6 ms·
The 4-Hour Chef is probably not a surprising choice since it's a recent release and Amazon has been pushing it heavily (Amazon are also the publisher). I'm just
by davej 14y ago
The 4-Hour Chef is probably not a surprising choice since it's a recent release and Amazon has been pushing it heavily (Amazon are also the publisher). I'm just over 60% through the book so I don't want to give it a ringing endorsement just yet but it fits the category of "developing a new superpower" quite nicely and it's definitely worth a particular mention on HN for two reasons.
1. Ferriss, the author, is very much a hacker in his approach to trying new things and drawing conclusions. This is also very evident in his previous book, The 4-Hour Body.
2. The 4-Hour Chef not only teaches the reader how to cook (which is a superpower in itself). He also delves into the _meta_ and spends a large portion of the book, discussing the framework he uses for learning these techniques and how he has applied it to learning (and excelling in) other skill sets like judo, tango dancing and learning new languages.
Edit: This sounds like a bit of a marketing message, which it definitely is not, so I'll add a negative.
I find his books to be a bit scattered and although they're centered on an over-arching theme he doesn't always tie the threads together very convincingly. Whole chapters can seem like lightly-edited crib notes. Personally, I don't mind this style of writing and it does make his books very easy to scan and skip chapters without losing the books narrative but at times I've also found it difficult to follow.
- hndude 14y agoI would have to agree with you on the disorganization part. I read the 4-Hour Body and that felt like a magazine in the way that it skipped over different subjects and areas of the body at different parts of the book.
- technotony 14y agoThis is a function of the way he writes the book. If you read four-hour work week he basically describes his process, which is that he develops the headline structure for the book and each chapter and then outsources the actual writing online via elance or equivalent. Presumably the writers read a bunch of stuff on the topic and essentially write crib notes. Quite a clever way for Ferris to make money, but not the highest quality product.
- malloreon 14y agoI've read Work Week and Body, and I know he advocates outsourcing, but did he ever actually mention that the books themselves were outsourced?
- maneesh 14y agoI know for a fact that he didn't outsource the writing of his books
- josephagoss 14y agoI think that was a joke: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/03/31/the-grand-illusion-the-real-tim-ferriss-speaks/ http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/03/31/the-grand-il...
- isalmon 14y agoI agree with that reading Ferriss could change your life and the way you think about learning, earning money and taking care of your body. I don't think, however, that 4-Hour Chef is really a life changing book. 4HWW definitely is, at least it changed my life.
- MaybiusStrip 14y agoWhen you actually know anything about the subject Ferris is writing about, his books come off as superficial, sloppy, and stunningly self absorbed.