The 4-Hour Work Week

By: Timothy Ferriss

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 13 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

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, this book is the blueprint.

This step-by step guide to luxury lifestyle design teaches:

• How Tim went from $40,000 dollars 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'.

This new updated and expanded edition includes:

• More than 50 practical tips and case studies from readers (including families) who have doubled their income, overcome common sticking points, and reinvented themselves using the original book as a starting point
• Real-world templates you can copy for eliminating email, negotiating with bosses and clients, or getting a private chef for less than £5 a meal
• How lifestyle design principles can be suited to unpredictable economic times
• The latest tools and tricks, as well as high-tech shortcuts, for living like a diplomat or millionaire without being either.

Please Note: The audio references accompanying material that is not included with this audiobook.

©2011 Timothy Ferriss (P)2011 Random House Audiobooks

amazing

just an incredible book, well worth a read/listen. I'm a big fan of his other two as well. especially 4hb pulls no punches with the science behind the methods.

Inspiring

Great story and entertaining while teaching important life lessons. I read the book when it was first released and this audiobook still applies to today

Not what you might expect

This a fascinating book, no other words for it. It approaches an interesting topic (making money in a digital age) with new insights and ideas, all told with great energy by the narrator Ray Porter. Right at the outset Tim Ferriss makes it clear that his book is not about becoming a millionaire overnight or any 'Get Rich Quick' schemes, but is simply his own experiences of how he managed to reduce his work-hours and yet still earn enough to enjoy a lavish lifestyle. This is whet he means by 'New Rich'.

But there's the rub; many people reading this will be looking for ideas to help them break away from their 9-5 and, for me, the whole premise fell down when you realise that Ferriss already had an established successful online sales business when he came up with radical new ways to use technology and the digital market to minimise the time he needed to spend operating his business.

A keystone is the use of Virtual Assistants, and Ferriss is very positive about the services you can buy cheaply from India. Now I don't know when this book was written, but at the time of writing this review (Jan 2016) many companies are moving away from outsourcing to India due to the general poor quality of the services and goods provided, making the implied cost savngs unachievable as everything has to done 2-3 times (if you're lucky)

Some of Ferriss' ideas are interesting whereas others I just didn't follow. In one chapter he mentions how, if one of your dreams is a supercar, then these can be bought on credit at very good rates. This is true; as a former Aston-Martin owner I will agree ownership is indeed within most people's grasp. But as any 'supercar' owner will tell you, buying the car is the easy bit; keeping it is the challenge. A service on my DB7 started at £1000, throw in an oil change or a new part and you're well into the £2K mark. Plus, wouldn't having such a financial commitment make you more reliant on your 9-5, not less?

If you're looking for a change of direction work-wise this book is not for you; if you already have a successful business and are frustrated with the time it chews up then this book is definitely aimed at you

149 of 153 people found this review helpful

Surprisingly inspiring

I started listening to this without any expectation and, at first, found it a bit condescending. However, once past the initial barrage of criticism of 'ordinary' people who go to work every day and look forward to retirement as their reward for all their hard graft, I found it really inspiring. He is right of course; sacrificing your happiness now in the hope that you can do / be all of the things you want to when you retire is pretty stupid. This book isn't so much a self help book in the common psychological sense, but real practical tips and advice on how to actually free up your time to do the things you want to do, with a sprinkling of inspiration just to whet your appetite. Turns out, I really enjoyed it and have started listening to it again :)

16 of 17 people found this review helpful

Don't bother if you already understand the principles

Essentially it's a simple principle - technology has made doing business easier so use it to be more efficient and cut working hours. You can even work where you want.... who knew?

Ironically the principles of the book apply directly to itself.

80% of the good content is found in 20% of the book.
The book is an automated income generator.
The book spends most of the chapters promoting Tims blog to drive advertising.

What 3 YouTube videos on the book and save 12 hours of your life.

30 of 33 people found this review helpful

Good book but I wish Tim Ferriss was reading it

I like audiobooks that are narrated by the author. They are read in the same energy as how they were wrote; you begin to understand and keep track of the text when you feel someone is genuine about reading it to you. I'll still listen to it but I feel it'd have been more engaging if it was read by the source. But I guess that's what the 4 hour work week is all about :)

15 of 17 people found this review helpful

Interesting ideas with lots you can steal

This book was a bit hit and miss for me. There are some great ideas for how to reduce your work load and work more efficiently, thus theortically reduce your working time. It's only really applicable for running your own business though and even then, the title is completely misleading because even Tim Ferris quite obviously works WAY more than 4 hours per week. However, there are some useful efficiency tips and it certainly helped me to think about work/business in a new way.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Not what I expected - disappointed

Any additional comments?

I expected a book about building wealth and being successful, this was not that book. This book seems geared to a very specific audience - people who want to continue in their current job but also travel the world. It's all about negotiating remote working, trying to reduce your hours and then travelling the world on a shoestring budget. Large parts are given over to listing useful websites and companies to get cheaper travel.
I want to travel the world because I have enough passive income to not work, I don't want to travel and be working at the same time.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

A Little Disappointed

I jumped right into this book, full of expectation and anticipation that it contained some insightful perspectives to help me break out of the 9-5 routine.

Unfortunately not - certainly an interesting book but it lacked the WOW factor for me - I didn't feel I learned much new from this book.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Top listen

My first audio book and I'm hooked. Great book to start, the narrator was excellent. Very easy to listen to would highly recommend it

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Loved it but...

Would you listen to The 4-Hour Work Week again? Why?

Yes because it is inspiring

Any additional comments?

I loved this book, it is fantastic and its incredibly inspiring. Unfortunately Ray Porter disengages me and his americanisms; the monotone nature makes me want to turn it off.

6 of 8 people found this review helpful

Would be much better read by Tim!

Would you try another book written by Timothy Ferriss or narrated by Ray Porter?

Would definitely try another Tim Ferris book but would be better if he read it - I have subscribed to his podcast which is really good

What did you like best about this story?

His story, some of the fundamentals such as Pareto's Law (which is very old hat but Tim puts it into context really well)

What didn’t you like about Ray Porter’s performance?

Not necessarily his fault, but reading our every web address (URL) in full becomes painful after a while - e.g. https://www.fidelity.co.uk/investor/ei/login.page and every company had an associated 1.800 number.......

Was The 4-Hour Work Week worth the listening time?

Only managed about 1 1/2 hours - that was good

Any additional comments?

Could be so much better if, as Tim tells us to do, he cut out some of the fat and unnecessary distractions!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful