Everything Tim Ferriss has recommended in 5-Bullet Friday — 2,095 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.
This is a two-for-one bullet. First, Víctor Hugo Yáñez Piña and his sculptures of people chiseling away at their own bodies (@escultor_vhyp). Hat tip to Mike N., who sent me this article about Victor. Second, this amazing Lion Turtle piece by Lauren Henderson (@truffke).— Tim Ferriss
How to Think for Yourself by Paul Graham (@paulg). I have recommended many of Paul’s essays over the years, including The Risk of Discovery, Having Kids, Keep Your Identity Small, and, perhaps more than any other, Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule. How to Think for Yourself is a fabulous new addition to the list. Here’s one of my favorite excerpts from it: “Treat it as a puzzle. You know that some accepted ideas will later turn out to be wrong. See if you can guess which. The end goal is not to find flaws in the things you’re told, but to find the new ideas that had been concealed by the br— Tim Ferriss
Politician Cyrus Habib Leaves Office to Join the Jesuits (The New York Times — @nytimes). Have you ever fantasized about walking off and leaving it all behind? This is the amazing story of one man, on track for ever-growing prestige and power, who did just that. Kudos to Frank Bruni (@FrankBruni) for a great piece. For more on Cyrus, here is his Wikipedia page.— Tim Ferriss
This week, the iconic Navy SEAL Foundation (NSF) pledged one of the organization’s largest single grants in its 20-year history to support a major post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) study focused on MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. This is a very big deal. I might expand more another time, but for now I’ll simply extend sincere gratitude to the Navy SEAL Foundation. Thank you for leading from the front. This is a large domino that could tip over many others.— Tim Ferriss
The very first psychedelic study I ever supported (psilocybin for moderate-to-severe depression) was published this week in JAMA Psychiatry (@JAMAPsych), and it doesn’t disappoint. Here are a few eye-opening highlights: “The magnitude of the effect we saw was about four times larger than what clinical trials have shown for traditional antidepressants on the market,” says Alan Davis, Ph.D. [...] For the entire group of 24 participants, 67% showed a more than 50% reduction in depression symptoms at the one-week follow-up and 71% at the four-week follow-up. Overall, four weeks post-treatmen— Tim Ferriss
The Psychedelic Election by Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish). Greek civilization, a mysterious once-in-a-lifetime ceremony at the Temple of Eleusis, and a cameo by Marcus Aurelius… what’s not to like? This fascinating piece touches on a lot, including how people in D.C. or Oregon can, just possibly, be part of the next Renaissance.— Tim Ferriss
Why Private Eyes Are Everywhere Now by Patrick Radden Keefe (@praddenkeefe) for the New Yorker.— Tim Ferriss
Johns Hopkins survey about belief changes following psychedelic use. The Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research needs your help. They are conducting an anonymous online survey of changes in beliefs that can occur after taking a classic psychedelic (psilocybin-containing mushrooms, LSD, ayahuasca, mescaline, DMT, etc.). Psychedelic-occasioned changes in belief may represent a vital, under-studied mechanism that could account for persisting therapeutic and nontherapeutic effects. Examples of some of the persisting effects that have been observed in patient groups include— Tim Ferriss
9 Common Traits in the Lives of Stoic Leaders by Stephen Hanselman (@SteveHanselman).— Tim Ferriss
Joe Rogan Is the New Mainstream Media (New York Times) by Bari Weiss (@bariweiss). For those seeking extra credit, you can read Bari’s powerful resignation letter from the NYT, which followed just 50 days later on July 14th.— Tim Ferriss
Silicon Valley and Wall Street Elites Pour Money Into Psychedelic Research by Shalini Ramachandran in WSJ, which should also be going to print today. This is a great piece with some notable and surprising names. That said, the headline doesn’t capture the most important part to me: ~2,500 donors participated, in amounts ranging from one dollar to $5 million, to raise the $30 million needed to complete clinical trials for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for trauma/PTSD. My sincerest thanks to each and every one of you who helped make this happen! Every donation mattered and made a difference. 🙏 NO— Tim Ferriss
“100 Things I Learned in 10 Years and 100 Reads of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations” by Ryan Holiday (@RyanHoliday).— Tim Ferriss
John McPhee on Writing and the Relationship Between Artistic Originality and Self-Doubt by Maria Popova (@brainpicker). Here is one of my favorite quotes in the piece: “as Auden observed in one of his singular strokes of wry perspicacity, ‘some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.’”— Tim Ferriss
“The Four Quadrants of Conformism” by Paul Graham (@paulg). Pair this with Paul’s 2004 essay “What You Can’t Say,” which features The Conformist Test: “Let’s start with a test: Do you have any opinions that you would be reluctant to express in front of a group of your peers? If the answer is no, you might want to stop and think about that. If everything you believe is something you’re supposed to believe, could that possibly be a coincidence? Odds are it isn’t. Odds are you just think what you’re told.”— Tim Ferriss
“A statement signed by 150 people, incl. Bill T. Jones, Wynton Marsalis, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Noam Chomsky, J.K. Rowling, Margaret Atwood, and Salman Rushdie….” I link above to the tweet instead of the Harper’s letter itself, as many of the comments should terrify anyone living in the United States. If you think McCarthyism was bad, just wait until we have dozens of labels that can get someone fired, blacklisted, or worse for attempting to have open discussion. I’ve watched this 5x, 10x, and 20x in volume and intensity since the beginning of COVID. If things don’t course correct, I worry we— Tim Ferriss
People and Predators Series, published by The Center for Human-Carnivore Coexistence at Colorado State University. As a preface, I’ll provide a quote that largely explains why wolves in Colorado have caught my attention: “Re-establishing wolves in western Colorado could connect the entire North American wolf population from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan through Canada and Alaska, down the Rocky Mountains into Mexico. It would be difficult to overestimate the biological and conservation value of this achievement.” — Dr. L. D. Mech, iconic biologist Based on what other ecologists have told m— Tim Ferriss
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University are seeking individuals ages 18–65 with anorexia nervosa to participate in a research study looking at the effects of psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychoactive substance found in certain species of mushrooms. The study will investigate psychological effects of psilocybin, including whether or not it can help with anorexia. (For a comprehensive overview of therapeutic applications of psilocybin and other psychedelics, I suggest watching this, or you can listen to the audio-only version here). Please visitwww.hopkinspsychedelic.org/anorexia to learn m— Tim Ferriss
“This Enlightening Map Shows the Literal Meaning of Every Country’s Name.” I discovered this in my personalized weekly e-mail from Mix. Did you know that Zimbabwe means “Stone Enclosure”? Or that Latvia means “Forest Clearer”? I’m obsessed with language learning (for more on that, see these articles), and this perfectly scratched the itch.— Tim Ferriss
“Can MDMA help to treat addiction?,” a short interview with Dr. Ben Sessa of Imperial College, London. Here is one of my favorite portions: [INTERVIEWER:] Why then do psychedelics seem to do better in the treatment of addictions than conventional treatments? [DR. SESSA:] Because underlying addiction, and many if not most chronic mental disorders, is rigidity. Stuck rigid mental narratives about self and the world, which arise early in life as a result of early experiences, in other words, the very core building blocks of our personality, which stay with us for life. The majority of mental heal— Tim Ferriss
“James Baldwin, The Art of Fiction No. 78” from the Paris Review, Issue 91, 1984. James Baldwin (1924–1987) was an incredible storyteller and weaver of culture into words. He was also a tortured soul, and I’ve been fascinated by him since college. I recommend reading his Wikipedia page before the Paris Review interview for more context, including the fact that he was discriminated against within the civil rights movement for being gay. One aspect of James that drew me to him is that he doesn’t oversimplify in his writing; another is that he strove to uncover messiness both within and without. — Tim Ferriss
Survey of entity encounter experiences occasioned by inhaled N,N-dimethyltryptamine: Phenomenology, interpretation, and enduring effects. Here’s one notable line: “More than half of those who identified as atheist before the experience no longer identified as atheist afterwards.”— Tim Ferriss
“68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice” by Kevin Kelly (@kevin2kelly). Kevin is arguably the real-life most interesting man in the world, so I jumped on this piece as soon as it came out.— Tim Ferriss
Steak-umm’s Twitter Account Is a Brilliant, Bizarre Voice of Reason in Our Coronavirus Era. Thanks to Kelly Starrett for sending this over. Caution: Steak-umm may pull you into a vortex.— Tim Ferriss
Howard Marks’ latest memo. Howard Marks (@HowardMarksBook) is co-chairman and co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management, a leading investment firm with more than $120 billion in assets. Warren Buffett has written of Howard Marks: “When I see memos from Howard Marks in my mail, they’re the first thing I open and read. I always learn something.” This is his latest, and I think it poses some of the smartest questions I’ve seen related to these wild times. Here’s one standout line, variously attributed: “Capitalism without bankruptcy is like Catholicism without hell.” For those who’d like to learn — Tim Ferriss
Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now by Tomas Pueyo (@tomaspueyo). This is probably the best write-up I’ve found thus far on what needs to be done and why. It also includes case studies and suggestions. Many thanks to Chris G. for sending it my way. Here is one snippet: This chart shows, for the 1918 flu in the US, how many more deaths there were per city depending on how fast measures were taken. For example, a city like St. Louis took measures 6 days before Pittsburg, and had less than half the deaths per citizen. On average, taking measures 20 days earlier halved the death rate. Italy has fina— Tim Ferriss
The once-daily scientific and global recap of COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 by Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. This is a short newsletter of concise bullet points, and it’s the only COVID-19 newsletter that I’m subscribed to. It’s not the end-all and be-all, but it’s more reliable than 99.9% of the noise being circulated. This helps keep you out of primary social feeds, which will overwhelm and confuse. That said...— Tim Ferriss
How Public Health Policies Saved Citizens in St. Louis During the— Tim Ferriss
How Sia Saved Herself by Hillel Aron (@hillelaron). After my short tweetstorm on the dangers of public exposure, reader Bryan Elliott (@BryanElliott) recommended this to me. What does fame look like without a face? Is it possible to be a pop star while breaking many of the supposed “rules”? Read this and find out. Excellent piece.— Tim Ferriss
Business gets ready to trip: How psychedelic drugs may revolutionize mental health care by Jeffrey O’Brien (@jeffreyobrien) in Fortune. I don’t do much media these days, but I made a huge exception for this one, as it should be huge: 12–16 pages in the print edition, making it the largest feature in the issue. It’s one of the best articles on psychedelics I’ve seen in years, and it covers a lot of important ground: business, nonprofit, scientific, and investment considerations, among others. As one friend said about the piece: “Finally, this is the article I can send my parents to explain why — Tim Ferriss
“Body Count” by Epsilon Theory/Ben Hunt (@epsilontheory). This was sent to me by one of my smartest and most connected friends. It paints a spooky picture of the Chinese reports of what has informally been referred to as “Wuhan coronavirus.” Per the WHO at the time of this writing, the official virus name is SARS-CoV-2, and the disease it causes is COVID-19, much like HIV causes AIDS. Here is one portion from this essay (edited for length), and I suggest reading the entire piece: >From a narrative perspective, China is fighting this war against nCov2019 exactly like the US fought its war again— Tim Ferriss
Digital nomad: this is the reality of living the ‘dream’ Instagram lifestyle by Elly Earls(@ellyjearls). This piece highlights some of the risks of working remotely, as well as the incredible importance of community. Pair it with “Remote Workers Are Not All Digital Nomads” by Weiting Liu (@weitingliu).— Tim Ferriss
Why Is Joe Rogan So Popular? (Atlantic) by Devin Gordon (@DevinGordonX). This is one of the best explorations of Joe that I’ve come across. Devin captures the zeitgeist—with real insight into Joe and his format—better than anyone I’ve seen to date. Here is one of many sections that struck me, slightly edited for length: [One journalist wrote,] “If traditional media were pissed about anything relevant to the Musk-Rogan interview, it was the extent to which Rogan got played.” Played! Imagine writing that about one of the most discussed and downloaded podcasts of 2018. Rogan, the one who handed E— Tim Ferriss
“The Tragedy of the Commons” by Garrett Hardin, Science, December 13, 1968, 1243–1248. Thanks to Shane Parrish (@ShaneAParrish) of Farnam Street for pointing me to this. This is an incredibly thought-provoking read. Even if you think you understand the concept of the “tragedy of the commons,” this original piece that introduced the phrase offers a lot of food for thought.— Tim Ferriss
Having Kids by Paul Graham (@paulg). Here is one of my favorite sections: “I remember perfectly well what life was like before. Well enough to miss some things a lot, like the ability to take off for some other country at a moment’s notice. That was so great. Why did I never do that? … See what I did there? The fact is, most of the freedom I had before kids, I never used. I paid for it in loneliness, but I never used it.”— Tim Ferriss
How Kepler Invented Science Fiction and Defended His Mother in a Witchcraft Trial While Revolutionizing Our Understanding of the Universe. Maria Popova (@brainpicker) is simply amazing. Her prose is worth reading for its beauty alone (keep in mind that English is not Maria’s native language!), and the stories in this essay highlight just how brilliant, stupid, ignorant, and insightful humans can be… sometimes all at the same time. Hat tip to JZ for the recommendation.— Tim Ferriss
Every Amazon Shareholder Letter in a Single Downloadable PDF. Jeff Bezos (@jeffbezos) never ceases to amaze, and these letters really highlight how prescient and strategic he and Amazon have been since the 1990s. If you prefer a shortened version via audio, this is worth a shot and includes some fun trivia (e.g., What was the original name idea for Amazon.com? Click on this: Relentless.com…). Big hat tip to Ricardo of Most Recommended Books, whose site is also worth checking out. Quote I’m pondering, particularly as contrasted with the above — “The most exquisite paradox: as soon as you give i— Tim Ferriss
“Quality and Effort” by Seth Godin (@sethgodin).— Tim Ferriss
20 Podcast Predictions for 2020 from Top Industry Leaders by Steve Pratt (@steveprattca) of Pacific Content. This is a thought-provoking list of predictions for 2020, conveniently grouped into categories (advertising, new revenue models, consolidation, international opportunities, etc.). Contributors include many big platform, content, and media players. Hat tip to Courtney W. Holt (@mootron) for sharing this on Twitter. 2020 is going to be a very exciting year for podcasts...— Tim Ferriss
The Keto Diet’s Most Controversial Champion in the Atlantic, by Sam Apple (@samuelapple). This is a nearly unbelievable, made-for-film story. The Atlantic’s Paul Bisceglio summarizes the basics well: “13 years ago, the chemist Patrick Arnold went to prison in baseball’s infamous BALCO steroids scandal. Today, he’s all in on keto—and his experiment collaborations could actually have big implications for medicine. Sam Apple (@samuelapple) delivers a wild ride.” This piece involves two past podcast guests, Dominic D’Agostino, PhD and “rogue chemist” Patrick Arnold. It’s an unlikely but perfect pa— Tim Ferriss
Excerpted from “We Are What We Choose” by Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos), delivered to the Princeton Class of 2010 at graduation (video of speech, transcript): On one particular trip, I was about 10 years old. I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car. My grandfather was driving. And my grandmother had the passenger seat. She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the smell. At that age, I’d take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic. I’d calculate our gas mileage—figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending. I’d been hearing an ad campaign — Tim Ferriss
The 33 Best Trips of 2019 (Outside Magazine). I am planning my next adventures, both in the U.S. and abroad, and this list had some unexpected gems.— Tim Ferriss
Model hallucinations by Philip Gerrans and Chris Letheby (@chrisletheby) (Aeon). Thanks to Jason Silva (@JasonSilva) for bringing this to my attention. This entire piece is worth reading, but here are a few paragraphs that really jumped out at me: How does this story explain the therapeutic effects of psychedelics? As we’ve seen, the self-model is an integrated bundle of predictions – and lots of these predictions, built up over a lifetime of experience, can make us deeply stressed and unhappy. A person with social anxiety expects and experiences the world to be hostile and uncontrollable beca— Tim Ferriss
Metformin and exercise — déjà vu all over again? by Dr. Peter Attia (@peterattiamd). This landed in my inbox on Sunday, courtesy of Peter’s weekly email newsletter. It explains why some of my friends who used to take metformin for longevity have stopped taking it. This short piece is also a great primer on thinking about extending healthspan versus lifespan.— 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 overwhelmed by options, 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 is often thi— Tim Ferriss
To Pay Attention, the Brain Uses Filters, Not a Spotlight. Hat tip to Sam McRoberts (@Sams_Antics) for the recommendation.— Tim Ferriss
This post about labels, masks, and reality...— Tim Ferriss
REBUS and the Anarchic Brain. This one gets pretty technical, but if you’re interested in models of how the brain might work, how we assemble reality, and so on, this might tickle your fancy.— Tim Ferriss
Some long-time readers are familiar with my bets in the world of startups (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Uber, Shopify, Alibaba) and the world of psychedelic scientific research (e.g., Johns Hopkins, Imperial College, UCSF). I pick my shots very, very carefully. Here is my latest $100,000 bet, which I think has massive ROI potential. It’s rare to find an Archimedes lever like this.— Tim Ferriss
The Persuasive Power of the Wolf Lady (The New Yorker). This is a page-turning read and simply outstanding. I’m already planning on rereading it to study the lessons it contains. Amazing characters and beautiful prose.— Tim Ferriss
An experimental study of a virtual reality counselling paradigm using embodied self-dialogue. This study was sent to me by Kevin Kelly, and as he put it, “Use virtual reality to swap bodies and give yourself advice. Weird, but early experiments suggest it works.” Kevin hasn’t tried it and simply forwarded it to me, but I’d love to try it myself. Does anyone know how I might do that? Please let me know on Twitter using @tferriss and #timvr if so.— Tim Ferriss
Deathwatch for the Amazon: Brazil has the power to save Earth’s greatest forest—or destroy it (The Economist). This just came out yesterday, August 1st, and it is excellent. I'll share another piece I'm reading on the same topic in the NYT, as the NYT doesn't automatically require an account signup to read the full article. Pro tip: if you've hit your limit for free NYT articles, try switching your browser. Under Brazil’s Far-Right Leader, Amazon Protections Slashed and Forests Fall (The New York Times). This is very important. How it is resolved, or not, will almost certainly affect the entir— Tim Ferriss
Game of Tongues: How Duolingo Built A $700 Million Business With Its Addictive Language-Learning App (Forbes)— Tim Ferriss
Inside Apple’s plan to protect a 27,000-acre forest in Colombia (Fast Company).— Tim Ferriss
Why I Am a Bad Correspondent by Neal Stephenson (@nealstephenson), one of my favorite sci-fi writers. This short, anti-comms blog post contains gems like this: “The quality of my e-mails and public speaking is, in my view, nowhere near that of my novels. So for me it comes down to the following choice: I can distribute material of bad-to-mediocre quality to a small number of people, or I can distribute material of higher quality to more people. But I can’t do both; the first one obliterates the second.”— Tim Ferriss
Coders’ Primal Urge to Kill Inefficiency—Everywhere by Clive Thompson (WIRED). Sample quote: “Larry Wall, who created the Perl programming language, and several co-authors wrote that one of the key virtues of a programmer is ‘laziness’—of the variety where your unwillingness to perform rote actions inspires you to do the work to automate them.” Also see Clive’s guest post on my blog about learning to code.— Tim Ferriss
The Structure of Stand-Up Comedy. Visually explores and dissects Ali Wong’s Baby Cobra stand-up comedy special.— Tim Ferriss
Psychiatry’s Incurable Hubris: The biology of mental illness is still a mystery, but practitioners don’t want to admit it. (@TheAtlantic) by Gary Greenberg. This quick read came highly recommended, and it didn’t disappoint. The article describes important blindspots and “inconvenient truths” in psychiatry, which often apply to broader medicine. That said, I do find the headline overly sweeping, as I know all-star psychiatrists who are both extremely effective and well aware of the limitations of their tools. Let us not forget: ALL tools have limitations. It’s a matter of knowing what they are — Tim Ferriss
It’s been a very big and busy week for me and the world of psychedelic science. I’m going to cheat here and add a few sub-bullets, the first of which has been in the works for a very long time: ***Imperial College London just launched the world’s first Centre for Psychedelics Research. This is a very big deal. Never before has such a center (centre = British spelling) existed in the world, and I am one of the five founding funders backing it. Psychedelic medicine is experiencing a renaissance of scientific interest, and this first-ever center has the potential to be the tip of the spear. These— Tim Ferriss
“The Bell Curve: What happens when patients find out how good their doctors really are?” by Atul Gawande (@atul_gawande) (New Yorker). This oldie but goodie was recommended to me by the incomparable Adam Robinson. It will give you a new perspective on the medical world. Furthermore, it provides a lot of food for thought that applies outside of medicine. Example: “We are used to thinking that a doctor’s ability depends mainly on science and skill. The lesson from Minneapolis is that these may be the easiest parts of care. Even doctors with great knowledge and technical skill can have mediocre r— Tim Ferriss
The Best Way to Bake a Sweet Potato (Cook’s Illustrated [@TestKitchen]). One of the short answers? “Microwaving the potatoes to 200 degrees and then baking them for another hour [at 425 degrees] causes their cell walls to break down and their starches to gelatinize, yielding a smooth, plush texture. Much of their moisture also evaporates during that time, so their flavor concentrates.” TF: I also found 425F for one hour, followed by 275F for one hour, to work well.— Tim Ferriss