Book Review: The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss (Pt 1)

When I started this blog, one of the first things I wanted to do was write some reviews of books that I have read this year that have launched me down this health + nutrition road. Or, as some may call it - obsession! :) The problem is that some of these books are so packed with good info (yes, I'm looking at you, China Study), it is daunting to even think about reviewing them. Yet, what has really delayed me is that I wanted to go through these books in a roughly chronological order, so it shows how my thinking has evolved over the course of the year. The speed bump comes due to the fact that "The 4-Hour Body" was the first book I read on this journey, but it is a probably the trickiest for me to write about. I have decided to "serialize" my review into multiple blog posts, so that it is less daunting!

Around the start of this year, I was feeling rather unhealthy. I felt unfit, unwell in many respects and overweight. The latter might come as a surprise to people who have known me for any length of time, as I have always been of very slender build (a greyhound as I heard one GP say). Indeed, for my height, the number on the scales was perfectly normal. But, I knew I was 8-10 kg or so heavier than when I felt my healthiest, and after a very inactive past few years, it certainly wasn't muscle. A pot-belly on a skinny dude isn't much more use than on a solid guy. In fact, percentage-wise its probably even worse! Perhaps most worryingly, I found it hard to stay on top of sugar cravings and unhealthy snacks. So, I had a vague idea I wanted to lose some fat, "get in shape" and most importantly, feel healthy again.

Another bit of background - I read fairly widely, and often in areas that may surprise some people, eg. investment books, organic gardening, motivational, parenting, biographies, productivity, popular science, psychology, etc. One book I read not too long ago was "The 4-Hour Workweek" by Tim Ferriss. I'll let you read up about it if you have never heard of it. Even if I only take something small from books like that, I find they give me some inspiration. It was certainly an intriguing book at the time.

When I found out early 2011 that Tim Ferriss had another book, despite the title, I was interested in reading it.

Next installment coming soon...