The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life

Despite the cooking theme, this is not a cookbook. Think of it more as a cooking class, where each recipe is designed to teach a skill (e.g. braising, sautéing, knife skills, etc.) and every subsequent recipe builds upon those of the last. The idea is to teach the principles of cooking, so that after finishing the book you can tackle any recipe you come across and, more important, have the skills to improvise on your own. If you've struggled with cooking in the past, this alone is enough of a reason to pick up the book. Not only will it ensure that you have the essentials under your belt, it'll also give you a few crowd-pleasers to dazzle dates and parents alike. But the fun doesn't stop there. The 4-Hour Chef is divided into five main parts: Meta-Learning, The Domestic, The Wild, The Scientist, and The Professional. For those familiar with Tim Ferriss` previous work, these subdivisions make perfect sense. If not, here's a quick rundown: Tim is a bit of a self-made savant, building his career on starting as a no-name, know-nothing and transforming himself into a world-class _(fill in the blank)_. The "blank" for Tim has included holding a world record in tango, being a champion Chinese kickboxer, #1 best-selling author, etc. The full list of Tim's accomplishments is astounding. As such he's developed a reputation for learning things incredibly quickly, unusually and effectively. In The 4-Hour Chef he unveils the secrets of this "meta-learning" using cooking (a skill he'd always struggled with) as an example. At first glance I was most excited about the Meta-Learning, Domestic and Scientist sections (I'm a food writer and scientist), and I was not disappointed. In "Meta" he breaks down the basics of deconstructing problems (e.g. language learning, tango, swimming, tasting, launching companies, etc.) and solving them in the most effective way possible. (It also includes how to say "I must eat" in 9 different languages. Win.). Long-time Ferriss fans will love this section. Despite having a decent idea of how to navigate a kitchen, I learned a lot from the "Dom" section as well, and found its instructions far more logical than most introduction cookbooks. He focuses on transferable skills, like learning to "eyeball" measurements (while clarifying when you need to be exact) and knowing when something is "done." There are also dozens of little tips and tricks that'll instantly skyrocket your kitchen confidence, which is half the battle of sticking with it. Though I didn't cook my way through the lesson plan (I've only had the book for a few days), it seemed highly approachable and even a little fun. The first day you'll learn to make osso "buko" without ever touching a knife. The "Sci" section wasn't at all what I expected (come to think of it, I have no idea what I expected--I just like science). It turned out to be a crash course in molecular gastronomy, which left me a bit crestfallen at first. While I love eating at fancy restaurants that serve elegant foams and spherical droplets of surprising flavors, I've never had any desire to recreate these things at home; some things are best left to the professionals. But the second I saw his "Crunchy Bloody Mary" recipe where chipotle infused vodka and bloody mary mix is transformed into a gel used to fill mini celery sticks, I had a change of heart. Reading the science behind all the culinary magic of restaurants like Alinea and El Bulli is fascinating, and I picked up a few parlor tricks to impress my friends. This section is a great way to feed your inner food geek. I didn't expect to be as impressed with the "Wild" section. Catching city pigeons in the park with my bare hands? Thanks, but no thanks. Yet sure enough, I was roped in after a few pages. The recent devastation of Hurricane Sandy really drove home the importance of this section. Though he dives deeper into shelter building and arrow carving than I probably need (Tim may beg to differ), this section is an excellent lesson on the value of life, the importance of life skills, and even a few things you'll use on a more regular basis, like quartering a chicken. To my surprise, I found myself enthralled by the details of cooking a squirrel over a fire and removing pigeon (aka squab) breasts from a whole bird (feathers and all) with bare hands. Yum. The "Pro" section was another surprise. As I've said, I've never aspired to cook like a pro at home. I just want simple, tasty food. And the quicker the better. But this section is essential for transferring the skills from the rest of the book into things you can use in the real world. It also covers some essential "classic" dishes, like roasted chicken, that weren't covered in the "Dom" section. Most important, this section teaches you the basics of kitchen creativity, and how to branch out and improvise on your own using the techniques from the earlier sections. The 4-Hour Chef is an incredibly ambitious book, but it is clear from the beginning that the goal is always to simplify and distill the essence of any task to its basic elements. It teaches the principles of cooking (and learning in general), not one-off recipes that you may or may not get around to making. I anticipate using it for years as a reference, whether it's to find restaurant recommendations in NYC or as a reminder of the essential few ingredients that define a specific ethnic cuisine. I've flagged dozens of pages to revisit in the future. I also love that Tim revisits life philosophies in this book, which I loved in The 4-Hour Work Week, but missed in The 4-Hour Body. The 4-Hour Chef touches on several invaluable life lessons, including why it is important to not waste food (especially if it comes from an animal), and how cooking is a path that brings you closer to love and life. Feeding ourselves is one of our most basic human needs, and is at the root of our life, our culture and ultimately our happiness. (Modified from my original review at Summer Tomato)

The four hour chef is just, everything. As others said 'chef' is a misnomer and really this a journey through Tim Ferriss's mind - which can be pretty interesting. My only advise is don't give up if there is a few things you don't like about this book - there are nuggets of pure GOLD in this book that far outweigh the little nuances, which I'll break it down further. But, overall this book gives a TON of VALUE for a low price. I'll also preface this with I was not given an early copy of this, nor was I paid to write a review or anything like that. The book is broken down in this order: Intro Meta-Learning - This is where Tim breaks down how to learn everything. Some may glance over this to get straight to the cooking, but there are some useful advise in here. I personally love the concept of the cheat-sheet. It's basically a one-page note to highlight the most important things. Also he shows how to identify different taste, which I am horrible at (I still think parsley taste like nothing). He uses an acronym to describe the whole process of learning, but I'm not sure it makes it any easier to understand (DiSSS and CaFE). Also, just to throw in more value he gives a list of links and videos on how to do random things like fold a shirt in 2 seconds, prepare for public speaking, and tying a tie (I found the last one most useful). Again, he's just throwing everything at you. Domestic - The good stuff. This is the recipe section, learning to cook section, with full coverage on the best kitchen tools, dishware, ingredients. I'll break it down here" Equipment/Pantry Items: I loved this section. The stuff he recommends is really good, and he obviously put a lot of thought into this. My personal faves which I bought were the Polder thermometer and the Maldon sea salt (which I now call crack salt). Some other stuff I put on a Christmas wish list, because they just seem awesome (Aeropress coffee maker anyone?) Recipes: (these are the ones I have made so far) 1. Osu-Buko - This is the first recipe in the book, it's really easy to make, and it teaches braising. Just a warning it uses lamb shanks which I find taste a little too "game-y." Also for being the first recipe, it can be difficult to find lamb shanks and he recommends cooking 4 of them. I would buy maybe 1 or 2 at first just to see if you like it. 2. Scrambled Eggs w/ different spices - This section shows how to make scrambled eggs using different spice combinations. Personally, I didn't like the taste of ground spices in my eggs, but the lesson here is to see how different spices combine to make a ethnic dish, which he shows an entire list of different countries and spices. A useful chart. But here's a quick tip to make DAMN good eggs. Use ghee to coat the pan, add the eggs, and use the 'garlic spatula' (garlic clove with a fork through it) to stir them. Don't forget the S&P. Delicious. Try it, then thank me. 3. Coconut Curry Mash - This recipe is delicious! Don't forget to add the cinnamon on top. My mom is gluten-intolerant and she agreed this recipe is devine. 4. Union Square Zuccini - Also tried this recipe. Very good. This is where he uses the garlic spatula - it's easy to make and makes a great appetizer. If you don't have the star peeler he recommends I used a regular vegetable peeler and it worked fine. 5. Sexy Time Steak - This is by far the BEST steak I've ever had. So it took me a day of waiting to 'prep' the steak, but it's easily the best recipe in this book (I'm assuming). Really, this recipe alone is worth the cost of this book. Tip - I like it better with the Montreal Steak Seasoning, and I also bought the Polder digital thermometer he recommends which ensures it will cook incredibly accurately. I've already ensured my friends I will cook this for them (once my cooking skills get more up to par). 6. Eggocado - Another winner. This is an awesome appetizer that is a sure crowd pleaser. The next recipe I plan on making is the gazpacho which looks fantastic. The Wild - This part may be a turn-off to some, but this is where Tim shows how to hunt. And not just hunt, hunt ANYTHING. He gives full reviews of the best of the best of what equipment/guns to use when entering 'the wild', how to make "acorn pancakes" (somehow they actually look delicious), and hunting big and small game. The most shocking part is he literally devotes an entire chapter on how to catch a pigeon and then dissect it for cooking.. I somehow lost my appetite. Again, some will find immense value out of this chapter, others can pleasantly move on. The Scientist - There are some good 'lessons' in this chapter that some may pass up just because it's too "science-y." There is also a limit here since the ingredients he uses in this section you may have to buy online for some of them. The two I've tried are the bacon-bourbon (yes bacon bourbon) and the chopping wine. The chopping wine method really works and I ended up buying a wine aerator for a christmas gift. The Professional - More good stuff. And advanced stuff. I am from Chicago and his writing on Alinea Restaurant made me really want to try it (not to mention yelp review are out of this world). I haven't actually tried these recipes but some of them look pretty good and a little bizarre (cigar-infused tequilla hot chocolate..?) Appendix: Again a lot of people will pass this up but there's more gold in this section. Like how to shoot a three pointer and tricks to remember a deck of cards. There's also tips on being "VIP" which I now always ask the waiter/waitress on what the most underrated dish on the menu for some new perspective. So that's it. This is a massive book and there are good parts for everybody. I'm reading it in the kindle format now, but I plan on buying the physical copy since it can be tedious to scroll page by page and try and find the right spot. One last awesome tip from the book - If you like to listen to music while cooking like I do, try Tim's tip of putting your cell phone on pandora/playlist and putting it in a metal mixing bowl - it will instantly sound 10x better.

One of the best books I have bought in a long time. 4-Hour Chef is about more than just cooking. Primarily, it's about learning and creating roadmaps for learning anything. It is full of good information, and it is the one cookbook where you need to read every page to get the most out of it. It is huge, but the most important lessons are deceptively simple. The real meat is in the introduction and the first section. Here you will find a goldmine of information, easily worth the price of the book by itself. Below are some of the things I have enjoyed most so far: * One page cooking cheat sheet. Excellent example of condensing complex info to one page, most bang for the buck. Also see the four hour body summary. * Meta-learning section is very good. * How to shoot a three pointer appendix is great. I play basketball at least 4-5 hours a week and have done so for 15 years. Reading this section improved my shot instantly, and working on the form here has continued to improve my game. Great, concise example of conveying complex information in readable, learnable format. * The memory, or encoding section, is good but would have liked to see some other book recommendations. Memory is one of my favorite subjects and a five page treatment just barely scratches the surface. Below are some other book recommendations for memory if you want to learn other methods. Your Memory : How It Works and How to Improve It - Practical and theoretical, a good starting point. The Memory Book - Practical only, but excellent introduction. Moonwalking with Einstein - Excellent memoir, first got me interested in memory. If you aren't sure if you want to commit the time to use your memory effectively, read this first. Memorize the Faith! (and Most Anything Else): Using the Methods of the Great Catholic Medieval Memory Masters - Very practical, great instruction on using the loci method. Train Your Brain For Success: Read Smarter, Remember More, and Break Your Own Records - Some unique memory methods here that I have not found elsewhere. Great information, especially body-loci method. Bottom line: Buy this book. To paraphrase Ryan Holiday, "If you don't have copy of this book, you are an idiot." PS - To address all of the noise on the reviews about five star ratings and how soon they came out . . . if you complained about this, you don't know how the book industry works. I own a small publishing company. It is standard practice to give early copies to those who you believe will offer positive reviews. After all, they are your fans or interested in the book in some way or they wouldn't receive a copy. When Amazon allows reviews for any product, everything is fair game. Many have a review written but don't post it until Amazon allows it. There is nothing strange about getting multiple five star reviews the day a book comes out. . . . in fact, if an author has done their job, its what should happen. * 11/20/2012 First Impressions: This book looks great. If you like books, do yourself a favor and pick this up. It's a great design and Tim Ferris and his publisher did not pull any punches. It's a great looking book. After flipping through the book and reading a few sections, I am excited to read this book and learn how to cook. The method may not be for everyone, but the layout of this book is perfect for me. Can't wait to get started and work my way through it. The bonus sections are just as interesting to me as well, and the learning method that is explained in the first section is the real gold in the book for me. Two other things to note: One, the size of this book is daunting. It's huge, complicated looking, and full of information. Take your time and read the Table of Contents - you will see that it is carefully organized and laid out to be the most helpful, even though it is massive. Second, my wife opened before I did and looked through it. Her impression is "That's a man's cookbook, I would never use it." Probably a lot of truth in that.

I think Tim Ferris is a bit of a nut. But he's an entertaining nut. Having read The Four-Hour Workweek and The Four-Hour Body, I find that, alas, I have become neither rich nor superhuman; however, I enjoyed both books and took away a few useful tidbits, so I was happy to preorder The Four-Hour Chef as soon as it was available on Amazon's site. I've been wanting to learn to cook for years, but cookbooks tend to drive me crazy. (Season to taste? Cook until done? I'm a computer programmer - give me precision!) As with Tim's other books, this one is all over the place; while it's nominally about cooking, it's really about ways to learn with cooking as the thing you happen to be learning. Lots of other things get thrown in: how to memorize a deck of cards, using a gun to make sure your luggage arrives safely, the best generator to have on hand for emergencies - pretty much whatever catches Tim's interest. I find these sidebars amusing and think they improve the book, but I can see them being pretty annoying to someone who just wants to know about cooking. The book is divided into five sections, plus an appendix. Section one discusses Tim's ideas about learning, with stories about how he worked them out and used them (this includes losing weight - with an excerpt from The Four-Hour Body - and learning languages. Section two is the actual "learn to cook" part of the book; there are 17 "lessons",to be completed over two months (cooking twice a week). In theory, cooking all the different dishes in this section will take about four hours total to fit the theme of the book. I'll update the review once I've tried them all out to see how well that works, but from my read-through it's looking good; Tim chose the recipes to be very difficult to screw up, which is exactly what I want. (The first night's dinner, for example, contains eight ingredients if you count salt and pepper as separate ingredients, and requires a knife, cutting board, and dutch oven (plus maybe a can opener). Total hands-on time is listed at five minutes. In other words: exactly what you want to see when you don't have a lot of confidence in your cooking skills! Section three is the outdoors part of the book: it starts with the more or less conventional topics (choosing a gun, cooking venison) and then goes on to more unusual topics that I'm pretty sure I won't be actually putting into practice (how to catch, kill, and cook a pigeon or squirrel). I've never killed my own food, so the parts about how to kill chickens and lobster could come in handy, and there's a lesson on how to butcher a chicken. For the most part, though, I read this section for entertainment only rather than any desire to actually follow the recipes! Section four is science. This section gives you a brief description of various terms (gels, emulsification, foams, etc) along with recipes demonstrating each thing. Unfortunately, some of them are a bit impractical for the home cook (I would love to try the 30-second ice cream recipe, for example, but I have no idea where I would even get liquid nitrogen!) I liked that the descriptions were informative without being overly technical (I have a background in science, I don't have a degree in chemistry!) and while some of the equipment IS more elaborate in this section, most of it isn't particularly esoteric; I have a reasonably stocked kitchen and I think buying an immersion blender and vacuum sealer would let me do most of them. Section five is for cooking at a professional level. Here you have many "classic" recipes (french omelet, roast chicken) that any chef should know, followed by more unusual dishes meant to teach you various advanced principles such as form mimicking, texture manipulation, and themes. (I think my favorite recipe in this section, prior to trying any, is the edible dirt centerpiece - it really does look like flowers in dirt!) The section ends with the most ridiculous dish I've ever seen: the ingredient list spans give pages, and the total hands-on time is listed at 10-20 hours. That bit of absurdity seems the perfect way to finish out the book. Except, of course, there's more. The appendix seems to be whatever random stuff relating to food and learning Tim decided to throw in at the end: a recipe from every country in 140 characters or less, instructions on making free shots in basketball and tying knots, maps of where to eat in NYC and San Francisco. There are also additional materials online. Overall impression? While I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, the instructions make them look like things I can actually do; I'll come back and update the review once I've worked through section two in the kitchen. I would have preferred to drop section three (or move it to its own book) in favor of an extended section two; I'm more interesting in the step-by-step introduction than in things I'm unlikely to ever use like acorn pancakes and illegal fishing equipment. That's my only real complaint, though, and the book is certainly big enough (over 600 pages) to squeeze everything in. Until I get a chance to actually try out the recipes, I rate the book at slightly over four stars based on sheer entertainment value. Note: this got listed as being for the Kindle edition, but I actually read the hardcover; I preordered both and accidentally posted the review from the wrong page. I have not read the electronic version. Disclosure: this review originally appeared at Vulcan Ears Book Reviews (vulcanears.com)

In interest of full disclosure, before you read this review, I should mention that I am featured in a chapter and mentioned elsewhere, and that Tim is a friend of mine. Having said that, both the review and the book are worth reading. No, to business: the 4-Hour Chef is described as a cookbook for people who don't buy cookbooks. I would say that is a slight misnomer, especially in my case. For me, it's been a cookbook for people who don't USE cookbooks. I buy plenty of cookbooks, generally those that are written by celebrity chefs and pertain to either steak or cake, these being the two foods I most enjoy eating (and don't even get me started on a cake made of steak--I hope that's Tim's next project). I read them and enjoy them, but I almost never USE them. If I get one usable recipe out a cookbook, it's a lot. Still, I never consider it money wasted, because cookbooks like nice on the shelf, and to me books are as much for decoration as they for utility and pleasure. Tim's book serves all three of these purposes. Unlike most cookbooks that just give you ingredients and directions, the 4-Hour Chef doen'st just TELL you how to took; it TEACHES you how to cook. Since getting the book two weeks ago (advance review copy, I have made three recipes: the salt baked sweet potatoes (easy and delish), the go-carb yeast waffles (holy crap amazing) and the bacon infused bourbon (had to. as good as it sounds). Of course, my copy is now getting beat up and has a few stains on it, but, you know, that's the price of glory and all. I decided to actually try these recipes because not only was there progression in terms of difficulty, but because Tim actually explained the science of how they were made; learning about everything infusion to gels to powders--this is the stuff that made me WANT to try these recipes. Of course, they all looked and sounded delicious, but I really just enjoyed the process of learning. And that's what 4HC is really about: learning. And more specifically, learning how to learn. Learning the skill of learning skills; or, as Tim dubs it, "meta-learning." If you're familiar with Tim's work, you know that cooking isn't his thing. And if you read the 4-Hour Workweek and the 4-Hour Body, you know that neither task and time management or fitness are really his "thing" either; he wrote about those things BECAUSE of his thing: breaking down complex skills and learning them quickly. As I see it, the 4 Hour Chef is Tim at his most "naked." Since 2007, when 4HWW came out, we've heard Tim talk about learning tango in 4 weeks, or learning how to swim, competing and medaling in Chinese kickboxing with very little time to train--or any of the other accomplishments that he's become well known for. But we've never SEEN him learn these thing in real time; we always get the stories long after the fact. While all of the feats in both 4HWW and 4HB are impressive by any measure, there is something very different in this book. In the 4-Hour Workweek, Tim was focusing on his job. While he wrote some revolutionary stuff, ultimately you'd EXPECT a Princeton grad to be smart and good at his job. In the 4-Hour Body, Tim is writing about fitness, a hobby of his for nearly 20 years. Again, some very smart and revolutionary stuff in there, but after 20 years, you would expect him to know what he's talking about. That's what makes 4HC completely different: Tim is learning as we learn. Prior to this book, Tim was not a cook. It's not even that he wasn't a "good cook" -- he just didn't cook at all. (Evidence: his youtube video of making eggs in a microwave.) At 34-years old, Ferriss went into this project with NO skills--and in about 6 months, came out on the other side of the ordeal being more proficient in the kitchen than many people are after 20 years of cooking for their families. I'm sure Tim isn't a master chef, but he learned an incredibly complex series of skills and built his proficiency to a high level in a very short period of time. And that, after all, if his THING. For the first time, Tim isn't just telling stories; he's taking the reader along for the ride. And because he wants the reader to be able to do what he does and learn as he learns, the first part of the book gets you read to do exactly what he does: learn. The first section of 4HC is called "META" and in that section reveals his strategies for learning, and creates and lays out an entire framework for learning any skill or becoming extremely proficient at just about anything in six months. Whether it's shooting hoops or speaking Spanish--yes--learning to cook, the section on Meta-learning along is worth the price of the book. And, in fact, is the real POINT of the book. From my perspective, cooking is the vehicle of demonstration; it's the particular skillset that Tim chose to illustrate both meta-learning and it's benefits. The recipes are fantastic, the skills he covers are valuable, and the education in the culinary arts and culinary world are invaluable. So it the nutrition information. But learning. Learning is where it's at. And this book will help you learn anything. But first, you must learn how to learn. If you haven't already picked this up, do so. It's worth the read, worth the time, and certainly worth the money.

As Hegel said, "Education is the art of making man ethical." Now, you may be asking yourself and me, "Dude, why are you beginning your review with a Hegel quote, or a quote from anyone for that matter? Are you that pretentious: are you really 'that guy'?" Firstly, quotes, whether taken out of context or not, give credence to the rhetorician wielding them; and, secondly, I've just shown two things that make Tim Ferriss and his newest book "The 4-Hour Chef" a must read. Let me explain. Have you ever read a book that claims it will teach you something only to open a book of quotes that have been robbed of their context to make you think you're learning something about the world and yourself? I know I have, and you have too. There is a difference between telling quotes to the reading and showing quotes, which is what, I argue, Ferriss does: he doesn't just provide an abstract quote "a good life is best lived when one provides themselves an understanding of x, y, z, "-(insert name of seemingly "enlightened" person), for Ferriss shows the reader how to live life more fully by telling stories and giving concrete examples. So, you want to learn a second, third, seventh, or, if you haven't already mastered someway of intuiting new languages just by smelling them a mile away, twenty-fifth language, Ferriss tells you how he did and continues to do it; to get a quick and powerful understanding of a language, he Deconstructs (like Bartelby the Scrivener, I would have "preferred not" to see the term Deconstruct(ion) used outside of the realm of Continental Philosophy) languages down into the 100 most used words, modal-auxiliaries (can, could, would, should, would like, etc.), and he asks native speakers, breaking all the rules with this one ya'll, for help. A really interesting story Ferriss provides is of Cardinal Giuseppi Mezofonti, who had a command of 39 languages and was, apparently, tested for fluency in up to 79 languages. Shit. In any case, Mezofonti's big secret, Ferriss says, is that when coming into contact with a new language he would ask a native speaker to write out the Lord's Prayer, which houses many of the structures of grammar and syntax needed to understand a language. All in all, Ferriss learned from his example and, upon meeting a new language, asks the native speaker 12 questions, the "Deconstruction Dozen," that will help Ferriss intuit the rules that govern the new language's language-game. The above paragraph is the first of four big sections of the book dealing with Meta-Learning, or the Learning of Learning. If you thought Ferriss' friend Deconstruction, the section I explicated above, was a powerful tool for understanding then wait until you meet the other three friends making up the acronym DiSSS (Deconstruction, Selection, Sequencing, Stakes). Ferriss also provides the reader with the acronym CaFE (Compression, Frequency, and Encoding). All in all, these systems are a summation of every method, technique, habit, practice, you name it, for how to more easily understand, fully intuit, and pragmatically apply information. Here are three pros and cons, to display that this review is at least prima facie unbiased: Cons: 1) Could be more depth into memorization methods such as the Loci method. Although a seemingly very mysterious system, wherein one memorizes, let's say, a speech by placing pieces of it along a mentally constructed pathway, I am confident Ferriss could have provided an effective nutshell summation and example. 2) The use of the word deconstruction is rampant throughout our context in history, and it is not being used appropriately in the context of its creator Derrida, so another word would have been nice. 3) The meta-learning theory at the beginning could have been more explicitly applied throughout the rest of the book. DiSSS and CaFE model well to the understanding of creating amazing food, but applying it to everything and anything else is uncomfortable for those unsure of what they're doing; re-showing the methods in different contexts give the reader experience and practice so that they can apply it to piano or guitar or skiing or showering. Pros: 1) Section on language acquisition is out of this world. Even the brief story of Cardinal Mezofonti was a world shatterer. Thanks. 2) I finally know how to make mayo from scratch that is firm. Amazing. 3) My father is a veteran trained chef, who graduated top of his class at the prestigious Western Culinary Institute in the late 1980s, and this book scared the shit out of him. He's conservative, like Malcolm Gladwell, and told me that Ferriss theory simply couldn't produce any sort of good food in that short amount of time. We went through Ferriss' tips, tricks, and a few recipes together, and my father was surely impressed. He's coming around. So, thank you Tim Ferriss for the book. To all of you who haven't read it yet, please do; it will change you in weird, wacky, and amazing ways; you'll be exactly who you've always wanted to be, but better. I promise. Live your history, love how you're living, and always focus and do what you love to be focusing on doing. This book is one of those books that will provide you the skills to get you ninety-nine percent of the way to your goals; however, remember, you have to do the impossible: you have to believe in yourself and leap the last one percent. Happy Thursday and Stay excellent, Arlo Tobin

Disclaimer: I am a real reviewer who actually purchased and read the book. I felt compelled to write my first review because I was annoyed in two ways: first, the clearly fake reviewers, second, the readers who came in with ridiculous expectations about the contents of the book. Second disclaimer: I am NOT a Tim worshiper. The 4-Hour Workweek is a sometimes unethical pipe dream that a couple people writers imitating Tim have made money on. For most of us, it contains a couple tricks to be more efficient at our 9-5. The 4-Hour Body is a relatively interesting and fun book on fitness and diet experimentation. I learned a few tips and tricks from it and really enjoyed reading about his experiences. I have read most of Tim's blog and consider it a sometimes better alternative to "Life Hacker". Those two disclaimers being said, this is a GREAT book if you come in with the right expectations. If you're looking for 600+ pages solely devoted to grocery shopping, prep, recipes, cooking and eating, you will not find it here. You'll find about 200-250 pages dedicated solely to such, and 200 more at least somewhat related--consisting of wilderness cooking and survival, great restaurants, 140 character recipes, and basic tools you need in the kitchen. At a macro level, the most useful cooking lessons are Tim's notes on equipment to have in your kitchen, his 10 easy recipes (most of which are really interesting/easy shortcuts), and the charts on spices that go with different countries. At a micro level, I picked up a few random tidbits from the 1/2-pagers on how to quickly defrost a steak, how to make the perfect cup of coffee, etc. The most important part of this section is that Tim teaches you HOW to cook, not just how to follow a recipe. The best part about his methodology is that he removes all roadblocks from the reader--the excessively expensive equipment, the hard to find ingredients, and the difficult cooking techniques are all put nicely out of mind with shortcuts and detailed pictures. The rest of the book, in my opinion, is actually more interesting. The first section is about a hundred pages are worth the price of admission alone. It details a method to learn anything efficiently--Tim is merely using cooking as a MEDIUM to teach this method. I've started applying this first section to learning a number of skills already. As the middle sections are the ones devoted to cooking and wilderness survival that I detailed above, the appendix is related to random skills and interesting "life hacks" that you can learn quickly. Yes, these feel like last-minute additions but if one thing is clear Tim actually cares about his readers, why not throw in these interesting pages--they do not detract from the focus as they are part of the appendix. If I can say one thing--buy this book. For me, I can see myself going back to it for years anytime I'd like to learn a new skill (be it with cooking or otherwise). If you want to learn HOW to cook taught in an unpretentious tone with easy to follow pictures, you'll find it here. If you're interested in shortcuts to learning complex skills, you'll find it here. If you just want to pick up a few cooking shortcuts, you will most definitely be delighted with this book. And lastly, if you are a fan of Tim and his other works, absolutely buy this book. Lastly, a note on format, BUY THE HARDCOVER. I bought the Kindle as well since it was on sale for just $4.99 on Amazon and it does not even come close to comparing to the hardcover version. This book is meant to have pages cut out and marked up, its detailed color pictures to be seen, etc.

Tim Ferriss tells you right off that this isn't a book about cooking, just like Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance isn't about Zen or changing oil. He'll teach you how to handle a knife and make a few interesting dishes, but mostly he takes you on a long, strange, self-indulgent, and sometimes useful trip. What I enjoyed: -- Ferriss's storytelling. He has a nice way with words: "Mangalitsa acorn-finished woolly boar tasted just like acorns. I was chewing on fall, clear as crystal, in a sliver of cured ham." -- His emphasis on the slow food movement and local, organic farming. (But strangely, his "Clean 15" foods include sweet corn, which is mostly genetically modified.) -- His language hacking tips, which are gold. I've always wanted to master several languages and found his methodology solid and logical. -- The 140-character Twitter recipes from almost every country in the world: fun, simple, and intriguing. What I didn't like: -- Ferriss's tangential teaching style. At one point he goes from braising to English's 100 most common written words to kickboxing to chess to tango spins in order to emphasize the importance of selection and sequencing. It didn't work for me, because I often lost track of the original concept. -- His foray in into survival and hunting skills, just so you can make your own venison burger. (If you want some cricket protein bars, however, you'll need to mail order the crickets.) This section could have been a separate book and might have been fascinating as a metaphor/methodology for learning entrepreneurial skills. -- His unrealistic (for the busy person) science experiments, such as making arugula spaghetti using a syringe and flexible tubing just to avoid that dreaded white flour. (Though some of his cocktails in the same section sound delicious.) If I were to sum up this book in one word, it would be "manic": excessively enthusiastic and somewhat disorganized. Ferriss is obviously a curious and driven guy. I came away feeling he gets satisfaction from the ability to tackle and master anything, but not joy.

Muy recomendable, al principio pensaba que era un libro de cocina, pero tiene mucho más. Es un libro de autoayuda genial

Apliquei essas técnicas em várias áreas da minha vida... me ajudou a aprender a tocar violão, linguagens de programação e no meu doutorado, recomendo!

I'm not all the way through it yet, but I have to say I haven't been let down so far. Like Tim's other works, this is packed full of information and life hacks that I hope to use for the rest of my life. Thanks Tim.

Recomiendo todos los libros, podcasts, pláticas y consejos de Tim Ferris. Como él lo dice, no espera que sigamos su estilo de vida, pero podemos extraer grandes aprendizajes de sus "experimentos" y consejos.

Tim Ferriss hat ein Buch geschrieben, welches unglaublich spaßig zu lesen ist und das Thema "Essen" und "Kochen" in ein ganz anderes Licht rückt. Obgleich das Buch ausgesprochen schöne und wunderbar einfache Rezepte vorstellt, geht es doch um so viel mehr, egal ob man an Kochen oder Essen interessiert ist oder nicht, man kann doch alles Mögliche alles Mögliche für Leben mitnehmen!