What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?

1. Ferriss, the author, is very much a hacker in his approach to trying new things and drawing conclusions. This is also very evident in his previous book, The 4-Hour Body.

2. The 4-Hour Chef not only teaches the reader how to cook (which is a superpower in itself). He also delves into the _meta_ and spends a large portion of the book, discussing the framework he uses for learning these techniques and how he has applied it to learning (and excelling in) other skill sets like judo, tango dancing and learning new languages.

Edit: This sounds like a bit of a marketing message, which it definitely is not, so I'll add a negative.

I find his books to be a bit scattered and although they're centered on an over-arching theme he doesn't always tie the threads together very convincingly. Whole chapters can seem like lightly-edited crib notes. Personally, I don't mind this style of writing and it does make his books very easy to scan and skip chapters without losing the books narrative but at times I've also found it difficult to follow.

1. I read a few titles and thought "Hmm, I'll go and buy a few of these on Amazon."

2. Then I thought: "I already have some of these books that I never read, I could gift them to others."

3. Perhaps I could set up some sort of book exchange where HN users can share books.

4. It would barely be worth the hassle and cost of postage.

5. Couldn't we share digital copies and avoid the postage?

6. That's PIRACY. The idea is dead.

It seems to me that a future where books cost a maximum of $2.99 is inevitable. I would unhesitatingly have bought 10 of these books, and there'd be almost no point in 'pirating' them, or even in sharing physical copies.