Meeting Yoda: An Interview with Tim Ferriss

Tim Ferriss Hunter

Last week, I met Yoda.

Well, not THE Yoda, but one of my personal Yodas: Tim Ferriss, New York Times bestselling author, human guinea pig, and giant nerd.  I had the opportunity to interview Tim via Skype and ask him about all sorts of nerdy awesomeness: his recently released Four Hour Chefhow to get started with cooking even if you have never actually turned your oven on, how to get over failure, Star Wars, James Bond, and more.

True statement: after reading Four Hour Workweek five years ago (cover to cover in a day and a half),  I came up with the idea for Nerd Fitness and purchased the domain NerdFitness.com the very next day.  It was a real honor for me to speak with one of my heroes and a lot of fun to find out that he’s a normal, everyday nerd just like you and me.

I tried to keep my giggling like a school girl down to a minimum, but it wasn’t easy.

The interview is 33 minutes long, so I’ve provided the video, audio, and a link to a transcription of the interview as well.  How’s THAT for service!

Tim and his team was also nice enough to give me a bunch of copies of the Four Hour Chef to give away to Nerd Fitness Rebels, so make sure you read the end of this article to learn how to win a copy.

Tim Ferriss and Nerd Fitness

Tim Ferris and Nerd Fitness interview

If you’d like to READ the interview, you can check out an entire transcription of the interview as well.

And last but not least, you can download all sorts of free content and free chapters of the book by visiting FourHourChef.com – there are also hundreds of MBs of free content on BitTorrent as well.

My thoughts on the Four Hour Chef

Tim Ferriss Four Hour Chef

Here are my thoughts on the Four Hour Chef: This book should be read by anybody that loves learning, is afraid of cooking, or is convinced a zombie apocalypse is right around the corner (not even kidding).

It might appear to be a “learn how to cook” book, but it’s actually more of a “use cooking to learn how to learn” book.  Don’t expect a regular cook book! Tim breaks down his thought process for rapid skill acquisition, including how to quickly learn languages, memorize a deck of cards, or how to shoot 3-pointers.

If that wasn’t enough, he covers in tremendous detail how to survive if you are stranded out in the wilderness and plan on finding food or eating only what you can kill (with lots of graphic photos). Hell, he even explains how to catch a pigeon with your bare hands!

This book pretty much has something for everybody.  Not all sections will appeal to all people, but I’d bet that most Rebels will be fascinated by most topics.

The massive section on cooking will probably be of particular interest for most chef-in-training Rebels – Tim provides you with all of the information on specifically what to buy if you’re going to start cooking (specific spatulas, bowls, spices, etc), a series of recipes that increase in difficulty, and a gamification system to make this concept of cooking more enjoyable for those of us that don’t spend very much time in the kitchen.

I’ve become a HUGE fan of e-books since switching to an Amazon Kindle two years ago, but I’ll tell ya – the hardcover version of the Four Hour Chef should be the one you buy.  The book is over 600 pages with hundreds and hundreds of color photos.  If you plan on following the recipes in the book, the physical book will prove invaluable so that you can use it you on your countertop.

What are you going to learn?

Tim and his team were gracious enough to give us a handful of copies of the Four Hour Chef to give out to the Nerd Fitness Rebellion, but I’m going to make you work for it.

Tim is a huge fan of finding the most efficient path to learning a new skill, whether it’s dancing, learning a new language or martial art, or learning to cook.

Today, I’d like you to answer this question:

What is one skill that you’ve always wanted to learn but haven’t started yet, and what is one specific step that you are going to take TODAY to get started?

Simply leave a comment  by Thursday, December 13th at 11:59pm EST with your answer and we’ll pick five winners at random to win a copy of the Four Hour Chef.

Thanks again to Tim for this opportunity!  Now go cook something 🙂

-Steve

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