# Ferriss's fitness and relationship picks, Rabois on Stebbings' BoxGroup interview, and Garry Tan on robotics after Astra

*By Recommended Reading from Tech Founders • November 2, 2026*

Tim Ferriss updated his book and program picks. Keith Rabois praised Harry Stebbings' conversation with David Tisch, and Garry Tan, Patrick O'Shaughnessy and Ryan Hoover each pointed to an AI, investing or podcast piece.

## Ferriss: what he would still recommend

Asked whether *The 4-Hour Body* holds up after 40, **Tim Ferriss** said there is "very little in that book that I would rescind or revise" [^1]. He still uses the slow-carb diet and calls it "one of my top picks" [^1]. He pointed people to his free blog post "How to lose 100 lb on the slow carb diet," which he calls "the simplest, most reliable diet for recomposition." His reason: "the best diet that you follow is a lot better than the perfect diet that you quit" [^1]. His one caveat is policosanol, part of the book's PEG supplement stack. He says he would need to look again at research not funded by industry [^1].

He also made three picks for a new parent:
- **Terry Real's audiobook *Fierce Intimacy***. He calls Real "a beacon of clarity in a world of hand-wavy relationship advice." It is audio only, with no print or Kindle version. He would pick it over *Crucial Conversations* [^1].
- **Jerzy and Aniela Gregorek's *The Happy Body*** (book and program). Naval Ravikant introduced him to them. The couple, now in their 60s, credit most of their abilities to its daily exercise routine. He says the equipment should cost under $50 [^1].
- **Coach Chris Sommer's Gymnastic Strength Training (GST)**. He calls it "phenomenal" bodyweight training that needs only a floor. Combining GST, The Happy Body and acro yoga put him in the best shape he has been in for decades [^1].

## Rabois: Stebbings' BoxGroup conversation

**Keith Rabois** called [Harry Stebbings' conversation with David Tisch](https://x.com/harrystebbings/status/2116927843468767609) an "Excellent conversation" [^2]. Stebbings says he had been wrong to doubt that a portfolio of 150+ companies with a $200M+ fund could produce outsized returns. He calls the episode an analysis of BoxGroup's returns over the years [^3]. Takeaways from the conversation, as Stebbings summarized them:
- Concentrated funds claim to win 90% of the deals they want, but Tisch puts the real figure at about 20% [^3].
- Dilution in fast-scaling Series B–D rounds is now 3%–8%, down from 12%–20% [^3].
- BoxGroup has stopped funding consumer brands at seed [^3].

## Garry Tan: Freda Duan's robotics report

**Garry Tan** shared Freda Duan's "10 Spicy Takes After Talking to 50 Friends at the Frontier of Robotics" with the line "Practical robotics is nigh" [^4]. Duan argues that Astra is "robotics' GPT-3 moment." In her view, robotics is becoming "just another vertical for frontier labs," and the next bottleneck is deployment rather than intelligence [^5]. She says the takes are meant "to spark debate," since Astra has been out only about a month. The full report is on [Robonomics](https://robonomics.substack.com/p/robotics-new-era-after-astra?r=3hcp4&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web) [^5].

## O'Shaughnessy: his conversation with Cliff Sosin

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** re-promoted [his conversation with investor Cliff Sosin](https://x.com/patrick_oshag/status/2115050890206106020), whom he calls one of his favorite people "to call, ask some big questions, and then shut up and listen" [^6]. The new clip is Sosin's "diamond-shaped demand frontier" argument. He sees few use cases for "super elite intelligence," while "very good intelligence is highly competitive and commoditized" [^7]. The episode also covers who profits from AI and why Sosin is comfortable with 80% of his portfolio in Carvana [^6].

## Shorter picks

- **Ryan Hoover** called a podcast billed as John McAfee's last interview a "Fascinating convo about self-reliance, love, and Crisco" [^8]. @cyantist, whose amateur show recorded it during the pandemic, adds a warning: "don't listen to this around kids." Listen on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/4dItTSc7V0BGzIvANUJacz?si=Z_fLszVLSaiQPT5FU7wkCA) [^9].
- **Keith Rabois** suggested following [@RealSKeshel](https://x.com/RealSKeshel) and [@PatrickRuffini](https://x.com/PatrickRuffini) "for rigorous analysis of elections." He describes Keshel as optimistic about GOP prospects and Ruffini as more pessimistic [^10].
- **Ben Horowitz** shared a [YouTube conversation](https://youtu.be/VDsQDZIaKhA?si=mMKXyTYpzOXfH8UO) as "A conversation amongst legends." He tagged Paid In Full, Roxanne Shanté, West Coast Doc and QD3, but gave no further context [^11].

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### Sources

[^1]: [Does The 4-Hour Body Still Work After 40? \(I’m 49\)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qP0hT4blKQ)
[^2]: [𝕏 post by @rabois](https://x.com/rabois/status/2116928813305135608)
[^3]: [𝕏 post by @HarryStebbings](https://x.com/HarryStebbings/status/2116927843468767609)
[^4]: [𝕏 post by @garrytan](https://x.com/garrytan/status/2116941191526895975)
[^5]: [𝕏 post by @FredaDuan](https://x.com/FredaDuan/status/2116727410972590380)
[^6]: [𝕏 post by @patrick_oshag](https://x.com/patrick_oshag/status/2115050890206106020)
[^7]: [𝕏 post by @patrick_oshag](https://x.com/patrick_oshag/status/2116904128743973216)
[^8]: [𝕏 post by @rrhoover](https://x.com/rrhoover/status/2116962642686521578)
[^9]: [𝕏 post by @cyantist](https://x.com/cyantist/status/2116955290541388016)
[^10]: [𝕏 post by @rabois](https://x.com/rabois/status/2116891972120224232)
[^11]: [𝕏 post by @bhorowitz](https://x.com/bhorowitz/status/2117061705134162024)