Product Description What do you do? Tim Ferriss has trouble answering the question. Depending on when you ask this controversial Princeton University guest lecturer, he might answer:
“I race motorcycles in Europe.” “I ski in the Andes.” “I scuba dive in Panama.” “I dance tango in Buenos Aires.”
He has spent more than five years learning the secrets of the New Rich, a fast-growing subculture who has abandoned the “deferred-life plan” and instead mastered the new currencies—time and mobility—to create luxury lifestyles in the here and now.
Whether you are an overworked employee or an entrepreneur trapped in your own business, this book is the compass for a new and revolutionary world. Join Tim Ferriss as he teaches you:
• How to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want • How blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs • How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist • How to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and freuent "mini-retirements" • What the crucial difference is between absolute and relative income • How to train your boss to value performance over presence, or kill your job (or company) if it’s beyond repair • What automated cash-flow “muses” are and how to create one in 2 to 4 weeks • How to cultivate selective ignorance—and create time—with a low-information diet • What the management secrets of Remote Control CEOs are • How to get free housing worldwide and airfare at 50–80% off • How to fill the void and create a meaningful life after removing work and the office
Fantastic ReadDecember 4, 2008 The brilliance in this book stems largely from the macro concepts it addresses. Despite its initial appearance, this book shouldn't be used as a step by step, how to guide. It's most useful as a - wake up and smell the roses - sort of mental jumpstart.
Mind expanding, paradigm breakerNovember 29, 2008 0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I purchaced this book because I was preparing a presentation about time management. It almost messed up my presentation, because it messed up my brain. I tell you, It can actually be done. Work only 4 hours a week. But you have to do a complete reformat of your brain. The concept of taks elimination and putting yourself out of the equation to avoid bottlenecks is super. I am not quite there jet, but, now I work less and make more. I definitelly recommend this book to weight and consider the techniques within.
Tim and the 4 Hour Work Week are BrilliantNovember 29, 2008 0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was just looking at Twitter and for the first time I saw something remarkable: someone with lots of followers and is following no one. Tim Ferriss has 9,313 followers and is following absolutely no one. He does appear to post quite often, so I'm not sure how this figures in to his 4 hour work week, but his single-mindedness and focus is amazing.
I don't quite understand the naysayers here. Do people really want to work more than 4 hours a week? 40 hours a week? 80 hours a week? For me, 4 hours per week sounds just about right. I've implemented much of his advice regarding delegation and continue to do so. Hoping to get to 4 hours/week in another couple of months.
Tim, you're awesome!
Blatant LiesNovember 27, 2008 6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I must admit I was taken by the concept of "geoarbitrage". It just sounds cool, doesn't it? I thought the concept was quite interesting and eagerly purchased the book. After reading past the introduction, I realized I'd been conned.
The author's first claim, on page 13, is that he is a "no holds barred cage fighter, vanquisher of four world champions". This is a lie. There are online databases (such as sherdog's fight finder or mma.tv's fighter database) that hold the fight records of all professional and most amateur fighters, and no one with the last name 'Ferriss' is listed in any of them. Look it up for yourself. He claims on his blog that these fights were in Japan, but unfortunately for his credibility, Japanese MMA does not use a cage. The fights there take place in a ring, much like boxing.
He then claims to be a "National Chinese Kickboxing champion", a feat he claims to have accomplished (despite no formal background in the sport) by looking for "loopholes in the rules", one of which was that weigh ins were the day before the event. He claims to have dehydrated to the point of losing 28 pounds of water in 18 hours, then rehydrated after weigh ins. Loophole or not, this would not give him the advantage he claims, since weight cutting is utilized by virtually all fighters and, indeed, all athletes in sports with weight categories. He would have you believe that he invented the technique. Given his lies about his MMA record, and the improbability of winning a U.S. national championship in *any* sport after only four weeks of training, and the fact that he doesn't name or give any details that would allow one to look up the results of the tournament, it is overwhelmingly likely that he is lying about this accomplishment as well.
Given that the book starts out with two blatant lies (and his blog ... the lies there reach pathological levels), it becomes difficult to enjoy the rest of the 300 pages of anecdotes and advice. Most of the anecdotes are probably fabricated, so the credibility of the advice is tarnished. What's the point? It is also frustrating to know that your money went to such a person.
Buy 'Vagabonding' and 'The World is Flat' instead.
For Heartless Corporate-Drones onlyNovember 26, 2008 8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I read about this book in an in-flight magazine and thought it very much embodied my view of life: Don't delay your happiness or gratification until retirement. Seize the day and live it up now!
However, I was terribly disappointed. First of all, definitely heed the Warning printed on the back of the book. I didn't even notice the warning until it was too late. But there it was the whole time: "WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS BOOK UNLESS YOU WANT TO QUIT YOUR JOB"
I'm willing to quit my job, but you have to REALLY want to quit your job in order to do what this book says. You also have to have a meaningless job that requires almost ZERO work. I don't keep myself busy with busy-work at my job. I am genuinely busy with PRODUCTIVE, results-oriented work.
I'm a mid-level manager at a large non-profit organization. A lot of my job consists of interviewing children and adults for our programs. This is not something I can out-source to India. The interviews have to be done in-person and I have to follow-up in-person.
Even if I did have a job I could out-source to India, I wouldn't want to. To me, that is rather exploitive of a developing nation's people.
Additionally, one of the suggested methods to becoming part of the "new Rich" seems basically to scam people online. I think BrainQUICKEN (the author's road to riches) is very much a scam.
Finally, the author seems to dismiss seeking a deeper meaning to life. To me, exploiting people in a developing country, being completely lazy, and scamming people out of their money is not ethical and certainly not what I would recommend to anyone!
I'm 28 and I've taken a four-month vacation in Guatemala and Honduras, scuba dived in the Galapagos, completed a study tour in Israel, and spent a month conducting research in Ghana. I've traveled extensively on five continents. And yet I found this book absolutely INFURIATING.
If you are a corporate drone in a totally meaningless and worthless job, and you are free of the burden of any morals and ethics, this book is for you! Everyone else, move along.
