myself sitting down to read the whole thing all the way through. This audiobook is the perfect way to consume this content, it is well narrated and if anything really jumps out at you, i suggest pausing and making a clip or in my case i will get the text out for reference. There is tons of listening here so you definitely get your credits worth. I recommend.

3 people found this helpful

Buy the book

This should not be an audiobook. It reads like a bunch of bullet points and twitter handles and it’s hard to follow the thread of who he is quoting.

2 people found this helpful

Not For Me

Not Good as an Audio Book - Too Many Voices and Moving Parts, Probably Better in Written Format

2 people found this helpful

Tim Ferriss has done it again!

His analytical mind is at work in this amazing collection of advice from truly successful TITANS. I purchased the audio book and am one hour in but the golden nuggets abound! The biggest pint for me to this point is that NOBODY is successful ALONE. They all had help from a variety of people, whether it Arnold's Dad teaching him to be "useful" or the ability of someone to win a grueling obstacle course only 8 weeks after knee surgery! I can't wait to dive deeper into all these amazing tips and routines to create my own personal regimen that will get me on track for a TITAN life.

2 people found this helpful

Tool

It would take a year of 4-hour work weeks and enough caffeine to make ones heart explode to get through this. Did you ever look inside someone else’s tool box? Unless you are a diagnosed neurotic narcissist desiring to create the perfect human specimen, this is excruciating. I want to like listen and learn from Tim, as he must have something useful to say I hoped, but I find myself gasping for air listening to Him love the drone of his own voice. I would be afraid to ask him the time, because I really don’t need to know how to build a watch. What is more remarkable, is that he made all these professional narrators ascend to his level of boredom. The authors other talent lies in being able to warp time, making 4 minutes seem like 4 hours. Note: there might be a couple nuggets in here from his subjects, but buy the synopsis.

2 people found this helpful

Years of podcasts in bite size form

Great clips of interesting and thought provoking interviews. The themes of wisdom, health, and wealth helped organize the thoughts.