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

The 4-Hour Workweek

Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

2006 • 480 pages

Ratings177

Average rating3.6

15

Honestly... this book felt like a bit of a joke to me? Roughly the contents of the book are as follows:
* The first third of the book talks about how you can be a jerk to your colleagues
* Ferriss very enthusiastically recommends everyone to get a virtual assistant (VA) in India who you can pay dirt cheap to do your actual job for you (and also send your spouse gifts if/when they get mad you)
* In the last third of the book, it shifts gears and starts becoming more of a travel book. Ferriss recommends everyone to move to Southeast Asia or Central or South America where the cost of living is much cheaper than in North America or Western Europe. This assumes that everyone can do that easily, but people like me and so many other who have weak passports can't just pick up their bags and move to a different country. I don't think everyone would want to just pack up and move around the world either.

Overall this book feels like it was written from a privileged viewpoint without regard to the fact that the world is so diverse and people come from all sorts of backgrounds. I'm really surprised that this ended up becoming such a big hit and was even on multiple best sellers list. There are actual small bits of useful productivity tips sprinkled throughout the book but overall... not worth the read.

April 10, 2022