Timothy Ferriss: Out-Vaynering Vayner?
We've often wondered what might have become of Aleksey Vayner had he never made his hit film "Impossible Is Nothing." Where would he be in five years? What levels of success would he have achieved?
We're pretty sure the answer has arrived in the form of Timothy Ferriss, Princeton '00. Currently a "guest lecturer" at Princeton (sounds a little misleading to us; he's not in the official directory), Ferriss has honed self-help guruship down to an art -- he's good-looking, well spoken, and he knows you initially assume he's a fraud. His new book, The 4-Hour Workweek, explains how to work very little (check e-mail twice a day, outsource all your work to Asians for $5 an hour) and still live your dreams. Among the dreams Ferriss has already lived: Motorcycling across China. Dancing tango in Argentina (and on Regis and Kelly). Kickboxing. Skiing in the Andes. Gaining 34 pounds of muscle in 4 weeks. In other words, impossible is nothing.
The book already seems to be taking off. It's currently ranked in Amazon's top 10. The site's reviewers have given it five stars, nearly across the board.
And that's where it gets weird. The Amazon comments are absurdly positive. Frighteningly positive. Eyebrow-raisingly positive. Just look at the slew of reviews left all on the same day, April 24:
C. Ashenden, April 24: I don't give away compliments easily but I guarantee that this book will change your life. Don't wait.
Brian Page, April 24: I'm not a reviewer of books. In fact, this is the only one I've ever commented on. So as the first person to review The 4-Hour Workweek, I'm going to make a prediction. Remember, I called it first. This book WILL be a best-seller.
Sherwood Forlee, April 24: Because of this book, I would have to say that my dreams will soon become reality.
Matt, April 24: I don't know Tim, nor do I have any financial connection to this book. ... I have never written a review on Amazon before, but this book compelled me to write my first. I highly recommend you get it, and I guarantee it will get you thinking about making changes in your life.
Lindsay, April 24: I have always been a little wary of books focused arond life-improvement, but "The 4-Hour Work Week" book strikes the perfect balance between practical guidebook with real-world suggestions for how to maximize the work/life balance (something everyone needs to learn to do) and inspirational encouragement that yes, the life you want is just around the corner.
Michelle Bartakova, April 24: I believe this book is going to be a bestseller, will inspire many, and I would go as far as to say it will save lives. ... The revolution has began.... If this review sounds little bit over the top, well it is and so is the book. This is my first review on amazon, and who knows my next one might be written by my virtual assistant:)
(Hilarious commenter exchange on that last one is here.) When a tipster pointed out the unbroken slew of over-the-top raves to us, we saw this comment among them:
Smells fishy!, April 26, 2007
Reviewer: cyan (Sydney, Australia)
There are 18 reviews beneath me. Every single one was written on the same day. This is the only review of every single reviewer bar one. I wonder what the odds are of 18 individuals who never review on Amazon logging onto the site on the same day and giving the book 5 stars?
Even more fishily, that last comment is now gone. We have to agree, it's hard to see more than a dozen glowing, similarly-argued raves spontaneously cropping up all at the same time -- from people who have never before reviewed another title. If indeed Ferriss had a hand in arranging them, that's not necessarily wrong -- just really off-putting, really douchey, really ... Aleksey.
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May 10th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Everyone with an Amazon account should log in and handle business…
May 10th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Amanda Congdon gave his blog and book a positive blurb yesterday on her ABC News Video Blog.
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3154738
“Tim has made his lifestyle choices into an art form.”
All the glowing reviews in one day is pretty fishy. Are there other known examples of people gaming the Amazon review system?
May 10th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Ferriss writes the following in his biography on his webpage (http://www.timferriss.com/):
“He is 29 years old, and The 4-Hour Workweek is his first book and magnum opus.”
http://www.4hourworkweek.com/ferriss-bio5.htm
I think you need to write more than one book in order to have a “magnum opus.” Read some of the other stuff on his bio page and it all starts to smell like bullshit. Ivygate should to investigate further.
May 10th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
“He speaks six languages, runs a multinational firm from wireless locations worldwide, and has been a popular guest lecturer at Princeton University since 2003, where he presents entrepreneurship as a tool for ideal lifestyle design and world change.”
but this is my favorite: “Glycemic Index (GI) researcher Political asylum researcher and activist.” what does that mean?
May 10th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Yes, there is a good example of this review system being gamed. Do an Amazon search for the book “Race Against Evil” by David Bannon. Mr. Bannon was convicted of impersonating a law enforcement officer in Colorado in 2006.
May 10th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
“Wireless locations worldwide”?
May 10th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Yeah it is pretty easy to game the comment and sales system for Amazon. I think most people know about the “penny resale” thing with the sales by now and the review system is actually easier. Where the competition is is out-gaming others doing the same thing. Guerrilla marketing, don’t hate. Not like the NYT reviews aren’t up for sale, only you have to be big PR or publishers. He’s still a douche that should be exposed though.
May 10th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Can someone from Princeton please step up and shed some light on this jackass? Also, I think it’s only natural for IvyGate to sponsor the first ever IvyGate steel cage match douchebag challenge: Vayner v Ferriss! Do the proper ivy thing and capitalize on these horses asses!
May 11th, 2007 at 9:53 am
I’ll put $100 on Ferriss.
May 11th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
I believe the Amazon comment was removed because it violated Amazon policy which says that reviews need to be based on the content of the book, not other reviews. Thus, I would say — read the book before judging the character.
May 11th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Amazon is nothing
May 11th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
This guy is a DOUCHEROCKET!
Impossible is Princeton.
May 11th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Do you even know Tim or any of his work? Check out http://janicedru.blogspot.com.
May 13th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Since you brought it up….an update on Vayner is loooong overdue.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
He is actually a guest lecturer… sort of. He gives a guest lecture twice a year to an entrepreneurship class that he took when he went to pton. Anyway, I saw his speech this year and it was suprisingly moving. He made his money selling vitamins or something, and then decided he didn’t want to work anymore. He outsourced everything and now has all of his phone calls routed to India for screening. Trust me, I expected this guy to be a total douchetard, but prettymuch everything he says on his website is true. He did actually win a tango contest and went on Regis. He is also ridiculously jacked, and a fairly successful mixed martial arts cage fighter.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Uh, princeton 07: that’s the definition of a douchetard.
May 14th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
One of the things that Tim mentioned in the lecture was that he believes a lot of people are disillusioned with their lives and his book is aimed to help people get out of the daily grind and overworked mentality. He also believes in the value of public education and donates to charities that support related causes. Definitely *not* a “douchetard.”
May 15th, 2007 at 2:46 am
Tim seems like an eccentric guy, but at least he’s not some soulless investment banker slash other type of finance whore. I bet most of the people reading this site could learn a lot from him.
If you don’t believe his claims about cage fighting or tango dancing, I’m sure he would gladly cage fight slash tango dance you.
May 15th, 2007 at 9:37 am
or he can outsource that to India and let them go dhalsim on your ass for $5
May 15th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
…Ahhh yes, I remember him well. Freshman year, he used to drag his boombox (remember, this was pre-iPods, kids) into the communal bathroom and turn on all the showers until the place steamed up, then practice posing to the music.
May 15th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
…Ahhh yes, I remember him well. Freshman year, he used to drag his boombox (remember, this was pre-iPods, kids) into the communal bathroom and turn on all the showers until the place steamed up, then practice posing to the music.
May 15th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Um, yeah…but I’m 100 percent sure he never double-posted a comment.
May 15th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
I got an email telling me to buy his book and review it on amazon. I also saw a flyer on facebook encouraging princeton students to do the same.
pretty lame.
May 16th, 2007 at 12:24 am
oh man, you guys are going to have a field day with this. between watching his videos and reading a copy of his book, it’s be an entertaining last hour. seriously, this guy could compete with aleksey for best faux ballroom dancer. notice in his “world tango championships video” his closest competition appears to be a pair of octogenarians. and his record that he set on regis and kelly…well, i’m practicing right now to break it. i’m sure i could do it with a good half hour of practice.
i hope you guys blow the lid on this guy. the best part is, he didn’t just right a resume, he published a whole book on his ostensible feats!
May 17th, 2007 at 8:14 am
I don’t know Tim, nor do I have any financial connection to this book. … I have never written a comment on IvyGate before, but this douchebag compelled me to write my first. I highly recommend you get it, and I guarantee it will get you thinking about making changes in your life. I’m going to go take mixed martial arts cage fighting slash tango lessons right now.
May 19th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
I hate princeton and the douchebags here/that graduate from here.
May 21st, 2007 at 12:57 am
pb: “or he can outsource that to India and let them go dhalsim on your ass for $5″. That is some funny shit. I haven’t thought about Dhalsim in years.
Tim doesn’t sound like a douchetard or a douchebag. (Can’t comment on douchrocket til I watch a little more Xtube.) However, “motivational douche” might be accurate. So he donates money and espouses some ideals you agree with? BFD. He is still annoying and is conveying his message in a shady manner.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:46 am
Vayner was the first thought to come to my mind when I came across Tim’s website. In fact, the very next thing I did was to check IvyGate to see whether you had picked up on it (you’re late). He is not shady. He is totally up front about his methods. Even if I find some of them iffy, I must give him respect for being transparent about them. His book is a step-by-step how-to that exposes how so many of our “famous experts” get to be that way without really doing much at all. Also, it is the most creative manifesto detailing how to make the best of internet technology to escape our insanely over-driven lifestyles that I have ever read. The book is entertaining (I’ve never been able to read through one of these “self-helps” before) and is actually useful. Unlike Vayner, Tim HAS actually done something of substance. Forget the world record (who says a world record must be in something outrageous? You can’t deny he holds a world record)and the martial arts trophy (his method of winning was genius and in itself demands respect) how many of you 29 year-olds have NYT bestsellers? Also, regarding the multiple reviews from Amazon, it is possible that he didn’t instruct his Virtual Assistants well enough on the one hand, but I found the book interesting enough that I would have written a review just like it. Don’t knock it ’till you read it.
May 25th, 2007 at 12:27 am
douchebags call other people douchebags, so i can understand why Princeton08 hates such princeton “douchebags” — of course, that would make me a douchebag for implying that s/he is a douchebag. so yes! the world is full of douchebags.
June 10th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Why does pg 284 of Tim Ferriss’ book make use of a hoax email chain letter? Fraud or oversight?
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/medical/slowdance.asp
Do a search on google for “slow dance” + “urban legend”
Really lame.
owl
June 11th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Why does pg 284 of his book make use of a hoax email chain letter?
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/medical/slowdance.asp
Also, he claims to be a world champion fighter. Independent searches have found no records of him registering as a fighter or fights that he has won. Neither does he give any proof on his website.
http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=54641
People are so hungry for heroes these days they will believe anything. It’s funny how he mentions Koresh in his book, perhaps that is his role-model – a cult of personality. Something just isn’t right about this guy. If he is a fraud, I hope people catch and expose him for what he is.
owl
June 14th, 2007 at 5:18 am
If you read pg 284, Tim makes it seem as if this poem was sent to him directly by a girl dying of cancer. So you tell me: fraud or oversight? I think Tim should clarify this if he has nothing to hide. If he did fall for such a dumb hoax and use this chain email in the book, doesn’t that make you wonder about the rest of his ideas and content in the book? And how does the original author of the poem feel now I wonder.
And I’m not the only one who has caught on to this, another reader caught this as early as May 17:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/4-Hour-Workweek-Escape-Live-Anywhere/dp/0307353133
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
I feel tricked, 18 May 2007
By A. Reader – See all my reviews
The book teaches to make money while working as little as possible, how to seem an expert on a subject, etc. Several times while reading the book I felt like the author just pulled the tricks he teaches on me by tricking me into buying the book. Someone may argue that this can seen as proof that it works.
The book shows lack of background research. Take for instance the chapter “The Last Chapter: an E-mail You Must Read”. The author claims it contains piece of a letter from a terminally ill girl. This however is a widely known hoax chain letter (see for instance snopes.com). The contained poem is written by David L. Weatherford, an adult male child psychologist.
===
Also compare the ratings between amazon.com and amazon.co.uk.
I hate frauds, they think you and i are so stupid we will fall for their bullshit. Hey, welcome to the Internet Generation: you can fool some of us some of the time, but try fooling the collective mind of the Internet.
owl
June 14th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
This owl dude appears to spend all his time posting negative comments about Ferriss across the Net. Get a life, dude or dudette.
June 14th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Frank, you’re missing the point. If you see a house on fire, you call the firefighters. If more people were willing to ask questions instead of being willing sheep, we would not be fighting a losing war in Iraq right now.
As a customer and consumer of Ferriss’ informational product, I want to know that I spent money on a genuine product and not snake oil. Ferriss can make all this go away by clarifying the issues raised on his blog.
Owl
June 16th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
What’s your real agenda, owl? Is it to slander Ferriss? You are acting irrationally here.
June 17th, 2007 at 9:32 am
Frank, do you know what slander means? In what way exactly have I slandered Ferriss? I am asking for proof of Ferriss’ claims, which he has yet to properly substantiate.
owl
June 17th, 2007 at 9:43 am
See Ferriss’ comments here, he has yet to clarify the issues raised:
http://scobleizer.com/2007/06/02/working-on-a-saturday/
I simply want clarification, I have no hidden agenda.
owl
June 21st, 2007 at 5:07 pm
More on Ferriss:
http://digg.com/health/Tim_Ferriss_From_Geek_to_Freak_in_28_Days
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1552334&pageNo=0
June 22nd, 2007 at 5:30 am
This is my last post on Ferriss. Look at the facts, search the Internet and decide for yourself.
You are more powerful and influential than you realise. Exercise your democratic right to ask for the truth.
Beware of mob mentality, groupthink and peer pressure. You are an individual. Look at the facts before making a decision, even if it may not be a popular decision.
Question everything, assume nothing and have courage to voice out what you know to be true. Your next decision may just help avert a war or global catastrophe.