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Tim Ferriss' New Book: Become a Superhuman

27 points by BRadmin 17y ago

PStamatiou 17y ago
I stopped reading after "Everyone knows that building the perfect body takes years of hard work and an iron will. Everyone except Tim Ferriss."
- callmeed 17y ago
  I stopped reading after "Tim Ferriss"
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  - michaelfairley 17y ago
    It'd be beneficial to everyone if you would voice some specific complaints again Tim. I know a lot of people around here don't like him, but I've never seen a criticism longer than "Pff. Tim Ferriss is a load of crap." The article has some reasonable complaints against him, but I'm interested in why the opinion around HN is the way it is.
    - redorb 17y ago
      http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS322US322&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=tim+ferris+scam http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS322US322&so... shows 21,400 people's opinion.
      - hyperbovine 17y ago
        Nice... and if you spell his name right you get like 1.5 million :-)
        redorb 17y ago
        ouch good call, zinger! (ass)
    - hyperbovine 17y ago
      Avid, continual self-promotion is inherently distasteful to many people, myself included. I'm tired of Tim Ferriss telling me how great Tim Ferriss is and how I should be more like Tim Ferriss. And then there's my general beef with all self-help gurus: if you really have it all figured out, why are you still trying to sell me shit?
    - BRadmin 17y ago
      Snagged this link from a previous HN entry on Tim: http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/01/08/5-time-management-tricks-i-learned-from-years-of-hating-tim-ferriss/ http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/01/08/5-time-management-t...
    - callmeed 17y ago
      I gave a few details previously: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=663858 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=663858 Basically, I found few original ideas in his book–it read like a get-rich-quick-scheme aimed at tech-savvy middle managers who are stuck in a cube farm. I don't want to work 4 hours a week ... because I actually _enjoy_ the things I choose to work on.
      - _pius 17y ago
        it read like a get-rich-quick-scheme aimed at tech-savvy middle managers who are stuck in a cube farm what's wrong with that? I'm the same as you in that I love what I do for a living, but to be honest with you, we're rare. Most people are stuck living boring lives, doing jobs that make them miserable. I gave the book to two friends of mine in 9-to-5 jobs. One of them read the book and told me that she was legitimately blown away by what she read. Fast forward a few years and now she's got a side project going that makes her happy. It's not a "muse" per se because it takes quite a bit of work, but the point is, this book inspired her to start a startup so that she can one day quit her job. The other friend I gave it to was cynical and echoed a lot of the sentiments I hear around here. It's not original, it'll never work, Tim Ferriss is dishonest. Well, it's been a few years and he's still stuck, stagnating in the same shitty job. -shrug-
      - GHFigs 17y ago
        I actually _enjoy_ the things I choose to work on. That's why Ferriss defines work as the stuff you do primarily for money and would prefer to do less of. Even if you love your job, there is going to be some of that in there.
        callmeed 17y ago
        But he seems to advocate outsourcing your workload to zero. If all of us outsource everything, who's gonna do the actual work in this world? Oh, right ... all the non-Westerners.
    - sh1mmer 17y ago
      The general essence of his book was start a dubious internet business which fools gullible people into parting with their money such as selling unregulated herbal supplements. Aside from the impact on your karma it can also be considered fraud to make inflated unsubstantiated claims and a very "success" herbal telemarketer is currently doing time for such an offense. As far as I can see Tim Ferriss is all about short-cuts, not optimizations. There is a big difference.
      - gnaritas 17y ago
        No, that was what he did. The essence of the book was to arbitrage the difference in wages between 1st and 3rd world countries by becoming basically a manager and outsourcing all of your own work to Indians. Let others do all the work while you take all the credit.
        colinplamondon 17y ago
        You use credit in the HN "go change the world!" sense. In this case, it's about cash- the capitalist, the individual who provides capital to an enterprise and pays workers, is the one who receives cash. It's not about who gets credit and getting more gold stars than the next guy, it's about cash. That's capitalism. Social entrepreneurialism, making a dent in the universe, helping those less fortunate, those are all awesome things. But capitalism, which is the issue at hand when talking about 4HWW, is about the accumulation of capital. Ferriss just talks about some cool ways to make money efficiently and spend money in ways that get you good bang for the buck. And, with that, I'm going to stop procrastinating and go pack for my trip to Tunisia, paid for by creating an iPhone application, the development of which was made feasible by the savings achieved by moving to a country with low cost of living (Hungary). Cheers :D
    - mynameishere 17y ago
      This. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9pWKB2D23k#t=3m38s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9pWKB2D23k#t=3m38s I've been more dazzled by amateur hot dog eating contests.
      - GHFigs 17y ago
        Making your accomplishments sound more impressive on paper than they are in reality is something that anybody who has ever written a résumé has done.
    - michael_dorfman 17y ago
      I think the anecdote he shares (in 4HWW) about becoming a National Chinese Kickboxing Champion is a nice example; he exploited a little-known loophole in the rules which stated that a combatant who leaves the ring forfeits, and racked up a series of victories by pushing his opponents out of the ring, sumo-style. In my book, it was a "victory" in name only; it was clearly unsportsmanlike behavior, contrary to the essence of the game, and devoid of any of the skills the sport is based on, and yet he seems pretty damned proud of himself. He's all about claiming the glory while avoiding the work.
  - GHFigs 17y ago
    I don't understand why you and the thirty-odd people who've chosen to use voting to indicate agreement are so uninterested in the topic that you would choose to come into the thread just to indicate your disinterest. Stop paying attention to things you aren't interested in.
reedlaw 17y ago
I asked a body-builder friend if Tim Ferriss' workout could actually achieve the results Tim claims. He replied that a person can only gain weight that quickly with steroids. Research has shown that under optimal conditions, less than ten pounds of muscle can be added in a year. Ferriss claims to have gained 34 pounds of muscle in 4 weeks: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/29/from-geek-to-freak-how-i-gained-34-lbs-of-muscle-in-4-weeks/ http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/29/from-geek-to... Here is a discussion by steroids users that confirms what my friend told me: http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/anabolic-steroids/10-pounds-muscle-year-11595.html http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/anabolic-steroids/10-pound... I couldn't find the relevant research that says ten pounds a year is the max, but here is a Google Books search result that confirms it: http://books.google.com/books?id=VnpCA-Z1qcsC&pg=PT166&dq=ten+pounds+of+muscle+can+be+added+in+a+year&ei=nIteSrb3LorklATpkoG5Bg http://books.google.com/books?id=VnpCA-Z1qcsC&pg=PT166&#... "Unfortunately, the average bodybuilder finds it nearly impossible to gain even ten pounds of solid muscle tissue in a year's time..."
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- psykotic 17y ago
  Not a Feriss fan but it's not at all impossible to gain way more than ten pounds of muscle in a relatively short time if you aren't already very strong. His exact numbers sound excessive but I suspect he's gone up and down with that muscle mass several times in the past, which makes it a lot easier to rebuild it.
  - jambalaya 17y ago
    Why is it not all that impossible to gain way more than ten pounds of muscle in a relatively short time? From what are you basing this? I haven't read Tim's books but this seems like a reason to not like his work. This isn't science. Now, if he said body weight from water etc. Which he could have for all I know.
    - psykotic 17y ago
theschwa 17y ago
I don't really care about the claims. I'm more interested, like the singularityhub, in personal fitness research. Does anyone know of any resources on the topic? Even good phone apps or tracking programs would be cool. I'm interested in the place where health, science, and startups combine.
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27 points by BRadmin 17y ago

I stopped reading after "Everyone knows that building the perfect body takes years of hard work and an iron will. Everyone except Tim Ferriss."

callmeed 17y ago
I stopped reading after "Tim Ferriss"
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
- michaelfairley 17y ago
  It'd be beneficial to everyone if you would voice some specific complaints again Tim. I know a lot of people around here don't like him, but I've never seen a criticism longer than "Pff. Tim Ferriss is a load of crap." The article has some reasonable complaints against him, but I'm interested in why the opinion around HN is the way it is.
  - redorb 17y ago
    http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS322US322&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=tim+ferris+scam http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS322US322&so... shows 21,400 people's opinion.
    - hyperbovine 17y ago
      Nice... and if you spell his name right you get like 1.5 million :-)
      - redorb 17y ago
        ouch good call, zinger! (ass)
  - hyperbovine 17y ago
    Avid, continual self-promotion is inherently distasteful to many people, myself included. I'm tired of Tim Ferriss telling me how great Tim Ferriss is and how I should be more like Tim Ferriss. And then there's my general beef with all self-help gurus: if you really have it all figured out, why are you still trying to sell me shit?
  - BRadmin 17y ago
    Snagged this link from a previous HN entry on Tim: http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/01/08/5-time-management-tricks-i-learned-from-years-of-hating-tim-ferriss/ http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/01/08/5-time-management-t...
  - callmeed 17y ago
    I gave a few details previously: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=663858 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=663858 Basically, I found few original ideas in his book–it read like a get-rich-quick-scheme aimed at tech-savvy middle managers who are stuck in a cube farm. I don't want to work 4 hours a week ... because I actually _enjoy_ the things I choose to work on.
    - _pius 17y ago
      it read like a get-rich-quick-scheme aimed at tech-savvy middle managers who are stuck in a cube farm what's wrong with that? I'm the same as you in that I love what I do for a living, but to be honest with you, we're rare. Most people are stuck living boring lives, doing jobs that make them miserable. I gave the book to two friends of mine in 9-to-5 jobs. One of them read the book and told me that she was legitimately blown away by what she read. Fast forward a few years and now she's got a side project going that makes her happy. It's not a "muse" per se because it takes quite a bit of work, but the point is, this book inspired her to start a startup so that she can one day quit her job. The other friend I gave it to was cynical and echoed a lot of the sentiments I hear around here. It's not original, it'll never work, Tim Ferriss is dishonest. Well, it's been a few years and he's still stuck, stagnating in the same shitty job. -shrug-
    - GHFigs 17y ago
      I actually _enjoy_ the things I choose to work on. That's why Ferriss defines work as the stuff you do primarily for money and would prefer to do less of. Even if you love your job, there is going to be some of that in there.
      - callmeed 17y ago
        But he seems to advocate outsourcing your workload to zero. If all of us outsource everything, who's gonna do the actual work in this world? Oh, right ... all the non-Westerners.
  - sh1mmer 17y ago
    The general essence of his book was start a dubious internet business which fools gullible people into parting with their money such as selling unregulated herbal supplements. Aside from the impact on your karma it can also be considered fraud to make inflated unsubstantiated claims and a very "success" herbal telemarketer is currently doing time for such an offense. As far as I can see Tim Ferriss is all about short-cuts, not optimizations. There is a big difference.
    - gnaritas 17y ago
      No, that was what he did. The essence of the book was to arbitrage the difference in wages between 1st and 3rd world countries by becoming basically a manager and outsourcing all of your own work to Indians. Let others do all the work while you take all the credit.
      - colinplamondon 17y ago
        You use credit in the HN "go change the world!" sense. In this case, it's about cash- the capitalist, the individual who provides capital to an enterprise and pays workers, is the one who receives cash. It's not about who gets credit and getting more gold stars than the next guy, it's about cash. That's capitalism. Social entrepreneurialism, making a dent in the universe, helping those less fortunate, those are all awesome things. But capitalism, which is the issue at hand when talking about 4HWW, is about the accumulation of capital. Ferriss just talks about some cool ways to make money efficiently and spend money in ways that get you good bang for the buck. And, with that, I'm going to stop procrastinating and go pack for my trip to Tunisia, paid for by creating an iPhone application, the development of which was made feasible by the savings achieved by moving to a country with low cost of living (Hungary). Cheers :D
  - mynameishere 17y ago
    This. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9pWKB2D23k#t=3m38s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9pWKB2D23k#t=3m38s I've been more dazzled by amateur hot dog eating contests.
    - GHFigs 17y ago
      Making your accomplishments sound more impressive on paper than they are in reality is something that anybody who has ever written a résumé has done.
  - michael_dorfman 17y ago
    I think the anecdote he shares (in 4HWW) about becoming a National Chinese Kickboxing Champion is a nice example; he exploited a little-known loophole in the rules which stated that a combatant who leaves the ring forfeits, and racked up a series of victories by pushing his opponents out of the ring, sumo-style. In my book, it was a "victory" in name only; it was clearly unsportsmanlike behavior, contrary to the essence of the game, and devoid of any of the skills the sport is based on, and yet he seems pretty damned proud of himself. He's all about claiming the glory while avoiding the work.
- GHFigs 17y ago
  I don't understand why you and the thirty-odd people who've chosen to use voting to indicate agreement are so uninterested in the topic that you would choose to come into the thread just to indicate your disinterest. Stop paying attention to things you aren't interested in.

reedlaw 17y ago

I asked a body-builder friend if Tim Ferriss' workout could actually achieve the results Tim claims. He replied that a person can only gain weight that quickly with steroids. Research has shown that under optimal conditions, less than ten pounds of muscle can be added in a year. Ferriss claims to have gained 34 pounds of muscle in 4 weeks: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/29/from-geek-to-freak-how-i-gained-34-lbs-of-muscle-in-4-weeks/ http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/29/from-geek-to... Here is a discussion by steroids users that confirms what my friend told me: http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/anabolic-steroids/10-pounds-muscle-year-11595.html http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/anabolic-steroids/10-pound... I couldn't find the relevant research that says ten pounds a year is the max, but here is a Google Books search result that confirms it: http://books.google.com/books?id=VnpCA-Z1qcsC&pg=PT166&dq=ten+pounds+of+muscle+can+be+added+in+a+year&ei=nIteSrb3LorklATpkoG5Bg http://books.google.com/books?id=VnpCA-Z1qcsC&pg=PT166&#... "Unfortunately, the average bodybuilder finds it nearly impossible to gain even ten pounds of solid muscle tissue in a year's time..."

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psykotic 17y ago
Not a Feriss fan but it's not at all impossible to gain way more than ten pounds of muscle in a relatively short time if you aren't already very strong. His exact numbers sound excessive but I suspect he's gone up and down with that muscle mass several times in the past, which makes it a lot easier to rebuild it.
- jambalaya 17y ago
  Why is it not all that impossible to gain way more than ten pounds of muscle in a relatively short time? From what are you basing this? I haven't read Tim's books but this seems like a reason to not like his work. This isn't science. Now, if he said body weight from water etc. Which he could have for all I know.
  - psykotic 17y ago

theschwa 17y ago

I don't really care about the claims. I'm more interested, like the singularityhub, in personal fitness research. Does anyone know of any resources on the topic? Even good phone apps or tracking programs would be cool. I'm interested in the place where health, science, and startups combine.

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]