The Blade Itself

This book by Joe Abercrombie has been genuinely recommended 3 times on Tim Ferriss. The people who vouched for it on air: Brandon Sanderson, Tim Ferriss. It comes up in conversations about focus & dopamine, motivation & discipline, productivity & performance, supplements. The earliest recommendation we indexed is from Sep 2023 and the most recent from Feb 2025. Every quote below is verbatim, attributed, and linked to the exact second it was said. Sourced expert opinion, not medical advice.

Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he’s on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian, leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies. Nobleman Captain Jezal dan Luthar, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules. Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box.

• “you you kind of look at Joe abomi as kind of the modern version of that so the blade itself the blade itself fantastic oh so fun”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “the blade itself fantastic oh so fun also one of the best voice actors I've ever heard”
  Brandon Sanderson · The Tim Ferriss Show · Feb 202501:13:27

  Said during "Brandon Sanderson, Building a Fiction Empire & Unbreakable Habits". The episode features Brandon Sanderson: Bestselling epic fantasy author (Mistborn, The Stormlight Archive) who finished Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series and built Dragonsteel, a direct-to-consumer publishing company. Holds the record for the largest Kickstarter ever. Brandon Sanderson breaks down how he built a fantasy publishing empire through writing habits, magic systems, and a record-shattering $41M Kickstarter.

• “Joe abber cromi in this fantasy Trilogy which starts with the blade itself where I was just like oh God it's so well architected”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “oh God it's so well architected ... not just the pros but it is the pros as well”
  Tim Ferriss · The Tim Ferriss Show · Feb 202400:52:00

  Said during "How to Embrace Slow Productivity, Achieve Mastery, and Defend Your Time, Cal Newport & Tim Ferriss". The episode features Cal Newport: Georgetown computer science professor, New Yorker contributor, and bestselling author of Deep Work, Digital Minimalism, and Slow Productivity. Cal Newport unpacks slow productivity, obsessing over quality, and resisting algorithm-driven attention economies in favor of long-horizon craft.

• “I'm in the middle of listening to The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie, and it is really fun. It is really, really, really good.”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “really fun... really, really, really good”
  Tim Ferriss · The Tim Ferriss Show · Sep 202300:48:33

  Said during "The Random Show with Tim Ferriss & Kevin Rose, Affordable Luxuries, Brain Stimulation, and More!". The episode features Kevin Rose: Kevin Rose with Tim Ferriss. Tim and Kevin swap affordable luxuries, brain-stimulation experiments, books, supplements, gear, and AI investing ideas in a free-ranging Random Show.