Title: The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9–5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
Author: Timothy Ferris
Publisher: Crown Archetype
The Publisher’s Writeup:
Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan–there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, or just living more and working less, The 4-Hour Workweek is the blueprint.
This step-by-step guide to luxury lifestyle design teaches:
- •How Tim went from $40,000 per year and 80 hours per week to $40,000 per month and 4 hours per week
- •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 frequent “mini-retirements”
The Review:
I’ll start by saying that this is not the kind of book I would normally pick up, but I had heard so much hype, accompanied by glowing recommendations, that I figured it was worth giving it a shot. What graphic designer doesn’t want to make more and work less, after all? I went into it with an open mind but, frankly, it makes me sad for the world that this book has such a loyal following.
A more appropriate title for this book would be “How To Cheat At Business And Get Away With It”. While the book does have a few good tips for business productivity and some of the concepts are sound, the bulk of its suggestions are morally questionable at best. Here are a few of Ferris’ business recommendations: lie to your employer, exploit cheap labor in developing nations, create an online business that doesn’t actually provide any value to its customers.
To make it worse, the author is so clearly in love with himself that he can’t help but continually brag about other achievements he’s pulled off through sleazy tactics, such as winning a kickboxing tournament by exploiting a loophole in the rules and other forms of pseudo-cheating.
Basically, if someone asked me “should I read this book,” I think I’d actually respond with “yes” (surprised you there, didn’t I?), but with the caveat that they should be prepared for a lot of sleaze and that they should be sure they know where their morals stand before hand.
Pros:
- Valuable productivity tips
- Some valid point about the nature of the modern workforce
Cons:
- Most of the author’s suggestions require loose morals
- Encourages (and even praises) exploitative practices
- Kind of reads like a love letter to himself
Check out this book on Amazon:
*About This Link: When you buy books through this link you’re helping to keep this blog going. All reviews on this site are sincere and not meant as a sales pitch. We would rather be honest than rich.
