IIRC, there's only one chapter listing all of Ferriss's accomplishments and it was only a few pages. I thought the book had a lot of great information and case studies. Honestly though, the biggest takeaway is "get lucky starting a business and make a bunch of money and then you can justify anything that follows." Easy to travel when you've made a bunch of money, easy to hire assistants when you've made a bunch of money, etc. Of course, there are case studies that are specifically chosen to show people with fewer means doing the same things.
I will say though that, from the title to the terminology, the book definitely has its cheesy, "get rich quick" moments. Why? Probably because that was the best way to sell it. It wasn't initially called "The 4 Hour Workweek," but Ferriss tested titles and found that one got the most reaction.
Maybe I'm not a good representative of his target audience, but to me, sounding like an infomercial con-artist isn't a good way to sell a product unless it has no value and you are merely attempting to take advantage of people. That may not be the case, but that's how I interpret that method of promotion.
It's been a while since I read it, perhaps I did exaggerate the page count of his self-promotion, but I remember finding it extremely off-putting.
I think patio11 was the one who said that a lot of successful things sound scummy like that...because that works really, really well, outside of the specific demographic that inhabits HN.
I will say though that, from the title to the terminology, the book definitely has its cheesy, "get rich quick" moments. Why? Probably because that was the best way to sell it. It wasn't initially called "The 4 Hour Workweek," but Ferriss tested titles and found that one got the most reaction.