Want to know what books Jon Favreau recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Jon Favreau's favorite book recommendations of all time.
1
Thinner, bigger, faster, stronger... which 150 pages will you read?
Is it possible to:
Reach your genetic potential in 6 months?
Sleep 2 hours per day and perform better than on 8 hours?
Lose more fat than a marathoner by bingeing?
Indeed, and much more. This is not just another diet and fitness book.
The 4-Hour Body is the result of an obsessive quest, spanning more than a decade, to hack the human body. It contains the collective wisdom of hundreds of elite athletes, dozens of MDs, and thousands of hours of... more Thinner, bigger, faster, stronger... which 150 pages will you read?
Is it possible to:
Reach your genetic potential in 6 months?
Sleep 2 hours per day and perform better than on 8 hours?
Lose more fat than a marathoner by bingeing?
Indeed, and much more. This is not just another diet and fitness book.
The 4-Hour Body is the result of an obsessive quest, spanning more than a decade, to hack the human body. It contains the collective wisdom of hundreds of elite athletes, dozens of MDs, and thousands of hours of jaw-dropping personal experimentation. From Olympic training centers to black-market laboratories, from Silicon Valley to South Africa, Tim Ferriss, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek, fixated on one life-changing question:
For all things physical, what are the tiniest changes that produce the biggest results?
Thousands of tests later, this book contains the answers for both men and women.
From the gym to the bedroom, it’s all here, and it all works.
YOU WILL LEARN (in less than 30 minutes each):
How to lose those last 5-10 pounds (or 100+ pounds) with odd combinations of food and safe chemical cocktails.
* How to prevent fat gain while bingeing (X-mas, holidays, weekends)
* How to increase fat-loss 300% with a few bags of ice
* How Tim gained 34 pounds of muscle in 28 days, without steroids, and in four hours of total gym time
* How to sleep 2 hours per day and feel fully rested
* How to produce 15-minute female orgasms
* How to triple testosterone and double sperm count
* How to go from running 5 kilometers to 50 kilometers in 12 weeks
* How to reverse “permanent” injuries
* How to add 150+ pounds to your lifts in 6 months
* How to pay for a beach vacation with one hospital visit
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are more than 50 topics covered, all with real-world experiments, many including more than 200 test subjects.
You don't need better genetics or more discipline. You need immediate results that compel you to continue.
That’s exactly what The 4-Hour Body delivers. less Bryan CallenI probably have recommended The Art of Learning and The 4-Hour Body, I'm not kidding, more than any other books. (Source)
Marin GerovTalking of Tim Ferriss, his series (The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef) have been extremely good resources for improving work, health, and learning. (Source)
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2
A deliciously funny, delectably shocking banquet of wild-but-true tales of life in the culinary trade from Chef Anthony Bourdain, laying out his more than a quarter-century of drugs, sex, and haute cuisine—now with all-new, never-before-published material.
New York Chef Tony Bourdain gives away secrets of the trade in his wickedly funny, inspiring memoir/expose. Kitchen Confidential reveals what Bourdain calls "twenty-five years of sex, drugs, bad behavior and haute cuisine." more A deliciously funny, delectably shocking banquet of wild-but-true tales of life in the culinary trade from Chef Anthony Bourdain, laying out his more than a quarter-century of drugs, sex, and haute cuisine—now with all-new, never-before-published material.
New York Chef Tony Bourdain gives away secrets of the trade in his wickedly funny, inspiring memoir/expose. Kitchen Confidential reveals what Bourdain calls "twenty-five years of sex, drugs, bad behavior and haute cuisine." less Eric RipertI love that Tony’s world in the kitchen was filled with pirate-like renegades when mine was peopled with regimented professionals. How eye-opening and entertaining to read about the other side! (Source)
Jason KottkeThis book is 18 years old but aside from some details, it felt as immediate and vital as when it came out. What a unique spirit we lost this year. (Source)
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3
A memoir of the haunting legacy of the trauma of the Holocaust and the meaning of familial identity by a man who must figure out who he is in the wake of a life-changing revelation about his own lineage
Adam Frankel’s Bubbie and Zayde, his mother’s parents, were Holocaust survivors—a fact he’s lived with his entire life. But they were more than that, too. Zayde was a watchmaker named Abraham Perecman, infamous in New Haven for his rigor and integrity. He was also, at one point, Gershon Gubersky—a Jew from a small village in eastern Europe. Bubbie was his constant... more A memoir of the haunting legacy of the trauma of the Holocaust and the meaning of familial identity by a man who must figure out who he is in the wake of a life-changing revelation about his own lineage
Adam Frankel’s Bubbie and Zayde, his mother’s parents, were Holocaust survivors—a fact he’s lived with his entire life. But they were more than that, too. Zayde was a watchmaker named Abraham Perecman, infamous in New Haven for his rigor and integrity. He was also, at one point, Gershon Gubersky—a Jew from a small village in eastern Europe. Bubbie was his constant companion, the only other person in his life to know what it was like to be hunted by German soldiers. Together they made a new life, with new names, in America. And tried to leave the painful memories behind.
Try as his grandparents did to keep their past from intruding upon their new American life, a story so powerful crosses generational lines—a fact most apparent in the mental health of Adam’s mother. And when Adam sits down with her to examine their family history up close, he discovers something about himself that he can’t run from, another inherited family secret: his dad is not his biological father. He is only half who he thought he was. And so, in telling the story of familial trauma, Adam shored up a whole new identity for himself, one he needed to confront if he wanted to understand how to build a legacy for his own young family.
By turns speaking and not-speaking with his mother, Adam discovers that the traumas that are handed down to us can take different forms, but while the nature of our families’ traumas may vary, each of us has, in a sense, the same choice to make. We can turn away from what we’ve inherited—or, we can confront it, in the hopes of conquering that trauma—or at least, moving on. The Survivors is Adam’s attempt at just that. And when the insidiousness of toxic family secrets comes to bear on his life at present, he must ask: Who is he, if not his father’s son? If not part of a rich legacy of writers? Does it matter? What will he pass to his own children? The stories here are about unwinding how that happens, and how we might use our past to inform our present and future generations without inflicting the same pain upon them. less Jon FavreauAdam is the first speechwriter I ever hired on the Obama campaign. He’s a brilliant storyteller with a big heart and you should all go read his book. https://t.co/HGHksnk9wW (Source)
Hon Patrick J MurphyBought 5 of these books to give out because Adam is That Good a writer and this book moves you. Great gift! https://t.co/raNULPR7M6 (Source)
Christina ReynoldsI've always known @apfrankel was a great writer, but this book surpassed all expectations. Quite a story, fantastically told. https://t.co/Bp5iSnNxdn (Source)
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4
Although Charles Grodin has enjoyed stardom, his career has had its share of catastrophic setbacks, and Grodin writes about them with candor and liberating humor, dispensing invaluable advice about the art of surviving in the celluloid jungle. more Although Charles Grodin has enjoyed stardom, his career has had its share of catastrophic setbacks, and Grodin writes about them with candor and liberating humor, dispensing invaluable advice about the art of surviving in the celluloid jungle. less Jon FavreauIt really told the story about how difficult it is when you’re first starting off trying to be an actor. (Source)
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5
From one of Barack Obama's closest aides comes a revelatory behind-the-scenes account of his presidency--and how idealism can confront harsh reality and still survive--in the tradition of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.'s A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House.
For nearly ten years, Ben Rhodes saw almost everything that happened at the center of the Obama administration--first as a speechwriter, then as deputy national security advisor, and finally as a multipurpose aide and close collaborator. He started every morning in the Oval Office with the... more From one of Barack Obama's closest aides comes a revelatory behind-the-scenes account of his presidency--and how idealism can confront harsh reality and still survive--in the tradition of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.'s A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House.
For nearly ten years, Ben Rhodes saw almost everything that happened at the center of the Obama administration--first as a speechwriter, then as deputy national security advisor, and finally as a multipurpose aide and close collaborator. He started every morning in the Oval Office with the President's Daily Briefing, traveled the world with Obama, and was at the center of some of the most consequential and controversial moments of the presidency. Now he tells the full story of his partnership--and, ultimately, friendship--with a man who also happened to be a historic president of the United States.
Rhodes was not your typical presidential confidant, and this is not your typical White House memoir. Rendered in vivid, novelistic detail by someone who was a writer before he was a staffer, this is a rare look inside the most poignant, tense, and consequential moments of the Obama presidency--waiting out the bin Laden raid in the Situation Room, responding to the Arab Spring, reaching a nuclear agreement with Iran, leading secret negotiations with the Cuban government to normalize relations, and confronting the resurgence of nationalism and nativism that culminated in the election of Donald Trump.
In The World as It Is, Rhodes shows what it was like to be there--from the early days of the Obama campaign to the final hours of the presidency. It is a story populated by such characters as Susan Rice, Samantha Power, Hillary Clinton, Bob Gates, and--above all--Barack Obama, who comes to life on the page in moments of great urgency and disarming intimacy. This is the most vivid portrayal yet of Obama's worldview and presidency, a chronicle of a political education by a writer of enormous talent, and an essential record of the forces that shaped the last decade. less Barack ObamaAs 2018 draws to a close, I’m continuing a favorite tradition of mine and sharing my year-end lists. It gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the year through the books I found most thought-provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved. It also gives me a chance to highlight talented authors – some who are household names and others who you may not have heard of before. Here’s my best of 2018... (Source)
Jon FavreauWe published an exclusive excerpt from @brhodes new book, “The World As It Is,” which is one of the best, most honest memoirs I’ve ever read: https://t.co/XBg0ae2RCd (Source)
Dan Pfeiffer@dplaz19761 @colleen_curtin @AlyssaMastro44 @brhodes It's a great book, Ben is a supremely talented writer (Source)
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6
In this inspirational and moving memoir—reminiscent of When Breath Becomes Air and The Bright Hour—activist Ady Barkan explores his life with ALS and how his diagnosis gave him a profound new understanding of his commitment to social justice for all.
Ady Barkan loved taking afternoon runs on the California coast and holding his newborn son, Carl. But one day, he noticed a troubling weakness in his hand. At first, he brushed it off as carpal tunnel syndrome, but after a week of neurological exams and two MRIs, he learned the cause of the problem:... more In this inspirational and moving memoir—reminiscent of When Breath Becomes Air and The Bright Hour—activist Ady Barkan explores his life with ALS and how his diagnosis gave him a profound new understanding of his commitment to social justice for all.
Ady Barkan loved taking afternoon runs on the California coast and holding his newborn son, Carl. But one day, he noticed a troubling weakness in his hand. At first, he brushed it off as carpal tunnel syndrome, but after a week of neurological exams and two MRIs, he learned the cause of the problem: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. At age 32, Ady was given just three to four years to live. Yet despite the devastating diagnosis, he refused to let his remaining days go to waste.
Eyes to the Wind is a rousing memoir featuring intertwining storylines about determination, perseverance, and how to live a life filled with purpose and intention. The first traces Ady’s battle with ALS: how he turned the initial shock and panic from his diagnosis into a renewed commitment to social justice—not despite his disability but because of it. The second, told in flashbacks, illustrates Ady’s journey from a goofy political nerd to a prominent figure in the enduring fight for equity and justice who is “willing to give [his] last breath to save our democracy” (CNN).
From one of today’s most vocal advocates for social justice, Eyes to the Wind is an evocative and unforgettable memoir about activism, dedication, love, and hope. less Jon FavreauWouldn’t it be great if when @AdyBarkan recovers, a ton of people were reading his beautiful, inspirational new book, Eyes to the Wind?
Buy it here and spread the word: https://t.co/AJCEN7pRyH https://t.co/rF8YZc4c0d (Source)
Aijen PooThis is a book you want to buy immediately. @AdyBarkan is a brave & beautiful person, one of my favorite organizers, and one of the true heroes of our time. Let’s make this one a bestseller. (and continue building on his incredible organizing) https://t.co/bfojbL16HK (Source)
Andy SlavittMy 12 copies of @AdyBarkan’s new book “Eyes to the Wind” arrived.
Order yours in case you’re not one of the 11 great gifts I’m going to make. https://t.co/yF4tamsfvl (Source)
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