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

By: Timothy Ferriss

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Tim Ferriss is an extraordinary young man on a mission. The 28-year-old serial vagabond and successful entrepreneur has been teaching a wildly popular course at Princeton University for the past four years: a how-to and why-to guide to throwing out the old methods for success (balancing life and work, retiring well, having a great nest egg) and replacing them with an entirely new way of living.

The 4 Hour Work Week explains what a lifestyle entrepreneur is and why you should want to become one. It teaches you how to "kill" your job and design a life, the 80/20 rule and how it increases productivity, how to replace your dreams with goals, and more. Listeners can lead a rich life by working only four hours a week, freeing up the rest of their time to spend it living the lives they want.

©2007 Timothy Ferriss (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"It's about time this book was written. It is a long-overdue manifesto for the mobile lifestyle, and Tim Ferriss is the ideal ambassador." (Jack Canfield)
"Thanks to Tim Ferriss, I have more time in my life to travel, spend time with family, and write book blurbs. This is a dazzling and highly useful work." (A.J. Jacobs, Editor-at-Large, Esquire)

Very interesting, entertaining, and informative

I like the ideas in this book, which could be a good aproach for anyone who wants to unplug from corperate america. He also teaches how to liberate your time, to gain value on the $$$'s. The new rich measure time/money to assert a result oriented business, with minimum time involved.

Insightful and Inspiring

Those who stopped reading early on in the book have truly lost out. Nowhere in this book is there any mention of stepping on others or getting ahead at the expense of others. The ideas in the book are revolutionary and they do work if you apply yourself.

They are not easy! Nothing worth anything is ever easy. This book provides not only the ideas of how to design your own lifestyle, but shows you examples of how to do it. It's not sales oriented. It's you-oriented.

It's worth the time. Follow Tim's advice and put some effort into the exercises. You'll be surprised at what you find. I've been able to multiply the amount of time I spend with my family by three to four times. Same job, same pay, less time. If that's all I get out of it, it's been more than worth the credit.

The naysaying reviewers need to go back and at least skim through the book. It's not just about how to rethink the way you work. It teaches numerous other side lessons that are quite valuable. Tim uses his own experiences to show that your dreams are possible as his are/were.

The narrator does come across with a rather arrogant tone, but it grows on you. The hard copy (yes I bought it too) doesn't come across that way.

You will find something of value in the book.

Think outside the box

Warning: do not listen to this audiobook in your car, or you will drive off the road. You can just get lost in this book. Tim Ferriss is a genius, and his lateral thinking is brilliant. His advice is not theoretical, he actually gives you step by step instructions on what to do. Plenty of website references for research, too. Get this book and expand your mind.

Changed my life.

I have re-evaluated my life and how I work day to day life. Its all about making that initial leap into that cold lake on a hot summer day. Soon as you get in your good and its better than you thought it would be. I highly recommend this book if you want to make a serious life change like leave your "great career." Best of luck to anybody reading this review.

4 Hour Work Week ~ Yes!

This book was awesome! However, it may be a lot to swallow for that average entrepreneur. I mean 4 hours a week; what planet is this? Yet, if you are super savvy about getting out of the rat race, this book tells you exactly how to do it. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a desire to work for themselves, become financially free, and enjoy life to the fullest.

Caveat: I don't agree with all Timothy’s principles with regards to his financial view, but see where he came to his conclusions via his high income. Not everyone is making his kind of money yet. Just remember, invest young, retire rich.

Over all, it was an A+ for me.
Kirk is a Business and Financial Coach at RiverValleyCoaching who helps clients beat debt, build wealth, and retire rich.

Very hard to listen to

First the narration in this book is so bad it made it VERY hard to finish. I had to take it in little pieces. It is bad enough to possibly have tainted the over all way in which you take this book. It left me with a very bad minds eye view of the author in who's voice he was speaking.

There were some interesting concepts in this book Some excellent ideas as well once you got beyond the tone of the authors writing which seemed terribly narcissistic. I dare say this is not a person you would want to hang with and he may, despite his likely claims otherwise, be a very sad and lonely person. However he is very correct on many aspects of where the world is going and how you should organize your professional life with in the high tech environment so you can maximize your efficiency and or allow for more "me" time.

Only get this audio book if you are willing to bare up to the worse narration I have ever heard.

fantastic! a TRUE how to guide

This is the first author that i have READ that truly tells you how he and you can achieve his LIFESTYle.Most if not all of what he says will challenge you and your beliefs, but think before you judge. He In my opinion backs up all of his suggestions with concrete examples of real world scenarios and cultural programming. If you find that something seems odd and unethical , remember all of american society programs you to work for someone else. This is an excellent How to book. the only thing the author doesn't provide is the IDEA. That he has wisely left up to you. But he does give several examples of how you can cultivate one that best suits your own style or personality. Having read books by Brian Tracy , stephen covey, deepak chopra ,napoleon hill and the likes i can truly say that if you are interested in success get this book.

I'm a fan

I liked this book, and found it fun and exciting to listen to. I absolutely agree with what Jon said before me, so I won't repeat it. In any case, I did take Tim's advice, and have gone from corporate to running my own company in Thailand! Had been thinking about doing it anyway, but this book helped in making that decision.

great book - terrible narrator

I am really glad I picked up the book - the narrator is absolutely horrible, almost making the book un-listenable. He sounds like a man with a chip on his shoulder spitting each word at the listener. A real shame they picked this clown to narrate the book.

Pie in the Sky

This has some great ideas/suggestions in it. But it has more pie in the sky suggestions that are just not realistic.