Review of
Instaread Summary of The 4-Hour Workweek Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
by Timothy Ferriss
Five out of five stars
My opinion of
this summary was low until I reached the author’s style section. Here is
Ferriss’ definition of the “New Rich.”
‘The “New Rich” are an emerging class of people who
reject the Western cultural notion that one must endure decades in a
nine-to-five job before finally getting to enjoy life only during retirement.’
He then amplifies
on this point in key takeaway 2.
“The New Rich do not believe that money is the only
measure of wealth. Instead, they measure their net worth in the time and
freedom available to them.”
The
descriptions are very idealistic, suitable for a self-help book that uses
unrealistic arguments. Most people dream of working for themselves, but that is
a reality that the circumstances of their life will make difficult to
impossible. Since there seemed to be no critical analysis of this in the
summary, my opinion dropped as I read through it.
However, all
was made well when I read the author’s style section. There was the very telling
segment:
“It is worth noting that some of Ferriss’ suggestions
for how to attain the lifestyle of the New Rich could be viewed as unethical or
unscrupulous. For example, he suggests intentionally dialing back one’s
in-office productivity to contrast with how well one works remotely. He also
encourages calling in sick and then ramping up productivity as a means to
demonstrate how much better one operates outside the office.”
These
approaches presupposes that your supervisor is not smart enough to recognize
these tactics. Only a fool would make that assumption. This is a case where the
book is of dubious value while the author of the summary accurately recognizes
the dubious tactics executed by Ferriss.
This book was made available for free for review
purposes.
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