Timothy Ferriss '00 Releases How-To-Be-Godlike Self-Help Book

Timothy Ferriss '00 has written a book that will transform you into a hypermuscled, knife-sharp sex god. That is, if you trust his methods. Ferriss plies a special brand of hand-waving alternative-medicine voodoo magic, prescribing dubious fixes like ginger and sauerkraut (if you want to put on muscle) or protein and lemon juice (if you want to lose fat). Or, alternatively, if you seek "wolverine sex," try his carefully calibrated diet of 4 Brazil nuts, 20 raw almonds, 2 cod-liver oil capsules, and butterfat. (And seriously don't even think of eating that 5th Brazil nut, if you or your partner hope to get out alive.)But apparently people believe this stuff: his book, "The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman," debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times hard-cover advice list.Ferriss, who majored in East Asian Studies, has since veered more into the field of Bat**** Insane. After graduating, he started up a nutritional supplement company called BrainQuicken -- even his thesis ("Acquisition of Japanese Kanji: Conventional Practice and Mnemonic Supplementation") seems to have something to do with that. He is all about self-improvement though vague alchemical means.The techniques appear to have worked for him. Decidedly square-jawed and well-built, he has used his physical talents to win Chinese kickboxing championships (although apparently he exploited a loophole by pushing his opponents out of the ring) and set records of 37 tango spins in one minute (which is, it turns out, a lot more interesting to think about than to actually watch). He also did a TED talk and guest lectured at EGR 491, that one entrepreneurship class that everyone loves. If there's one thing everyone can agree on, it's that he is remarkably good at selling his goods, even if the goods themselves are a little suspect. So perhaps you will trust him; assessing his credibility is no easy task. The Times book review puts it best:

Mr. Ferriss offers advice about so many disparate things — not simply losing weight and building muscle and improving sex and living forever, but learning to hold your breath longer than Houdini (!) and hit baseballs like Babe Ruth (!!) — that paging through “The 4-Hour Body” is like reading the sprawling menu in a dubious diner, quite certain the only thing you’d dare order is the turkey club.Here’s a better analogy: “The 4-Hour Body” reads as if The New England Journal of Medicine had been hijacked by the editors of the SkyMall catalog. Some of this junk might actually work, but you’re going to be embarrassed doing it or admitting to your friends that you’re trying it. This is a man who, after all, weighs his own feces, likes bloodletting as a life-extension strategy and aims a Philips goLite at his body in place of ingesting caffeine.

In fact, just read that whole review, because it's one of the more amusing things I've read recently. At the very end, we get the money quote from Ferriss: "I have no prestige to lose." Take that as you will.(image courtesy of nytimes.com)