The 4-Hour Chef

Last updated
The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life
The 4-Hour Chef.jpg
Author Timothy Ferriss
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Subject Self-actualization, Self-employment, Self-improvement, Cooking
GenreNon-fiction
Published2012 (New Harvest)
Publisher Amazon Publishing
Media typePrint
OCLC 785865773
Preceded by The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body  
Followed byTools of Titans 

The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life is a self-help book by Timothy Ferriss, published on November 20, 2012. [1] [2] Like Ferriss' other "4-Hour" books, The 4-Hour Chef revolves around a theme of self-improvement; this time, through the lens of cooking. [3] [4]

Contents

Synopsis

The 4-Hour Chef contains practical cooking and recipe tips and uses the skill of cooking to explain methods for accelerated learning. [5] Recipes based on Ferriss' "Slow-Carb Diet" are included, and the book is presented as a practical guide to mastering cooking and food. [3] [6] Ferris presents these cooking techniques alongside his ideas on self-improvement and "meta-learning". [5]

Release and reception

The 4-Hour Chef premiered on the New York Times , Publishers Weekly and USA Today bestseller lists, and was a #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller. [7] [8] [9] [10]

Prior to the release of The 4-Hour Chef, the book was boycotted by a selection of brick and mortar bookstores, most notably Barnes & Noble, because the book was published by Amazon Publishing rather than a traditional publisher. [11] [12] This boycott led to Ferriss striking a handful of partnerships with non-conventional partners, including BitTorrent, Panera Bread, and TaskRabbit. [13] [14] [15] In particular, Ferriss partnered with BitTorrent to distribute an exclusive bundle of 4-Hour Chef content including excerpts from the book, photos, interviews and unpublished content. [16] The bundle was downloaded over 300,000 times the first week after release. [17] [18]

In the week of release, Ferriss orchestrated an extensive media campaign, one that USA Today described as an "online media onslaught." [7] The campaign included an "All-You-Can-Eat" promotion assembled by Ferriss, which offered incentives for book pre-orders ranging from supplemental materials to keynote speeches by Ferriss. [19] [20] During the first week of publication, the book received coverage in outlets such as CBS, Wired Magazine, Outside Magazine, and Dr. Oz. [21] [22] [23]

Reviewing for the Wall Street Journal, Aram Bakshiam Jr gave a mostly negative review, praising the book for describing the challenges and joys of cooking, but ultimately concluding it "lacks balance and coherence and has the feel of an overlong report produced by a committee." [24] Kirkus Reviews was more positive, calling the book a "wildly inventive excursion through the creation of our daily bread." [25]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Borowitz</span> American writer, comedian, satirist & actor

Andy Borowitz is an American writer, comedian, satirist, and actor. Borowitz is a New York Times-bestselling author who won the first National Press Club award for humor. He is known for creating the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and the satirical column The Borowitz Report.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtis Stone</span> Australian chef, author, and television personality (born 1975)

Curtis Travis Stone is an Australian celebrity chef, author, and television personality. Stone has been the fresh food and recipes ambassador for Coles Supermarkets in Australia since 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Ferriss</span> American entrepreneur, investor, author, and podcaster (born 1977)

Timothy Ferriss is an American entrepreneur, investor, author, podcaster, and lifestyle guru. He became well known through his 4-Hour self-help book series—including The 4-Hour Work Week, The 4-Hour Body, and The 4-Hour Chef—that focused on lifestyle optimizations, but he has since reconsidered this approach.

<i>The 4-Hour Workweek</i> 2007 self-help book by Timothy Ferriss

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9–5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (2007) is a self-help book by Timothy Ferriss, an American writer, educational activist, and entrepreneur. It deals with what Ferriss refers to as "lifestyle design", and repudiates the traditional "deferred" life plan in which people work grueling hours and take few vacations for decades and save money in order to relax after retirement. The book spent four years on The New York Times Best Seller List, was translated into 40 languages, and sold around 2.1 million copies.

Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using print on demand technology. It may also apply to albums, pamphlets, brochures, games, video content, artwork, and zines. Web fiction is also a major medium for self-publishing.

<i>The 4-Hour Body</i> 2010 book by Timothy Ferriss

The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman is a nonfiction book by American writer Timothy Ferriss. It was published by Crown Publishing Group in 2010.

Rozanne Gold is an American chef, journalist, cookbook author, and international restaurant consultant. A four-time winner of the James Beard Award, she is a graduate of Tufts University in psychology and education, and holds an MFA in poetry from the New School for Social Research in New York City.

Timothy S. Harlan, MD, FACP, is an American internist, professor, chef and author. He currently is Professor of Medicine, George Washington University School of Medicine, where he also is Executive Director of the Culinary Medicine Program.

<i>The Litigators</i> Novel by John Grisham

The Litigators is a 2011 legal thriller novel by John Grisham, his 25th fiction novel overall. The Litigators is about a two-partner Chicago law firm attempting to strike it rich in a class action lawsuit over a cholesterol reduction drug by a major pharmaceutical drug company. The protagonist is a Harvard Law School grad big law firm burnout who stumbles upon the boutique and joins it only to find himself litigating against his old law firm in this case. The book is regarded as more humorous than most of Grisham's prior novels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amazon Fire</span> Amazon Fire tablet timeline

The Amazon Fire, formerly called the Kindle Fire, is a line of tablet computers developed by Amazon. Built with Quanta Computer, the Kindle Fire was first released in November 2011, featuring a color 7-inch multi-touch display with IPS technology and running on Fire OS, an Android-based operating system. The Kindle Fire HD followed in September 2012, and the Kindle Fire HDX in September 2013. In September 2014, when the fourth generation was introduced, the name "Kindle" was dropped. In later generations, the Fire tablet is also able to convert into a Smart speaker turning on the "Show Mode" options, which the primary interaction will be by voice command through Alexa.

Amazon Publishing is Amazon's book publishing unit launched in 2009. It is composed of 15 imprints including AmazonEncore, AmazonCrossing, Montlake Romance, Thomas & Mercer, 47North, and TOPPLE Books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carolyn Jourdan</span> American novelist

Carolyn Jourdan is an American author, USA Today, Top-10 Audible, and six-time Wall Street Journal top-10 bestselling memoirist, biographer, and mystery writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcela Valladolid</span> American chef and author (born 1978)

Marcela Luz Valladolid is an American chef and author. She was the host of the Food Network television series Mexican Made Easy, and a judge on the Food Network series Best Baker in America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Bottum (author)</span> American author

Joseph Bottum is an American author and intellectual, best known for his writings about literature, American religion, and neoconservative politics. Noting references to his poems, short stories, scholarly work, literary criticism, and many other forms of public commentary, reviewer Mary Eberstadt wrote in National Review in 2014 that “his name would be mandatory on any objective short list of public intellectuals” in the United States. Coverage of his work includes profiles in The New York Times, South Dakota Magazine, and The Washington Times. In 2017, Bottum took a position at Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Bybee</span> American writer

Catherine Bybee is a #1 Wall Street Journal, Amazon, and Indie Reader bestselling author. In addition, her books have also graced The New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists. In total, she has written thirty-nine beloved books that have collectively sold more than 10 million copies and have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Michelle Tam is an American blogger, food writer, and bestselling cookbook author known for recipes and food writing focused on the Paleolithic diet and lifestyle.

Suzanne Louise Pirret is an American food writer and voiceover artist. She is the author of 'The Pleasure is All Mine: Selfish Food for Modern Life', and has written for UK publications such as The Observer, Women's Health, Men's Health and London's The Evening Standard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Mason (author)</span> English author and businessman (born 1978)

Matt Mason is an English author and creative executive. He is the former chief content officer for BitTorrent Inc. and studio head at 1-800-N0TH1NG, an innovation lab financed by Sony Pictures Entertainment. He is the author of The Pirate's Dilemma and the founding editor-in-chief of RWD Magazine. He has written for VICE, The Observer, Complex, and other publications in more than twenty countries.

<i>The Daily Stoic</i> 2016 book by Ryan Holiday

The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living is a daily devotional book of stoic philosophy co-authored by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. It is Holiday's fifth book and Hanselman's debut as an author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vi Keeland</span> American novelist

Vi Keeland is an American author associated with Montlake Romance. Her books have become bestsellers on New York Times and USA Today listings, have been translated worldwide, and have appeared on the German, Brazilian, and US bestseller lists. Fourteen of her novels have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, and Bossman placed at #1 on both The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Her short stories, Dry Spell, The Merry Mistake, and Scrooged were turned into movies by Passionflix. and her full-length novel, Egomaniac, is currently optioned for film by TaleFlick.

References

  1. Trachtenberg, Jeffery A. Amazon Publishing Signs Up Timothy Ferriss's Next Book. Wall Street Journal. August 16, 2011.
  2. Stone, Brad. Amazon's Hit Man. Business Week. January 25, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Trachta, Ali. Amazon to Publish The 4-Hour Chef by Tim Ferriss + What The Heck is a 4-Hour Chef?. LaWeekly.com. August 19, 2011.
  4. Ferriss, Tim. The 4-Hour Chef – The First Kindle Fire Book Teaser (Want a Free Kindle Fire?). FourHourWorkWeek.com. November 29, 2011.
  5. 1 2 "The 4-Hour Chef".
  6. Amazon Publishing Acquires #1 and Four Years Running New York Times Best-Selling 4-Hour Guru Timothy Ferriss`"The 4-Hour Chef," to Launch New York Imprint. Reuters.com. August 16, 2011.
  7. 1 2 Deutsch, Lindsay (November 29, 2012). "Book Buzz: Give the gift of books this holiday season". USA Today.
  8. "Wall Street Journal Best-Sellers". Times Union. November 29, 2012.
  9. "Publishers Weekly Best-Sellers". Huffington Post. November 29, 2012.
  10. "Best-Selling Books, Week Ended Nov. 25". Wall Street Journal. November 30, 2012.
  11. Donahue, Deirdre (November 19, 2012). "Timothy Ferriss' 'The 4-Hour Chef' stirs up trouble". USA Today.
  12. Shaffer, Andrew (November 19, 2012). "The Most Banned Book in U.S. History? Hardly". Huffington Post.
  13. Ungerleider, Neal (November 16, 2012). "Tim Ferriss Teams Up With BitTorrent". FastCompany.
  14. Streitfeld, David (November 20, 2012). "Tim Ferriss and Amazon Try to Reinvent Publishing". New York Times.
  15. "Tim Ferriss Presents: The 4-Hour Chef". TaskRabbit. Archived from the original on 2013-01-13.
  16. Lunden, Ingrid (November 16, 2012). "With Amazon Publishing Stonewalled By Retailers, Tim Ferriss Taps BitTorrent To Market His New Book". TechCrunch.
  17. Protalinski, Emil (November 30, 2012). "Thanks to BitTorrent, The 4-Hour Chef goes from being boycotted by Barnes and Noble to a bestseller". The Next Web.
  18. "The 4-Hour Bestseller (Thank You)". BitTorrent. November 30, 2012.
  19. Ruffles, Michael (November 21, 2012). "Tim Ferriss shakes up the publishing industry with new book". Smarta.
  20. Medhora, Neville (November 18, 2012). "How to have Tim Ferriss speak at your event for free". Nevblog.
  21. Ferriss, Timothy (November 20, 2012). "From Modern to Mallmann". Outside Magazine.
  22. "Timothy Ferriss talks food, life lessons". CBS This Morning. November 23, 2012.
  23. "Tim Ferriss' Plan to Master Cooking in 4 Hours, Pt 1". Doctor Oz.
  24. Bakshian, Aram Jr. (4 January 2013). "Recipes for Frustration" via www.wsj.com.
  25. The 4-Hour Chef. Kirkus Reviews.