Book Review: Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferriss

The latest groundbreaking tome 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 more than 200 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, gymnastics, surfing, etc.) to legendary Special Operations commanders and black-market biochemists. For most of my guests, it’s the first time they’ve agreed to a two-to-three-hour interview. This unusual depth has helped make The Tim Ferriss Show the first business/interview podcast to pass 100 million downloads.   “This book contains the distilled tools, tactics, and ‘inside baseball’ you won’t find anywhere else. It also includes new tips from past guests, and life lessons from new ‘guests’ you haven’t met.   “What makes the show different is a relentless focus on actionable details. This is reflected in the questions. For example: What do these people do in the first sixty minutes of each morning? What do their workout routines look like, and why? What books have they gifted most to other people? What are the biggest wastes of time for novices in their field? What supplements do they take on a daily basis?   “I don’t view myself as an interviewer. I view myself as an experimenter. If I can’t test something and replicate results in the messy reality of everyday life, I’m not interested.   “Everything within these pages has been vetted, explored, and applied to my own life in some fashion. I’ve used dozens of the tactics and philosophies in high-stakes negotiations, high-risk environments, or large business dealings. The lessons have made me millions of dollars and saved me years of wasted effort and frustration.   “I created this book, my ultimate notebook of high-leverage tools, for myself. It’s changed my life, and I hope the same for you.”

My first thought after I turned the page of this book was that was one long ass book. I am not sure why chunkers have been intimidating me as of late. It is like I see a book over 300 pages and I run the other way. Maybe I have commitment issues, who knows. I read the Book The 4 hour Work Week, and the publishers made this book sound like this is gonna be the book to solve all of your problems. Tim himself has talked to everyone and distilled all the advice in this easy to understand Value and some such bullshit.
I can’t say much cause I ran up to sign for it at the library and when my hold finally came in I ran to the library to pick it up. I brought it home and started reading. I was all ready to learn the secrets of the Universe. Secrets that would make be happy, healthy and wealthy beyond my wildest dreams.
I should have had an inkling when I read the body part and he was all like Low Carb is the way to go. Ummm no it is no.t I am Vegan. Animal products gross me out. I mean I feel sorry for the animals in a way, but that’s not the sole reason I won’t eat meat. To me, I am just all like ewwwwww dead rotten flesh. Gross. But nope Tim was like low carb is the ONLY way to do and u need ketones and all of that crap. Do not think so Tim.
Then I was like ok so we differ on the diet, and it seems to exercise. I am all like I will just run/walk on the treadmill for an hour, and he has all of these…routines..that I am again like nope.
I should have put the book down but alas this was TIM FERRIS There had to be SOME good in this damn book.
And there was..kinda. I did make some notes on my Kindle. Like I think six notes out of 700 pages. One thing that I kept wondering is how does he fit so many routines in a day. I mean he has a morning routine a breakfast routine and on and on. Don’t he ever just look at the day and goes nope…Not gonna do today and stay in bed with a book? Oh and the books that he professes to read. They range from the obscure the art of archery to some stoic philosophy. Personally, I thought the stoic school of thought was bullshit in college, and I believe it is bullshit now. If I am gonna take after an ancient civilization is gonna be the party loving Romans. But Tim was big on the Stoics. I am like really Tim. Your life is not very stoic at the moment. In fact, it sounds like a privileged white male who is attempting t glean something from nothing. Like why oh why do I feel empty? I know I will read a stoic philosophy and eat dead rotten animals and crawl backward on the floor! Now I have a whole new perspective! Maybe I am just jealous but that what I was thinking when I was reading all of this.
In fact, this whole books reeks of white male privilege. Usually, I can tolerate some in yo face kind of privilege, but this book was way way out there with the privilege aspect of it.
I had to giggle when I came upon his real world MBA. He alertly did not want to take math classes at Stanford, so he invested 160K into some start-ups. Some failed some didn’t. I am not sure why I found this amusing. Maybe it causes after you get your MBA you supposed to know how to migrate the risks but if you are a hands on learner his way would work also.

There were a few Gems in Tool of Titans. Like the Wealthy part. I enjoyed that part as I need to learn about stuff such as that. I found it helpful. There are so many people who didn’t get financial advice young that need it now. Especially people who grew up as I did in Central Appalachia. There is no talk of investing there. I try to read what I can so that I can make better financial decisions but some books are just so far over my head. Not this one though. I could pretty much understand the advice in this book. Which is saying a lot since I am financially illiterate.

I think for me I am much more jaded now than when I read 4 hour work week a few years a go.  This was when I had first started my freelancing.Back then I lapped up books like this. Now though it seems to be the same information told again and again. I was even hoping to find out some neat new tech toys (I have a MAJOR case of shiny object Syndrome) but nope all the programs that are mentioned I have already tried out for myself. I could even think f BETTER programs to use than what was in the book.

I kind of wish that I could get back the time that I spent reading this book. At least I did not shell out money for it. I got my copy from the library. So there is that.
If I had to do it all over again I would have DNFed it but ah well. At least I got some financial  advice out of the book. I would encourage you to get the book from the library, and if you like it you can buy it, but for me, I felt as if I already heard it all before.