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Biography
American

Tim Ferriss

1977

Tim Ferriss is an author, podcaster, and angel investor whose The 4-Hour Workweek (2007) — a guide to lifestyle design, outsourcing, and escaping the 9-to-5 — became a cultural phenomenon that defined a generation of digital entrepreneurs. The book spent over four years on the New York Times bestseller list. His subsequent books — The 4-Hour Body (2010), The 4-Hour Chef (2012), Tools of Titans (2016), and Tribe of Mentors (2017) — and his podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show (over 900 million downloads), made him one of the most influential figures in self-improvement and startup culture.

Past sales0
PeriodContemporary
NationalityAmerican
1. Biography

A short life of the author

Timothy Ferriss (b. 1977) was born on 20 July 1977 in East Hampton, New York. He studied East Asian studies at Princeton University. He founded and sold a sports nutrition company before writing The 4-Hour Workweek. He is an early-stage investor in companies including Uber, Facebook, Shopify, Duolingo, and Alibaba.

Life and Career

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (2007) — which introduced concepts like “lifestyle design,” “mini-retirements,” “outsourcing your life” (using virtual assistants), and “fear-setting” — spent over four years on the New York Times bestseller list, was translated into over forty languages, and became the bible of a generation of digital nomads, remote workers, and lifestyle entrepreneurs. The book was rejected by twenty-six publishers.

The 4-Hour Body (2010) — about physical optimisation through self-experimentation — and The 4-Hour Chef (2012) — which uses cooking as a vehicle for teaching metalearning — continued the franchise. Tools of Titans (2016) and Tribe of Mentors (2017) distilled insights from his podcast interviews.

The Tim Ferriss Show podcast — featuring long-form interviews with world-class performers across disciplines — has been downloaded over 900 million times and was the first business podcast to reach 100 million downloads.

Key Works

  • The 4-Hour Workweek (2007)
  • Tools of Titans (2016)
  • The 4-Hour Body (2010)

Collecting Ferriss

The 4-Hour Workweek (2007, Crown) brings $10–$30 for firsts.