Everything Tim Ferriss has recommended in 5-Bullet Friday — 2,122 books, articles, quotes, films, products and more, gathered from 480 issues since 2015. Browse by category, sort by what the community values or how often Tim has returned to it, and spend your 25 votes on what matters most to you. Each item's note is quoted from Tim's own words in the newsletter.
Esther Crawford’s experience and lessons learned at Twitter. Esther was hugely helpful to me and my team during some Twitter login hiccups in December, and I found this long tweet fascinating. Many of her lessons and observations apply to scores of tech companies and, indeed, companies in general.— Tim Ferriss
“The 50 Best Places to Travel in 2023.” I am planning my next adventures, both in the U.S. and abroad, and this list had some unexpected gems.— Tim Ferriss
“Meet the Psychedelic Boom’s First Responders” by Chris Colin for WIRED. This is one of the best articles related to psychedelics that I’ve read in a long time. It reinforces a very important, and often misunderstood, point. As mentioned in the piece: “Difficult is not necessarily bad.” Most classical psychedelics could be considered anti-escapist; if you want to avoid your problems, your addictions, your past trauma, the things you’re ashamed of, and so on, these are the wrong drugs. It should be no surprise that when these things are put into inescapable high resolution for anyone, it can be— Tim Ferriss
“How Podcaster Andrew Huberman Got America to Care About Science” by Jamie Ducharme for TIME.— Tim Ferriss
“Blood from the shoulder of Pallas.” For those who don’t recognize The Watchmen, it is considered the Citizen Kane of graphic novels. This excerpt is, I think, a beautiful reminder of how the mystical and measurable can intermingle.— Tim Ferriss
“Global sperm counts are falling. This scientist believes she knows why” by Sarah Neville for the Financial Times. From the article: “The mystery is this. Since the late 1930s, sperm counts around the world appear to have dropped significantly. While the decline was initially observed in Western countries, there is evidence of the same phenomenon in the developing world, and it seems to be accelerating. Swan, a Berkeley-trained statistician-turned-epidemiologist, believes she knows why.” If you have issues reading with the above link, try this.— Tim Ferriss
“How My Father and I Drew a New Life” by Brian Frazer for The New York Times. This is a truly remarkable essay with lessons for all readers. Short and easy.— Tim Ferriss
“There’s a uniquely Korean word for rage and regret. So why had I never heard of it?” Thanks to Bobby Hundreds (@bobbyhundreds) for introducing me to the concept of han, and thanks to Robert F. for the article. Bobby, thank you for being so 눈치 있다!— Tim Ferriss
“How We Spend Our Days Is How We Spend Our Lives: Annie Dillard on Choosing Presence Over Productivity” by Maria Popova (@brainpicker).— Tim Ferriss
“Life After Death: the living coffin.” The idea of my corpse being sealed inside a coffin never sat well with me. I much preferred the idea of being cremated or, better still, being quickly and easily absorbed by the earth, feeding the soil and ecosystems that fed me during my lifetime. This is a possible step in that direction.— Tim Ferriss
“Botanist Stefano Mancuso: ‘You can anaesthetise all plants. This is extremely fascinating.’” Pair it with Michael Pollan’s older New Yorker piece: “The Intelligent Plant.”— Tim Ferriss
“The Last Question” by Isaac Asimov. This 10–15-minute read is really spectacular. DO NOT read anything about this story before digging in, as even a small spoiler can ruin it. Special thanks to Adam Robinson (@IAmAdamRobinson) for sending it to me.— Tim Ferriss
“Why AI Won’t Cause Unemployment” by Marc Andreessen (@pmarca). Even if you don’t read this, take a second to look at the primary graph.— Tim Ferriss
“The age of average” by Alex Murrell (@alexjmurrell). Lest you throw up your hands too early, here is a key line near the end: “But it’s not all bad news. I believe that the age of average is the age of opportunity.” Thanks to Matt T. for sending this to me.— Tim Ferriss
“not disappointing myself” by Ava (@noampomsky). This quick read begins with a quote from Glennon Doyle (@GlennonDoyle) that caught my attention: ME: Listen. Every time you’re given a choice between disappointing someone else and disappointing yourself, your duty is to disappoint that someone else. Your job, throughout your entire life, is to disappoint as many people as it takes to avoid disappointing yourself.— Tim Ferriss
“The Big Picture” and “The Ladder” by Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy), one of my favorite writers on the entire web.— Tim Ferriss
“Parkinson’s Research Studies Show the Healing Power of Music” by Greg Rienzi for Johns Hopkins Magazine. Pair the article with these YouTube clips: “Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory Featurette” and “The Healing Power of Music: The Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine.” (For a counterpoint, you can read this from The Atlantic: “The Dangers of Overestimating Music Therapy.”)— Tim Ferriss
“The psychoactive drug ibogaine could save lives—and everyone wants to cash in” by Rachel Nuwer (@RachelNuwer) for National Geographic. I’ve been looking forward to this article for quite some time. It’s a beautiful and important portrait of the world of iboga. Some scientists consider iboga’s alkaloid ibogaine to be one of the most powerful potential treatments for opioid use disorder, among other conditions. It carries real risks, but demand has nonetheless skyrocketed in recent years. This feature article was deeply reported, and the characters, conflicts, and photos within paint a rich pic— Tim Ferriss
“Barry Lopez on the Cure for Our Existential Loneliness and the Three Tenets of a Full Life” on The Marginalian. Thank you to Maria Popova (@mariapopova) for sending this to me, as she knows I love Barry’s writing. If you’re new to his work and want to sample one of his award-winning books, I suggest starting with Of Wolves and Men or Arctic Dreams. They represent nonfiction at its best.— Tim Ferriss
“The Secret Ingredient That Improves Meat Every Time” by J. Kenji López-Alt (@kenjilopezalt) for The New York Times. Spoiler: “More recently, I’ve been testing the limits of cooking with mayonnaise and discovering it may just be the most magical marinade ingredient I’ve ever encountered. I mean it.” Once you have watched a few episodes of Alone and seen people starving, mayo will seem like the decadence that it is. Read this article before you judge.— Tim Ferriss
“Revisiting Warren Buffett’s Advice to Me in 2008 (Plus: 7 Lessons for Young Investors)” An old video recently resurfaced on social media. It’s yours truly asking Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger a question at the 2008 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders Meeting. I was intensely nervous, and the audio makes that clear. This clip went viral, and a number of media outlets (Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, etc.) reached out to me for comment, asking me questions like “What advice would you give a 30-year-old now who’d just amassed their first million?” I decided to take a few of my longer answ— Tim Ferriss
“What Happens When the Army Needs 36,000 Kettlebells, Fast: This is the remarkable true story of the largest order of fitness equipment ever placed.” Via Alisa Cohn (@AlisaCohn), and kudos to Sorinex (@Sorinex) for threading many needles.— Tim Ferriss
“Stone Skipping Is a Lost Art. Kurt Steiner Wants the World to Find It” by Sean Williams (@swilliamsjourno). For a taste of this wonderful piece, nibble on these sample paragraphs: Finally, in February, after pursuing Kurt for more than two years, I flew from Europe to Detroit, where border guards had a hard time believing I was entering the U.S. to interview a stone skipper. Then I showed them a video of Kurt’s magical record throw, and before long a group was gathered around a computer screen, counting the skips and hollering “No fucking way!” before letting me through. From the moment I met— Tim Ferriss
“How Do You Serve a Friend in Despair?” by David Brooks (@nytdavidbrooks) for The New York Times. For related philosophies and tools that have literally saved my life, please start here: “Some Practical Thoughts on Suicide” and projects supported by the Saisei Foundation. If you are unable to read the NYT article at the first link, try this one.— Tim Ferriss
“The Great Contemplation: Reflections on the impact of the ‘4-Hour Workweek’ 15 years later” by Paul Millerd (@p_millerd). From the post: “They had never read it. If they did, they would have found that it is a philosophical wake-up call disguised as a bunch of life hacks. The whole book is basically him channeling the energy of poet Mary Oliver and yelling, ‘Don’t waste your wild and precious life!’” Hat tip to Jim O'Shaughnessy for bringing this to my attention.— Tim Ferriss
Chemical composition analysis of 102 ayahuasca brews. This is a great thread on (1) the difficulty of treating ayahuasca as a singular, standardized medicine and (2) the importance of collaborating with indigenous healers whose botanical knowledge far exceeds our limited grasp of these species. Brew method is another huge variable.— Tim Ferriss
“The leaf blower parable” by Seth Godin. Please, someone fix this!— Tim Ferriss
“The art and science of picking winning teams” by Ed Smith (@edsmithwriter), author of Making Decisions. For the cricket-naive folks, like me, think of “selector” as a scout or recruiter. From Wikipedia: “A selector in cricket is a person given the administrative duty to choose the players that will represent a particular team in a match. There is typically heavy scrutiny on national team selectors, including those of the major Test cricketing nations like Australia, England, and India." My favorite part of this article is related to the importance of accepting negative metrics if you want to — Tim Ferriss
[ RIFFUSION ]. AI-enhanced art and music is blowing my mind, and this is one of the latest tech mashups to give a real glimpse of the future. If you want to skip around, I suggest jumping to the 20-step interpolations from “typing to jazz” or “church bells to electronic beats.” Things are going to get very, very interesting very, very quickly. This is a preview. Click here to try your own prompt. Hat tip to Chicken + Pineapples for the recommendation. Related: I am now sponsoring an AI art competition with $2,000 USD going to each of three winners. It starts today, and here are the details.— Tim Ferriss
“Tinder Experiments II: Guys, unless you are really hot you are probably better off not wasting your time on Tinder — a quantitative socio-economic study” Ruh roh! Special thanks to Andy D. “How I Learned SQL in 4 Months Coming from a Non-Technical Background”— Tim Ferriss
“Viking berserkers may have used henbane to induce trance-like state” by Jennifer Ouellette (@JenLucPiquant) for Ars Technica.— Tim Ferriss
“What Are Sanderson’s Laws Of Magic?” by Brandon Sanderson. Hat tip to Sahil Lavingia. “How I got 50 high-profile angel investors to join our seed round” by Niels Hoven (@NielsHoven).— Tim Ferriss
“The Days of Duveen: A legendary art dealer and his clients.” by S. N. Behrman. This New Yorker profile is a masterpiece. Not only is the subject matter fascinating, arguably the greatest art dealer of the last few centuries, but the writing is also spectacular. And if you think some of the language is dated, you’re right. It was originally published in 1951. Huge thanks to the inimitable Cozomo de’ Medici for sending this to me. For further reading on Duveen, Duveen: The Story of the Most Spectacular Art Dealer of All Time (Amazon, AbeBooks) has been recommended to me by both Cozomo and Seth — Tim Ferriss
“Haters” by Paul Graham (@paulg). Hat tip to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong), who recommended this essay during our conversation for the podcast. Pair this with another favorite essay of mine from Paul Graham: “The Top Idea in Your Mind.”— Tim Ferriss
“50 ways to be ridiculously generous—and feel ridiculously good.” by Alexandra Franzen. This is a great list, which I found recommended on the website of fellow Austinite Professor Raj Raghunathan, author of If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Happy?. If you feel overwhelmed or underjoyed, try this: give an extra $10 or $20 to the barista next time you buy coffee. Give $5 of that to the barista and pay for the next person or next few people behind you. Simply walk out after the drive-by karma bomb. The afterglow is incredible and can last hours. Paradoxically, the fastest path to feeling better— Tim Ferriss
“If Everything Is ‘Trauma,’ Is Anything?” by Jessica Bennett (The New York Times). From the article: “Call it post-traumatic hyperbole. Or TikTok pseudo-psychology. Or even therapy-speak. There are plenty of horrible things going on in the world, and serious mental health crises that warrant such severe language. But when did we start using the language of harm to describe, well, everything?”— Tim Ferriss
“Billionaire No More: Patagonia Founder Gives Away the Company” by David Gelles (New York Times). I’ve loved Yvon ever since I first read Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman in 2005. Here are a few colorful bits from the NYT piece that make me love Yvon even more: “In some ways, the forfeiture of Patagonia is not terribly surprising coming from Mr. Chouinard. As a pioneering rock climber in California’s Yosemite Valley in the 1960s, Mr. Chouinard lived out of his car and ate damaged cans of cat food that he bought for five cents apiece. Even today, he wears ragge— Tim Ferriss
“The NFT Mint ‘Sweet Spot’: Data on Early Decisions” by Daren Matsuoka. I’m a fan of Daren’s analysis in the NFT space. This is a great primer on some fundamental mint decisions, and the matrices are very thought-provoking. It tackles many good questions, points out some important negative correlations, and also raises a lot of good questions. This was published on 3/31/22 (the date is somewhat hidden in the URL and at the very bottom of the piece), and I hope Daren posts a further exploration of potential confounders (e.g., What’s the likelihood that 10x returns for projects with 0.5–1.0 ETH — Tim Ferriss
“Is the Psychedelic Therapy Bubble About to Burst?” by Grace Browne for WIRED. This coverage expands upon a recent paper that’s received some attention: “Preparing for the Bursting of the Psychedelic Hype Bubble” by David Yaden, PhD, James B. Potash, MD, and Roland R. Griffiths, PhD, in JAMA Psychiatry.— Tim Ferriss
“Is Selling Shares in Yourself the Way of the Future?” by Nathan Heller for The New Yorker.— Tim Ferriss
“Psychedelic drug helped people with alcohol use disorder reduce drinking, study shows.” From the article: “More than 80% of those who were given the psychedelic treatment had drastically reduced their drinking eight months after the study started, compared to just over 50% in the antihistamine (active placebo) control group, according to results published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry.” Here’s a snippet of the experience of Jon Kostas, one of the study’s participants: “When he began the psilocybin trial at age 25, he was consuming almost 23 drinks in a single bender.” Flash forward to today, a— Tim Ferriss
“Lifestyles” by Morgan Housel (@morganhousel). Sometimes I just want to burn it all down and disappear. This helped me scratch that itch without any collateral damage.— Tim Ferriss
“Why I’m Open-Sourcing an NFT Insider Trading Policy for the Web3 Community.”— Tim Ferriss
“The Perils of Audience Capture” by Gurwinder Bhogal (@G_S_Bhogal). Everyone should read this brilliant piece. It could alternatively be titled “How Influencers Become Caricatures with No Exit,” “How Anyone Online Can Lose Themselves,” or “Succumbing to Quicksand: Digital Identity Creep in the 2020s.” If you spend any time online, you are subject to the dynamics described in this article. Read it, even if only for preemptive planning. I chat so often with friends about these things that one texted me this today: “Holy shit. Reading now. Has this guy been reading our texts?”— Tim Ferriss
“The Bronc-busting, Cow-punching, Death-defying Legend of Boots O’Neal” by Christian Wallace for Texas Monthly. This is a thought-provoking portrait of someone who lives to do his work and who can’t imagine doing otherwise. Here’s the opening paragraph: “The sun is not yet up when Boots O’Neal starts his workday. As the 89-year-old cowboy readies his mount in the predawn quiet, he stuffs his hands into well-worn leather gloves. His dark chaps are decorated with fringe, a slight sheen on the right hip where his nylon rope has polished the leather over the years. He pulls down his silverbelly ha— Tim Ferriss
“These Mormons Have Found a New Faith — in Magic Mushrooms” by Cassady Rosenblum for Rolling Stone. Worshippers are leaving the Church of Latter-day Saints in record numbers, and some are finding a new kind relationship with the divine through a psilocybin church co-founded by a man who was for years one of the most powerful Republicans in the Utah State Legislature. It’s a fascinating story about faith, mushrooms, and Mormonism. Why am I excited about this piece? First, it’s the first published piece out of the Ferriss-UC Berkeley Psychedelic Journalism Fellowship. Second, it’s Cassady’s firs— Tim Ferriss
“Panpsychism is crazy, but it’s also most probably true” by Philip Goff (@Philip_Goff).— Tim Ferriss
“Exogenous Testosterone or Testosterone with Finasteride Increases Bone Mineral Density in Older Men with Low Serum Testosterone.” I’m not a doctor and don’t play one on the Internet, but this was sent to me by a well-respected researcher who focuses a lot on mTOR and other subjects. I take neither drug but found it worth the read. Here is an excerpt of the abstract: “This finding suggests that dihydrotestosterone is not essential for the beneficial effects of T on BMD in men. In addition, the concomitant administration of F with T appears to attenuate the impact of T therapy on prostate size — Tim Ferriss
“My Twelve Rules for Life” by Russ Roberts (@EconTalker). In particular, I’m thinking about this one: “2. Find something healthy to worship David Foster Wallace says it well: Because here’s something else that’s weird but true: in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship—be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truth— Tim Ferriss
“The Rise of the Shaman Bro (and his eventual demise).” This succinct post is laughably accurate. It covers a few important subtleties, including the very real and COVID-driven Promoter Bro >>> Shaman Bro phenomenon. The same ecosystem disruption can explain the proliferation of another archetype I’ll call “Yogauasca Chick.” Same-same but different. Equally dangerous. A few quick recommendations if you’re ever in the market for shamans/guides/sitters: 1) If they don’t do a medical intake, including asking about current medications and family history (e.g., schizophrenia), avoid them. 2) If the— Tim Ferriss
“Minding matter” by Adam Frank (@AdamFrank4). Here is an excerpt: “Like most physicists, I learned how to ignore the weirdness of quantum physics. ‘Shut up and calculate!’ (the dictum of the American physicist David Mermin) works fine if you are trying to get 100 percent on your Advanced Quantum Theory homework or building a laser. But behind quantum mechanics’ unequaled calculational precision lie profound, stubbornly persistent questions about what those quantum rules imply about the nature of reality – including our place in it. Those questions are well-known in the physics community, but p— Tim Ferriss
“A South Texan’s Wild Quest to Break a National Birding Record” by Will McCarthy (@wrmccart) for Texas Monthly. Subheadline: “When she began her year-long bird-spotting adventure, Tiffany Kersten was lost and lonely. She ended up achieving a major milestone—and finding her way.” I’ve been on a nature kick and wanted to keep feeding the furnace. This provided a nice boost, and I’m already brainstorming new adventures…— Tim Ferriss
“How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously” and “The Unexplained Phenomena of the U.F.O. Report,” both for The New Yorker by Gideon Lewis-Kraus. Related to the above, “Don’t Dismiss the Alien Hypothesis” by Christopher Mellon (@ChrisKMellon). Christopher Mellon spent nearly 20 years in the U.S. Intelligence Community, including serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and the Minority Staff Director of the Senate Intelligence Committee.— Tim Ferriss
“On Needing to Find Something to Worry About.” This brief blog post provides me with an afterglow of extended calm for at least a few hours, and it can sometimes last a few days. The quote from Donald Winnicott packs a wallop, so don’t miss it.— Tim Ferriss
“The Top Idea in Your Mind” by Paul Graham (@paulg). This is arguably the most important short reading I’ve done in a while.— Tim Ferriss
“The Best Treatment for Insomnia Usually Isn’t a Pill” by Cyril Manning (UCSF Magazine), which includes the work of Jennifer Felder, PhD (@jenniferfelder), Aric Prather, PhD (@aricprather), and Andrew Krystal, MD. This article covers the interplay of insomnia and depression, CBT-I, as well as two associated apps. Both apps, though seemingly clinically effective, appear quite cumbersome to access. Have you found a nondrug sleep aid that has helped cure your insomnia? If so, please let me know @tferriss on Twitter with #sleep!— Tim Ferriss
“103 Bits of Advice I Wish I Had Known” by Kevin Kelly (@kevin2kelly). Last week, Kevin Kelly, arguably the real-life most interesting man in the world, turned 70 and shared another round of excellent advice. For more KK life tips, see his “68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice” from 2020 and “99 Additional Bits of Unsolicited Advice” from 2021. “It’s Time to Rage” by Roxane Gay (@rgay) (The New York Times).— Tim Ferriss
“Can the Clever Use of Old Legal Strategies Thwart Psychedelic Monopolies?”— Tim Ferriss
“Of Trees, Tenderness, and the Moon: Hasui Kawase’s Stunning Japanese Woodblock Prints from the 1920s–1950s” by Maria Popova (@brainpicker). From the article: “Born into a Tokyo family of rope and thread merchants, Hasui Kawase (May 18, 1883–November 7, 1957) grew up dreaming of becoming an artist. His parents pressed him to continue in their path, but he persisted in following his own, drawing quiet inspiration from the example of his maternal uncle—the creator of the first manga magazine.”— Tim Ferriss
“Patents on Psychedelics: The Next Legal Battlefront of Drug Development” by I. Glenn Cohen (@CohenProf) and Mason Marks (@MasonMarksMD) for the Harvard Law Review. Here is an excerpt: The issuance of low-quality patents on psychedelics reflects unique characteristics of these substances, their complex history and regulation, and systemic problems with the patent system. Though prior art repositories and patent pledges can be helpful, meaningful patent reform is necessary to prevent the granting of meritless psychedelic patents. The existing patent framework often rewards those who patent “me-— Tim Ferriss