The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris

Okay...  The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferris is an interesting clutch of ideas and advice guaranteed to create either vivid nightmares of the declining days of Rome, i.e. the days of Bread and Circuses made new or wet dreams of a slacker future where people are best remembered, better yet admired, for their consumptive and shallow lives as they jet-for-free pursuing the life of the "New Rich" enjoying, for lack of a better phrase, a life of Bread and Circuses.
 Did I say, "Okay..."?  Well, it is not... The more I reflect on book, the more I have to admit, it requires a little more thought.
That being said, I believe I will head to bed and think about continuing this review after I accomplish a few more than 4 hours of work before lunch tomorrow.
[24 Jul 07] I'm still working on the review, but The 4-Hour Work Week is a slippery book and it requires a little more digestion.  If you've read this far, I hope you have not come away with the impression that I think this book is a hopeless waste of time, not worth the effort to carry to the register.  Because, if it is anything, it is worth reading.  My difficulty lays in trying to figure the thing out.
While on one hand you have to love the bravado of the you-can-conquer-the-world message, I can't help but be reminded of the "Make a Fortune in Mail Order" book I found in our attic back when I was a teenager.  Much of the material from ranging from "you can be the master of your destiny" to "only suckers work for a living" is the same.  The kicker was the discussion of drop shipping.  Ferris presents it as if drop shipping is magical activity spawned from the collision of the World Wide Web and globalization.  It all reads as if he were taking notes from "Make a Fortune in Mail Order" and adding a modern twist.
Like I said, it's a slippery book.  More to come...

[31 Jul 07] I'm still hacking my way through The 4-Hour Work Week. The section on Speed Reading is useful.  I applied the technique and it really works.  It reminded me of The Guide, a book about speed-reading.  I'm sure this technique would help me burn my way through this book, if I were so inclined.  However, I'm not inclined to burn my way through.  Really, the book is too entertaining to rush. Last night, I read about virtual assistance and outsourcing to India.  Checked out the websites for Your Man In India (YMII) and Brickwork India; both of which made the latest issue of Wired.

Interesting... I have to admit, this chapter started me thinking about what I could outsource.  The prices are a little higher then indicated in the book, but not unreasonable.  I'm still not sold on a 4-Hour week, but the more I read, the more I have to say, this isn't a bad book; maybe more than a little over the top, but not bad.
More to come...
In the mean time, check out The 4-Hour Work Week on Fool.com.

JWM