Tools of Titans is a great book that contains a ton of useful information. Author Tim Ferriss interviewed over a hundred people with unusual life stories (athletes, health enthusiasts, business people, writers, actors, etc) to learn what they did to get where they are and how they make it through the day. The result? Nearly 700 pages full of advice for living effectively in the areas of health, wealth, and wisdom.
Most, if not all, of the entries are based on interviews from Ferriss’s podcast. The conversational and informal feel makes each entry fairly easy to understand, though some of the ones covering unconventional subjects may be a bit tricky for those unfamiliar with them. While the podcasts can be well over an hour long, the entries in the book are usually no longer than 5-10 pages each since they’re comprised of the highlights from each episode. This makes it easy to read one entry per day in a relatively short amount of time. However, there are a few longer entries and special segments covering ideas outside of those discussed by the interviewees; they’re well worth the extra time it takes to read and process them.
My one complaint about the book is that the way it’s laid out makes it difficult to find specific bits of information. Having an index would be helpful, especially in a book this size. Because most of the entries are organized by a person’s name instead of a particular subject, it can be hard to find certain points unless you remember who talked about them. And, since some subjects were covered by multiple people, this can be quite challenging, especially for the people who are more obscure. It does help that the book is organized into 3 distinct sections, though: “Healthy”, “Wealthy”, and “Wise”. This makes it easier to find certain points than if the book were organized solely by the names of the participants.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Tools of Titans and learned a lot of great life hacks from it. The lessons are mostly discussed directly and in plain English (which is how I prefer to learn), but sometimes they’re presented through short stories or poems. By reading just 1-2 entries each day, I was able to read the whole book in about 3-4 months. Normally I would read an entry in the morning and then read a chapter of whatever my main book at the time was in the evening. This allowed me to make steady progress through this and several other books without getting information overload or confusing the lessons. When it comes to living effectively, the book at least mentions nearly everything you could want and dives deeper into a number of subjects. Tools of Titans has something for everybody, so I highly recommend checking it out and adding a few new tools to your collection.
