Best for:
Those looking for short, digestible ideas shared by great figures on a variety of topics. Those who don’t mind long books with loosely organized frameworks.
Difficulty to digest:
Everyone should be able to get through this book without much effort. The text pulls heavily from Tim’s podcast and is highly conversational. Some topics require more research, but pretty much everything is useful at face value.
Key Insights:
Tools of Titans is a tidy, shortened version of Tim’s podcast. While there’s plenty of new content the majority is his podcast interviews. He’s taken gems from each interview and organized them loosely based on three categories; healthy, wealthy, and wise.
Easy To Pick Up And Flip Through
This book is incredibly easy to flip through. There are tons of interviews, subsections within those interviews, and a multitude of respected names. While it’s possible to sit down and read through the entire thing cover to cover, you might get more out of it by periodically checking out interviews that interest you.
Now, by sheer volume, there’s no way every interview will resonate with you – however, regardless of what field you’re in it should be easy to cherry-pick names you know. I recommend starting there to gauge your interest in the writing style. Afterward, I recommend reading the rest, as the most insightful interviews may not be with figures you’re familiar with. I learned most from individuals I’ve never heard of.
Apply the content!
Tools of Titans has massive amounts of directly applicable content. As you go throughout the book you’ll find plenty of recommendations for things to try. Some exercises are a few minutes, others span quite a bit longer. Regardless, these are exactly the kinds of tools you should test to create a happy life for yourself. I recommend taking notes on what you’d like to use later or reading slowly testing as you go.
Overall, Tools of Titan is a unique and engaging book. The varied perspectives combined with actionable knowledge makes it extremely practical and useful. It’s likely a book you’ll refer back to, as a single read-through won’t produce a single, coherent message. It’s more like a poetry book, a work you can flip through occasionally to find small chunks of insight.
Other considerations:
If Tim’s podcast doesn’t appeal to you because of the audio format or length, this book will give you many of the best gems in written format. While you may not get all the context, the insights stand alone. I personally have not listened to much of his podcast, but got a lot of value out of Tools of Titans.
While highly informative, sections are roughly organized. As the nature of life is highly overlapping, all sections contain information which will be useful in general life – they are just slightly leaning one direction or another. There’s no overarching idea, it’s a collection of useful informative blocks.
Applicable Content:
- This book is primarily about trying tools to see how they work for you. What new tool or idea will you experiment with this week?
- A huge theme in this book is picking the brains of successful people to implement their patterns and ideas. Pick someone you admire and ask them a few questions about their routines and habits.