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review

The Four Hour Chef

I’ve finished another of theĀ books that I’m trying to read in 2015. I think that I’ve shared posts and things from Tim Ferriss before, but this is probably the first time that I’ve written anything about any of his books. The Four Hour Workweek and The Four Hour Body are both interesting because of the underlying philosophy that is at work in both: strip things back to the bare essentials and focus on what is effective.

The Four Hour Chef is a step further; despite the title and the focus on cooking, it’s really a meta-guide to what is going on in Tim’s previous two books and to an effective learning process in general. It’s showcasing a very considered set of examples in to how to do things well, how to become an expert. In the book, cooking is the mechanism for exploring this, but there is a lot of examples of skill- and expertise-building in other settings too. I found it quite an inspiring read. There was a lot of neat stuff that I learned that will help me in the kitchen (practice makes perfect of course!) but also the approach to learning that is covered in the first section was helpful too.

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review

Book Review: Poke The Box

A few weeks ago I was sick. I had to take time off, pause and not really do much of anything. This is really hard when you’re in a house with a toddler. It’s one thing if you’re in the office and they’re in another room playing with your wife; quite another if you’re trying not to move too much in case you feel sick again, and they’re bouncing up to you asking to watch Frozen for the third time that day.

Being ill also coincided with feeling a little down. I don’t know why, but whenever I have to make decisions about the “what next?” for my business I feel a little down. I correlate it with thoughts of “but what if this isn’t a good idea?” and the doubts of “what if this really backfires or doesn’t go anywhere?” I was thinking about the coming academic year (which is out of sync with the business year by about six months, so it always feels a little odd when planning) and what new things I might do, when might I find time to write the next books and what shall I do about the projects on the back burner…

Doing all of this when feeling sick is not a good idea.

My wife, thankfully, suggested that I read an inspiring book to help find my mojo again, and after only a second’s pause I reached for my Kindle, curled up on the couch a bit more and started re-reading Poke The Box by Seth Godin.

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news

Books in 2015: A Goal

2015Books

For someone who loves reading, I make a lot of excuses for not getting around to books. “I didn’t have time yet.” “My Kindle was out of power.” “I got it in print but it’s massive.”

Well no more! My plan is not to limit myself to the ten books in the photograph during 2015, but I plan to make sure that I do read these books in 2015. Here’s the books and they whys: