The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
Author: Timothy Ferriss
What do you do? Tim Ferriss has trouble answering the question. Depending on when you ask this
controversial Princeton University guest lecturer, he might answer:
“I race motorcycles in Europe.”
“I ski in the Andes.”
“I scuba dive in Panama.”
“I dance tango in Buenos Aires.”
He has spent more than five years learning the secrets of the New Rich, a fast-growing subculture who has abandoned the “deferred-life plan” and instead mastered the new currencies—time and mobility—to create luxury lifestyles in the here and now.
Whether you are an overworked employee or an entrepreneur trapped in your own business, this book is the compass for a new and revolutionary world. Join Tim Ferriss as he teaches you:
• How to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want
• How blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs
• How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist
• How to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and freuent "mini-retirements"
• What the crucial difference is between absolute and relative income
• How to train your boss to value performance over presence, or kill your job (or company) if it’s beyond repair
• What automated cash-flow “muses” are and how to create one in 2 to 4 weeks
• How to cultivate selective ignorance—and create time—with a low-information diet
• What the management secrets of Remote ControlCEOs are
• How to get free housing worldwide and airfare at 50–80% off
• How to fill the void and create a meaningful life after removing work and the office
You can have it all—really.
What People Are Saying
"It's about time this book was written. It is a long-overdue manifesto for the mobile lifestyle, and Tim Ferriss is the ideal ambassador. This will be huge."
–Jack Canfield
Co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul®, 100+ million copies sold
"This is a whole new ball game. Highly recommended."
–Dr. Stewart D. Friedman
Adviser to Jack Welch and Former Vice President Al Gore on Work/Family Issues
Director of the Work/Life Integration Project, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
"Stunning and amazing. From mini-retirements to outsourcing your life,
it's all here. Whether you're a wage slave or a Fortune 500 CEO, this
book will change your life!"
–Phil Town
#1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Rule #1
"The 4-Hour Workweek is a new way of solving a very old problem: just how can we work to live and prevent our lives from being all about work? A world of infinite options awaits those who would read this book and be inspired by it!"
–Michael E. Gerber
Founder & Chairman of E-Myth Worldwide and the World's #1 Small Business Guru
“Timothy has packed more lives into his 29 years than Steve Jobs has in his 51.”
–Tom Foremski
Journalist and Publisher of SiliconValleyWatcher.com
“Thanks to Tim Ferriss, I have more time in my life to travel, spend time with family and write book blurbs. This is a dazzling and highly useful
work.”
–A.J. Jacobs
Editor-at-Large, Esquire Magazine, Author of The Know-It-All
"If you want to live life on your own terms, this is your blueprint."
–Mike Maples
Co-founder of Motive Communications (IPO to $260M market cap), Founding Executive of Tivoli (sold to IBM for $750M)
"Tim is Indiana Jones for the digital age. I've already used his advice to go spearfishing on remote islands and ski the best hidden slopes of Argentina. Simply put, do what he says and you can live like a millionaire."
–Albert Pope
Derivatives Trading, UBS World Headquarters
“This engaging book makes you ask the most important question that you will ever face: What exactly is it that you want out of work and life, and why? Tim Ferriss is a master of getting more for less, often with the help of people he doesn't even know, and here he gives away his secrets for fulfilling your dreams.”
–Bo Burlingham
Editor-at-Large, Inc. magazine
Author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big
"Reading this book is like putting a few zeros on your income. Tim brings lifestyle to a new level–listen to him!"
–Michael D. Kerlin
McKinsey & Company Consultant to Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund
J. William Fulbright Scholar
"Part scientist and part adventure hunter, Tim Ferriss has created a road map for an entirely new world. I devoured this book in one sitting–I have seen nothing like it."
–Charles L. Brock
Chairman and CEO, Brock Capital Group
Former CFO, COO, and General Counsel, Scholastic, Inc.
Former President, Harvard Law School Association
"Outsourcing is no longer just for Fortune 500 companies. Small and mid-sized firms, as well as busy professionals, can outsource their work to increase their productivity and free time for more important commitments. It's time for the world to take advantage of this revolution.”
–Vivek Kulkarni
CEO Brickwork India and former IT Secretary, Bangalore
Credited as the “techno-bureaucrat” who helped make Bangalore an IT destination in India
"Tim is the master! I should know. I followed his rags to riches path and watched him transform himself from competitive fighter to entrepreneur. He tears apart conventional assumptions until he finds a better way."
–Dan Partland
Emmy Award-Winning Producer; American High, Welcome to the Dollhouse
"The 4-Hour Workweek is an absolute necessity for those adventurous souls who want to live life to its fullest. Buy it and read it before you sacrifice any more!"
–John Lusk
Group Product Manager, Microsoft World Headquarters
"If you want to live your dreams now, and not in 20 or 30 years, buy this book!"
–Laura Roden
Chairman of the Silicon Valley Association of Start-up Entrepreneurs
Lecturer in Corporate Finance, San Jose State University
“With this kind of time management and focus on the important things in life, people should be able to get 15 times as much done in a normal work week.”
–Tim Draper
Founder, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Financiers to innovators including Hotmail, Skype, and Overture.com
"Tim Ferriss’s book is about gaining the courage to streamline your life
… But even more than that, it challenges the reader to seriously consider an essential–yet rarely asked–question: What do you really want from life?"
–Rolf Potts
Author of Vagabonding and Travel Columnist for Yahoo! News
"Tim has done what most people only dream of doing. I can't believe he is going to let his secrets out of the bag. This book is a must read!"
–Stephen Key
Top Inventor and Team Designer of Teddy Ruxpin, Lazer Tag
Consultant to “American Inventor”
Book about: Fodors Ireland 2009 or Streetwise Barcelona Map Laminated City Center Street Map of Barcelona Spain Folding Pocket Size Travel Map With Metro
Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization
Author: Lester R Brown
"How to build a more just world and save the planet....We should all heed Brown's advice."—Bill Clinton
In this updated edition of the landmark Plan B, Lester Brown outlines a survival strategy for our early twenty-first-century civilization. The world faces many environmental trends of disruption and decline, including rising temperatures and spreading water shortage. In addition to these looming threats, we face the peaking of oil, annual population growth of 70 million, a widening global economic divide, and a growing list of failing states. The scale and complexity of issues facing our fast-forward world have no precedent
With Plan A, business as usual, we have neglected these issues overly long. In Plan B 3.0, Lester R. Brown warns that the only effective response now is a World War II-type mobilization like that in the United States after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Table of Contents:
Preface xi
Entering a New World 3
A Massive Market Failure 6
Environment and Civilization 9
China: Why the Existing Economic Model Will Fail 13
Mounting Stresses, Failing States 14
A Civilizational Tipping Point 18
Plan B-A Plan of Hope 20
A Civilization in Trouble
Deteriorating Oil and Food Security 27
The Coming Decline of Oil 29
The Oil Intensity of Food 34
The Changing Food Prospect 36
Cars and People Compete for Crops 38
The World Beyond Peak Oil 42
Food Insecurity and Failing States 45
Rising Temperatures and Rising Seas 48
Rising Temperature and Its Effects 49
The Crop Yield Effect 51
Reservoirs in the Sky 53
Melting Ice and Rising Seas 56
More-Destructive Storms 61
Cutting Carbon 80 Percent by 2020 64
Emerging Water Shortages 68
Water Tables Falling 69
Rivers Running Dry 75
Lakes Disappearing 77
Farmers Losing to Cities 78
ScarcityCrossing National Borders 81
Water Scarcity Yields Political Stresses 82
Natural Systems Under Stress 85
Shrinking Forests: The Many Costs 86
Losing Soil 90
From Grassland to Desert 93
Advancing Deserts 94
Collapsing Fisheries 97
Disappearing Plants and Animals 101
Early Signs of Decline 106
Our Socially Divided World 107
Health Challenge Growing 110
Throwaway Economy in Trouble 115
Population and Resource Conflicts 117
Environmental Refugees on the Rise 121
Mounting Stresses, Failing States 123
The Response-Plan B
Eradicating Poverty, Stabilizing Population 131
Universal Basic Education 133
Stabilizing Population 136
Better Health for All 140
Curbing the HIV Epidemic 144
Reducing Farm Subsidies and Debt 146
A Poverty Eradication Budget 149
Restoring the Earth 152
Protecting and Restoring Forests 153
Conserving and Rebuilding Soils 158
Regenerating Fisheries 162
Protecting Plant and Animal Diversity 164
Planting Trees to Sequester Carbon 165
The Earth Restoration Budget 169
Feeding Eight Billion Well 175
Rethinking Land Productivity 176
Raising Water Productivity 179
Producing Protein More Efficiently 183
Moving Down the Food Chain 188
Action on Many Fronts 189
Designing Cities for People 192
The Ecology of Cities 194
Redesigning Urban Transport 196
Reducing Urban Water Use 202
Farming in the City 205
Upgrading Squatter Settlements 208
Cities for People 209
Raising Energy Efficiency 213
Banning the Bulb 215
Energy-Efficient Appliances 218
More-Efficient Buildings 221
Restructuring the Transport System 225
A New Materials Economy 228
The Energy Savings Potential 235
Turning to Renewable Energy 237
Harnessing the Wind 239
Wind-Powered Plug-in Hybrid Cars 243
Solar Cells and Collectors 246
Energy from the Earth 252
Plant-Based Sources of Energy 255
River, Tidal, and Wave Power 258
The World Energy Economy of 2020 259
An Exciting New Option
The Great Mobilization 265
Shifting Taxes and Subsidies 267
Summing Up Climate Stabilization Measures 273
A Response to Failing States 276
A Wartime Mobilization 279
Mobilizing to Save Civilization 280
What You and I Can Do 285
Notes 289
Index 373
Acknowledgments 393
About the Author 399
