NeoScholar

Don’t be fooled, the 4-hour work week has some great ideas. I had seen this book around for quite a while before I got my hands on a copy. A friend actually sent it to me when I expressed interest because he “was never going to read it again”. This book should challenge the way you think about your current job, and what your plans are for life. Some ideas I like from the book:

• Why wait to retire before you have your dream holidays
• Think about how much do you actually need to go away to live a different
• What’s the worst that can go wrong
• Why do you need to slave at work if your not happy
• Are people really productive at work, or could they do it in less time.

The book go through a whole lot of tips and tricks relating to building online businesses and how to travel well but on a budget. I have read this book twice, even if you are happy in your job it’s a worth a read on how to potentially optimise your job to allow more free time to do things that you want.


While creating massive online profitable stores might not be for all of us, this book will change the way you think about your work and what you want out of life.

I recommend it.

And to confirm this “recommendation” by accident I found out that quite a few of my friends had also read it when I started asking around.


While I have not yet escaped the 9-5 (or more) days, this book has given some hope that my ideas and investments may allow me to one day escape working for someone.

Serendipetously I have just read The Google Story which was lying around at a beach house I visited on the weekend. I’ve always wondered about the history of Google.

The book itself is an easy read and as well as giving a history of the development of the Google business and its founder’s background it outlines the fundamental different philosophical approach of Google – hinting at some of the directions it may move in the future. Google has not always had it easy but it has also not tried to; often the founders bucked convention either to make a point that they are different or believing there is a better way.

From reading it you get the feeling that if anyone could pull of creating an internet success it was these guys with their strong technical background, obvious intelligence and connections. (Even if initially they hadn’t worked out how they would make any money out of their quest for a better search engine). Many entrepreneurs would have been in a similar position have failed to thrive but these guys obviously have what it takes.

I recommend it.