---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 05:40:41 -0600 (CST)
Subject: New Post - The Blog of Tim Ferriss
To: john.walton@gmail.com
The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss
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I WANT YOU to Become the Editor of a NY Times Bestseller and Travel
the World for Free
Posted: 19 Feb 2008 10:20 PM CST
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/timferriss/~3/237963003/
Id like to invite you to leave your personal mark on The 4-Hour
Workweek. After 31 printings (!) and more than 25 languages, you can
put your signature on a global phenomenon and travel the world for
free.
Your ideas, collected via this open wiki, will play a massive part in
influencing the future of 4HWW and an expanded and updated edition in
2008 or early 2009. The password to make edits is version2.
The backlash I hoped for is gaining speed, even among the Fortune 500,
and I want an improved and expanded 4HWW to help propel the critical
mass needed for large-scale institutional, and even policy-level,
change. The book alone wont do it, obviously, but I believe it can
play a small part as instigator.
To my knowledge, this is the first time a NY Times bestseller has ever
been made open to public editing. In fact, I havent seen any
traditionally-published book ever crowdsourced on a global scale.
Why am I doing this?
1. Ive been blown away with the innovation Ive seen among readers in
lifestyle design, both derivative of 4HWW and 100% original. In all
respects: we is smarter than me.
2. Book editing is ridiculously anachronistic.
When I was in Florianopolis, Brazil learning to surf last winter, my
publisher informed me that the second pass manuscript was ready for me
to review. Great! Just send a PDF, right? Not quite. I was mailed
400+ pages of printed matter with changes indicated by different
colored pencils used by different people. I had to find another
color, scribble in my edits, and mail it back.
Please tell me you have another copy of this, I said via the
Vonage-wired beach house with a nervous laugh. The response: I dont
think so, so please dont lose it. Talk about author heart attack. I
felt like Clive Owen in Children of Men.
Here are a few incentives. The top contributor as subjectively
determined by me (quality over quantity) will get:
1) A roundtrip ticket anywhere in the world (using Continental or a
partner airline of OnePass)
2) Their name in the acknowledgments of the 4HWW
3) My help planning the mini-retirement, whether a romantic trip to
Bali or touring the hidden temples and Bladerunner-like coolness of
Japan. Ive already sent readers to do both.
The due date for suggestions is March 23rd at 5pm PST but early birds
have a big advantage, since you dont get credit for making suggestions
someone else has already made.
Dont let other people alone shape the future of the 4HWW. Make sure
youve left your mark
[Postscript: Sorry for accidentally publishing a draft of this post
first! Save is right next to publish in the WP admin :)]
###
Reader Poll:
Many of you have complained about how I sometimes put multiple topics
in single posts. Heres why Ive done it: I dont want to clutter
peoples RSS or e-mail with separate posts just to make announcements,
so I append them at the end of posts (a la (Plus: Competition
Winners)). Lots of you dislike this or find it confusing for good
reasons. Which do you prefer? If the below poll doesnt work for some
reason, please tell me in the comments:
Most Popular Posts:
How to Lose 20 lbs. of Fat in 30 Days Without Doing Any Exercise
How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Language in 1 Hour
From Geek to Freak: How I Gained 34 lbs. of Muscle in 4 Weeks
Relax Like A Pro: 5 Steps to Hacking Your Sleep
How to Travel the World with 10 Pounds or Less (Plus: How to Negotiate
Convertibles and Luxury Treehouses)
The Art of Letting Bad Things Happen (and Weapons of Mass Distraction)
How to Outsource the Inbox and Never Check Email Again
Hello from Cornwall! It's Sunday afternoon here, and after a
delightfully sunny day yesterday it's resolved back to the coda of
rainy and damp. Alas! but I am full of devilled chicken livers and
moules marinières, and I get to upgrade to first class on the train
for only £10 on the way back this evening. Hurrah! In celebration,
please enjoy this MP3 from Vivaldi's Gloria (RV 589, for those
of you who speak music geek -- although I do have to say that I much
prefer the 588 for "not horribly overplayed" values).
I've had a lovely few days down here, actually. I came down on the
Wednesday night sleeper, which is actually really good fun, and
arrived home at just gone 7.30am on Thursday. One of the great things
about working as a consultant is that we can VPN our way into the home
network from anywhere that has a broadband connection -- and,
thankfully, Cornwall is one such place! I mean, I love where I work,
and I love the Pret a Manger that's my habitual lunchtime haunt, but
there's something about coming out of the donkey-house (AKA study),
where a cat has been nuzzling me for most of the morning, and sitting
down to clam chowder and a locally grown salad, you know?
I made flapjacks in the Aga as well. *grin* I made two batches, one
with half a mug of blueberries left over from breakfast, and half just
plain, and although the blueberry ones came out a bit moister than
they should have, they taste wonderful. Hmm, I wonder if simmering
them in nearly half a pound of butter, a good half a cup of brown
sugar and a couple of teaspoons of golden syrup had anything to do
with that...
I have a new phone! Those of you who are observant about such things
will have noticed the increase from 3MP to 5MP as I upgraded my Nokia
N73 to a Nokia N95. I say "upgraded", but I actually bought my way out
of my contract with 3 (who are, may I say, utterly utterly useless,
and don't use them ever), got a new contract with Vodafone (who have
been brilliant so far), and did I mention the 5MP camera in my N95?
No? Okay then.
I have a giant Getting Things Done post, too, because I spent a good
portion of last week reading up on the GTD methodologies, scanning
through a bunch of blogs, and reading various white papers, and then
finally picked up the book itself on Wednesday before lunch with H. I
have to say, the various blog posts are a lot more approachable and
digestible than the book itself. I've also managed what I think is a
pretty nifty implementation of it with my FranklinCovey planner and a
pile of postit notes. Anyway, yes, need to take a series of pictures
and construct a blog post. And perhaps a productivity blog. (The irony
of taking time to make a productivity blog has not escaped me. Perhaps
I should just use Vox. Or get a TypePad account.)
Right! I have a bunch of pictures to come (and, since I'm going to be
on a train for most of the afternoon, don't think you've escaped a big
pile of moblogging from the station and the train). Have a good one!
And this is just one of a good dozen. So, so lovely.
For the first time in what seems like forever, the sun is out, we're hanging out on the terrace, and how wonderful is the sunshine? Not to mention the garden, which is full of sweet peas that Dad grew from seed, and hanging baskets that Mum has made just bursting with flowers. It's a lovely day.
Portscatho full of bloody emmets. Nare Head still as pretty as ever, though!
So, I went out for sushi with H today, and on the way I passed Australia House, with this particularly amusing sculpture. Pauline Hanson, is that you?
This is the remarkably California Mission style Osborne House, near East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Isn't it lovely? It does rather remind me of things that start with 'San', though.
On the ferry back from the Isle of Wight yesterday, we were treated to on fewer than three cruise liners passing us to port. The first, and the most majestic, was the QEII. There's something about the old lady's lines that make her appear to just cut through the water, especially compared with the unwieldy looming of the P&O liners Oriana and Oceana, which followed her out of Southampton. It was something special, indeed.
Happy Friday! London is still weird, weather-wise. Seriously, this was lunch with the Aud on Wednesday, and I'm running over the bridge, getting soaked, and then the rain just stops, the cloud disappears, and voilà! Sunshine and a weather front.
Oh London, why must your weather be so crazy? I'm so expecting brimstone next. Perhaps it's Cassie's fault.
Recent Comments
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Tena said:
And the parents were really, really, really glad to have you here!!!!!!!!!!!! read more
on Sunday afternoon -
Sofia said:
That is really pretty! I like the mix of the colors a lot. read more
on told you mum's baskets were pretty -
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Yeap interesting read more
on hey wow