Tim Ferris' website proudly proclaims that he was awarded the title "self promoter of the year" (I forget which year) by Wired magazine - I'm not sure they meant it as something he should be proud of. He is internet famous, has a lot of followers and many haters - but he knows, and has interviewed a number of serious people (his podcast is pretty good).
My opinion of the efficacy of his work is that he is a non-scientist researching and self experimenting, to find subjects to talk and write about on his blog and podcasts (and some TV). Some of the science is dubious/controversial. Some of the self-experimentaion is extreme if not dangerous.
His real skills are self promotion and selling through his internet business, not scientific method. As such, I take him and his work with a pince of salt, but that is not to say that he is making it all up - just hyping it up.
Anyway, the book is OK - you will find some useful ideas, though some more critical-thinking oriented reviewers clearly hate it.
It's divided up into chapters on different subjects that are intended to be read individually, though some refer to each other. The writing style is chatty but formulaic. Many of his claims are inflated, but not without a grain of truth.
There are chapters on weightloss - via the "slow carb diet" - I didn't lose anywhere near what Ferris suggested I would, but 18lbs in six weeks isn't bad, following the suggested diet fairly closely. 2 months after stopping, I haven't gained any weight, but I cycle and weight train a few times a week which probably helps.
The Geek to Freak chapter, describes what is otherwise known as high intensity training (Google Mike Mentzer, HIT). There is no way you can gain good quantities of lean muscle in 30 days following this method - according every expert opinion I have heard (mostly body builder types). But that ignoring the hype, it turned out to be a time efficient routine for gaining strength over a period of months (perhaps a little size). I do a lot of mountain biking and I got very strong at hillclimbing, which I would attribute to performing this programme once or twice a week, for 3 months over the winter.
Based on experience I do not believe that the information in the Occam's protocol chapter can gain a satisfactory amount of muscle. Maintainance maybe, when you're short of time for some reason. I do a 5x5 barbell routine, which after a research, testing, and adjustments, is working for me.
Six minute abs - more hype. A six pack is more about low body fat percentage than exercise. But strong abs are a good thing for other reasons. The "myotactic crynch" as described here is good - 3 sets of 12 is very painful, and thas is now my abs exercise of choice. There are also a few other abs exercises listed that are far better than situps or crunches e.g. bicycle crunch and captains chair.
The sleep chapter is useful. There seems to be a lot of product placement in this chapter, but ignoring that, cold baths (brutal at first, but you get use to it) and flaxseed oil before bed (along with reading fiction and avoiding the telly/Ipad) make me sleep like a log. This process does more for my mood and productivity than anything else the next day.
There are a couple of chapters on sex, and the techniques do work. I've read similar ideas elsewhere, and, well give it go on a willing subject and see for yourself. There is no such thing as the 15 minute orgasm that the book claims - 30 seconds max, followed by a few minutes of heightened sensitivity. She will, however, be very happy.
I haven't tried everything in the book, but I will be trying out the ideas in the chapters on running and swimming at some stage. The Effortless Superhuman chapter may yeild some benefit as well.
Recieved wisdom isn't always correct - but equally the basics sometimes do work better than anything else, I find. Many ideas here are worth testing for yourself, and I've found myself dipping in to this book repeatedly over the last three years. Take the inflated figures and claims with a pinch of salt and do your own research along side this book. Test the ideas and refine processes for yourself and see what happens - I got some reasonable results. To be fair Ferris does say "do your own research" repeatedly.
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If it works for you, then good :-)
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 February 2019
This is an interesting book. Tm Ferriss is something of a character. IHe explores his own path to becoming 'superhuman'. He explodes many of the myths on the subjects he describes. It's well worth reading his blog where he tries his weight loss ideas on members of the general public with some success. This book was his first and I think his most interesting. Do not read if you are easily shocked. You have been warned :-) Some Kindle books don't contain illustrations. This does.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 February 2019
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