Thursday, December 1, 2011

Review: Freedom Twenty-Five: A 21st Century Man’s Guide to Life by Frost

Maybe you are familiar with Frost. He blogs on Freedom Twenty-Five about his attempt to find meaning in a world without. Having given up his well-paid government job, he nowadays resides in some Third World paradise. Freedom Twenty-Five: A 21st Century Man’s Guide to Life is his first book, and the title is more than fitting. It was released today and is available on Amazon as a paperback and in an electronic version for their Kindle ebook reader.

Frost challenges us to cut the bullshit from our lives, escape our mundane existence, and find ourselves. He himself hasn’t found all answers to the questions that were pressing him either, but he is able to share a tremendous amount of insight in this short book. The review is long and detailed, but if you trust my judgment without reading it, or you simply belong to the “tl; dr generation”, I’ll tell you straight away that I highly recommend this book. It may well be the best investment you have made all year long.



Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a framework, Freedom Twenty-Five is a tour de force taking on your whole existence. It is split into five chapters, which are inspired by Maslow’s categories. As a framework, Maslow may be helpful, but if I was to criticize this excellent book for just one thing, it is that there are a few broad generalizations in the beginning, such as “Success with women is also a necessary precondition for success in the next levels.” In this part, Frost tries too hard to male his philosophy of life fit a common model in psychology.

An obvious counter-example is what Freud called “sublimation”, i.e. using your sexual drive to succeed in any other field of endeavor. I am not sure this is a correct interpretation either. However, the fact remains that many outstanding men have seemingly completely neglected their sexuality, almost as if it was beneath them to engage in such activity, and devoted all their life to extending the frontiers of science. That John von Neumann or Richard Feynman had a reputation of being womanizers does not refute this argument either.

However, this shouldn’t detract from the immense benefit you will reap from this book. In fact, I have read it in two sittings, which was easy to do since the book is concise, and it’s also written in a very lively language. Some parts are exceedingly funny and made me laugh out loudly, while others are much more introspective. For a non-fiction book, the range of emotion Frost manages to hit is impressive.

I was more than pleased to note that Frost is an adherent of the same no-nonsense philosophy I follow. In fact, going through the biographical sketch he provides, I could already see that we would agree on not just a few points. I did learn a few things as well, though. The first was his recommendation of Paleolithic Nutrition, which addresses the problem of unbalanced energy levels which are, ironically, the result of a balanced diet according to general wisdom. My nutrition was certainly not bad, but by cutting carbs and substituting it with meat, I quickly began to feel more active and alive throughout the day.

That’s not all there is to the Paleo Diet. In fact, if you are the average American, then you may have to completely change your nutrition. This diet has many more benefits, such as taking less time to prepare and removing the need to have three to five meals a day.

The remainder of the book is full of such no-nonsense advice. For instance, he recommends a work-out plan that consists of two sessions at the gym a week, for half an hour each, and tells you how to really maximize what you get out of it. Of course, this won’t make you look like Schwarzenegger in his prime, but it will easily put you above Joe Average and the few of his buddies who spend hours on training muscles most medical students wouldn’t be able to identify.

Reading advice on how to minimize the effect of alcohol on your body struck me as somewhat contradictory, but that’s just from my perspective. Frost’s philosophy is to enjoy life, and if getting wasted every now and again is part of it, then so be it. If you are on a tight budget, you will surely appreciate his tips on how to get a bigger buzz for the buck.

The chapter on money should be illuminating for many, especially given how common it is to grossly overspend. Frost discusses typical spending habits, and by doing so he hopefully raises your awareness that your possessions lock you in. For instance, a mortgage on a house usually ties you to a certain geographical region. He gives an excellent overview on money management, and thus I can only hope that this book finds many readers among high-school students who should think twice before saddling themselves with an amount of debt that they may find impossible to ever repay. As Frost correctly analyzes, not even the safe jobs are safe anymore, and the decision to go to college shouldn’t be made reflexively.

Especially in the “Money” chapter the author’s pessimism for Western civilization, which he describes to be in its autumn period, is most visible. However, I do agree with him. Where he might sound a tad too euphoric, though, is in his recommendation of entrepreneurship. If real wages are stagnating or declining, and more and more people lose their job, then you will only compete for an ever shrinking pie. This is the only instance where he seems to buy into purported myths, even though he does a great job imploding them everywhere else in this book.

“You will sink or swim based on how smart you are, how hard you work, and how well you execute,” just doesn’t tell the whole story. Of course, the typical biography of a successful business man is most often a hagiography that makes no mention of factors such as luck or simply connections due to having dropped out of the right womb. Those books read as if their heroes could single-handedly defeat armies, climb the Mount Everest barefoot, and learn a foreign language by osmosis simply by sitting next to a Chinese or Arabian on the plane.

Obviously, it’s not that simple. If you believe business “gurus” who proclaim that guys like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet or Donald Trump would have become billionaires no matter under which circumstances, then please talk to me. You may be interested in some of the property on the moon I could sell you for a great price. Really. However, I respect Frost for stating that you shouldn’t blindly take his advice as he’s not yet a successful entrepreneur himself.

The chapter on “Sex” is a very good introduction to seduction. I was pleased to see that he shares my criticism towards the seduction industry and, just like me, follows a simple and straightforward method. Since Freedom Twenty-Five is a book on life it goes far beyond pick-up. Frost’s analysis of the fundamental problems of the hook-up culture deserve to be fleshed out in a different book. I certainly would like to read more of him as it is obvious that he has had quite a bit of experience, and has learnt about the implications of easy sex as well.

His ties to the “manosphere” become evident in this chapter as well, with a scathing and brilliant analysis of how feminism makes women bad marriage material:
The harsh reality, which  21st  century women seem to be largely unaware of, is that men are generally uninterested in committing to aging women with triple-digit sexual partner counts. (…) Men with options simply don’t like sluts, unless we’re trying to sleep with one and so are trying to make her feel unjudged, in which case we’ll say whatever needs to be said.
Truer words were seldom spoken.

Note that this is not a contradiction because it is a big difference, after all, whether you just want to get your rocks off, or whether you are looking for the woman of your children. Jenny with the big fake tits and an an obsession with experimentation that would have made Isaac Newton envious may have been the ride of your life. But while it’s easy to forget the fact that you probable weren’t the second guy she’s ever slept with, you do hopefully have higher standards when it comes to the potential mother of your children.

Arguably the most important chapter is on “Wisdom.” In a powerful opening paragraph, Frost diagnoses the “millennial generation” to have sever attention deficits, and that the need to always be “connected,” and seek entertainment around the clock ruins our lives. You may not be such a bad case, but even then, you will find many great tips on making you aware of how you actually spend your time, and how to become productive.

The culmination of the book is the chapter on “Purpose”. It’s written in a motivational tone that would have made Obama’s speechwriters proud. They wouldn’t approve of the content though, as Frost diagnoses symptoms of a broken era and calls out to change the world for the better. He doesn’t provide many ideas, but he does give you plenty of motivation. Thus, there is hope that Freedom Twenty-Five: A 21st Century Man’s Guide to Life will make one or the other guy forego spending his evenings playing ego-shooters on his Xbox 360, and look for a higher purpose instead. Frankly, I hope this book will give more than a few slackers the kick in the butt they need to finally do something worthwhile with their life.




Freedom Twenty-Five: A 21st Century Man’s Guide to Life is available on Amazon as a paperback and in an electronic version for their Kindle ebook reader. Also, check out Frost's blog at Freedom Twenty-Five.

12 comments:

  1. Hey man, thanks for the review! As I said in our correspondence, I remember your posts from mASF way back in like 06/07, and I'm glad to see you're still writing.

    I think you raised two excellent critiques: I fully admit that I was "forcing" the hierarchy of needs analogy a bit, and I also agree with you that entrepreneurial careers will be harder to come by in the coming years as the purchasing power of the western world declines.

    Then again, I just got back from a muay thai training session with three guys. They all make good money with minimal time investment through SEO, online marketing, and online career consulting respectively. I personally expect to make enough money selling books and building websites to travel and live well for the forseeable future, and I believe I'm writing an email right now to a guy who has similar plans =). So yes, certain things may get harder, but it's not impossible! Also, there are a lot of opportunities offered specifically by the conditions we live in now. For example, a buddy of mine is starting a business to help ambitious young americans start careers in east asia.

    Cheers!

    Frost

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  2. Aaron, your review convinced me to buy this book. It sounds more valuable than anything Tim Ferriss put out.

    Your point on typical autobiographical hagiography is important. Countless people read biographies of "gurus" and "great men" with a good deal of naivete, not taking into account the fact that everyone self-censors their life's story.

    The same for sexually experienced men, a hint of rakishly pious hagiography is always evident.

    Since you are a European, doubtless the typical American, gospel of success "everyone can do it" attitude wears old. I think a balance between European realism and American enthusiasm is important. Frankly career, work markets, self-business entrepreneur markets all require immense efforts, and have uncertain outcomes. Men are best off making practical and realistic assessment son where they are, where they want to be, and making pragmatic step by step plans to get there, implementing and checking their progress and taking life's feedback, in the form of "hard knocks" as adjustment guideposts.

    I'm ordering this book from Amazon today, your review convinced me. Frost, I look forward to reading your material. Men's writing needs more voices.

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  3. Kind of disappointed in this, Aaron. Reading from Frosts blog he buys into a pretty mainstream version of game that is all about supplication and doing a bunch of stuff to get girls. I thought your whole position is that game is really bullshit and you just have to be direct and select for girls that are into you. Frost definitely buys into the kind of game that says you have to *make* girls like you by acting all alpha and dominant, and I thought you were about a rejection of that kind of childish thing. Now I am not sure what to think about you anymore.

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  4. Ilyn,

    I was reviewing his book (!) and not some articles on his blog about seduction which I have not read. Thus I can't comment on those. However, here is a quote from page 90 from the book, in case you are interested:

    "Seduction is not magic. If you cannonball into the world of pick-up, you‟ll quickly find yourself surrounded by men telling you that your looks, wallet, social circle and lifestyle are all irrelevant – Game is your magic bullet, they say, and nothing else matters once yours is tight.

    Some of these guys are just trying to sell you something, but most are actually sincere. Tell these men that you might have to work harder to overcome a physical flaw of yours, and they‟ll chide you for engaging in a self-limiting belief"

    (p. 90-1)

    ...and now please tell me what issue you have with this attitude? Besides, he doesn't talk about "acting all alpha and dominant" at all.

    I appreciate that you took the time to comment on this post, but I would much prefer if you had actually read the book, or informed yourself thoroughly before making broad accusations.

    Thank you.

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  5. jpf,

    thanks for your comment! I share your skeptical view about Tim Ferris, btw.

    Yes, I have indeed grown very tired of typical US rhetoric in the Horatio Alger vein, and of other equally harmful authors such as Ayn Rand as well. It's not the fault of those authors that their works have become instrumentalized, though, but the world would be a better place had they never published a single page.

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  6. Sleazy,

    I am curious. Why is it that you hate Tim Ferris? I have read his book Four hour work week, and although he hypes things a lot, makes things sound really easy, says you should become an expert by proclaiming to be one, have also heard he makes his VAs post fake positive reviews on Amazon and a lot of other bullshit, I do feel the book serves an important purpose in that it shows people that there is an alternate way outside of the standard life which society imposes upon us.

    Of course, the book could have been written in a much more compact and realistic fashion, and containing less fluff, but I think in absence of another good work on the topic which is easily locatable, I prefer that the book has been written than not been.

    I guess its a question of attitude in general. Would you say the book Mystery Method should have been written or not? In my case, I agree that it ended up wasting a lot of my time and caused me more headache than necessary, but in the end I am happy I found the book because I probably would not have found the PUA community otherwise, and without that, definitely wouldn't have found guys like you and 60. So overall, I am very happy with Mystery Method.

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  7. Johnny,

    I don't "hate" Tim Ferris or anyone else, but I dislike how he misrepresents certain aspects, which includes many part of his "rags to riches" story in 4 Hour Work Week. Heck, even the title is bogus. He later on tries to weasel himself out of it with statements along the lines of "the book was never really about just working four hours a week but finding something you enjoy". There is also a strong focus on "cheating" in the book, and while "finding a loophole" may lead to success on paper, it does not gain respect. Or do you think anyone takes him seriously for that world championship he allegedly won by pushing people out of the ring?

    Tim Ferriss comes from money, and had good connections due to his background, yet he doesn't really acknowledge how much this helped him with everything he did. Thus, he feeds into the inane American mythology of "everyone can make it." Coming from such a strong position, it's of course less difficult to become an entrepreneur. Yet, he makes it sound that all you have to do to make it, is sell some stuff like "imported French shirts", and the customers will just come, in turn allowing you to spend your life traveling around the world.

    If you are interested in "alternative ways", then read Thoreau's Walden, some good old Greek philosophy, or delve into Eastern spirituality. Ferriss' blueprint is nothing but shallow, though. Also, had he written the book in a "realistic fashion", he couldn't have written it at all.

    That Mystery Method led you to waste your time, and eventually find me, and this in turn making you view MM in a positive light is an example of rationalizing. People generally don't like to acknowledge their mistakes and confess their gullibility. That you found me and Sixty after having gotten disillusioned with MM is what is called an unintended consequence. Surely, Mystery and Lovedrop haven't written their book to make people seek out other guys in this area.

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  8. Sleazy,

    It's very interesting to note the points to bring out from 4HWW. As a guy who likes to focus the key ideas than getting down into intricate details, I just didn't bother with his own rags to riches story. The moment he mentioned that before the whole automate your life thing, he was already running a huge company making tons of money, that itself ruled out a lot of what he said.

    For me, the key take away message was that a lifestyle where you earn a reasonable amount of money without having to work too much, or that you work hard for a period of life and enjoy its fruits for a much longer time frame, is actually possible. Of course, it's no where as easy as he makes it sound, but at least its possible. The conventional society usually operates in extremes regarding this.

    Never heard of Thoreau's Walden before. Will have a look. Thanks for the suggestion.

    Regarding Mystery Method, I did not mean to say that I view Mystery Method in a positive light. I just said the indirectly, the impact it had on my life has been positive. I just like most people never thought that its possible to improve your life with women.

    Had I not found the book, there is a good probability that I would still be a frustrated idiot like I was. Of course, I may have found another way without going through MM but it seems unlikely because there is not much else which is as mainstream. Guys like you or Sixty are not mainstream enough to be found on the stands of local bookstores, so any such ideas have to come from mainstream people, and almost anything which is mainstream has a lot of problems.

    I'll give you another example of what I mean. I recently heard a talk by a guy who talked about how most of the advice in fitness industry is crap, and that you don't have to bother so much with meal timings, frequency, sizes and that half hour workouts twice weekly is enough. At the time, this idea was so profound for me that I was amazed. It does not make the guy awesome, but what I know is that if there is one guy claiming such a thing then the idea is certainly worth looking into. I kept looking further into this and now have designed a good program for myself which is very opposite of what mainstream recommends.

    Is it possible that I could have found out about this some other way? Yes. What I do know is that before when I did not know about this, I had resigned my life to being unfit because I thought being fit is extremely hard. Thus, I can't deny the impact which the initial idea had on my life. I guess the problem happens when after the initial idea, you accept the text in question blindly without further research of your own.

    Lastly, I will point you to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stages_of_competence. This probably summarizes my view best. I view the initial idea as jumping from stage 1 to 2. Before you do any other work, the idea that the area is something you have a problem with, and its something you can work on has to be planted. This job usually will be done by mainstream texts and usually, anything super mainstream has a lot of flaws. A related point is that if there is anything which very mainstream, then that almost surely implies that there are more people who have probably researched the hell out of that topic, and that is who you need to find.

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  9. I posted a really long reply but somehow it did not get posted. I'll summarize in a much shorter comment.

    I feel the value of these books, at least that's been the case for me, is that they plant the initial idea in your mind. In most cases, before this you are not even aware that such a thing is possible. So before MM, I did not believe you could actually improve your skills with women.

    Now this initial idea bit has to come from mainstream texts, because figures which are more on the "edge" won't be found on the stands of local book stores. Also, my general experience is that anything which is really mainstream tends to have a lot of flaws.

    This is related to the levels of learning idea - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stages_of_competence. They help you move from level 1 to 2. If you are not even aware that there is a problem, you would not go looking for better text in a certain area.

    I don't believe that 4HWW or MM is very good in itself. Anyone accepting it at face value will be sorely disappointed. One has to go do more research and see which ideas fit with his own life. I think the point is that if any mainstream text is preaching an idea which seems really profound, almost certainly there are more marginal figures who have researched the hell out of the thing and that is who one should try and seek out, if they like the initial idea.

    This does not make the source of the initial idea awesome, but at the same time you can't deny the impact of the source. Does it mean that had the said book in concern not been written, one could not have come across the idea in some other way? Maybe, maybe not.

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's odd that the comment didn't show up on the blog. I've received it via mail and will thus copy and paste it here, and reply in a separate comment.

    ============
    Sleazy,

    It's very interesting to note the points to bring out from 4HWW. As a guy who likes to focus the key ideas than getting down into intricate details, I just didn't bother with his own rags to riches story. The moment he mentioned that before the whole automate your life thing, he was already running a huge company making tons of money, that itself ruled out a lot of what he said.

    For me, the key take away message was that a lifestyle where you earn a reasonable amount of money without having to work too much, or that you work hard for a period of life and enjoy its fruits for a much longer time frame, is actually possible. Of course, it's no where as easy as he makes it sound, but at least its possible. The conventional society usually operates in extremes regarding this.

    Never heard of Thoreau's Walden before. Will have a look. Thanks for the suggestion.

    Regarding Mystery Method, I did not mean to say that I view Mystery Method in a positive light. I just said the indirectly, the impact it had on my life has been positive. I just like most people never thought that its possible to improve your life with women.

    Had I not found the book, there is a good probability that I would still be a frustrated idiot like I was. Of course, I may have found another way without going through MM but it seems unlikely because there is not much else which is as mainstream. Guys like you or Sixty are not mainstream enough to be found on the stands of local bookstores, so any such ideas have to come from mainstream people, and almost anything which is mainstream has a lot of problems.

    I'll give you another example of what I mean. I recently heard a talk by a guy who talked about how most of the advice in fitness industry is crap, and that you don't have to bother so much with meal timings, frequency, sizes and that half hour workouts twice weekly is enough. At the time, this idea was so profound for me that I was amazed. It does not make the guy awesome, but what I know is that if there is one guy claiming such a thing then the idea is certainly worth looking into. I kept looking further into this and now have designed a good program for myself which is very opposite of what mainstream recommends.

    Is it possible that I could have found out about this some other way? Yes. What I do know is that before when I did not know about this, I had resigned my life to being unfit because I thought being fit is extremely hard. Thus, I can't deny the impact which the initial idea had on my life. I guess the problem happens when after the initial idea, you accept the text in question blindly without further research of your own.

    Lastly, I will point you to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stages_of_competence. This probably summarizes my view best. I view the initial idea as jumping from stage 1 to 2. Before you do any other work, the idea that the area is something you have a problem with, and its something you can work on has to be planted. This job usually will be done by mainstream texts and usually, anything super mainstream has a lot of flaws. A related point is that if there is anything which very mainstream, then that almost surely implies that there are more people who have probably researched the hell out of that topic, and that is who you need to find.

    ReplyDelete
  11. You raise some very important points, and I don't doubt the validity of your approach. In fact, I like that you do look way beyond mainstream sources.

    My intellectual upbringing, however, led me to not blindly accept anything, and I have also learnt that you'll more often than not find truth in the fringes of a field. Thus, I prefer seeking those out in the first place, after cursory acquaintance with the "mainstream." For a very powerful example of this, see Thomas Kuhn's "Structure of Scientific Revolutions" (that's the book that gave the world the term "paradigm shift"). Kuhn shows that the progress of science is not as linear as is commonly believed, but that it is, expressed in very simple terms, a matter of competing paradigms. One of the more important insights is that paradigms that were proven wrong don't automatically wither. The people representing it have invested way too much, so they cling on to it, and only once they are gone, proponents of the new (and superior) paradigm can rise up.

    I am sure you could make a convincing case that a similar mechanism is at work in many fields, and you probably have also had plenty of experiences in which it became obvious to you that the "common way" of doing something isn't the "best", fastest, or more efficient way. Obviously, my teachings are an example of a "fringe position" that is superior to the mainstream one, but no matter where you look, you'll find people like me who have to offer something more effective. However, just like my message, theirs isn't palatable to the mainstream either. Or do you think the fitness industry has an interest promoting a simple, no-nonsense plan of working out?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hey Sleaze, I got this book based on your recommendation, but I didn'T like it that much to be honest. You mentioned some important points above, namely that Frost himself doesn't really have a clue either and is following some Tim Ferriss-like pipedream . Heck, that dude will probably return to his cushy govmnt job anyway after he's burnt all his money on cheap drugs & hookers in Thailand, and if he's bitching about his job, well, then maybe he should have studied something useful he finds intrinsically valuable. He then wouldn't have had to run off to Thailand like some crybaby ("waah waah waaah... I actually have to work for a living. waaah waaah. And I can't no longer play beer pong all day long with my frat. waaah waaah... And coz there are no bitches around who I can liquor up I don't get laid anymore. waaah waaah waaah. Seriously, that's the intro of the book, paraphased in 3 sentences) and trick himself into believing he's some kind of guru. He's a little kid of hardly average intelligence. I could compile some quotes from this book that make me doubt that this dude actually finished college, so poor are his reasoning skills; on his website he makes some claim aobut having attended a 2nd tier college, but this is true, then he must have gotten in because his mom blew the headmaster. If he's representative of "2nd tier" colleges, then his country is doomed. Sonehow he thinks he's some special snowflake, to use the language of Fight Club, which is a movie he should have watched once or twice instead of 30 or 50 times.

    Since I already eat well, his run-down on Paleo wasn't that interesting for me, and wasting time online isn't my problem either. Heck, if I had some tedious job, I probably would spend hours on Twitter and Facebook too. But I wouldn't write a book, beleiving that everybody's life is like mine. Well, I guess you can get something out of Freedom 25, but wouldn't you agree that you can have it much cheaper by, say, reading up on Paleo online and watching Fight Club?

    I love reading and have a couple hundred books at home, all carefully selected. Frost's is the first book I've actually thrown away. It's rubbish, and the thought that it should sit on the same shelf as the works of poets, philosophers and scientists just struck me as too absurd. It would be like putting some pulp novel next to the collected dramas of Shakespeare! Even if you had no clue about literature, you'd just know that it's completely wrong.

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