Reviews for The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

The average rating for The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-01-21 00:00:00 Nichole Allen Timothy Ferriss spoke at a management meeting last week where I work. A few of the managers came back pretty impressed, so I cadged a copy off of a manager and skimmed/read it one sitting Friday night. The effect of this book is like being trapped in a room with a manic-depressive during the manic part of his cycle. Imagine a cross between Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys and a late-night infomercial. Then add a dash of narcissistic personality disorder to get an idea of the tone of this book. This book is one in a series of books lately -- including Rich Dad, Poor Dad -- that damns the middle class for a lack of imagination as demonstrated by showing up for work every day and upholding the social contract, among other things. The middle class, far from being admired for being the people that the economy and that this country is built on, should be pitied as they pathetically roll down 101 in their Civics and Jettas to their white collar jobs. Why build a career when you could be selling can openers at a profit through the miracle of AdWords? Offered as an example of the breakthrough thinking in this book is the time the author won a kickboxing championship by reading the rules, finding loopholes, and then winning on a technicality. It's hard to imagine an attitude further from the Renaissance concept of virtu than this. The part of the book that I greatly enjoyed concerned "time management" and gave valuable tips on how not to be such a fucking patsy at work. I put "time management" in quotes because he believes that time management is part of the problem. He offers great advice on handling email (check only twice a day) and handling it (send clear if-then emails). He also gives great advice on how to make yourself valuable and productive enough to negotiate a better work-life balance, assuming you have the talent and energy to pull it off. But in this day of telecommuting, this is really less radical than he makes it sound. He makes a good case for quitting any job that doesn't allow working from home on a regular basis. Another highlight of this book is a reprint of a hilarious article from Esquire about outsourcing personal chores to India. It's too bad that the rest of the book couldn't take on the same humorous and likable tone while making its sometimes valid points. I guess you could sum up this book like this: "There's no TEAM in I."

Review # 2 was written on 2009-05-28 00:00:00 Martin Beckford EDIT: I've left my original opinion below. However, as time has passed, I don't really think I can recommend this book as anything but entertainment. Anything useful has been written elsewhere, better, and by people who aren't lying to you. ----- I hesitantly recomend this book. The reasons why are towards the end of the review. The douchebaggery and straight up disengenuity espoused almost drips off the pages: quite remarkable even in the self-help, think-outside-the-box, start-your-own-business genre. Much of what Ferris recommends just plain doesn't work (I'm talking from experience). Other things are slightly ridiculous: an entire chapter is spent discussing how one can get people to stop bugging you at your cubicle by lying to their faces about how busy you are, or using other, more passive-aggressive methods to avoid them. Yet more suggestions are even more unethical and unsound: how to get your boss to sign you up to work at home, so you can go off and get your job 'done' in an hour a day and then get on with pursuing your just rewards. Apparently, as long as no one realizes what useless timewaster you >used< to be, Ferris thinks it is perfectly acceptable to use this new found time to your own ends, as long as no one catches on. According to Ferris, we should all use methods to arbitrage the actual productivity of others - such as email friends and colleagues for information rather than finding it ourselves, despite the fact he also espouses avoiding all such requests from others, getting them to 'channel' their communications into forms that you can either ignore or answer as quickly as possible, preferably through an executive assistant. As far as that secret 'get rich quick, live on the beach' lifestyle he promises? It involves the same arbitrage, only commercially. In other words, we should all start websites that dropship stuff and by google adwords and we'll all be rich. Life doesn't work like that: someone has to make shit, and the web is already saturated with stores. Why do I recomend this book anyway? Well, despite the shitloads of pie in the sky bad advice, and the loads of leeching & douchebaggery that Ferris seems to think he is the original source for, there is a lot to be learned in regards to automating and simplifying one's life, and practicing and developing an enterpreneurial outlook to improving one's situation. So, read between the lines, recognize the Ferris is an untrustworthy weasel frat boy out to promote himself and sell books. But, take note that while the lifestyle he espouses in his book just doesn't add up, his overall philosophy has served him well, and there is definitely utility in the tactics that serve this get-someone-else-to-do-it-for-you life strategy.