Timothy Ferriss Audiobooks

The 4-Hour Work Week: the optimisation bible its own author later thought better of

1 audiobook reviewed

★ 4.2/5 average

665 listener ratings

Who is Timothy Ferriss?

Timothy Ferriss, born in 1977, is an American entrepreneur, investor, author and podcaster – the original lifestyle guru of the internet age. He made his name with the 4-Hour books: The 4-Hour Work Week, The 4-Hour Body and The 4-Hour Chef, a series built on the promise that work, the body and even cooking can be optimised down to their essentials.

Two things complicate the caricature. First, Ferriss has since reconsidered that relentless-optimisation approach, which makes him rather more interesting than his many imitators. Second, he has become a supporter of scientific research into psychedelic treatments. The man who taught a generation to escape the office has spent the years since asking harder questions.

Timothy Ferriss in audiobooks

The 4-Hour Work Week is the book that made his name and the boldest statement of the lifestyle-optimisation creed. What makes it worth a listen now is the wrinkle history has added: Ferriss himself has reconsidered this approach, so the book doubles as a time capsule of a supremely confident moment. Take it as a provocation rather than a plan – brisk, audacious, designed to make you question the shape of your working week – and it earns its place. UK listeners taking it in on a long commute may find the irony of the setting adds a certain something.