Self-Renewal

This book by John W. Gardner has been genuinely recommended 2 times on Tim Ferriss. The people who vouched for it on air: Jim Collins. It comes up in conversations about exercise & strength, longevity & aging, motivation & discipline, productivity & performance. The earliest recommendation we indexed is from Dec 2020 and the most recent from Mar 2026. Every quote below is verbatim, attributed, and linked to the exact second it was said. Sourced expert opinion, not medical advice.

• “He had written a great book, a little book, back a number of years ago on self-renewal”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “He had written a great book”
  Jim Collins · The Tim Ferriss Show · Mar 202600:16:03

  Said during "Jim Collins, What to Make of a Life". The episode features Jim Collins: Researcher and author of Good to Great, Built to Last, and Great by Choice; here discussing his new book What to Make of a Life: Cliffs, Fog, Fire, and the Self-Knowledge Imperative, the product of 12+ years of research. Jim Collins joins Tim Ferriss to explore his new book on cliffs, fog, encodings, and getting a return on luck across a whole life.

• “john wrote a marvelous book in 1962 by the title of self-renewal and i went down the hall to john and i said i'd like to do research on this”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “john wrote a marvelous book in 1962 by the title of self-renewal”
  Jim Collins · The Tim Ferriss Show · Dec 202002:31:53

  Said during "Jim Collins on The Value of Small Gestures, Unseen Sources of Power, and More | The Tim Ferriss Show". The episode features Jim Collins: Researcher and teacher of what makes great companies endure, and a Socratic advisor to leaders. Author or co-author of six books (including Good to Great and Built to Last) that have sold more than 10 million copies. Jim Collins returns to discuss mentors, the power of small gestures, light vs. dark motivation, the Stockdale Paradox, and renewing over a lifetime.