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Speaking of the Four Hour Work Week, I've been recommended that book by others but never got around to reading it. Is it worth reading? It sounds like the idea

Speaking of the Four Hour Work Week, I've been recommended that book by others but never got around to reading it. Is it worth reading? It sounds like the ideas it teaches might be either outdated or just plain false at this point.

brian_spiering 7y ago
There are parts of it that are brilliant. Good stuff about organizing your internal mindset.
syedkarim 7y ago
There are parts of it that are just dog shit, complete drivel. I read the book when it first came out and can't understand why it's so popular after all of these years. Came off as bits of pop psychology with a large helping of self-promotion, and sprinkles of bullshit. I do recall coming across some interesting tidbits, though. For some reason it reminded me of Trump's first book, The Art of the Deal.
- adventured 7y ago
  > For some reason it reminded me of Trump's first book, The Art of the Deal. They're both primarily selling the same thing, the glorification of the author's image.
- EForEndeavour 7y ago
  I wonder if, consistent with what the "Four-hour work week" title implies, only about 10% of the content is actually of value.
  - ryanwaggoner 7y ago
    That's probably the high water mark for 99% of books.
- exolymph 7y ago
  > Came off as bits of pop psychology with a large helping of self-promotion, and sprinkles of bullshit. This is exactly why it's so popular.
- hckr_news 7y ago
  You guys are really doing Tim Ferriss a disservice here. Don’t want to shill for him but I follow his podcast and read a few of his books. There’s definitely good advice in there in managing time/energy, business engagements, career planning not to mention all the guests he’s interviewed who give lots of solid, unique advice.
- CyberDildonics 7y ago
  Did Tim Ferris actually write his book or did he also have someone ghost write it?
  - cloudier 7y ago
    In one section of the book he implies that parts of it are written by his virtual assistants (although he provides the outline).
tarsinge 7y ago
The problem is that it was written in a different time for a different world. In 2007 having a web shop was not commoditized, so there was some value in a drop-shipping business, factories and wholesalers had no presence on the web, there was much less competition in e-commerce, Amazon was not so ubiquitous, Aliexpress did no exist, Shopify was in its infancy and unknown, ... Edit: So in short for me it's outdated.
- lifeisstillgood 7y ago
  Which leads to the obvious question - what part of business is not currently commoditised? Even auth (okta, GSuite) is a commodity.
  - tarsinge 7y ago
    > what part of business is not currently commoditised? In the business of selling online? None I think, I don't see how dropshipping can fit in the future, what's the value of having a middle man that don't stock when goods producers can setup their own online shop or sell directly via Amazon?
    - thaumasiotes 7y ago
      > what's the value of having a middle man that don't stock when goods producers can... sell directly via Amazon? It seems like this scenario wouldn't work so well without a middleman not stocking the product(s). Can I rephrase your question as "what's the value in selling things on the internet, when Amazon already does that?"?
      - tarsinge 7y ago
        (Sorry if I miss your point or I wasn’t clear English is not my first language) I think producers that can selling directly on their website can be pretty legitimate (in theory they already know how to handle inventory and logistics). What I wanted to highlight was that nowadays given that producers can sell directly, or through Amazon if they can’t handle logistics, dropshipping has become irrelevant.
triceratops 7y ago
It depends on what you're trying to get out of it. If you really want to work less and enjoy life more, the FIRE community (Mr Money Mustache is a good gateway) is a more sustainable/achievable path. The specific types of businesses that The 4-hour Workweek recommends (dropshipping, podcasts, Youtubing, blogging, consulting) are crapshoots. And we can't have a world where everyone's dropshipping and peddling their e-courses and newsletters to everyone else for a living - it makes no sense on a macro level. It's still a fun, breezy read and opens your eyes to other possibilities. IMO The 4-hour Body is way more useful and practical. Pretty much everyone who reads it can find something that will benefit them.

brian_spiering 7y ago

There are parts of it that are brilliant. Good stuff about organizing your internal mindset.

syedkarim 7y ago

There are parts of it that are just dog shit, complete drivel. I read the book when it first came out and can't understand why it's so popular after all of these years. Came off as bits of pop psychology with a large helping of self-promotion, and sprinkles of bullshit. I do recall coming across some interesting tidbits, though. For some reason it reminded me of Trump's first book, The Art of the Deal.

adventured 7y ago
> For some reason it reminded me of Trump's first book, The Art of the Deal. They're both primarily selling the same thing, the glorification of the author's image.
EForEndeavour 7y ago
I wonder if, consistent with what the "Four-hour work week" title implies, only about 10% of the content is actually of value.
- ryanwaggoner 7y ago
  That's probably the high water mark for 99% of books.
exolymph 7y ago
> Came off as bits of pop psychology with a large helping of self-promotion, and sprinkles of bullshit. This is exactly why it's so popular.
hckr_news 7y ago
You guys are really doing Tim Ferriss a disservice here. Don’t want to shill for him but I follow his podcast and read a few of his books. There’s definitely good advice in there in managing time/energy, business engagements, career planning not to mention all the guests he’s interviewed who give lots of solid, unique advice.
CyberDildonics 7y ago
Did Tim Ferris actually write his book or did he also have someone ghost write it?
- cloudier 7y ago
  In one section of the book he implies that parts of it are written by his virtual assistants (although he provides the outline).

tarsinge 7y ago

The problem is that it was written in a different time for a different world. In 2007 having a web shop was not commoditized, so there was some value in a drop-shipping business, factories and wholesalers had no presence on the web, there was much less competition in e-commerce, Amazon was not so ubiquitous, Aliexpress did no exist, Shopify was in its infancy and unknown, ... Edit: So in short for me it's outdated.

lifeisstillgood 7y ago
Which leads to the obvious question - what part of business is not currently commoditised? Even auth (okta, GSuite) is a commodity.
- tarsinge 7y ago
  > what part of business is not currently commoditised? In the business of selling online? None I think, I don't see how dropshipping can fit in the future, what's the value of having a middle man that don't stock when goods producers can setup their own online shop or sell directly via Amazon?
  - thaumasiotes 7y ago
    > what's the value of having a middle man that don't stock when goods producers can... sell directly via Amazon? It seems like this scenario wouldn't work so well without a middleman not stocking the product(s). Can I rephrase your question as "what's the value in selling things on the internet, when Amazon already does that?"?
    - tarsinge 7y ago
      (Sorry if I miss your point or I wasn’t clear English is not my first language) I think producers that can selling directly on their website can be pretty legitimate (in theory they already know how to handle inventory and logistics). What I wanted to highlight was that nowadays given that producers can sell directly, or through Amazon if they can’t handle logistics, dropshipping has become irrelevant.

triceratops 7y ago

It depends on what you're trying to get out of it. If you really want to work less and enjoy life more, the FIRE community (Mr Money Mustache is a good gateway) is a more sustainable/achievable path. The specific types of businesses that The 4-hour Workweek recommends (dropshipping, podcasts, Youtubing, blogging, consulting) are crapshoots. And we can't have a world where everyone's dropshipping and peddling their e-courses and newsletters to everyone else for a living - it makes no sense on a macro level. It's still a fun, breezy read and opens your eyes to other possibilities. IMO The 4-hour Body is way more useful and practical. Pretty much everyone who reads it can find something that will benefit them.