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| Author: Timothy Ferriss
Publisher: Crown
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $11.88
You Save: $8.07 (40%)
New (55) Used (29) Collectible (3) from $11.88
Rating:  774 reviews
Sales Rank: 134
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Number Of Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.7 x 1.2
ISBN: 0307353133
Dewey Decimal Number: 650.1
EAN: 9780307353139
ASIN: 0307353133
Publication Date: April 24, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 774
 21st Century Snake-Oil Salesman May 16, 2007
John K
160 out of 177 found this review helpful
First, I have to say that I was very enthusiastic about the first part of this book, as Tim suggests that people should consider other ways of living their life instead of working hard toward an eventual retirement. But later I realized after reading the book that the "live your life now, don't wait until later" concept is not new, and has been preached by everyone from philosophers to life coaches for decades now. [...].
Second, while the advice he has for people who already have a business is good (automating certain administrative tasks, checking e-mail less frequently even if you think your world might end if you do that), the ideas he dishes out to would-be entrepreneurs is much more troubling. Specifically product development, which he labels "finding a muse", could mislead some people into believing that you can make an instant-business every month with the help of affiliate marketers, drop shippers, and faking credibility (just check the forums on the book's website). Many things he suggests doing just contributes to the amount of crap we see every day on the internet and in infomercials, and probably isn't a very rewarding way for an entrepreneur to live their life or make their money. It's the equivalent of a how-to-become a 21st century snake oil salesman.
Finally, I know there is a lot of criticism about his ideas on outsourcing tasks, but we live in an outsourced world. The shirt your wearing was made in Indonesia, your fruits and vegetables were picked by migrant workers from Mexico, and your computer that you're reading this from right now was manufactured in China. Adjusted for the cost of living, the Indonesians, Chinese, and Indians make a good amount of money doing what they do to live the "middle-class" versions of their lives in their respective countries, just as you do mundane tasks and get paid much less than corporate shareholders to live the middle-class life in your own country. So don't talk about outsourcing as if it's a bad thing, cause if I can pay Jimmy down the street to mow my lawn for less than a landscaping service, he's gonna get that ten dollars so I can have the extra cash to buy Tim's book and waste time writing a bad review of it on Amazon.
 Heed my warning - this book is a waste of time and money. January 9, 2008
Michael Trotman (Daniel Island, SC USA)
140 out of 164 found this review helpful
Let me save you some time and money - here's this book in a nutshell...
A punk know it all kid fails first grade because he refuses to learn the ABCs. He gets fired from his first job at an ice cream store because he's so much smarter than the owner. He get fired from several more jobs and realizes he's a sociopath and can't work with others. So he sets out on several get rich quick schemes and finally succeeds in concocting a nutritional supplement for narcissistic body builders looking for a short cut. It turns into a real business and he starts making a lot of money. But the Peter Principle sets in and he ends up in way over his head. He's a least smart enough to realize this and outsources every part of the business that require brains. Low and behold - now all he has to do is cash the checks - thus the 4 hour work week.
So now he sets out to become a jet setting, tango dancing, champion cage fighter. I'm not kidding! This is what he claims. Well, at least he admits that he won the cage fighting championship by cheating. And that is essentially the theme of this book - cheat and lie your way to doing nothing.
The book is just ridiculous - some examples: to test your confidence, lie down on the floor in a public place or cruise the mall and ask hot chicks for their phone numbers. If your married, just throw the numbers away. Ask your boss if you can start working from home. If you follow Tim's instructions and your boss refuses to let you work from home - just quit your job, you're meant to be an entrepreneur - brilliant! Hire a personal assistant from India even if you don't need one. Use your PA to apologize to your wife for you. What?
So all you have to do is follow his blueprint and you can make millions working four hours a week!
Don't waste your time or money December 5, 2007
Dawn Murphy
99 out of 116 found this review helpful
If your goal is to learn how to manipulate people (and fool yourself) this book is for you. In Chapter 2 the author brags about 'winning' the gold medal at the Chinese Kickboxing National Championship in 1999 by forcing opponents off the mat and thereby winning by default. Preview of things to come.
Chapter 4 - Here's a useful tip that he mentions more than once: "...things often cost much, much less than expected." ? Oh yes? His Aston Marin DB9 only costs $2,003.10 per month, he tells us. Now doesn't that information just transform your life? Whew, one worry off of my list. Expect more of the same as you read on.
Chapter 5 is titled The End of Time Management. The first sentence reads "Just a few words on time management: Forget all about it." The remainder of the chapter continues to provide basic time management tools presented, or rather spun, to sound like a revolutionary approach.
As for creating a new lifestyle, well this book applies if you already have money to burn and resources to fall back on and can afford to receive the pink slip that will surely come your way if you deal with people - particularly managers - as the author suggests.
This book is just another 'slight of hand' of the sort he brags of throughout. He's hood-winked us all and is laughing all the way to the bank.
I agree completely with a previous reviewer who nailed it nicely: a get-rich-quick scheme for the shallow.
It is mandatory to award at least one star in order to submit this review and it pains me to award even that much.
Immature, unrealistic approach to the world December 9, 2007
Stephen Ryan (Dublin, Ireland)
86 out of 97 found this review helpful
For someone who is promoting the "four hour week" he sure could have cut out the filler from his book and reduced it to four pages or so.
I didn't enjoy this book. It's a highly immature and unrealistic approach to life. In summary: set up a website, get someone else to run it, and go enjoy all the free time this will create for you.
I would have liked if this book had of promoted the concept of personal responsibility more. In other words: YOU are responsible for your own happiness. Only YOU choose the emotions you feel. There are plenty of unhappy people out there, and blaming the job they chose is a cop out. They'll probably be unhappy whatever they do.
Also, I've been running a number of websites for a few years (trying to create financial freedom for myself) and I can tell you it is not easy. Nearly all commercial websites fail. His system will not work for 99% of people. Basically he got lucky. He forgets to mention that part.
The books extremely shallow "screw the world!" attitude to life is quite disapointing. An example: he became (although it sounds like BS) a world fighting champion in FOUR WEEKS by taking advantage of a loop hole in the sport. First, what's the point of being a world champion in something if you don't know how to do it? I wouldn't be satisfied having a trophy for something I knew nothing about. Second, I don't actually believe him. A lot of his stories sound like the fantasies of a teenager.
There are other routes to happiness that don't involve being a snake oil sales man. If you really want to find inner peace and happiness: help others, take responsibility for your own feelings and actions, exercise your body and brain, and then maybe consider starting a part-time business.
A disappointing book January 28, 2008
Michael W. Perry (Seattle, WA United States)
83 out of 100 found this review helpful
Be advised that the author is a jerk. Yes, as he says, he did win "the gold medal at the Chinese Kickboxing National Championships." But he did it by exploiting two loopholes in the rules.
1. "Weigh-ins were on the day prior to competition." So under medical supervision he lost 28 pounds, qualifying to fight three levels below his actual weight. Then he "hyperhydrated back to 193 pounds" to beat those "poor little guys." If you were ever bullied by sixth graders when you were in the second grade, you've met his sort.
Since he knew almost nothing about kickboxing, even that would not have let him win, so he exploited another loophole.
2. By the rules, if his opponent "falls off the elevated platform three times in a single round," he wins on a technicality. So his sole technique for getting the prize was shoving guys weighing almost thirty pounds less than himself off the platform. No skill, no talent, and no long, arduous training. Guys who'd disciplined and sacrificed themselves for years to have a chance at winning that gold medal didn't just so this jerk could check off yet another box on his "How Great I Am" resume.
This book is misstitled. The subtitle should be: "Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, Join the New Rich, and Become the World's Biggest Jerk." Don't buy it. He'll probably use your money to set a Guiness Book record for "The most kittens strangled in one minute."
--Michael W. Perry, Untangling Tolkien: A Chronology and Commentary for The Lord of the Rings
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