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Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers
by
The latest groundbreaking book from Tim Ferriss, the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek.
From the author:
“For the last two years, I’ve interviewed nearly two hundred world-class performers for my podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show. The guests range from super celebs (Jamie Foxx, Arnold Schwarzenegger, etc.) and athletes (icons of powerlifting, gymn
...more
From the author:
“For the last two years, I’ve interviewed nearly two hundred world-class performers for my podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show. The guests range from super celebs (Jamie Foxx, Arnold Schwarzenegger, etc.) and athletes (icons of powerlifting, gymn
Kindle Edition, 707 pages
Published
December 6th 2016
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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Start your review of Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers

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.)
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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 ...more
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 ...more

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 physica ...more
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 physica ...more

Dec 13, 2016
Lisa Carlson
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Lisa by:
The Today Show
Shelves:
self-improvement
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
...more

Jan 03, 2017
E
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
started-but-will-never-finish
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 ...more
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 ...more

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 anoth ...more
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 anoth ...more

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.
...more

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 pat ...more
The book is organized around the themes of healthy, wealthy, and wise. There are pat ...more

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:
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 usef ...more

"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 e ...more
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 e ...more

@ 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 ...more
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 ...more

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 an
...more

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 b ...more
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 b ...more

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 hav ...more
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 hav ...more

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 read
...more

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 Goodreads). 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.

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 ...more
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 ...more

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.

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 a
...more

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. ...more
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. ...more

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 w ...more
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 w ...more

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.
...more
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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 wh
...more

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 w ...more
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 w ...more

I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions. If I want to fix something, I fix it, no matter the time of year. But I do try to read something sort of self-help-esque for my first book of every year, even if it's frivolous, like regarding fashion or something along those lines. I would not call this book frivolous, however.
I started listening to Tim Ferriss's podcasts in the past year, and haven't read his previous books, but decided to pick this one up. He's a bit of a spastic weirdo (in a good way) ...more
I started listening to Tim Ferriss's podcasts in the past year, and haven't read his previous books, but decided to pick this one up. He's a bit of a spastic weirdo (in a good way) ...more

Somehow this book gave me a bad feeling. Somehow it gave me the feeling that my life is only valuable if I succeed in something someone else will pay money for or give me a medall or a piece of paper with my name on it. I don’t think this was the authors intention, maybe it’s just the northamerican value system and fixation on personal success and money that gives me the creeps. And no, I don’t find it at all desirable to live a life in which I constantly optimise myself and where it’s the norm
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Tim 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.
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