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.
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
The Moth Presents All These Wonders: True Stories About Facing the Unknown. Here’s the description: “Celebrating the 20th anniversary of storytelling phenomenon The Moth, 45 unforgettable true stories about risk, courage, and facing the unknown, drawn from the best ever told on their stages.” I’ve only read 50 or so pages, but one of my favorites thus far is Unusual Normality (YouTube option here if any loading issues) by Ishmael Beah (@ishmaelbeah). Reading one short (2–5-page) story over tea or coffee in the morning is a nice jumpstart to the day.— Tim Ferriss
>From Bubble to Bubble by Sahil Lavingia. This is a wonderful article about moving from tech and hyper-liberal San Francisco to conservative-heavy Provo, Utah, and the lessons learned along the way. Sahil’s very humanizing perspective reflects a lot of reasons I moved from SF to Texas.— Tim Ferriss
“Ten Lessons I Learned While Teaching Myself to Code” by Clive Thompson, an outstanding author and long-form journalist. I particularly enjoyed his section on automation. Here’s a teaser: “‘Don’t learn to code, learn to automate,’ writes the coder Erik Dietrich. This is bang on. Nearly every white-collar job on the planet involves tons of work that can be done more efficiently if you know a bit of coding.”— Tim Ferriss
Seeking the Productive Life: Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure by Stephen Wolfram. (Hat tip to the incredible Kevin Kelly for the recommendation.) The most compelling documentary I’ve seen in the last year, which— Tim Ferriss
Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company by Sahil Lavingia (@shl). This is the story of a wonderful philosophical reboot. Nearly everyone should consider reading it. Thanks to reader @lucasgabd from Rio de Janeiro for sharing with me via Twitter. For more great lessons from “failures,” check out “What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars.”— Tim Ferriss
What Impossible Meant to Feynman. This is a really fun read for laypeople (like me) and scientists alike. It was sent to me by Ozan Varol, a former rocket scientist and fellow Richard Feynman fan.— Tim Ferriss
Excerpts from Where Mountains Roar: A Personal Report from the Sinai and Negev Deserts by Lesley Hazleton (@accidentaltheo). You can find the specific section that I’m (re)reading here: page 1 and page 2. I was given the excerpts by a tour guide while trekking through the Negev not long ago.— Tim Ferriss
Rapamycin. For more background, check out “My Life Extension Pilgrimage to Easter Island.”— Tim Ferriss
Germs in Your Gut Are Talking to Your Brain. Scientists Want to Know What They’re Saying (via @nytimes). Though microbiome science is still in the early stages, it’s fascinating to imagine the implications for Alzheimer’s disease, autism, and other conditions. Hat tip to reader Sam McRoberts (@Sams_Antics) for the recommendation. It’s worth the read. (Related company I invested in long ago: uBiome.) Short video I’ve watched at least 10 times (do NOT try this at— Tim Ferriss
The 25 Most-Clicked Links from “5-Bullet Friday” in 2018.— Tim Ferriss
Surge Cities: The 50 Most Startup-Friendly Places in America (@Inc). Using seven key indicators, such as the rate of entrepreneurship and overall job creation, this list provides a comprehensive overview of fastest-growing startup-friendly cities in the U.S. The top three are Austin (#1), Salt Lake City (#2), and Raleigh (#3). There are many more you might not expect, and quite a few should be fantastic places to invest in the next few years.— Tim Ferriss
The 50 Best Podcast Episodes of 2018. This is a spectacular list of great podcast episodes. The topics are varied, often unexpected, and hit the nail on the head for me in a bunch of cases. I’ll be listening to many podcasts I never would have found on my own.— Tim Ferriss
What MDMA Therapy Did For Me by Tucker Max (@tuckermax).— Tim Ferriss
How to Configure Your iPhone to Work for You, Not Against You by Tony Stubblebine (@tonystubblebine). My team has already found this article extremely helpful.— Tim Ferriss
What if the Placebo Effect Isn’t a Trick? (New York Times Magazine). This was recommended to me by Dr. Peter Attia. Here’s a good teaser from the piece: “New research is zeroing in on a biochemical basis for the placebo effect — possibly opening a Pandora’s box for Western medicine.”— Tim Ferriss
“On Needing to Find Something to Worry About.” I expected a fluff piece based on the headline. Instead, I got an incredible (and incredibly short) essay that I saved to Evernote and now read several times per month. It won’t apply to everyone, but for some of you, like me, it will have a pronounced “Oh…. fuck” realization that could change things. Once you read it, I bet you’ll be able to guess which specific line carried the most weight for me.— Tim Ferriss
How To Travel The World On $1,500 A Month (Forbes). This amazing and real-world case study came to me from a couple, Amirah Cook and her husband Jarrell, two readers of The 4-Hour Workweek. It’s a wonderful example of what you can do with a little resourcefulness. Here’s one small sample from the article: “Traveling from west to the east, they started in Panama, spending six months backpacking around Central America. They then flew to Europe, made their way to Morocco and topped off their travel with two years in Asia. Over the course of nearly five years, they saw thirty countries together…” — Tim Ferriss
Paul Singer, Doomsday Investor (The New Yorker). This is a great profile of a fascinating investor, and it provides a good overview of “activist” investing. Paul is the founder of Elliott Management and, as put in the article, "one of the most powerful, and most unyielding, investors in the world."— Tim Ferriss
This past Monday was World Suicide Prevention Day, and I’ve previously written about my own struggles and coping strategies. This particular post serves as a compendium of the tools, routines, and resources that I have found most helpful for fighting the demons, and *thousands* of readers have contributed in the comments. You are not alone.— Tim Ferriss
“Nick Littlehales: the man who showed Cristiano Ronaldo how to sleep”— Tim Ferriss
Inside the Very Big, Very Controversial Business of Dog Cloning (Vanity Fair) by David Ewing Duncan (@duncande). Ever lost a dog you loved, or do you fear losing a dog you currently love? This article digs into the business, science, and ethics of making a copy of Fido…— Tim Ferriss
Thanks to archive.org, my first attempt at a blog is forever preserved on the web. As with most first drafts, it’s embarrassing! Here is an archive snapshot from May 2006 of “Tim Ferriss: The Human Experiment.” The domain name will probably give you a chuckle…— Tim Ferriss
“How to win the Tour de France, in one image” (Fast Company). I was led to this piece by Dr. Peter Attia (@PeterAttiaMD), and here’s a short preview: “Practically speaking, the energy savings is the equivalent of pedaling 9.3 miles per hour while actually flying down the road at 33.5 miles per hour.”— Tim Ferriss
The Network Man: Reid Hoffman’s Big Idea (The New Yorker). I’m fond of the expression “your network is your net worth.” Few people represent this as well as Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman), the co-founder of LinkedIn. Check out this article to learn how Hoffman became an “ubernode” — one of the world’s most well-networked people. If you’d like to hear my podcast with Reid on his habits, strategic thinking, journaling, and more, here it is.— Tim Ferriss
The Entropic Brain paper by Robin Carhart-Harris (@RCarhartHarris) - full PDF: "The Entropic Brain: A Theory of Conscious States Informed by Neuroimaging Research with Psychedelic Drugs").— Tim Ferriss
“The chords of the universe: It’s no surprise that mathematics has influenced music. But did you know that the influence goes both ways?” via Sam McRoberts (@sams_antics). Thanks, Sam!— Tim Ferriss
NYT Magazine - “My Adventures with the Trip Doctors” by Michael Pollan. I make a tiny cameo, but there are much more impressive people involved with the (finally public!) P.S.F.C. Big things soon....— Tim Ferriss
“Ecstasy as a Remedy for PTSD? You Probably Have Some Questions.” (New York Times)— Tim Ferriss
“How I Lost 10 kg [22 pounds] Eating at 7-Eleven” by Donny Kimball. This is a detailed and really fun piece on how Donny lost 22 pounds eating mostly food from convenience stores…in Japan! His tips and strategies can be applied anywhere and in any restaurant, and the “Raising the Stakes” section is particularly ingenious (StickK bet, private Instagram account gambit, etc.). If you’re looking to get leaner and want to lose the excuses, this article is time well spent.— Tim Ferriss
Egg boxing with Bo Boswell. This is an outgrowth of Dr. Peter Attia’s introduction to egg boxing, which might make sense to watch first. If you watch it, watch the entire thing for a full appreciation of Peter’s OCD. For his less ridiculous exploits, this podcast is a good start.— Tim Ferriss
Cooperation over Competition: Statement on Open Science for Psychedelic Medicines and Practices. This is incredibly important, as there are rumors (credible, based on my sources) that at least one for-profit startup is using exclusive manufacturing agreements to prevent academic, non-profit researchers from furthering studies and phase 3 trials with psilocybin. Don’t miss the signatures at the end of the article.— Tim Ferriss
Articles on parthenogenesis in larger vertebrates, like this in Scientific American: “Strange but True: Komodo Dragons Show that ‘Virgin Births’ Are Possible”— Tim Ferriss
25 Things You Might Not Know About the Birds in Your Backyard. I’ve become quite interested in birds and bird song in the last few months, and this gives me even more to ponder. Why is bird poop white? How do so many sleep standing up? Turns out there are plenty of good (and curiosity-piquing) answers.— Tim Ferriss
Uber Creator Invents New Cryptocurrency—And Wants Your Help Making It Reality from Fortune. I don’t follow most crypto and blockchain chatter, but I am following this one exceptionally closely. If you want to check out the Uber co-founder’s new site directly, you can visit Eco.com.— Tim Ferriss
He Predicted The 2016 Fake News Crisis. Now He's Worried About An Information Apocalypse. This piece should be required for anyone on the Internet. These technologies are going to affect everything. Things are sometimes murky and misleading on the web, and it’s going to get much more challenging. Here’s just a small taste from this article: “Already available tools for audio and video manipulation have begun to look like a potential fake news Manhattan Project. In the murky corners of the internet, people have begun using machine learning algorithms and open-source software to easily create po— Tim Ferriss
Here it is...— Tim Ferriss
Masters of the Silicon Valley fitness universe (San Francisco Chronicle). I’m so proud of my friends Jerzy and Aniela Gregorek. Their work is transformative. Jerzy, a world-record holder and former political refugee, has been on my podcast and also appeared heavily in my latest TED talk. His favorite mantra is now one of my favorites: “Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.”— Tim Ferriss
I Made My Shed the Top Rated Restaurant On TripAdvisor. (via @VICE) Can you make a non-existent restaurant the #1-ranked spot in a major food city like London? Why, yes, you can. This article is absolutely hilarious and worth the read.— Tim Ferriss
To Stay Young, Kill Zombie Cells: An anti-aging strategy that works in mice is about to be tested in humans via Kevin Rose (@kevinrose)— Tim Ferriss
I’ll cheat and give you two bullets here: First, I’m doing all of my holiday shopping based off of my guests’ answers to “What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)?” There are some real gems. Here’s the whole list for free. Second, I’m indulging my obsession with accelerated learning: WSJ - A Chess Novice Challenged Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen. He Had One Month to Train. (Sub heading: “Speed learner Max Deutsch is testing the limits of self-improvement”) If you can’t get the full article for some reason, this short video gi— Tim Ferriss
The Psychedelic Revolution Is Being Led by a 79-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor. I’ve spent time with George, and his story makes him all the more impressive.— Tim Ferriss
17 English Words that Come From Japanese. There were quite a few surprises for me in this list, even as someone who speaks and reads Japanese. The background context is an adventure and shows you how hybridized nearly all language is. There are no “pure” modern languages.— Tim Ferriss
The Concussion Repair Manual. >From Amazon: The Concussion Repair Manual is written as a user’s guide for those suffering after head traumas and those that support them. It is one-part “textbook,” packed with the leading research on medical technologies for healing the injured brain, and one-part “workbook,” offering a step-by-step method for making and tracking a personalized recovery regimen. As more and more high profile athletes come forward to share their stories of invisible suffering after head injuries, we as a culture are finally acknowledging this silent epidemic.— Tim Ferriss
Scott Glenn, Wielding Knives on a Screen Near You (New York Times) Scott Glenn is one of the most iconic actors alive. His credits include The Right Stuff, Apocalypse Now, The Hunt for Red October, Silence of the Lambs, and multiple Bourne series appearances, among dozens of others. Less known, he is also the fittest and most dangerous 78-year old I’ve ever met. This article gives you a small taste of just how incredible Scott is.— Tim Ferriss
How to Survive the Apocalypse (New York Times) by Alex Williams (@alexwilliamsNYC). Long-time readers will know that I find both practicality and humor in planning for worst-case scenarios. This feature offers both good advice and ridiculous excess. A few sample lines: “...if you are among the swelling class of weekend paranoiacs of affluent means who are starting to mull fantasies of urban escape following the endless headlines about disasters, both natural and manufactured, you may be starting to see a different image in your mind when think ‘survivalist.’ You may no longer see the wild-eyed— Tim Ferriss
Famous Statistical Quotations on Cross Validated. Just reading these makes you look at the world a little differently and perhaps a little more intelligently. This is true even if you (like me) have no background in statistics.— Tim Ferriss
I Got a $600 Brain 'Reboot' and It Changed My World -- Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor and don’t play one on the Internet, so caveat emptor. If any scientists are familiar with NAD+ (and perhaps cautiously optimistic) but not drinking the hype Kool-Aid, I’d love to hear from you on Twitter (@tferriss).— Tim Ferriss
Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, And It Won't Tell Me How. The world of big data can create an increasingly small world. Is it always a good thing? What happens when Facebook and Google know you better than you know yourself? I know a fair number of smart techies who are diversifying their online tools (and therefore identities) to mitigate against data breaches and 1984-type issues.— Tim Ferriss
Eliminating the Human by David Byrne (MIT Technology Review). The last 25% is particularly worth rereading a few times. Hat tip to Tom Peters for the recommendation.— Tim Ferriss
Unstoppable: My Life So Far by Maria Sharapova. I got an early review copy of this after our podcast together, and it’s absolutely fantastic thus far. It is co-authored by Rich Cohen, whose books The Fish That Ate the Whale and The Sun & The Moon & The Rolling Stones blew me away (Ryan Holiday and others are also huge fans). If you like autobios and stories of persistence, this is definitely worth checking out.— Tim Ferriss
The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance— Tim Ferriss
Many of you have been asking me for more long-form blog posts, and -- in particular -- about startup investing and how to get started. This post — while for informational purposes only and not investment advice — is intended to show you how one successful investor approached the early-stage game.— Tim Ferriss
The Intelligent Plant by Michael Pollan (@michaelpollan).— Tim Ferriss
The Four-Letter Code to Selling Just About Anything by Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) of The Atlantic. How can you learn to sell anything? Study an immigrant who did exactly that, of course. This piece is mostly biography but sprinkled with enough how-to that you can apply it to your own businesses (e.g. Spotify case study). Which is related to my next bullet...— Tim Ferriss