[bsvalley]

The point of this book like many other books "get rich quick and work less", is to make the author richer. If you're successful, people will most likely listen to you. So, you need to be successful in some way in real life and if you do, Tim showed you how to leverage a success into a great business model. This helped him generating more income by documenting his journey to a larger audience. So, the content of his book is not the point I think. It's the existence of that book in itself. So, to me it's still about luck and about taking risks in life. It doesn't answer the question: "how to become rich?". More like "how to create a business model based on your success".

Like any other book... There is no recipe for success. But there are a lot of techniques on how to maximize your income.

[carnifexetal]

This is one of the reasons I preferred Scott Adams' "How to Fail At Everything and Still Win Big." In it, he notes the absurdity of taking life advice from a career cartoonist, notes the impact of luck, and discusses the ingredients for a successful life (including cultivating 'luck'), and why they work. I find it a far better approach than 4HWW.

That's not to say 4HWW is without value, but you're right and we should be clear about what it is.

[Grustaf]

I think the main value of books like these, including books on diets or exercise, is inspiration. After you've read 4 hour work week you probably come away with an increased determination to run your own business. That more than any concrete advice it contains would be what recommends it to readers I think.

[joekrill]

I've certainly "fallen victim" to this. I label it as that because -- for me at least -- the determination fades very quickly. Maybe I just have to find enough of these books to read consistently so I can keep my determinism up for long enough to succeed?

[Cthulhu_]

Except then your main determination is to read more books, not to "succeed" whatever your definition of that is.

The problem is that people read books and get a short spurt of inspiration and desire, but said inspiration / desire is for the end goal - to get there you need to do a journey first. Ferris didn't write his book overnight or even in a few weeks (maybe the summary), nor did he just have the ability to write books - that stuff takes time. It's just that looking at people who got to the end result make it look easy.

[Grustaf]

Or make sure to read them right when you are in a position to make the leap!

[aphextron]

This is why I consciously avoid absolutely anything Ferris is involved with. You can immediately know that it will be something of no real substance designed to sell subscriptions to a monthly razor service.

[l33tbro]

It's rather unfair to call Ferris out as disingenuous or a snake-oil guy. I believe he genuinely thinks he is helping people, and there are actually some pretty fascinating interviewees and conversations on his podcast. If I have to fast-forward over some ads then so be it.

[cholantesh]

I mean, the only good podcast ads are Bill Burr's anyway.