<story><title>The 4-Hour Dentist</title><url>http://bygonebureau.com/2011/02/02/4-hour-dentist/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>ryanwaggoner</author><text>Huzzah! A straw man attack!&lt;p&gt;Am I seriously the only person on HN who has gotten useful, effective stuff from both of Tim&apos;s books? Does everyone just hate him because he&apos;s such an effective promoter that they assume he must be selling snake oil?&lt;p&gt;4HWW led me to quit my job and start freelancing, spend three months traveling through Asia, build some online passive income streams, and generally have a healthier respect towards my time and how I spend it. The 4 Hour Body has led me to completely change my diet over the last 6-8 weeks and I feel incredible, better than I have in a long time.&lt;p&gt;I know I&apos;m not the only one, but am I the only one on HN?</text></comment>
<story><title>The 4-Hour Dentist</title><url>http://bygonebureau.com/2011/02/02/4-hour-dentist/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>joshkaufman</author><text>Much of what Tim Ferriss writes is genuinely useful, particularly when it comes to experimentation, testing, and questioning assumptions.&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, these messages are (1) packaged in the form of breathlessly-sold, instant-results snake oil; (2) explicitly modeled on the past 20 years of &lt;i&gt;Men&apos;s Health&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;Cosmopolitan&lt;/i&gt; magazine covers; (3) contain obnoxious levels of social signaling and influence-via-association.&lt;p&gt;The reality is the above three factors are what have contributed the most to his renown. People want to instantly become wealthy, famous, and desirable with zero effort. They want to believe that someone (anyone) can provide these things, and they&apos;re willing to pay money on the off-chance they&apos;re able to deliver. They want to be associated with someone who travels around the world, hangs out with famous people all day, and seemingly succeeds in everything.&lt;p&gt;Ferriss promises people exactly what they want, so they buy. Simple as that.&lt;p&gt;The operative question for all of us on HN: what Ferriss does clearly works. Do you choose to emulate him? Why or why not?</text></comment>