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| The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich | 
| Author: Timothy Ferriss
Publisher: Crown
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $11.02
You Save: $8.93 (45%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $10.55
Avg. Customer Rating:  (749 reviews)
Sales Rank: 68
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
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
Release Date: April 24, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great Pointers, But Book Mediocre September 23, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Finally completing a journey began a couple of months ago, I finished The 4-Hour Workweek while travelling this week. This is a must-read, but not because the book is so spectacular. Rather because the book offers many insightful business and entrepreneurial tactics that will help anyone improve their personal lifestyle, small, or even large business they are a part of or run completely. I did not find the book was written directly for me, or for everyone, although that seems to be Ferriss' intention.
I am very impressed with Ferriss' experience within the business world thus far in his career. It is not that he has extensive knowledge on mergers and acquisitions or on large-scale management. But he does have a broad amount of tips for organizing a small operation or a young employee's lifestyle. Ferriss is an organizer and type-A personality and thus this broad array of tips are also well organized throughout the book. But in my opinion, a full read is necessary to get the solid ideas on how to improve your life and work.
Having taken High-Tech Entrepreneurship from Professor Ed Zschau in my final year of Princeton, and probably just a year or two after Ferriss, I do understand his inspiration for many of his life and work decisions since then. Professor Zschau's class changed my life. First, he opened my eyes to first the world of business in general. Princeton offers very few real-life business courses and this one gave me the opportunity see how interesting business decisions can be by working through HBR case-studies and his past experiences. Beyond that, he inspires his students to not only take these decision making skills into the workforce, but also to create a workforce on our own through entrepreneurial ventures within this high-tech world. He preaches thinking outside the box and taking action on those thoughts and he is a real life example of his words. Ferriss and his book is not the first of Professor Zschau's students to succeed in ventures and lifestyle inspired by his teachings, but he may now me the most influential with this widely popular book.
Within the book, Ferriss pushes many buttons of mine that individually are too many to debate. In general, however, I feel he unsuccessfully tried to combine two books into one. First, he wrote a book about efficiently starting up a new business venture and organizing and optimizing the effort the entrepreneur must put into this new business. This half of the book I found extremely useful, although not perfect. Secondly, he wrote a book about travel and lifestyle for these entrepreneurs. I feel he incorrectly assumes that everyone has these same desires as he implies. While he does begin by suggesting the lifestyle can be whatever your dreams may be, in the end he uses far too many of his personal choices for this lifestyle to be as broad reaching as he intends. I think he spends too much time discussing the strategy for quitting your current job. He even dabbles into the "meaning of life", a topic I feel is a bit ridiculous for this type of book. This other half of the book offers some great travel tips and ideas for expanding the culture of your life, but in my opinion fails to offer broad reaching lessons that one can take away for improving one's life. Thus the combining of these two sections makes for an awkward all-encompassing book.
The good part about this book is that is really can help almost everyone...at least everyone under the age of 50. I doubt there are many who would read this book and not be able to take away at least a few pointers. Unfortunately, I think he understands this mass-market potential and dumbed down the book a bit to appeal to a broader range of readers. He succeeded in that regard and will surely get paid for it, but it also prevented him from creating a solid masterpiece of entrepreneurial and literary work.
 Therapy in itself! September 21, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is full of quirky but practical ideas, I love the style of writing and even if you don't get to put all the ideas into action reading it is a therapy in itself!
 There is another way! September 21, 2008
There are a lot of books that make big promises. This is one of them that actually fulfills its promise. It's a perfect mix of conceptual theory and specific "how to" exercises that align with your existing skill set and challenge you to the next level. What I liked best is that it's not a get rich-quick scheme. It's a get rich "smart" scheme. There is some real work to be done, but Timothy Ferriss lays it out in simple, logical steps that provide all manner of rewards. The principles in this book have inspired me to review my life/career direction and take the necessary steps to redesign my life the way I want it. It's early days, but I'm already seeing the benefits: more time, more focus, more mojo. Read it!
Inspiration meets Practicality September 20, 2008
What I loved most about Tim's book, 4 hour Workweek are the practical applications of his relatively extreme viewpoints on living and retiring at the same time. While to many this may seem ludicrous, I felt that he really broke it down into something I could sink my teeth in. It really has changed the way I look at building my business and how I intend to integrate joy and experiences into my daily life.
His resource section was fabulous. I have used several of his ideas and sources beginning with outsourcing via elance, with great results.
This book is not just fluff or inspiration. It truly is a practical guide for what to do, how to do it and even who to do it with.
Thanks Tim!
Ann
Not for the shallow or lazy September 20, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Tim's writing style is encouraging and informative; the book deserves to be read just to show others how to communicate! Whether or not you fully agree with the tools or concepts, read the entire book and do a little self-examination as you go. Can you stand to gain a few hours of loving family time each week and maybe lose a few pointless worries along the way? I really got a slap in the face realizing how much my loved ones lost out to boring e-mails and mind-numbing work for work's sake. Find your focus with THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE : POWERFUL LESSONS IN PERSONAL CHANGE and your niche in the vocational eco-system with What Color Is Your Parachute? 2009: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers (What Color Is Your Parachute?). Then read "The 4-hour work week" when you're ready to go beyond shallow and really live a productive life.
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