by Zoë Pollock
Rebecca Mead profiles Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman:
Ferriss’s more technical passages sound like an Onion satire of a TED talk. In a passage about losing body fat, he writes, “If you are under 25%, still aim for DEXA, BodPod, or ultrasound. If you cannot find these, opt for calipers with a qualified professional (use the same person for all follow-up visits) and request the 3-point or 7-point Jackson-Pollock algorithm.” But in his more demotic moments he sounds like a staff writer for Maxim: “So cover the baby’s ears. I’m going to tell you something stunning and disgusting. . . . Most guys like pornography. And Santa Claus does not exist.”
Dwight Garner may have said it best, reviewing The 4-Hour Body:
Some of this junk might actually work, but you're going to be embarrassed doing it or admitting to your friends that you’re trying it. This is a man who, after all, weighs his own feces, likes bloodletting as a life-extension strategy and aims a Philips goLite at his body in place of ingesting caffeine.
The Dish 