Tools of the Titans

It's taken me a bit of time to read this large book. I believe that it is over 600 pages, but those 600+ pages are jam packed with wisdom gleaned from the podcasts and interviews that Tim Ferris has done over the last number of years. Paraphrased, Tim said, "this is the book that I wish that I had when I was starting out". I can see why. There are a lot of small tips, tricks and mind-hacks that produce productivity gains both small and large.

He separated the book into sections: "Healthy, Wealthy and Wise". That was a great way to categorize the wisdom in the book. Tim also said in the book that not all of the parts will apply to all people. Skip those. That too was good advice. There were things about psychedelics in there that I have no interest trying and that personally I think are profoundly harmful, but that's my opinion. Someone else may find them very important.

A few of my favorite parts of the book:

• “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”—J. Krishnamurti

• When in doubt, work on the deficiencies you’re most embarrassed by." - Christopher Sommer "

• From Seth Goodin: "“Sooner or later, parents have to take responsibility for putting their kids into a system that is indebting them and teaching them to be cogs in an economy that doesn't want cogs anymore. Parents get to decide . . . [and] from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., those kids are getting homeschooled. And they’re either getting home-schooled and watching The Flintstones, or they’re getting homeschooled and learning something useful."

• From Scott Adams: "1) Become the best at one specific thing. 2) Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things."

…and so much more. The number of things that I highlighted in this book is in the hundreds. There is SO much that I got out of the book.

It's also important that I say that I wish that the profane language in the book would have been toned down, but that is how the book is written, and how the author wanted it to come across. While I didn't enjoy reading that, it didn't diminish the value I got from the book as a whole. It was the same thing for me with the psychedelics. I think that when people use the psychedelic drugs they are tapping into something bigger than themselves, and that's potentially part of the problem. I'm glad that some people are using those "tools" and having no problem with them. The problem is that in life, what are tools for one person may be dangerous for another. Tim specifically puts that caveat in the book, but from my perspective, there are safer roads to achieve that same result most of the time.

Regardless, this book was a treasure trove of great information on how to think differently and in thinking differently do the things in life that matter, not necessarily the things in life that our society says matters.