Sorry, you come off as just another "hater" looking to pick apart a basically good book on hacking ones body. It's not just about weight loss or gaining strength. There are chapters on sex, sleep, free diving, etc. that would probably interest many people on HN.

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>It's a prime example of good 21st century marketing, so at least that's something of use for a lot of HNers. The scientific and nutritional parts are a "bit mixed", to put it nicely. If I remember correctly, parts of it basically went "this is scientifically proven because Wikipedia says so".

I don't think one should read it as a scientific or nutrition text book, but it's not fair to dismiss it as pure marketing either. There's lots of works cited and professional observations through out the book. You can't write a 500+ page NYT and Amazon bestseller based off of information you pull from Wikipedia articles no matter how good the marketing is.

>His "slow-carb" diet is basically a easier to digest low-carb diet mixed with a bit of CKD.

To me, the slow-carb way of life differs from the low-carb way of life in that you don't avoid all carbs, but be smart about the ones you choose. That's an important distinction. For instance, choosing dense nutrient-rich vegetables like spinach and broccoli over corn and green beans. He really encourages legumes like lentils and beans in the book, which I haven't seen as much in other low-carb style books.

>Kettlebells are good, but surely not the workout panacea he promises (and actually somewhat risky for people with back or knee problems who are doing this without proper supervision).

Yeah, if you have serious health issues, please consult a physician. Every diet/health/fitness book has this basic disclaimer in the front pages. If it hurts, you are probably doing something very wrong.

>You should be able to get most of that info on the net, and there you often have some much-needed perspective and discussions about it.

Scouring the net for this information from various sources of questionable authority is a very bad use of one's time/money. Purchasing a 500+ page book for less than $20 which contains all of the information you need to get started on your body-hacking journey is a very good use of one's time/money.

>And those are the moderate parts of the book. If I can poke some holes into that, I don't even want to know what might be wrong with the more risque parts (injury prevention, bodybuilding, supplements). And the sex chapters would fit in nicely into drivel like "The Game"...

I'm not so interested in the "risque parts" and I wouldn't knock the sex parts until you've tried them ;) Really, you can avoid those parts if you want and still have loads of material to dive into and research farther.

>Don't get me wrong, I would love to have a "body hacks" book, but I'd prefer if it were done with a bit of scientific rigor, not just "this worked for me, control group: me".

Honestly, I was skeptical at first too. But Tim really doesn't say "this worked for me, control group: me". There are dozens of on-the-field and in-the-lab experts he mentions (you can research their credentials/expertise further very easily, as I did) and hundreds of subjects. Again, it's not a scientific thesis -- it's a guide book on hacking one's body in a very efficient manner.