Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is my job to sit down with world-class performers of all different types—from startup founders and investors to chess champions to Olympic athletes. This episode, however, is an experiment and part of a shorter series I’m doing called “Books I’ve Loved.” I’ve invited some amazing past guests, close friends, and new faces to share their favorite books—the books that have influenced them, changed them, and transformed them for the better. I hope you pick up one or two new mentors—in the form of books—from this new series and apply the lessons in your own life.
Neil Strauss (@neilstrauss) is a ten-time New York Times best-selling author, award-winning writer for Rolling Stone, and former reporter at the New York Times. Strauss has also contributed to Esquire, Salon, Spin, Entertainment Weekly, Details, The Source, New York Newsday, and many other magazines and newspapers. He has interviewed some of the biggest icons in the world of entertainment and beyond, including the legendary Chuck Berry, Tom Cruise, Madonna, and Elon Musk. He received the President’s Volunteer Service Award for work during his book Emergency.
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The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.
“Books I’ve Loved” on The Tim Ferriss Show is brought to you by Audible! I have used Audible for many years now. I love it. Audible has the largest selection of audiobooks on the planet. I listen when I’m taking walks, I listen while I’m cooking… I listen whenever I can. Audible is offering The Tim Ferriss Show listeners a free audiobook with a 30-day trial membership. Just go to Audible.com/Tim and browse the unmatched selection of audio programs. Then, download your free title and start listening! It’s that easy. Simply go to Audible.com/Tim or text TIM to 500500 to get started today.
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE
- Connect with Neil Strauss:
The Fear Book: Facing Fear Once and for All by Cheri Huber
Be the Person You Want to Find: Relationship and Self-Discovery by Cheri Huber
Facing Codependence: What It Is, Where It Comes from, How It Sabotages Our Lives by Pia Mellody
Facing Love Addiction: Giving Yourself the Power to Change the Way You Love by Pia Mellody
Silently Seduced: When Parents Make Their Children Partners by Kenneth M. Adams
Under Saturn’s Shadow: The Wounding and Healing of Men by James Hollis
The Eden Project: In Search of the Magical Other by James Hollis
The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than 900 million downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.
I love your podcast, your books, and your blog. But it’s still mostly white men in the content. Can you share the stories of high-performers who have more diverse identities? Who had to overcome not just their personal struggles, but societal barriers as well?
So you don’t like the race and sex of the guests. I am appalled and shocked by this racist and sexist comment. Please delete it.
Erica, I don’t see any racism in what Maria said. She just suggested in a neutral tone to have more diversity. Read again what Maria wrote without using any filter.
Tim has tons of amazing women on his podcast! -so I’m guessing that you are talking about their skin color. I don’t care if the person is black, white, yellow or green. It’s their ideas shared through their voice that I come here for 🙂
I’ve been a long-time Neil Strauss fan, so I’ll definitely be tuning in for this one. Just in time too, as I’ve pretty much exhausted my Netflix list and need to find some books to help pass the time in quarantine. 🙂
This podcast is fantastic!
What he said.
The Fear Book is not on Audible
I‘d love to hear more interviews with women.
Hello, I have read/ own all your books and listen to the podcast regularly. You have mentioned a few times about how you wanted to get an MBA, but decided to spend that money and time, essentially developing your own curriculum. Which lead me to the idea of “4 hour MBA.” It would be fascinating if you could use the same “distillation” of methodologies and resources that you have acquired to quiet the noise that is involved with the orthodox educational system. As you already know, there are endless ocean of business literature, but none of them with the approach that you have taken with the “4 hour” modus operandi and fundamentally hack the system. Thank you for your time and I’m sure whatever your next project may be will be great.
Hey Nelson, you might want to check out „The Personsl MBA“ by Josh Kaufman. It’s ver much along the lines of what you mentioned.
Hey Mr. Ferriss,
Just wanted to thank you for the books, podcasts, and blog posts you have put out over the years. The tools you’ve brought forward have made a real impact in my life.
Keep doing great work!
Sincerely,
Cesar
enjoyed Neil’s review and recommendations. Perfect theme for where I am in life.
Mr Ferris, just wanted to commend you on your ongoing series of interesting and inspiring interviews and podcasts. Its the haters that tend to speak up the most and while I don’t speak for everyone I wanted you to know many of us love what you do, and sometimes I’m sure it’s just nice to hear.
Great website and informative, varied interviews.
There are several people I’d like to suggest you interview:
Marva Allen, Jamaican-born CEO of Wordeee.com, a female & minority-owned Book Publishing & Media Company.
Eva Ritvo, MD, acclaimed Miami Psychiatrist & author
of Bekindr, The Healing Power of Kindness.
Hi Tim, It would be interesting to hear an interview with Angela Washko. She created The Game: The Game — a video game which explores the pick-up artist community and its psychological tactics & ethical assumptions through the game’s female avatars, with the point of the game being to survive hostile attempts at manipulation into sexual encounters that are not being pursued for the purpose of mutual empowerment/satisfaction. Thanks, Kate