My Unusual $20,000 Birthday Gift (Plus: Free Roundtrip Anywhere in the World) 330 Comments

Written by Tim Ferriss Topics: Filling the Void, Travel

34. I’m turning a glorious 34 this year, right about now.

It’s going to be a great natal year–-I can already feel it. Perhaps it will be good luck for you, too: in this post, I’m giving away a round-trip ticket anywhere in the world.

But back to that strange birthday gift…

Much to the chagrin of my momma-san, I’ve become quite difficult to buy presents for. Some friends even think I’m impossible to find presents for.

It’s not entirely true. I love handwritten letters, home-made brownies (like Fred Wilson), girlfriends dressed in next to nothing, and–-most of all-–when people do something nice for others.

In lieu of gifts this year, my birthday wish is to help the poorest kids in the world learn to read. I believe literacy, and the self-determinism it allows, is fundamental to solving the problems of this world. Want an alternative to extremist terrorist schools, to have fewer welfare states, or to prosper with better economies? Teach people to read and help themselves…

On a personal level: can you imagine never having read a book? Never being able to satisfy your intellectual curiosity? That’s unacceptable.

Since I am turning 34 this year, if you feel so inclined, please help me build a library for children through Room to Read by donating $34 (or whatever you can) to my donation page (give it a minute to load). Readers on this blog have already changed the world in real, significant ways, like this school in Vietnam that you all built!

A stand-alone library costs just $20,000 and can provide the educational foundation for multiple generations of kids. Here are two additional kickers:

- If you all help raise $20,000, I will personally foot the bill for another $20,000 library.
- I will put the names of the top 20 donors (and one person below) on dedication plaques placed on each library, 10 people per library. These are real libraries that will be finished in 2013, which you can see with your own eyes. It’s an incredible feeling you’ll never forget.

If we don’t reach $20,000, the funds will still go to Room to Read directly for building schools. If we raise more than $20,000, all extra funds will go to building more schools.

Beyond the good karma, I’ll add another incentive to act now: a free round-trip ticket anywhere in the world that Star Alliance flies, which is just about everywhere. There is no expiration date on the trip, so no rush on deciding where or when to go. Here’s how it works:

No later than 11:59pm PST this Sunday, July 31st:
- Spread the word however you can. Send people to this post or to my library page.
- Leave a comment below telling me what you did (Facebook, Twitter, e-mail blast, add to your e-mail signature, encourage employees/friends to do the same, etc.). Measurement of any type gets huge bonus points.
- Lastly, answer the following question at the top of your comment: “What does education mean to you?”

I’ll pick the top five promoters, and you’ll all vote on the winner of the round-trip. Easy peazy. This winner will also get his or her name on one of the school plaques as a top donor. Pretty sweet, right? Perhaps that’s where you’ll globetrot with your free round-trip ticket?

But the best reason of all…

Beyond the bribes, you’ll feel awesome about yourself for doing real good for little ‘uns who have so little, perhaps no future without education. Trust me.

Superman is not coming to help these kids, nor is the government–will you pause for a moment and step up for even two minutes? It would mean the world to me. I’ll share pictures and updates from first construction to opening day.

Again, here is where to go to donate $34, $1, $1,000, or whatever you can.

Thank you for reading this post. You are all rock stars, and I continue to write on this blog purely because of you.

Posted on July 29th, 2011

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330 Comments

John Romaniello — July 29th, 2011, 3:42 pm

Seriously awesome. Bravo, my friend.

I’ll get the word out on my twitter, facebook, and email list.

I would rather not be entered into the contest–you’ve already done a lot for me, so please leave that glorious prize for someone else–but as you know education means everything. Literacy has been my savior.

Donating now.

Great job.
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Valerie — July 29th, 2011, 3:46 pm

Another spectacular birthday event. Congrats. And just to clarify is it Sunday August 31 or July 31? (Cos 8/31 is a Wednesday).
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- brad — July 29th, 2011, 4:18 pm
  
  right.
  Reply
Brad — July 29th, 2011, 3:46 pm

Awesome Tim! Happy Birthday and what a great cause to donate to. The ability to read and comprehend has been one of the biggest tools to my personal success and I know that it will make a difference for others as well.
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Anne Dorko — July 29th, 2011, 3:50 pm

This is a GREAT idea. Already donated.

I’m looking forward to seeing that library.
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Kris Busby — July 29th, 2011, 3:50 pm

Howdy

What does education mean to me? It means gaining the freedom to explore a far large and more interesting world than a person could have imagined. Education also allows for insight and understanding into people and cultures that are different from ones own. But it also gives a person a chance to determine their own path in life and shape the world around them to be a better and more enlightened place than how they found it.

For my part in this I’ll be sending out the word on Facebook, Twitter, and via e-mail. Even in the age of the internet a library is an important and valuable resource for anyone seeking knowledge or entertainment.

– Kris Busby
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- Christa — July 29th, 2011, 8:30 pm
  
  Kris, so well said! Education is and has been the foundation of civilization on all levels. I just find it so sad that people concentrate all their efforts to help children only in Africa and the East (commendable though) whereas Europe is mostly ignored, probably because it is thought to be a well educated continent. However, that is surprisingly not true. I am thinking of a country like the Ukraine where the conditions in some of their orphanages are totally appalling! Apart from near starvation the children are put out in the streets at the age of 14 without any education whatsoever, mostly becoming part of street gangs and a world of crime just to survive. Just thought I should mention that.
  Tim, 34 is still very young. I wish you a birthday filled with inner peace.
  Reply
Alan Weisenburger — July 29th, 2011, 3:51 pm

To me education means possibilities.

I Just added this link to Facebook, Tweeted the link and Blasted my sales team with a donation pwn!
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Tiffany — July 29th, 2011, 3:51 pm

Tim, this is a super idea! As a teacher (at the post-secondary level) I get many students right out of high school that struggle in a college environment due to literacy and reading comprehension problems. I am an avid reader and I could not imagine having never experienced the joy that books can bring. Education is such an important part of being successful at anything. Being able to read opens up the minds to new possibilities and enables the seeds of knowledge to grow.

I have posted your link on my facebook page and to my twitter followers of other teachers, former students and colleagues that will hopefully feel the same way I do. Sorry I could not give more I think what you are doing is fantastic and I hope you raise your money quickly!
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Alex Gonzo — July 29th, 2011, 3:52 pm

This is the kind of thing that makes you truly remarkable, Tim. We’ve got to keep people engaged in books. (I’m kind of sick of people not knowing proper spelling and grammar.) Books are wonderful. They can take us anywhere, and they keep our minds sharp.

I’ll be reading about this project’s success, for sure.
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Kristie Dean — July 29th, 2011, 3:53 pm

Hi Tim,
As an educator, education means the world to me. Watching a child’s eyes come alive when they learn something means so much. This is a great thing you are doing. I’ve shared this on Facebook, “Liked” the blog on Facebook, and then “tweeted” it.
Thanks for doing this, and I hope you have a great birthday.
Kristie
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Charles Sabatier — July 29th, 2011, 3:53 pm

To me education means being able to improve your personal situation. Given nothing else, if all you have is an education, you have been empowered to live life to the fullest and the sky is the limit. With an education, we can all achieve our dreams!

I have added the link to your library fundraiser onto my email signature, made it my status on Facebook, tweeted about it, and told my family about your goals and reasons behind the goal.
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Cathy Baker — July 29th, 2011, 3:56 pm

You are undoubtedly one of the most unique people I have ever met.

I will take you up on your offer, give a donation and spread the word via social media, email, etc. whatever creative ways I can think of – for this outstanding cause!!

Books will transform their lives and give them a vision for their future.
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- Cathy Baker — July 30th, 2011, 6:25 pm
  
  Update:
  What does education mean to me?
  Education in its many forms, is a vehicle that will allow anyone with a strong desire and belief in themselves to accomplish ANYTHING they set their mind to.
  Time and time again I have seen, heard, and experienced situations and people who have harnessed education and used it to achieve dreams that otherwise would not have been reachable.
  Never stop learning! Never!
  
  I posted links on Fb and twitter and captured images of them if you want proof, not sure how to post that here…
  Made donation and talked with husband about why I chose this organization.
  BTW, Happy Birthday!!
  Reply
Dave Holden — July 29th, 2011, 3:57 pm

Reposted on my wall!
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Markus — July 29th, 2011, 4:00 pm

Great move,… Happy Birthday, getting the work out by FB and mail. I imagine not being able to read like being in a country where you don’t speak a single word of the language. Reading is the basis of communication, it almost belongs to ones senses.

All the best Tim, lets get the books out there.
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Adrienne — July 29th, 2011, 4:01 pm

Education means freedom, choice, wonder, and possibility in life.
What a great idea.
Amazing, smart, and going in the right direction. Thank you for your incredible example. Happy 34th Birthday to you!
I added it to my Facebook update, my twitter, and will include it in my next email to clients.

Cheers!
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Alana Lea — July 29th, 2011, 4:04 pm

Tim, Do you mean “This Sunday, July 31 instead of Aug 31?” I’m happy to post this on my FB and Twitter pages. We need literate children as much as they need trees.
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Steve McBride — July 29th, 2011, 4:05 pm

As an internet marketer, I have a handful of e-mail lists that all add up to about 8500 people. Between that and my friends and family on facebook, I will get the word out to about 9000 people and encourage them all to share this with their friends. For my e-mail lists I will offer a free ebook product to anyone who donates as an extra incentive.

It’s hard for me to imagine what it would be like to not be able to read. Most of what I have learned in my life has been through self education, and without reading I would be lost. The beauty of what you’re doing here is that the trickle down effect of teaching someone to read is HUGE. What they can accomplish in their life, and how they can help others who also need it. As far as I’m concerned $20,000 is enough to help just ONE child, but know this will help many more than that is amazing.

As another note, if I were to win the trip to anywhere in the world, I would plan to visit this library, or one similar to it, and raise funds to supply the library with computers and internet connections to help further their education.

This has also inspired me to see if I can raise the funds to build my own library. Thanks Tim.
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- Steve — July 29th, 2011, 5:55 pm
  
  Update: Posted both to facebook, and did my email blast. For my email blast I promised a free ebook to anyone who donated that give tips on growing their own online business (this is what my list all about). Also, on top of that I did the same thing here that Tim did: I told everyone on my list to tell me how they got the word out about this, and tell me what education means to them. Out of those I will pick one and give them a free copy of my next product (online business video course – $500 value) EARLY, when it’s not scheduled to be released until mid september.
  Reply
- Gary — July 30th, 2011, 2:03 am
  
  Hi Steve McBride, good Irish name. I will donate right now as I totally agree the trickle down effect is Huge. Another great Tim vision. Gary Mc
  Reply
Abhinav Gulyani — July 29th, 2011, 4:07 pm

Hey Tim, Just some days back I realized its time your birthday is coming soon and what will Tim have in mind this year.

And here it is!

I just wanted to be early to comment but will have a “grand” plan of promotion for the same.

Will continue with my upcoming comment very shortly with some action steps taken.

Regards,
Abhinav Gulyani

P.S. Happy birthday! And may god bless you with 10X more gratitude in the coming times ahead! Your increase in gratitude towards life in exchange helps the world around you! Enjoy the day!
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Cliff Harvey — July 29th, 2011, 4:09 pm

Tim – such a great idea, and great cause, kudos mate.
Spreading the word on facebook, blog, twitter and G+. Books hold a special place in my heart – a crucial conduit for that timeless wisdom of the ages. The dedication in my first book read: “This, my first book is dedicated to the memory of my Mum, who taught me that knowledge holds power, and that knowledge when tempered with honesty, humility and love, becomes wisdom, true and timeless..” We didn’t always have a lot growing up, but we did have a lot of love and a lot of books!
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Melissa Rachel Black — July 29th, 2011, 4:14 pm

“What does education mean to me?” Great question and one that has certainly influenced my life.. that was the exact one I answered in a scholarship application essay in 2006 which won me a four-year fully paid tuition at the University of California. My answer then was “a combination of learning and doing” and thinking about it now, it still rings true.

I might be deep deep deep in debt if it weren’t for that opportunity.

Without reading I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today–growing my muse doing what I love designing and printing gangster-rap greeting cards, while living abroad. Literacy is an amazing skill and definitely one that should be available to all.

Going to spread the good word every way I can. I would be honored to win the trip (currently planning an epic adventure with my great friend) but I’m here to support no matter what.

Thanks Tim.

Best,
Melissa Rachel Black
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Tami Richards — July 29th, 2011, 4:14 pm

Thank You Tim! and Happy Birthday , Education is a treasure to behold, you are a true treasure to us all.
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Ware Carlton-Ford — July 29th, 2011, 4:17 pm

Posting on Facebook, blog, and forwarding to my parents – both teachers with upper level access to the public schools system in Ohio and its followers. Great idea – I love your emphasis on education for all..
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- Ware Carlton-Ford — July 29th, 2011, 7:15 pm
  
  Oh, it’s also going out on the listserv for my department at school, so that’s several hundred to a thousand more people. Updates about numbers from the public school circuit as they come in.
  Reply
Joidevivre — July 29th, 2011, 4:19 pm

I posted and tagged you on FB (I have lots of friends/family and coworkers there)! Good luck!
Education means the world to me as my dad worked at a factory for maybe $20,000/year for a family of 5 (we lived in a mobile home most of my life) and was laid off at least once where we had to have public assistance (very humbling). I put myself through college and I am now a pharmacist! I now have a HOUSE! WITH A FIREPLACE! I took out A LOT of loans, because believe it or not as a valedictorian from a lower class family, I did not get many scholarships. I am still paying them off, but that is OK, it was worth it! Obviously, if I could not read, this would not be possible! As much as you inspire me, Tim, I try to inspire others- making the world a better place one person at a time, whether it is verbal encouragement, recommending your book, medical advice (solicited or unsolicited!), I am a better person for it.
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- Joidevivre — July 29th, 2011, 4:20 pm
  
  BTW, I just had a birthday July 6th! Happy Birthday!
  Reply
Stéfan Adam — July 29th, 2011, 4:21 pm

Very nice Tim, already started with the help! For sure if everyone makes a little thing we can make it big.

I am making a campaign with my facebook, e-mail, with my company e-mail, facebook and twitter and with my “Friend Club” page at facebook.

Education Tim is just the basic thing for our society, for us to live in peace together. And for me who loves reading this project is catching.

Abraço,

Stéfan Adam
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Jeff Stewart — July 29th, 2011, 4:21 pm

I couldn’t agree with you more Tim!!!

I turned off the “programming” that was coming through my TV over 15yrs. ago now. Though I’m a high school drop out with a very blue collar background for most of my 50yrs., almost 20yrs ago I somehow ended up becoming very engrossed in the study and research of America’s roots and the republic form of government this nation started out under for her first 80+ yrs. I’m here to tell you that a very very VERY bad thing happened to all that and our freedoms in 1871. 95+% of Americans have NO idea.
How do I know what I know….R E A D I N G!! and lots of it.

I never would have anywhere near the understanding of where we are at today as a nation, had it not been for 1000′s of hours of reading and study.

This “high school drop out” can now honestly say that I’ve read nearly all of Americas founding documents start to finish. Some numerous times. I’ve read numerous landmark supreme court cases, bills, acts, legislation, executive orders etc. etc. The degree of understanding I now have about the current political / economic environment of my county and the world for that matter, simply as a result of knowing how to read, is truly amazing to me.

Then one day about 3yrs ago I found a copy of “The 4 Hour Work Week” and thought to myself….if he can do it, I can do it. Well…I almost wound up literally homeless in the process of trying to make it through this learning curve, but I think I’m going to be OK. I’m at least generating 100% of my income online, and actually paying all my bills for the first time in over a year. So, I won’t be able to contribute any money right now Tim, but if there is ANYTHING else that I can do to support you’re most awesome, admirable, and highly respectable idea, I’d be honored to be involved….even a little.

Happy Birthday Tim…you’re amazing to me and one of my greatest living mentors!!!
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MK — July 29th, 2011, 4:22 pm

To me, education means freedom.

And that came, mostly, from reading (although I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to attend great schools and to acquire a degree or two along the way).

Reading, though, was at the core of it all: I grew up in a library (literally, my mum worked as a librarian when I was a kid) and I have been an avid reader ever since. I believe the ability to read from an early age is crucial to an inner sense of freedom and empowerment—and to upward social mobility (it definitely has been for me, as I hail from a so-called “developing” country).

It’s a great initiative, Tim, and I hope you keep up the good work!

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

* Tweeted to my 280+ faithful followers:

It takes $20,000 to build a library. Donate to Room to Read to help build one now: http://t.co/O7zBq6z #Reading = freedom!

* Posted a question on my Facebook feed:

“What does reading mean to you?” with a link to the donation page

* Messaged my librarian friend, explaining the project to her and asking her to forward the message to her colleagues. She’s one of the most social-media-savvy librarians I know, so I expect that to make quite an impact.

* Added a donation link to our Shopify store (we’ve been featured in today’s Shopify New Store Fridays blog post, so we expect a spike in traffic

* And much more to come!
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Nate Hutchison — July 29th, 2011, 4:22 pm

Education is the means through which I have been able to express thought, think logically, and most importantly, pique my curiosity. Learning to read at a young age, I was able to escape to other worlds, take on new identities through the characters, and unlock my imagination. Imagination is the soul of progression in, well, anything. Education, mainly the ability to read, cultivates the imagination, and causes it to grow and go in wildly different directions (I commonly call light bulb moments “Mind Grenades”). So, unlocking the imagination is what I find is the true value in education.

I reposted on your page on facebook (I referred to you as my “buddy”. Hope you don’t mind
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Marcie — July 29th, 2011, 4:23 pm

Hey I posted on FB and shared on twitter (as usual). I just wanted to wish you a very very happy birthday! I have something for you when I see you next month, which ironically, fits into the birthday present criteria you mention above Cheers!
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Sam — July 29th, 2011, 4:24 pm

Tears in my eyes for yah. You probably won’t read this, but I’m starting now. I’m friends with your old Princeton mate, Dan Newman, you’re inspiring.

Till later, I hope we’re friends to come.
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Anthony — July 29th, 2011, 4:24 pm

Happy Birthday Tim! I will promote this over the weekend. As much as the trip sounds nice, it’s really more about just helping people. One question you asked that bothered me was “what if you never read a book?” Education is critical, and by education, I mean learning skills and information that can help you live life and make informed decisions–not pass state-sponsored exams. I’ll revisit your blog later this weekend!
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Sam — July 29th, 2011, 4:26 pm

actually, no more tears for yah, just tears for the little ones. I hope you make it a reality.
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André — July 29th, 2011, 4:28 pm

donated a initial amount… hope it helps! great cause! donated last year to a school in rwanda and visit them. there’s nothing better than help kids to read their first book ever!
i’ll spread the word and post it via my twitter-page & facebook.

oh btw: happy birthday! hope you enjoy YOUR day – i am sure you will.
all the best from germany.
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Alexa Gomez — July 29th, 2011, 4:32 pm

Happy Birthday Tim! Great idea and way to help out! Enjoy your day, week, and birthday month!

-Alexa
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Jeremy Page — July 29th, 2011, 4:37 pm

Awesome cause, Tim. Made me realized how blessed I am. Just donated, and it felt good.
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Max — July 29th, 2011, 4:38 pm

Education, to me, is the process of developing lenses through which to process & understand, and thus thrive in the world around us. When we learn something, we’re provided with reference or view points on the topic that we can further inquire on or use for better decision making.

Literacy is also such a wonderful way to benefit from centuries of previous thought and trial and error. The ability to read, write, and communicate ideas and concepts is by and large one of, if not the greatest conceptions of mankind. Without it, what would be possible?

And happy birthday, Tim. More than happy to donate to see this happen.
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Jake Davis — July 29th, 2011, 4:38 pm

Tim,

I will contribute when i get home from another interesting day.

You are a true inspiration and I will continue to better everyone around me.

I have about $2230 in gold, saved and accumulated for 3yrs (1.5oz)

You can sell the gold or use it for a small custom finish in the library?

or gold plate a book or sumn lol its far-fetched but $2300ish market value.

Please let me know and ill spend the rest of my adword capital to spread the word.
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Saul — July 29th, 2011, 4:39 pm

tweeted it and posted it on my wall. Will spread it again. Happy Birthday. FYI lost 30 on slow carb since Passover and looking at another 30 before October…

THANKS.
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James — July 29th, 2011, 4:39 pm

This is a phenomenal idea Tim! I am going to do everything I can to help make this happen.
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Abhinav Gulyani — July 29th, 2011, 4:44 pm

What does education mean to you?

I wrote a blog post long time back which started because of a conversation I had with few of my friends. Anyways, here it is:

Everybody feels strongly about education, since it affects us all so much, me doubly so because of my background. I left school at 17 and am largely self taught. What was key for me, was that I’d found my passion – marketing & running businesses. If you love a subject, then it’s easy to teach yourself. I just feel that the priorities in the education system are really misaligned with what’s really important. In reality, the vast majority of what you’re taught at school will be forgotten, especially if you have no interest in it. As it stands at the moment, if you correctly jump through all the hoops presented to you, you’ll end up a university professor. In other words the system is geared towards a definition of success that applies to a tiny minority. There should be more scope for flexibility and less hoop jumping.

I created my own self-education plan based on many contributors and combining world’s best people to teach me the topics I wanted to learn.

So, I followed a curriculum set by a guy named Josh Kaufman who made a curriculum of several books which were equivalent as a MBA Degree (http://personalmba.com). I went through all the books he suggested and gained my business and marketing knowledge. This knowledge helped me to become a better business person and earn a successful full-time living.

I then with my hunger for more knowledge took my knowledge to the next level by going through coaching from world’s one of the most brilliant marketers on the planet like Jay Abraham, Dan Kennedy, John Carlton, Ted Nicholas who are pioneer in there area of expertise.

And following which to know more about online marketing I went with coaching from the best in the field like John Reese, Andy Jenkins, Trey Smith, Frank Kern, Russell Brunson, and alike.

It was as if I can decide my own subjects, my own timing, and I have a huge library which I can enter each day and select my education along.

The crux of the problem though, is that the vast majority of people get to university and don’t have a clue what they want to do – or indeed, what they like and dislike. There are no more hoops to jump through, and they panic – taking the first available career at hand. One that may be finically sensible but could leave them with a job they despise for the next thirty years. They settle, and get stuck. My message to them is that as you spend about 80% of your life working, life is too short for a job you don’t love. Don’t settle, keep searching, keep hungry.

As for the education system, well I feel that it should be designed to expose students to as many areas as possible, so they get a good indication of what they like and dislike. The system has a victorian factory feel, which needs to be changed. There are bells between shifts, and batches of students – it all feels so antiquated. The stigma attached with not attending higher education should also be removed. Universities aren’t for everyone and you won’t make society ‘fairer’ by sending everyone there – you’ll just get crap degrees.

If you’re interested, I highly recommend Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talks, who articulates the problem far better than I could.
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- Leonard Irwin — August 6th, 2011, 9:51 am
  
  Abhinav
  
  Just went to your website. Thanks for the link to Eric Thomas’s youtube video. I like his quote
  
  ” You’ll be successful when you want it as badly as you want air to breathe”
  Thanks
  Leonard
  Reply
Leonard Irwin — July 29th, 2011, 4:44 pm

Hey Tim

Happy Birthday and best wishes for your next year. Teaching kids to read is an awsome an powerful goal to do. I;ll be posting this on my facebook page.

Cheers
Leonard
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Jill Sessa — July 29th, 2011, 4:46 pm

Tim, what an awesome birthday gift! i am sharing this post throughout the online Network Marketing community to show everyone what the total UPSIDE of our industry is. I look forward to giving you the stats, having people click it through a shortcode as much as possible, but regardless, its the kids that WIN. Room to Read is an organization that gives me goosebumps, thanks for this and all the great work you do with them.
HB, Tim!
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Bernhard — July 29th, 2011, 4:47 pm

Hey Tim!

First of all…Happy Birthday! Great idea and project you are doing here.
Education for me is the first step to personal freedom. With education and knowledge you are able to make up your own mind and have a chance to free yourself from suppressing manipulation.

Spreading the word on Facebook, Twitter and in person…

Wish you all the best from Vienna, Austria
Bernhard (;o)
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Melissa — July 29th, 2011, 4:49 pm

I posted to my facebook page That’s really the only thing i have any friends on..

Have a wonderful birthday ^^
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Jeffree — July 29th, 2011, 4:50 pm

Kudos to you Tim and Happy Birthday! I’ll be sure to forward along the link to my friends as well as donate myself. Education, to me means the training of how to ask questions and subsequently how to find answers. Cheers, Jeffree
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Joseph Hurtado — July 29th, 2011, 4:50 pm

Tim,

First, happy birthday man! May you live long, grow wiser, and prosper.

I too also believe in giving back, education is not the whole solution, but as a pre-requisite to the pursuit of wisdom is a must. I will contribute, and tweet about this. May even do a full blog post.

For now, Feliz Cumpleaños amigo del Tango, Dios me lo bendiga.

Joseph Hurtado
@josephhurtado
From Toronto, Canada
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Kate — July 29th, 2011, 4:54 pm

Education to me? Well, I will put that into 2 categories. For the first, I will define it in terms of how any federal or state level should define it: Any way in which parents/guardians care to teach their children: any subject matter, in any form, for any duration of time. For our own family, we are homeschoolers. I have 4 children: 8, 6, 4, 2. In our family, the goal of education is never about money (besides having ability to meet crucial needs). Education is all about learning to love to learn. Build on your strengths and go as far as you like. Teaching the ability to self-teach and self-motivate. Teaching them to teach themselves. In a very basic sense, the subject matter includes reading, writing, math and character building. They lead themselves beautifully after laying firm foundations. So excited for a chance to win a vacation! My 34th birthday is tomorrow. That would truly be a wonderful gift. I have shared this page with my 300+ friends here on fb. Cheers!
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Stefanos Kofopoulos — July 29th, 2011, 4:56 pm

Congrats man.. All men’s souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine. –Socrates
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Misty — July 29th, 2011, 5:01 pm

I spread the word through all of my email contacts (many teachers) and students.

What does education mean to me…I am a science teacher so it means many things. In the negative sense…it is me being required to dump lots of specifically chosen (by others) facts into the heads of teenagers. More creatively, it involves me making -them- think of ways to absorb, process and reteach whatever concept we are covering. I have tried to convey to my students that what we are doing on a given day might not be right/wrong or matter in the grand scheme of things. However, the thinking and processing skills that they are practicing will help them to reason through all of life’s lessons. In a nut shell: True learning = divergent thinking. Not many things in life have a black/white answer.
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Joseph — July 29th, 2011, 5:05 pm

Tim,

Happy Birthday man! Un amigo de la vida y del tango te saluda y agradece tu gran corazón.

Don’t count the years, count the blessings, the lessons learned, and be grateful. In the road to wisdom you are well ahead, one thing you lack find faith, search for truth.

I am also a big believer in the power of empowering people through Education, for it allows people to pursue knowledge, knowledge opens the door to wisdom, and wisdom leads us to happiness.

Salud y muchos años más!

Joseph Hurtado
@josephhurtado
From beautiful Toronto, Canada
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Stephen Hill — July 29th, 2011, 5:09 pm

“Education to me means having access to every tool, utility, and experience the human mind has developed and dealt with thus far. A strong education is the foundation for eliminating hunger and poverty, and of vanquishing fear and bigotry. Education is freedom from those who cherish ignorance and the bricks of the road to self-empowerment.

“That is why I’m happy to donate to Tim Ferriss’ Room to Read cause (link below) as there is no better start in providing an education to children then with a trip to the library. Click the link, read through the cause’s aims and choose for yourself. As a parent, I am thrilled to have access to a good public library for my son. Imagine if all the children of the world had that same access to information. The synergistic effect could be staggering.

“Oh, and Tim has a little competition going on with this–a round-trip ticket to almost anywhere in the world! So, if you’re not feeling altruistic, indulge in some greedy hopefulness. Either way, you’ll be doing good work.”

And that’s the education by-line I put on my Facebook page. 34 buckaroos in the pen, Happy Birthday, Tim!
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Aron — July 29th, 2011, 5:10 pm

your education is the foundation of how big, complex, multidimensional your inner world will be, your map of reality. Throught that map will you expeience what we call the real world. The more advanced it is the more significant your experiences will be. And after all your experiences are the only thing that is truly yours.

So ==> To me, education means giving a sparkle, the initial push to someone’s intellect to ignite the inner urge to understand, thus exerience more.

(hope this didnt sound too “wooh-wooh”)

I put the link to this page on facebook, g+, and in my email sig.
(That’s all I have at the moment. Not an extreme ammount of people but have few influencers among them)

Donated as well.

And of course, Tim, Happy Birthday!
Play this song, this remix is awesomingness:
http://bit.ly/nWND7I
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CEBenz — July 29th, 2011, 5:16 pm

Tim, $50 donated and I only put it up on my facebook due to the fact it’s the only one I have audience on.

Literacy is a special thing. It truly helps the world go round. From fostering the dreams in children, to helping adults assemble items from Ikea, to helping expand the minds of the curious, literacy is there. while literacy is only part of the equation to success, I would argue it’s one of the most important.

Lets not forget the most important reason for literacy….to be able to enjoy Tim’s writings……jk…….sort of.

Bravo Tim, and happy 34th. One day, I’d love to spend some time with you just to see how the frick you accomplish so much.
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Matt Mroz — July 29th, 2011, 5:24 pm

Education presents opportunity. It provides the basic tools for a person to control their own future. True education doesn’t teach one what to think, it inspires them to want to think.

Tim has been a source for my own personal education and challenges me to look at the world in a different way. He has my buy-in and I’m glad to do my part tweeting, facebook-ing, and plus-ing for a great cause.

I’ll do my best here:http://bitly.com/u/mroz
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Steve K — July 29th, 2011, 5:26 pm

Education is not just learned in a formal setting. Education to me is expanding the mind.

Tim as you know all to well traveling to other parts of the World is one of the best educational tools out there. It’s amazing how you A) learn about yourself, B) become inspired to learn about other cultures, C) become more open minded in general, which creates more education for yourself, and D) makes you an overall better person.

I can’t believe how much my life has changed because I’ve been so fortunate to travel to different parts of the world. I can’t wait to get back out there but launching my own business how forced me to focus. Thanks for the inspiration from the 4HWW and now 4HB!

Keep up the GREAT work!! You ARE truly making the World a better place.
Steve
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- Steve K — July 29th, 2011, 5:27 pm
  
  Re-tweeted this post to my 2,000+ followers. Thanks again!
  Reply
Ann Donnelly — July 29th, 2011, 5:38 pm

Education allows you to break through boundaries of class, race, family history, and of self doubt and lack of confidence; to really believe you can do whatever you dream to be.

I’ve posted a link to this to my 3,000+ Twitter followers and hundreds of Facebook friends. Will be repeating through the weekend.

Happy Birthday Tim. What a great way to celebrate!
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Dan Sutera — July 29th, 2011, 5:44 pm

Hey Tim,

Just chipped in for you. Great bday wish! And a great organization… Room to Read is doing a lot of work out near us in Zambia. We have 5 schools where we’re piloting a sustainable e-learning model next year. Feel free to come visit if you’re ever in the area!

Happy bday,
Dan
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Benny — July 29th, 2011, 5:56 pm

Happy birthday Tim! Wow just seems like last week when you had your last birthday and got people to donate to Donorschoose.org. Will definitely send this out to Facebook. Will send it out through my tribes on Triberr.com and reach of 157,000+ followers.
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Norman — July 29th, 2011, 5:57 pm

Happy birthday! Wooo!
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Andrew — July 29th, 2011, 6:00 pm

Just tweeted, and facebooked this!

Great stuff Tim…
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- Andrew — July 29th, 2011, 6:02 pm
  
  O and education to me is freedom.. Freedom to dream and then build that dream in to reality..
  Reply
Miles L — July 29th, 2011, 6:05 pm

Hi Tim,

Thanks heaps for the opportunity to help out with this. As a future teacher, I have an irrational emotional attachment to books (and tea!). They’re everything to me. So I’m very glad to put the word out there, and hopefully we’ll see some pretty amazing things happen.

I’ve posted about this on my tumblr, which also pushes it to my Facebook page and twitter. I’ll also retweet it from my other twitter accounts.

You can see the tumblr post here: http://at.tea.geek.nz/nFw5pN
Here it is on my Facebook page: http://at.tea.geek.nz/qq63VF
I have made a US $5 donation in my mother’s name, Susan La Mont. She died of cancer when I was 18, but she taught me to always find a way to help out, even if you don’t have anything material to give ^_^

Thanks again Tim!

~ Miles
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Sheila — July 29th, 2011, 6:21 pm

Education means choice. When you are educated you have the ability to see the world and yourself through a different lense. Education brings opportunity. I don’t see education as something that you just receive through school though (although attending a good school is certainly beneficial), education is something I think you gain mostly through life and experience in general. I feel like I personally learned far more by reading, googling, listening, and doing than I did in the classroom. I think in school, I learned how to learn and how to interact with people mostly.

I love books and I can’t imagine what it would be like to not have the ability to pick up a book and learn about someone I find interesting or dive into a story that takes me on an adventure. Giving this gift to other people by building a library for kids gives me goosebumps–so awesome.

I’ll absolutely help spread the word through twitter, FB, email, etc. Donating now.

Happy Birthday, Tim!
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Andrew Ryan — July 29th, 2011, 6:51 pm

In addition to the usual Facebook/Twitter blast (not AS effective, since I’ve recently culled my FB list down to an appropriate size), I have another method that I hope to use.

Recently I’ve begun work as a web developer for MyPobal.com Inc. Pobal means community in Irish Galic, and I hope to get some of my community involved here to make some donations. I’ll try and get a link up on the front page for as long as I can.

Education for everyone is a basic human right. Not only have there been correlations to decreases in poverty for individuals with an increase in education, but widespread education can have tremendous impact on developing nations’ economies. Until we have worldwide-spread education for everyone though, we still have a lot of work to do.
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Tati — July 29th, 2011, 6:54 pm

Happy Birthday Tim

Education brings awareness, awareness brings change, new ideas, new
Actions and thus improves this wonderful world we live in.
And you have brought all that to us, can’t thank you enough
I definitely wish you a great and happy journey
I emailed everyone this link on my email contact list
Re-posted on All my Facebook accounts and twitter
And created an add on craigslist:
http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/tix/2520506876.html
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Chane — July 29th, 2011, 7:06 pm

Education means a better quality world for everyone. The majority of the world’s biggest problems could be fixed if we were better educated. I personally try to educate myself as much as possible. It’s the best investment one can make in himself.

I tweeted the message to my almost 22k followers and shared it on Facebook with my 275 friends.

Thanks for everything you do!
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Susan — July 29th, 2011, 7:32 pm

I’m donating and I linked to you on my Facebook, and will post on my two blogs later tonight. Thanks for harnessing your tribe to do fantastic things and change lives!

Every day I know how lucky I am to be a woman who lives somewhere where I can EXPECT an education – what a concept. I cannot imagine life without books, reading and learning – and for that matter sharing amazing content on the internet. I wouldn’t even be myself were it not for what I’ve learned and continue to absorb.
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- Susan — July 30th, 2011, 4:51 pm
  
  Tweeted to 466 followers on my person feed, 64 on my blog feed (I’m just getting started!) and to 301 FB friends. Every little bit helps! I hope this goes viral.
  Reply
Anna — July 29th, 2011, 7:39 pm

Education to me is building a life of opportunity to not only bless ourselves but to bless others. It brings dignity, autonomy, and respect for oneself and a way to move forward, and progress and create. Education helps to learn patience, obedience, and discipline, which provides greater freedom in many areas of life.

I’ve been sharing your books, and blog to my friends and family. I love to make time with them to talk about life, culture, people, and change. We inspire and motivate one another. I really appreciate your willingness to help others especially with literacy goals for children and will continue to share that.

Tim, thank you for your knowledge and experiences that you share with us. I have made so many positive changes and awareness with my mind and body since discovering your books last month . It keeps me in the process of learning, and achieving my goals. All my study, training, diligence and growth is to try to help those around me and be a good person.

All the best,
Anna
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CJ Wellman — July 29th, 2011, 8:16 pm

- What I did:
Shared this page on Facebook to my 298 friends, on Twitter to my 231 followers.
-What does education mean to me?
Education for me is one of the most important gifts a parent/friend/guardian can give their charge. For me it started with a program called Head Start (http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ohs/index.html). Head Start is a national program that promotes school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families. Specifically it is for children living in poverty. I have some of my fondest memories of learning from Head Start … and it also formed a life long love for Ritz crackers

That program gave me access to a foundation that I would normally never have had. I became the first person in my extended family to attend and graduate college. I went further to become the first in my extended family to receive and MBA. My tenacity even encouraged my older brother (of 3 years) to finish his undergraduate degree and his Masters.

Point being, that giving me access to a solid educational foundation at such a young age led me to where I am today. My education is something I value beyond any other achievement in my life. It opened my mind, opened my opportunities and saved me from the life of poverty that was almost guaranteed.

Thanks for the opportunity to gush about a subject so close to my heart and I wish you, Tim, a very happy birthday.

Best Regards,
CJ Wellman
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Beata — July 29th, 2011, 8:28 pm

I just realized I am adicted to education but the sad thing is I always took it for granted! I’ve always loved going to school – always hungry for new knowledge. And speaking of hunger: I suppose hungry kids don’t think of school or learning but when they learn how to read and how powerful this tool can be they can get inspired thru books and change their lives or at least dream away from their reality and they dream may com true one day. I still remember a book I read when I was about 9 – it was a story about Easter Island – I always wanted to go there and now, many years later I still need to realize that dream and I know I will
Have a great b-day Tim! I spread your message thru FB. If any of you want to give a meal to a kid please visit http://www.pajacyk.pl It only takes a minute to click into a stomach of a little Pinoccio on that page Best regards!
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Tara — July 29th, 2011, 8:58 pm

Happy birthday Tim.

Just made my donation. My daughter is fortunate she doesn’t need donations to receive her education. All children should be entitled to have the same experiences as she does. It’s simple, education means choice.

I wish you the best of luck with this project.
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matt haines — July 29th, 2011, 9:13 pm

Great idea! Nice way to celebrate a birthday! I might donate.

I wasn’t motivated by the prize, but it sounded interesting. But then I realized it was heavily weighted toward the people with the biggest social networks. Which is great for getting the word out. But you might lose a lot of the ‘regular folk’ who go “eh…I’ll never win with my 263 Facebook friends”. Perhaps next time make the selection random?
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Jake Davis — July 29th, 2011, 9:19 pm

Education means to me the ability to learn all answers to any applicable questions comments or concerns ever presented. Education utilizes knowledge deriving channels in different forms, via books, tests, and hands on exercises, and applies that knowledge into a system of understanding to create an ability to educate on another. Once that system of education is successfully duplicated, education has the ability to harness endless amounts of information, and distribute it anywhere education is available.

Tim, as promised after my workday I would contribute, I did and it does feel rewarding, you will have no problem with the $20,000. 200,000 followers and if there anything like us, they will make it happen, we will make it happen.

I must have read wrong before work as it would be impossible to take my gold out and sell it before July 31. As far as capital goes i’m fully invested and waiting to buy 100 of your books. I was really hoping to make an impact here but ill be ready for the next one.

As part of my second business venture i need your blessings on my idea that will sell 20,000 of your books for the first milestone and 2 million books for the second milestone as a promotional gift of my product.

I think your going to love this idea as it ties in a lot of your beliefs that are very similar to how I think if I lived like you. My idea also embodies the very meaning of this contest “Education.” In such a powerful way, I find it ironic you post this contest as i’m trying to reach out to my only ever living mentor and share my idea that endorses education as i buy 100 books off you.

One 5min phone call.

Thanks again for making a difference. You are my government and i’ll help build followers to make more dreams come true. I can’t believe how society is operated, we need more people like you.

Enjoy your Birthday and never lose sight of what you set out to do in your lifetime.
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David Turnbull — July 29th, 2011, 9:24 pm

Here’s what I’ve done:

1. I make videos on YouTube on a regular basis as apart of my job. In the latest video I dedicated a significant portion of it to talking about this promotion. This has been sent out to over 33,000 subscribers on YouTube with a very obvious link to the charity page in the description of the video.

You can find the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6OlN2vy3MI

Skip to 3:00 for the relevant part. If there’s reason to make another video before the deadline, I will repeat this process.

2. I’ve posted this video on a related blog I own (http://nintendo3dsblog.com) which receives upwards of 20,000 visitors each day. It is currently the top story and will probably remain on the front page for another 24 hours or so.

3. I have sent out a tweet via the @Nintendo3DSBlog account (with just over 4,800 followers). I will do this a couple of more times, asking for retweets with each one.

You can visit the following URL to see how many visitors I have sent to the charity page: https://bitly.com/davidturnbull+
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- David Turnbull — July 29th, 2011, 9:25 pm
  
  Oh, and make sure that final link includes the + symbol.
  Reply
- David Turnbull — July 29th, 2011, 10:46 pm
  
  Ah, and one last thing, the answer to the question:
  
  Education, to me, is the opportunity for life to change for the better. It’s the one thing that can be consumed, but then reused forever. Once something is taught its with the student for the rest of their life. That has a long tail benefit that’s impossible to even grasp.
  Reply
Harsh — July 29th, 2011, 9:30 pm

Happy birthday Tim! I’ll do my bit to get the word out. You should be able to make the 20000 cut easily. Wish you a great day.
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Ryan Biddulph — July 29th, 2011, 9:31 pm

Hi Tim,

#1 – Happy Birthday

#2 – Way cool present. I’m vacationing in Sihanoukville, Cambodia now and see just how important it is for people in developing nations to gain access to education. Many know no other way, other than killing themselves all day with hard labor, and a few know only how to beg.

By expanding their awareness, people from anywhere can see their potential and live their dreams. Acquiring knowledge is where it starts.

Thanks for sharing the opportunity with us Tim.

RB
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Harue Ciarlini — July 29th, 2011, 9:59 pm

Tim,
Happy B-day!!! Congratulations… not only for your day, but for what you have become and done up to this date.
Today (30th) is my B-day, ‘sweet 33′. ‘Start it’ contributing w/ such a cause is both an honor and pleasure to me… thanks
Namastê
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JM — July 29th, 2011, 10:44 pm

HAPPY BDAY BRO! im was born in 77 myself.

DONATING RIGHT NOW!

EXCELLENT WORK! AS ALWAYS
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Breezy Baldwin — July 29th, 2011, 10:55 pm

Education has been the key to unlocking the fullest potential of my life. It inspires me, opens up wondrous possibilities for me, and allowed me find my talents, strengths and purpose.

This project is so wonderful, Tim! I hope you have a wonderful birthday! I donated and I’ll be doing everything I can to spread the word!

- Posting every few hours to my twitter @breezybaldwin
- Posted to my 1215 Google+ contacts – https://plus.google.com/110427026721802962737/posts?hl=en
- Posted to my fan & personal Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/breezybaldwin
- Sent out an email blast to everyone I know
- I’m going to encourage my family, friends, and anyone I can get to participate & come up with ways to keep spreading the word!
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Nathaniel Stott — July 29th, 2011, 10:56 pm

Education for me is preparing our Children for Life. For a life where they can be true to themselves.

Their experience of School (and home) needs to be as a place of learning—learning about Life. School is for Life. Given the experience of movement, working with their hands, running and playing. Of social interactions in a group (small and large) as well as of being alone as an individual. Given all this we help our children to become themselves and much more.

Given the experience of making, doing and creating things we can create the following: “I am confident to try new things. I can do anything! This is not a bravado, but an inner strength that I know I can learn no matter what situations I am faced with in Life.”

It all starts with me—we are all learning from each other—when I am true to myself then I give that to others. The real Teachers in my Life have been all the people I have met and know. I have so much more to learn, so many new people to meet, I am prepared for Life.

As a Father of three, Education is the most important thing I can do for (and give to) my children, helping them to Love Life.
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- Nathaniel Stott — July 30th, 2011, 9:32 am
  
  “If you give a child a fish, you feed them for a day;
  if you teach a child to fish, you feed them for a lifetime;
  but if you teach a child to learn, you feed them for a lifetime
  and they don’t have to just eat fish.”
  
  —Tim Gallwey, creator of the Inner Game series
  Reply
limz — July 29th, 2011, 11:44 pm

i’ve been to various third world countries and can’t help but think they are a lot happier than us ‘educated’ people,
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John Savona — July 30th, 2011, 12:02 am

Done.
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Katheryn — July 30th, 2011, 12:31 am

Hi!

Education to me means experience. I think that education is largely emotional—we can learn so much from books, but I don’t think we can fully educate ourselves unless we experience what we are learning about. So, it means trying new things and exploring areas and socializing. It is these emotions that determine for us how we want to live our lives, and it is these experiences that open our world to a wider range of friends and talents.

My friends in Tokyo, Europe, and America will all see this on Facebook! : )

Have a fabulous 34th!

Katheryn
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Therese Fox — July 30th, 2011, 12:57 am

Education? The ability to read? Even if nothing else changes in a child’s life, nothing, the ability to read will affect an internal change and that person’s life will be enriched. Once this has been achieved, it cannot be taken away. At the most, it’s an avalanche… it can cascade into all sorts of further learning, and of course, the learner can then become a contributor to the pools of knowledge. It is ALL advantage. Wonderful! Happy Birthday Tim, and thank you for your contribution to this world. xx
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Lee — July 30th, 2011, 1:17 am

Happy Birthday!

Great cause, donated! Thanks again for everything, I will have to pass a testimony to you soon of all the amazing financial and life goodies your 2 books have brought me =)

Cheers,
Lee
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Sophie — July 30th, 2011, 2:00 am

Education is what makes the world go round, not money. We place too much emphasis on material possessions and not enough on education – sharing knowledge, ideas and experiences. I’ve travelled to some of the poorest countries in the world and I’ve met children far happier than the inhabitants of Monaco. I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had – my education was the greatest gift of my life.

Tim, this is a BRILLIANT idea! I’m equally as difficult to buy present, not because I’m rich, just self sufficient. One year I asked for donations to charity, and this year a friend surprised me with a polar bear adoption. I am constantly trying to educate people about animal welfare.

I’ve reposted this on Facebook and emailed my address book.

Good luck!!
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Gary — July 30th, 2011, 2:12 am

Hi Tim, another great Tim vision.

Education to me means POWER, power to change your life, power to change other lives, power to make a difference.

Tim you would not be doing this or I would not be donating without the Education we got.

I will use my email list, facebook, twitter, snail mail, to get your message out. This is worthwhile. I know I will not have the most contacts, however, even if one other person donates thats a good result.

Gary
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Brandon Hensinger — July 30th, 2011, 3:24 am

Education is so important to me, and not only do I desire my own kids to receive great educations, but I also have a desire to help spread education and the ability to read and learn throughout the world. I believe that with a good education and by being empowered to learn on your own through reading and gaining a love of learning, doors will be open to you for the rest of your life. I don’t just mean doors to get a job but doors that will help you to enjoy life even more as you love learning and as you grow in knowledge. By growing in knowledge you can understand the world around you more. By getting a great education, you are able to allow you were creative ability and knowledge affect the world around you. By giving children and opportunity to learn to read and have a great education. We are preparing the next generation to influence the world in ways that we cannot imagine. I think that this program through room to read is an excellent opportunity to help open children’s eyes to the world around them and to influence the next generation throughout the world.

To Promote This Great Cause I Have Done the Following

1. Using HootSuite I pushed the message out to my social networks
2. I searched related Hashtags and trending topics and posted relevant messages as well ask asked influencers through DM or @replies to also share the message
3. I used OnlyWire to push the message to 40+ social sites
4. I published the message on Google+
5. I wrote a post on my blog, which has a large following: http://www.thealivesalesrep.com/2011/07/30/speaking-of-books-how-awful-would-it-be-to-not-know-how-to-read/
6. I created a short promo video and uploaded it to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJU5Yc9w8Qg

I used 1 URL so I can track it accurately: http://ow.ly/1v8z2s

You can see my main hub social sites to see posts and traffic
http://www.Facebook.com/bhensinger
http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/bhensinger
http://www.twitter.com/bhensinger
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Yukie — July 30th, 2011, 4:02 am

Hi Tim, ??????????

A year has passed and it is good to join your birthday gift charity once again. I was packing books to sell to bxxk-off but it will go to Room to Read then???

”My life will end when my curiosity dies” is my sort of motto so I read/listened to 320 books last year (Thanks to your recommendations, I think I read them all.)

Reading is like creating knowledge folders, training the bypass between them, retrieving necessary info and lead to conclusions/decisions in your brain. I also like the simulated experience in novels.

Good luck with your charity.

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Yukie
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Yukie — July 30th, 2011, 4:09 am

Japanophile,

Happy B-day!
Your beloved country will not be the same again, but when things are settled, please come and visit Japan in the future.

Yukie
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Michelle — July 30th, 2011, 4:15 am

DONE and you’re the Rock Star btw…….

Education is understanding yourself and your environment a little bit more everyday. All you need is open eyes and a mind that likes to talk to itself!!

The ability to read gives you access to the minds of incredible people who have pondered before you. It is crucial so what an excellent cause to chose and make a difference to.

Happy Birthday!!!
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Chandan — July 30th, 2011, 5:43 am

Dear Tim,

Its a great initiative you have started.

Education to me means ability to decide. Being responsible for your own actions and thats a big ability. When you make a conscious decision most of the times its on the right side. To a person who gets the ability to read is in my way getting an eyesight and removing the darkness around yourself.

Hope to hear from you more on this…
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Paul — July 30th, 2011, 5:59 am

- Education means two things to me: freedom because it opens doors, and expansion because it opens minds.

- I shared a link to this page on Google Plus (you must join, Tim), retweeted your tweet, and shared it with my Facebook friends.

Next up: go donate myself.

What a fantastic birthday present, Tim. I participated in last year’s present and it’s becoming so I’m already looking forward to your next birthday. You rock.
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Bruce Bradley — July 30th, 2011, 6:54 am

What a great effort! You’ve inspired me with a new way to celebrate my birthday. You can’t ask for a better way to start a Saturday morning … paying it forward and contributing to something bigger than yourself!

It’s so easy to take for granted the ability to read. Unfortunately what should be a right in many places is a privilege. As an author I can’t imagine not being able to read. It has opened the world to me and so many endless possibilities. It has helped me make my dreams come true.

So with my contribution, Facebook post, and email blast, I not only wish you a happy birthday, but I wish a world of opportunity open to kids learning to read. Here’s to helping build many libraries for all those kids who deserve the chance … no, who have the RIGHT to read.
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Wendy — July 30th, 2011, 7:28 am

Education means having the freedom to explore your curiosities. By providing a library to these children, they’ll have a new opportunity to learn that wasn’t available to them previously. Who knows what this will lead to for them. The possibilities are endless.

I retweeted and posted on facebook for my friends in North and South America, Russia, Africa and Europe to see.
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Neil — July 30th, 2011, 7:36 am

I like this,

I can’t afford to give much but what I can spare I have done. I’m afraid spreading the word (despite the lateness with which I discovered this) is all I can do.

Education to me is the greatest asset at my disposal. I’m currently in the military but looking to leave (and hopefully join the NR), but the one thing I’ve learned is that education and by extension knowledge is the key to survival in any environment and the best thing about it is, it doesn’t weigh anything.

Hopefully my meagre contribution will be counter balanced by my future muse in freshfable.

Happy Birthday Tim.
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Eric Morrow — July 30th, 2011, 7:37 am

Education means having the freedom to choose what you want to do with your life.

Happy birthday! And thanks for the great books.

Shared on FB with a bit.ly link – we’ll see how motivated my friends are.
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Evan Rapoport — July 30th, 2011, 7:42 am

Thank you for using your powers for good! I’ve been giving people gift certificates to Donors Choose for a few years and I’ve received more positive feedback from those gifts than anything else I’ve ever bought someone.

There’s nothing I can buy you, or anyone else, for $34 that will make much of a difference in their life… but donating it to a great cause like the Reading Room WILL change someone’s life.

Thanks, Tim! I hope you inspire others to do the same for their birthdays.
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Carolyn Lewis — July 30th, 2011, 7:44 am

I posted this to 3 of my facebook pages. Good cause. Happy Birthday!
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Dave Parradee — July 30th, 2011, 7:44 am

Books are our connection to great minds. That so many people choose not to read is a loss for everyone. Giving children the chance to learn is a true gift.
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Carolyn — July 30th, 2011, 7:46 am

Posted all over the place. Great Cause.
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Mar Sommerville — July 30th, 2011, 7:51 am

Wishing you a wonderful day filled with random acts of kindness.
Reading has been my salvation.
I am fighting a battle with clinical depression.

Reading your book and a million others arms me with
information to use food and exercise as ammunition.

reading fiction for release. and history to glean what
I can from those who came before.

I will spread your mission of literacy to everyone
that crosses my path.

Today I am in Oshkosh with my family at the
EAA Airshow–truly inspiring to see the planes
that forged our freedoms.

Cheers mar
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William P. — July 30th, 2011, 8:19 am

This is a great idea for a Bday gift! I’m behind education and teaching reading. Reading has forever changed my life for the better. You can take part of the knowledge and wisdom from the last several thousand years. Knowing what works what doesn’t work or anything in between. I posted on my FB
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Lucas Pellan — July 30th, 2011, 8:22 am

Hey Tim,

Happy birthday.

To be honest, about 2 years ago, education meant nothing to me. I always looked at school as preparation for the next level and never thought of it as a wonderful way to acquire knowledge (the knowledge I am so keen on acquiring these days). I was 16-17 at the time and looking back now it seems as though I had wasted a lot of time. It was not until I read 3 books(The Selfish Gene, The 4-Hour Workweek and The Agony and the Ecstasy) that I started to develop ideas of my own and was pushed to think outside the box. Since then, all I have truly wanted is to learn. Whether it be how to open a bottle of wine, learning another language, discovering other cultures through travel or discovering how the human body functions, Education has lead me to find a job that I love (personal trainer) and probably the best part time job for any student. When I think of my future, education is an enormous part of what I imagine. Not only do I want to complete this huge book list that a started last year but I would also love to be in school for a long time because its not the job that I will get from all this schooling that will make me happy, it is the actually learning itself that has brought me so much pleasure recently and will continue to do so. I think of education as a way to make myself feel complete (this might sound cheesy but bear with me). No job and no sum of money could bring me the happiness that education and learning bring me. If your libraries could make even one child feel the way I do, then I think that is an amazing accomplishment. Thanks for giving us all the opportunity to learn more through this amazing offer.

I put this link as my facebook status and sent out a small email with the link to my family members, some co-workers and all my friends. I also told my dad about it and he attached a little tidbit about what your doing to his monthly letter that he sends to clients(he’s a lawyer).

Thank you
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Jean Gilhead — July 30th, 2011, 8:23 am

Happy birthday, Tim – you’re an inspiration!

Education means having the awareness to make choices. I’m promoting this wonderful cause on my Facebook page and by email. Thank you for the opportunity to practice generosity.

Jean
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JoshL — July 30th, 2011, 8:23 am

I believe that without education people become closed-minded and are left to believe that life will always be what life has always been. That’s not acceptable. The ability to read is something that we take for granted in the USA… a luxury that many in the world simply do not have access to. Reading opens a world of philosophies and possibilities to individuals and communities that otherwise are trapped in a world of simply repeating what they’ve always known.

I’ve posted the link to the Reading Room on Facebook and Twitter as well as let friends and colleagues know about the idea. I’d love to go there!

Donating now…
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Suzie deMello — July 30th, 2011, 8:36 am

I can’t imagine life without a book close to hand, whether it be paper or electronic. So I donated a dollar for every year I’ve loved to read.

I’ve shaped my life around books, selling over a dozen to various publishers. I now am lucky enough to work as a freelance editor.

Quite simply put: Education is freedom, in more ways than I count. Though our bodies might be trammelled, our minds can soar, and an educated imagination can fly higher and travel farther.

Education teaches possibilities, and possibilities fuel desire, which is the impetus for action. Desire sparks invention, creates progress, seeds growth on every level.

To succeed: read.
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- Suzie deMello — July 30th, 2011, 8:39 am
  
  I also spread the word through the various social media. Nothing special but I do believe in the cause. I also taught English (including reading) in China and have taught various workshops on writing, so I’ve definitely walked the talk
  Reply
Tim — July 30th, 2011, 8:38 am

Done, done and doing
Amazing project Tim, thank you for lifting it to my attention.
“The person who can read but do not, holds no advantage over the person who can’t read.” and “From the neck down, we are all worth minimum vage, it’s what we do with our mind that pulls us higher.”

Realizing that made me start reading again wich in turn changed my life… funny part is I would never had known those quotes if someone hadn’t read them and told me, with this project we get to pay it forward. Thank you

(Posted on FB, the message now reaches 967 more)

Last but not least, thank you for writing your books to challenge the thinking of everything we learned in school… I am officially unemployable because of 4hww… and soon to be superhuman duw to 4hb

Best regards
Tim
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Brandon Hensinger — July 30th, 2011, 8:40 am

Tim

Good morning! I posted a comment early this AM describing all I did to promote this but it looks like it wasn’t posted because I put links in the post to show you the video I made etc. Can you check it out and approve it? It says “Awaiting Moderation.” thanks!!
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Mukul Verma — July 30th, 2011, 9:04 am

Hey Tim,

Happy 34th birthday Tim and thanks for your insight
which has been life changing

What Does Education Mean To Me?
Education to me is self growth to help me expand as
a person and which lets me help others expand.

What have I done:
1. I emailed directly 16,605 people to donate (many double opt in)
2. Facebook Wall (only 755 friends)
3. Donated

I want to reach $20,000 ($20,000 = 40,000, while $19, 900 = $19,900)

Cheers,
Mukul
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Tristan — July 30th, 2011, 9:05 am

This is awesome, Tim. And it’s great that all donations are accepted (even small ones, like mine ).

Education to me means being able to make your own choices and learn about almost anything you’re interested in. Want to learn to cook? Get a cookbook and read it (Jamie Oliver did this for me). Want to learn another language? Read about that too. I think this is a great cause.

I just posted to my Facebook page (~140 folks).

Looking forward to seeing you at 21st Century Education in Melbourne in October – I imagine you’d know people here here already, but if you need an extra tour guide, give me a shout.

Cheers and happy 34th.
Tristan.
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Bendik L. — July 30th, 2011, 9:06 am

Happy B-day Tim!

For me Education is more emotional then with most people due to my personal experiences, education is freedom. Freedom to learn. Freedom to explore the posibillities this world has to offer.
It`s not a right that should be given, It`s a right that shall never be taken from any individual!

I posted the following on facebook and google+ with a bit.ly link for tracking. My pitch is in the bottom of this post for anyone who think it`s a good one and want to re-use it.
I`m also posting on twitter, sending emails to my personal contacts and telling my friends I`ll meet today.

“Imagine a world in which every child learns to read.
Envision a world where every child has access to books.
Picture a world where all children realize their full potential.

Can we raise 20.000$ for giving Children the freedom to read before tomorrow? Just bounced 1400$ up in less than 5 minutes to the whopping amount of 11.278$

Give 1 dollar or 40 and share this with your Circles to make an impact.
This would mean the world to these children, be a superhero Today!
“
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Justin — July 30th, 2011, 9:19 am

Awesome idea for your birthday Tim! To me, education is, as Aristotle said, the art of living well. Education opens doors. Education gives hope. Education is the level playing field for humanity. Society’s upper class has no more native capacity for learning than the poorest child. Education ignores status and initiates social reform. Education sparks ideas. Education ignites the soul. Once gained, education cannot be taken away. Education is humanity.

I love the idea you’ve put together to share, on your birthday, the gift of education to children around the world. I’ve added a link to your project and the room to read website on my facebook profile. I +1roomtoread on google + and shared it with my circles. I’m attending a big shindig this evening with some family and friends and I’ll be spreading the word there as well!

Thanks for all your work on this blog! Happy Birthday!!!

Justin

“Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.”
-Aristotle
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Thomas Little — July 30th, 2011, 9:33 am

TF= force multiplier for good

Happy B-day and great stuff Tim, just donated

-tom
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Nancy — July 30th, 2011, 9:50 am

To me an education means to truly help expand the imagination by example, and in turn help the recipient see all the possibilities of their own expansion and that they too can live a life without limitations.

This is a really fantastic opportunity you are helping to share – especially making it a part of your birthday wishes. That’s what makes you such a cutie pie

Hope you had a fantastic birthday Tim!

xo
Nancy
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Michael — July 30th, 2011, 10:00 am

Hello Tim,

Happy Birthday. Sorry this is not hand written, but it *is *hand typed. No
mechanical interface here.

I used to think you were the smartest person in the entire world, if not the
universe. Not any more. Perhaps 34 years has made you senile.

What am a babbling on about you ask, as well you might.

You said, “I’ll pick the top five promoters. . . .” Don’t you know that
this will kill the incentive of at least 99% of readers to even participate
and thereby kill any chances of your building that library, at least with
co-op funds?

I would have promoted to my Facebook and Twitter lists, but I have only a
small number of friends/followers, so what’s the use?

Oh well!
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Martín Alejandro Carmona Selva — July 30th, 2011, 10:14 am

Happy birthday Tim! You’re as old as me, and you did a whole to make a difference while I’ve done nothing .

I donated -not only for the trip- but, because I do consider necessary to help those in need.

The other day I found -almost by mistake- this Hoping Foundation http://www.hopingfoundation.org/ that I also like a lot.

Thank you for keeping the hard work!
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Jeff Schorr — July 30th, 2011, 10:15 am

Tim – happy birthday! And as always, awesome idea.

I just returned from a trip to Honduras and was struck by the lack of opportunity for girls/women if they don’t have an education. Access to a good school is critical and literacy is life-changing.

Spreading the word on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, & my blog. After donating just now, I see you’re over halfway there – I’ll get a few more to chip in & help push it towards all the way!

Thank you for all your work and keep it up – you are an inspiration and I consider you a personal hero.

Best,

Jeff
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muriel — July 30th, 2011, 10:48 am

Education is everything and everywhere – education means choices and taking control of your life. I am a teacher, so what can I say… I also worked to promote girls and women’s education in far away places such as Fiji or Timor-Leste and yes – education can change people’s life.

Tim – you won’t be dissapointed, this is the best present you can do to yourself for your birthday. I organized a big party with cotton candy and magicians in the refugee centre I was managing in Thailand for my 30′s birthday and the hugs and letters I got from the kids are the only present I can remember from all past birthdays!!!

I have been blessed so much for work that I won’t enter the contest.

Joyeux anniversaire!!
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Isabelle Casse — July 30th, 2011, 11:11 am

Reading means dreaming: dreaming of a new tool, dreaming of a better world, dreaming of our future profession, dreaming of something fantastic. It also means learning, I learned English through reading ( I started with archie, Betty and Veronica, hihi! ). Reading means knowledge of other cultures.

I adore this project Tim, because I think books are specially important for children. Kids are tomorrow’s leaders and they need to enjoy being kids and be able to dream and learn while holding a book in their hands.

I do not have followers on twitter nor am I rich. I’m staying home with a sick baby. But what I’ll do (because I believe every gesture counts, even the smallest ones) is I’ll commit to read one extra book to my kids this week end, give 10 of our books to the St-Vincent-Paul organisation, make a donation on your donation page and put it on m’y Facebook.

Happy birthday Tim, the winner of tour birthday gift will be very happy you turned 34!
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Dave G. — July 30th, 2011, 11:15 am

What Education Means To Me (An Original Haiku by Dave)
========================
A thirsty mind drinks
Then builds a well for others
And the world prospers

How I Promoted (w/ Measurement)
=============
* CREATIVE call-to-action post on my facebook page with 99,552 fans. See the post here to check real-time Likes and Comments: http://www.facebook.com/BruisedNotBrokenRescue

Parabéns a você, Tim

-Dave
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Jay Vinsel — July 30th, 2011, 11:36 am

Education=Freedom

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Tim!
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Andrew — July 30th, 2011, 11:37 am

Education is empowerment. The power to lose 16 pounds of fat in a month thanks to the education I got from 4HB . Happy b-day Tim, one of the best presents I given to someone in a long time.
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Riley Harrison — July 30th, 2011, 11:52 am

Happy birthday Tim. What a wonderful use of your marvelous talents. Thank you for the opportunity to participate in something so significant.
Riley
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Josh Schlottman — July 30th, 2011, 11:54 am

Hi Tim, just donated $34 and helped spread the word by posting to Twitter and Facebook.

Education to me means empowerment. I think poverty would be drastically decreased if more people were able to read and write. Without this foundation we’re really setting up the worlds children to struggle throughout the rest of their lives. Being able to read and write are easily the most essential skills one needs for success because they’ll open doors to anything imaginable.

Learning how to read and write shouldn’t be a luxury and it should be available to everybody around the world no matter your background. If I do happened to be picked for the free ticket I would like the money instead donated to Room to Read.

Happy Birthday!
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Tyson — July 30th, 2011, 12:02 pm

Hi Tim,
For your birthday I wanted to help you raise the money. It would also be fun to see you kick in that 20K. You have been an inspiration to many. I sent an update to the 5400 people on http://www.Facebook.com/PhotographyContest they are some of the most generous and great people I have ever met. I am sure some of them will help you reach your goal. I also sent an update out to my 1500 twitter followers who are also amazing people. My hope is that the almost 7000 people that see the message will help you reach your goal.

As a Teacher in the US Public Education System I can tell you that learning to read is the one most important thing a student can learn. It is life changing for that person. It is hard to say that as an art teacher because I want to say its painting and drawing

Education to me is acquiring the skills you need to meet your needs. Those needs are different for different people. There are needs that must be met to survive like food, water, and shelter. However education can go further and provide you with experiences that you want in your life like learning to paint, or traveling to China. Learning to read is fundamental to learning almost everything else. That is what pushed me to make my donation.

Your birthday wish will change the lives of the children you reach. Good luck on your goal. Have a great birthday.
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Lisa Rothstein — July 30th, 2011, 12:02 pm

GREAT idea and one I (and i’m sure others) will “steal” for my own blog — so you are paying it forward even beyond this effort!!! Well done.

Education, and especially reading, has allowed me to experience other realities than my own and live more than one lifetime. As a child, I used books to escape bullying summer campers and unsupportive relatives. For the kids you are helping, the ability to see beyond their current circumstance, imagine, cream and create a new reality has got to be the biggest and most lasting gift possible.

I’ll be promoting this on FB and Twitter, and emailing all my friends and LinkedIn Groups (I’m in 50 and own two)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
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Dillon Ruse — July 30th, 2011, 12:20 pm

Education is the mirror in self realization. Without it we may never know who we really are.

Thank you Tim, for all you do and happy birthday!
I will spread the word.
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Bonnie Bruderer — July 30th, 2011, 12:34 pm

Tim,

Good for you. Last year for my birthday, I went to Haiti and volunteered in three different orphanages. It is one of the most rewarding things you can do.

What I learned was, it does not take much (money, time, energy) to make a HUGE difference in these communities.

I love seeing people, like you, with a large platform, creating such great will in the world.

Happy Birthday!

To Your Vision~
Bonnie Bruderer
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Kevin Opos — July 30th, 2011, 12:42 pm

Education means security to me. The security to stand up for yourself and prove any point that you believe in. Education gives you the ammunition to stand strong with confidence and is the key to making proactive choices in our lives.

Tim, I love your birthday wish and I was sure to share it via Facebook (1700+ friends and colleagues who are quality folks!).
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Angela — July 30th, 2011, 12:49 pm

Wonderful birthday idea! I’ve shared this far and wide in hopes for several new libraries.

Coming from humble beginnings, the library meant summer days of adventure and entertainment. Later I realized it was exposure to the latest sci-fi as well as the classics. It led me to question things, explore, imagine possibilities outside of my backyard.

I hear our local libraries are also in jeopardy these days, so I’d like to acknoledge the need for local library support as well as this worthy cause.

Happy birthday Tim! Keep the exposure to new ideas and healthy bits coming!
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Carol — July 30th, 2011, 1:57 pm

Wonderful idea!

I donated “your age” and liked on FB, Tweeted, and will forward to friends.

Happy 34th B.Day! Great age to be …
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Tasha Little Verrico — July 30th, 2011, 2:02 pm

Happy Birthday Young Boy… Ahhh 34 I remember well…??? Well… Actually no, don’t remember, but I think… Yes, of course it was a good year! (Is there a yummy nut to help with my memory loss?:)

I’m proud to support your cause blabla bloged about it on my blog/website, tweeted, emailed and FB’ed it to all my peeps.

Education, as a young woman in my early forties, represents FREEDOM. It is my foundation, what I have to fall back on, as I have found myself at a crossroad, standing alone, with a future that I don’t recognize. My education allows me to look to the future positively – full of possibilities. I have hope and courage, I know I am strong and I know that I will be ok. It gives me the power to stand up and BE the woman I am and the woman I want to BE. It is my wish for all girls who will BE women to have this and as a MAhaMAdou, a.k.a. MOM of two sweet boys it is my wish that they see me climb, be proud of me, see all women as an equal, beautiful source of light in their lives, and of course to know that all woman have gas – come on! Hehehe. Seriously… For me education offers freedom and endless opportunities as we walk in life alone and together and through it’s constant wondrous change. With education there is hope and there is light.

Diggin your book, your cause, F! Diggin you Tim – Good Luck!

Xo, tasha
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Sam Walder — July 30th, 2011, 2:05 pm

Hi!

As a student at a competitive school, I am faced with the challenge of deciding whether to get an A or to learn- two different things. There is a difference between educating oneself and being a good student. By learning, one gains more confidence and reason in their actions. So, to me, education is a continuing process that lets people impact the world in their own way.

I read the post, and realized that I have had a great education. Why not use it? So, instead of just giving money to Room to Read, I am giving my my time and work to the same cause: I got five other friends together and started a new charity. We are submitting the articles of incorporation next week.

The charity is going to provide books to impoverished schools in the Guizhou province (China). The schools there receive the fewest yuan-per-pupil in all of China. We have friends from the top high school in Beijing who are helping us with it.

I’ve read the blog from afar, but never really taken an express interest. Thank you, now, for the inspiration and reason to put my education to good use.

Happy birthday!
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Jilly — July 30th, 2011, 3:27 pm

Hi Tim,

This is an updated comment based on the rules.

Great idea – education is power! The ability to be educated, on any subject of interest, is reliant on literacy.

Plus – I get to honor my mother who recently passed away. She was a book lover; it is her fault I have a basement full of books.

I posted your program on my blog for teachers. I don’t have any sort of measurement data but I hope I reach a few educators for you.

Happy Birthday!

Jilly
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Brandon Hensinger — July 30th, 2011, 3:44 pm

Education is so important to me, and not only do I desire my own kids to receive great educations, but I also have a desire to help spread education and the ability to read and learn throughout the world. I believe that with a good education and by being empowered to learn on your own through reading and gaining a love of learning, doors will be open to you for the rest of your life. I don’t just mean doors to get a job but doors that will help you to enjoy life even more as you love learning and as you grow in knowledge. By growing in knowledge you can understand the world around you more. By getting a great education, you are able to allow you were creative ability and knowledge affect the world around you. By giving children and opportunity to learn to read and have a great education. We are preparing the next generation to influence the world in ways that we cannot imagine. I think that this program through room to read is an excellent opportunity to help open children’s eyes to the world around them and to influence the next generation throughout the world.

To Promote This Great Cause I Have Done the Following

1. Using HootSuite I pushed the message out to my social networks
2. I searched related Hashtags and trending topics and posted relevant messages as well ask asked influencers through DM or @replies to also share the message
3. I used OnlyWire to push the message to 40+ social sites
4. I published the message on Google+
5. I wrote a post on my blog, which has a large following.
6. I created a short promo video and uploaded it to YouTube. It’s called What if Every Child Could Read if you want to search for it

I used 1 URL so I can track it accurately and would be happy to share it with you

My username for all social accounts is bhensinger so you can search and see what I’ve done.
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Varia — July 30th, 2011, 3:58 pm

Education is being able to imagine so much more than what is directly in front of you.

Literacy is my #1 cause as well, the first thing I plan to contribute to significantly as soon as I have any amount of disposable income (i.e. my muse comes through for me). If my mother hadn’t taught me to read by the time I was 2, my life would have been so different, and I’m sure, so much worse. I can’t even put into words how unbelievably happy I am that you are doing something so huge for something so close to my heart.

As for advertising – I have made a donation request post on my blog – http://tweestappen.wordpress.com/2011/07/30/win-win/.

It gets on average 80-100 clicks per new post & gets publicized on my Facebook account. I have also put it on Google+ which is another probably 20 clicks.

It’s not as many people as some of the above commenters will reach, but it includes my very good friends who know the importance of this cause to me, as well as my friends in publishing, for whom it is equally important. So I hope it will be effective. I will track clickthroughs to your page and to the donation page and report back.
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Steven A Deering — July 30th, 2011, 4:17 pm

I apologize for the essay, but this topic grabbed my attention like a squirrel sighted by a dog ^0_0^.

To me, education(omg watch out cliche moment) is the untimate planting of a seed. Education also creates a balance in society, it can sometimes be a healthy form of rebellion, and it is an incredible tool for humans.

Education allows a balance to exist in our world because it establishes a level playing field for discussions, arguements, and power. If there are few educated people and many uneducated people, often we have seen humans act in disturbing ways. I believe education allows those extremes to potentially be eliminitated; reminding people that they are smart enough to say “no” to those in power and to also present a reasonable arguement.

This leads to me state that education is also a form of rebellion, a good rebellion. As we saw in the Egyptian protests, Mark Zuckerberg and Al Gore opened the magic doors for Egyptians to rebel, educate themselves, and realize that they held the power to do great things. Now I do sound like I am beginning to blur the word ‘education’ with ‘networking’ but that is the point. When we network, we educate each other, and with that, ideas are shared and innovated exponentially; All of which eventually lead to a more enjoyable and healthy state of living.

Best of all, education is a powerful tool. It allows us to stand on the shoulders of our ancestors and carry on where they left off. What we know today, would have made us geniuses 100 years ago. Unfortunately, right now we are considered geniuses to the third world; when in fact we are only blessed with being born in the right place, at the right time. So let us go out and educate those who are not at our level yet!

I applaud you Tim Ferriss and I would be honored to volunteer with, or volunteer at the school you are funding the construction of.

(Fundraiser Promotion Section)
I’ve started so far with my closest friends on Facebook. Rather than email blasting all I know, I’m going to try to personally sell the donations and see if I can multi-level market this within 24 hours. I’m a poor 22 yr old college student who only knows other poor college students, but I’ll give it my all!

Final Note:
If anyone disagrees with my essay, please share, I enjoy dialogue and don’t mean to sound like I think I know it all, just pure thoughts.
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Ed Carmichael — July 30th, 2011, 4:24 pm

Education is the seed of blessing. It bears the fruit of wisdom, connection to humanity and history, and profound joy through spreading ideas and empowering people to fulfill their hearts.

I’m gunna tweet the hell out of this. Who knows just how much we can do. I’m gonna badger my family too

Ed
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Alex — July 30th, 2011, 4:28 pm

This one was too easy for you, Tim. $ 15,000 in one two days ?

I bet you can rise $ 100,000 in a month.
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Lauren Kelly — July 30th, 2011, 5:11 pm

This is a great cause. I am creating a Facebook group to spread the word and invite my friends and family to donate.

Education means opportunity for growth. However, learning should be viewed as a process rather than an achievement. Getting an education has helped me in many ways but I still have much to learn.

If anyone can give jobseeking advice to a recent University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate with a Communications (Radio, TV, Film) degree, I would greatly appreciate it! I am working two jobs to save up money so that one day I can go to California.
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Kevin Kooistra — July 30th, 2011, 5:27 pm

Hey Tim,

Awesome idea which not only inspired me, but also my friends who have never even heard of you to give a donation.

Hope you reach the 20,000 mark

Happy Birthday!
-K

P.S. Your question can easily be answered in one word, “Everything”
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- helena afrin — August 1st, 2011, 1:23 am
  
  This is awesome idea Tim! Education is power! Education means opportunity for everyone. This idea really inspired me. This is a great cause. Well done!
  Reply
John Bracco — July 30th, 2011, 7:33 pm

Great idea Tim! Reading to me means freedom. Feedom to do whatever you want to do in life. If you can read, learn and figure things out for yourself then you don’t need to depend on anyone else. I hated reading as a kid and now I love it and have learned so much. Reading gives you the power and confidence to take on new challenges. I struggle getting my 9 year old son to read on his own but know it is the most important skill that he or any child can learn. Reading provides endless opportunities in life. I could go on and on but those are my main points. Keep up the great work. Making a donation as soon as I finish this note. I don’t have many avenues for spreading the word online but will do what I can. At the very least I can post on a family/friend blog, tweet and send out an email to friends and family. Great idea as usual. I have read and continue to benefit from reading 4HB…thanks for that. Lost about 20 pounds and feel great!
Best of luck with the schools.
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- Karen — August 21st, 2011, 4:05 pm
  
  Finding fun things for kids to read is creating an opportunity.
  Comics, great stories and articles with pictures of interest in the bathroom got my daughter reading again. Good luck.
  Reply
yaron — July 30th, 2011, 7:41 pm

Education – the means by which skills and knowledge are imparted to those willing to learn them, so that they might have tools to build for themselves a brighter future and accomplish a more fulfilling life

Education is a not a privilege to be bought by those who receive it’s fruits. Helping to grant an education to those who can reap the fruits that grow from possessing an education, this is a right which is also a privilege.

————————————————-
Total Contribution Amount: $34.00
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Gar — July 30th, 2011, 7:49 pm

Such altruism.

Spread it on facebook.
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Amit Keshan — July 30th, 2011, 7:59 pm

- If you all help raise $20,000, I will personally foot the bill for another $20,000 library.

Strange and unexpected. Social cause with conditions. If you guys do and achieve then Tim will do else not.

Tim you were not like this. You are known as an INDEPENDENT initiator and now I see conditions in your own doings.
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Chuck Rylant — July 30th, 2011, 8:55 pm

I love this quote,” I believe literacy, and the self-determinism it allows, is fundamental to solving the problems of this world.”

Every time I buy a book, and it must be in the thousands by now, I’m in awe that much of the knowledge of the world’s most brilliant minds are available for around $20. And even better in libraries for those not yet ready to buy them.

Great project that you can be proud of and will certainly will be fulfilling.
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Frank James — July 30th, 2011, 9:14 pm

Tim,

Awesome request, Happy B-Day my man!

Will be donating to “Room to Read”

Your books “Rock”, thanks for being the guinea pig…LOL

a fan from the OC
Frank J
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sarene — July 30th, 2011, 9:40 pm

Education is the freedom to soar, even if it’s only within your own mind.

I donated and shared on facebook. Happy Birthday and thanks for giving these kids a chance.
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Marcus R — July 30th, 2011, 11:22 pm

Hey Tim! Wonderful idea – and one that really resonates – I’m a librarian!

And in a truly 4HWW way I went to Malaysia on a 3 month expedition with Raleigh International in 2004 and actually BUILT a library serving an area of 100 square miles in Borneo as part of my work.

I’d love to share the adventure with anybody else interested in doing charity work abroad.

YOU CAN DO IT!

Off to donate… xox
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Josh — July 30th, 2011, 11:42 pm

Tim: tried to use your donation page and it crashes Firefox 3.6.19 on Mac OS X Lion. In Safari it pops up a scary window asking for permission for something called “Spice Rack” to send commands to my system. WTF?!?
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Ryan Renze — July 31st, 2011, 12:15 am

What does education mean to me?

Education = Opportunity… There are very few things in this world that we can not learn or accomplish that can’t be found in a book. I’m sure most people would agree that life teaches us through our failures and successes, but books and education form the blueprints for us to follow.

Happy Birthday Tim!!!

I recently had a birthday on 7/27 and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to get since my wife kind of gave me the green light to get whatever I felt I wanted. I was stumped until I saw your post on Facebook and decided I would like my name on one of those libraries for my birthday. Hopefully, my donation to your cause will be sufficient for that to be achieved. If not, the satisfaction of knowing that I most likely helped shape a better future for several family trees is more than enough to show my gratitude to the universe for all that I have been given, or am able to receive.

Regarding promoting your idea, I’ve told several people about it, both through email and through word of mouth. I not only told them that I gave a gift instead of received one for my birthday, but I encouraged them to give or at least send the request on to someone they feel would share their generosity.

Also, thanks for sharing your ideas on paper with the rest of the world. I can only speak for myself, but your books have helped me create several new paradigms to live by.

Sincerely,

Ryan

“You can have everything you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want” Zig Ziglar
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Dan — July 31st, 2011, 4:29 am

Education = Freedom.

Awesome idea Tim! Well done
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David Turnbull — July 31st, 2011, 4:54 am

(This is a re-entry to clarify other things I’ve done.)

What does education mean to you?

Education, to me, is the opportunity for life to change for the better. It’s the one thing that can be consumed, but then reused forever. Once something is taught its with the student for the rest of their life. It’s a long tail benefit with an enormous impact for both current and future generations.

And here’s what I’ve done:

1. I have a YouTube channel with over 33,000 subscribers. In the two recent videos I’ve dedicated a significant amount of time talking about this charity drive. You can find the videos below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6OlN2vy3MI (Skip to 3:00 for the relevant bit)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF4vg3tAhhk (Skip to 2:58 for the relevant bit)

2. I also have a blog that receives upward of 20,000 visitors per day. I have done two blog posts where I mention this charity drive. At the moment, both of these are on the home page and probably will be for the next 24 hours.

You can find these blog posts here:

http://nintendo3dsblog.com/video-nintendo-loses-money-and-an-entirely-unrelated-call-to-action
http://nintendo3dsblog.com/video-street-fighter-atv-wild-ride-spyro

3. I have a Twitter account with just under 5000 followers. I’ve sent out two tweets asking for retweets. You can find them here:

http://twitter.com/#!/Nintendo3DSBlog/status/97159620669341697
http://twitter.com/#!/Nintendo3DSBlog/status/97618243363155968

I have also tracked the clicks from all of these sources, along with the retweets. You can find the details here: http://bit.ly/davidturnbull+ (make sure you include the + symbol at the end of the url).

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David — July 31st, 2011, 5:13 am

@Josh I Don’t have a mac but it looks like your error is to do with an app called ‘Videobox’:

“There’s a scripting addition called SpiceShaker that comes from my installing Videobox” – Just google ‘Spice Rack Apple’

Hope this helps.
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Sam — July 31st, 2011, 6:40 am

Education to me means the power to question, to be skeptical.

Tweeted and shared. Good luck, Tim, you’re almost to $19,000!

I’m really glad you do stuff like this. Makin’ a difference.
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- Sam — July 31st, 2011, 6:43 am
  
  Ah, yes, I donated $34.00 as well
  Reply
Peter — July 31st, 2011, 7:29 am

Education to me means empowering people with the awareness that just because they are not “clever” in the traditional sense of achieving academic grades that they too are clever in other ways such as creativity or application and that if the system had a way of catering more for this then there would be more children finishing school with the belief that they too could make a difference or achieve their aims.

I Facebooked the charity page link.
Appreciate the good work done here Tim.
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Rodrigo Langeani — July 31st, 2011, 7:43 am

I`ve just donated for room to read cause i think is a great idea.
The ability to read and the oportunity to have access to books is what gave me a chance to design my lifestyle, but here in Brazil not everyone get the same chance (especially in the NE region of the conutry), there are thousands of kids that don`t have access to schools and still can`t read. Some of them don`t have enough to eat, and even then they are soo creative that you won`t belive. In the future you could make a thing like this to benefit kids in Brazil, couldn`t you?

“When nothing is sure, everything is possible.”- Margareth Drabble”.

Just for the record: I`ve followed the 4HWW advices from your book and this month I`ve just started to live my lifestyle dream. Now I`m working half of the time I used to work and by the end of september I`ll be working just 5h/week. Althought I had to read the book 3 times to be abble to apply your ideas in my personal trainer business.
Cheers from Brazil!
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betti — July 31st, 2011, 7:47 am

„When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.“ Buddha

Education originally means leading and coaching people to bring out all their potential.
It enables us to face new situations in life and raise our confidence, so we may improve our lives and those of others.
Contributing to education thus means making the world a less threatening and a more joyous place. What a precious birthday gift! Have a wonderful day!
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Joe — July 31st, 2011, 8:32 am

Tim, ready to donate through paypal but you only have credit card donations, anyway to open it up to paypal donors?
Books and education means life for me.
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pikesan — July 31st, 2011, 9:18 am

Posted on FB and will send to my email crew. Education’s meant everything to me and my family. My pops always said, “Work with your mind, not your hands” and that was enough inspiration for my brother and I. Could have never made it with out some great teachers and a place to learn.
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April Potts — July 31st, 2011, 9:32 am

Hey – Great challenge with a great outcome. I just read about your challenge this morning so I haven’t had the opportunity (yet) to go out and spread the good news. I will however commit to the following:
– share the info on my FB page (I know – not a big stretch there…but helps nonetheless)
– get my daughter involved. My daughter is an 11 year old budding entrepreneur (as I imagine you were at that age) and has found rather creative ways to raise money — from your run of the mill lemonade stand to selling jewelry, admission to her own written and directed play in our garage, to her own garage sales. I am going to talk to her about how she could get involved in helping other kids across the world.
– PTSO (same as PTA). As a working mother of four who also commits to helping out at two schools – I am going to see about getting our PTSO to team with our school to raise awareness. We have our next meeting in early August and I will discuss how we can have a program that teams up our school with this project.
It is necessary that our privileged children see what life is like for millions of children across the world and learn that giving is better than receiving. Let’s see what we can do to change life for not only schools in Asia and Africa but in the minds and hearts of school children here in the US.

What education means to me? Education brings freedom – freedom from poverty, freedom from oppression, freedom to think big and act big. Education allows people to see outside of their own box, cell, or captivity. Education opens the mind and a world of possibilities that allows people to step outside of their limited life – often defined by others.

Thank you for raising awareness and thank you for your contribution to the world. I just started listening/reading 4 Hour Workweek and am setting in action a new life for me and my family!
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P G F — July 31st, 2011, 9:42 am

EDUCATION IS OUR TOOL TO WORK ON OUR DREAMS
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Chris — July 31st, 2011, 9:49 am

If you can read, you have access to the knowledge of this worlds in your hand. You are also able to leave your knowledge as well for others to gain from it. Everybody should have the chance to acquire this important skill.

Hi Tim,
happy birthday to you and thank you so much for the using your publicity to giving back to those in need.
1000 to go… I am sure this won´t hinder you chipping in

Take care,
Chris
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Ki'une — July 31st, 2011, 9:57 am

Tim,

I shared your donation drive by recording a special Shibuya edition dance instruction video, with Japan relief co-cause (since your drive ends shortly)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrJ7bZClmi8

Your education question actually triggered me to finish a half-finished article I had in storage based on my recent experiences in Myanmar a few weeks back. With most people living on less than $1/day, and primary school education starting at $100/year, most children don’t finish primary school. Basic education is something we take for granted, but is a privilege that opens up so many opportunites for us.

Here’s the full article just released on risingbean.com: http://bit.ly/oSTROM

Metrics: Youtube subscribers (7809), Facebook fan page (641), Twitter (434), Feedburner (~2000)

Also shared on pickupdance.com: http://bit.ly/pdQw7t

Thanks for doing something great!

Ki’une
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Melissa Rachel Black — July 31st, 2011, 10:16 am

I replied to “What is education” in my previous comment, and just decided that even though there’s not much time left and I have a smaller audience than many of the other contributers, I would tell the silly little fearful part of myself who said my idea was stupid and that it wouldn’t make a difference to kindly SHUT UP.

1. Created a new card in my muse shop dedicated to Room to Read & this fundraiser. http://etsy.me/q7zS1o

2. Uploaded photos of it on flickr with a description & link to the donation page (57,790 views on my account)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melissarachelblack/5993502241/in/photostream

3. Initiated a store-wide sale and will donate 50% of all income to Room to Read before 11:59 PST
http://www.etsy.com/shop/melissarachelblack

4. Shared a link to your donation page on my muse’s fanpage (92 fans)
http://www.facebook.com/YeOldeGangster

5. Shared a link to your donation page on my facebook (874 friends)
http://www.facebook.com/meltr0n

6. Tweeted a link to your donation page on twitter (96 followers)
http://twitter.com/milkandcooties

7. Shared a link to your donation page on google+ (In 20 circles)
https://plus.google.com/106136978045494527771/posts

8. Shared a link to this blog post in our 4-Hour-Workweek Berlin meetup group (61 people)
http://www.facebook.com/groups/146524318752855/?ap=1

9. Sent a link to your donation page in my muse business’ newsletter (88 people)

For measurability:
Donation page: https://bitly.com/oQYQoM+
This blog post: https://bitly.com/nZpofR+

Viel Erfolg!
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Nicholas Alan Brown — July 31st, 2011, 11:01 am

Hey Tim:

First of all, happy birthday, and thanks for being an inspiring figure in my life. I’m about to be rather critical of this birthday post and I don’t for a second want you to think that this personal, as I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and absorbed a lot of the material put out and I keep a close eye on this blog for further inspiration.

That having been said, I think I’ve earned the right to say this with the experience and education I’ve gathered and I’m going to say it.

I think this post and it’s impassioned plea for literacy is hackneyed, lacks nearly all of the analytical fervour I’ve come to respect and expect from you, and evinces a superficial understanding of the problem. Frankly, I think it’s wrong for you to introduce this organisation as inherently contributing to the cause of literacy in a constructive way without any discussion if it’s methods, it’s metrics for success, it’s relations with local governments, or it’s day-to-day operations. I think it’s unethical for you to solicit donations for an organisation you’ve provided no evidence to suggest is having any impact while tugging on the heartstrings of the well-intenioned. This should be interpreted as no slight to Room to Read, as I can not personally vouch for them either way, but from experience as a US Peace Corps Volunteer, a former consultant in US Agency for International Developent programs, and current graduate student of international development, I can say with experience that the developing world is littered with foreign NGOs that are doing more harm than good.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, even countries that double expenditure on line items like education or health are rarely given credit for tr commitment. Most government ministers in these countries spend the vast majority of their workdays in meetings with foreign NGOs and development agencies who will at these meetings laud the government’s commitment to development problems and immediately after chide them for corruption or ineffectiveness behind closed doors, or worse, in the Western media. It’s obnboxious and insulting to broadly connect your readers’ goodwill with donating to an amorphous organisation and cause you shown know peronsal understanding of, commitment to, or cultural sensitiivity towards.

The world’s development challenges are real, but they require active involvement, cooperation, and evaluation to solve. These kids deserve a much more meaningful awareness on your part than you have afforded them. You note the “good karma” awaiting your readers who donate, but as Buddhism is about awareness and focus, it’s ironic to promise good karma with no effort on your part to cultivate this level of awareness of this issue in yourself or others.

I know you to be a passionate angel investor and business mind, but what organisation would you give money to who gave you the evidence you cited above for Room to Read? Given your success with your endeavours, I would venture none. I’ve read your books closely, and I know you have traveled extensively, but while there are many a reference to discount massages, cheap chartered flights, and designer medical care you’ve enjoyed in the developing world, I don’t get the sense you’ve had much personal experience with it’s day to day problems. This comment is not meant to be a rebuke of your desire to get involved in these problems, but rather a call to arms to give it the same energy and analysis your readers (myself included) have come to expect. There has been more than one time one of your ideas or methods has made me pine for your level of commitment to results and efficiency in development, but I see none of those qualities here.

This isn’t 1988, and you’re not Sally Struthers, so quite with the bleeding heart routine. If you truly want to get involved in this space, then give it the attention to detail and method you’ve given to languages, body building, investing, publishing, etc.

What you’re doing here is a delicate thing. When you claim to be solving others’s problems in enlisting support, you owe them at least the level of attention you would five your own, and the honour and dignity to maintain that attention.

We need you, Tim, bur nothing short of your full measure of devotion.
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- Tim Ferriss — August 6th, 2011, 1:27 pm
  
  Hi Nicholas,
  
  Thank you for the thoughtful comment about a topic you are clearly passionate about.
  
  I agree that I need to apply the same analytical framework to any non-profit, cause-driven work I do, particularly when I’m asking others to be involved.
  
  That’s why I’ve read the financials of Room to Read, built schools with them in the past, visited schools in other countries, met with government officials in those places (and yes, I agree that I should temper my “government” quote and will remove), gotten to know the executive team and CEO, visited their offices in SF, and much more.
  
  I respect your strong stance and will always to do my best to earn the trust of readers who are so kind as to spend time with me.
  
  That said, I don’t think the insulting tone — example below by name — is necessary to get your point across. Still, I understand your sentiment.
  
  All the best,
  
  Tim
  From your comment:
  “This isn’t 1988, and you’re not Sally Struthers, so quite with the bleeding heart routine.” This type of backhanded comment is a good way to get people like me to just opt out of helping to avoid the headache. That, I think you’d agree, wouldn’t help fix any problems. Even if I were misguided, and you never know, I don’t think I’m doing more harm than good.
  Reply
  - Ryan Renze — August 6th, 2011, 3:49 pm
    
    Tim,
    
    I’m sure it goes without saying that we all have critics, especially you with your books and all. I believe most people would agree that your noble efforts to help make things better in our world, far out-way anyone’s criticism for how you’re accomplishing it. I have found in life that it is much easier for the armchair critics to stand on the sidelines and complain about another persons methods for reaching a goal, verses stepping outside the herd and plowing their own path. Failure is scary, especially when it happens around the complainers. I’m guessing that’s why so many people are just watchers and not doers.
    
    I am not intending this reply to start a debate with anyone, I just wanted to give you props one more time. If everyone did even 100th of what you have already done so far at 34, we would live in a very different world.
    
    I am excited to hear about your next endeavor and I am glad that you take the time to find good uses for the donations. It’s almost hard to imagine how donating a small sum of money, combined, creates such a wonderful opportunity for a wealth of knowledge. Without your idea to build and stock libraries for your birthday gift, those kids would not get to share in something that most Americans take for granted. Heck, they may not have even learned how to read without the help of You and everyone who donated. Thanks!!!
    
    I hope that the folks who follow your blogs spread the word and continue to help you help the less fortunate create a better world.
    
    Happy birthday again!
    
    Ryan
    Reply
Tim Smith — July 31st, 2011, 11:14 am

Education = Freedom. People my age that grew up in America remember the Reading is Fundamental commercials and campaigns. Corny but very true. Reading is the key to education. Education is the key to knowledge. And Knowledge is the key to Freedom. Personal Freedom comes from knowing who you are and want you want to be, from not accepting the limits imposed on you buy others.

And you gain that freedom because through reading and education you gain knowledge of all that’s possible. You learn there are no limits to what you can achieve, no restrictions to who you can be.

I truly believe all freedom boils down to having the ability to explore and learn about other peoples, cultures, lifestyles, and possibilities.

Education = Freedom

Thanks for the post Tim. Donation given, this page linked to my personal and company FB page, retweeted through both also. That 20k should be a cinch.
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Kelly — July 31st, 2011, 11:37 am

Education = opportunity to turn your dreams into a reality

You’re almost at $20,000, Tim! Yay!
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Melissa Rachel Black — July 31st, 2011, 12:08 pm

Forgot to mention–if I win the round-the-world ticket, I’m going to Australia, Fiji, & New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam, and more with one of my best friends, and we’re going to continue the Room to Read mission… we will make a book!

She (from Britain) and I (from USA) will co-create a book called EATSRALIAN! with the help of local chefs & creatives to celebrate & examine the different food cultures of the big 3 English-speaking countries. We will organize food parties with local eateries and include their recipes, and invite designers, photographers, and illustrators we meet along the way to contribute imagery.

Food, art, friends, reading, and travel… an epic adventure. Nothing finer in my book.

And even if I don’t win, I’m glad to have participated in any small way. Thanks & happy birthday.
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pdxHollym — July 31st, 2011, 12:08 pm

Education means freedom and the opportunity to be the change you want to see in yourself and the world.

Happy 34th Birthday, Tim Ferris! I wish you the best of luck in getting all your birthday wishes, especially the goal of raising $20,000 from your friends and fans to build a library or two or MORE for children through Room to Read! I donated in honor of your birthday and I will tweet, Facebook, and Google+ to encourage others to do so as well!

Thanks for all you do to help us all be superhuman .
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Lisa M. — July 31st, 2011, 12:09 pm

Happy Birthday Tim! Leos Rock! =) My own birthday is coming up in a couple of days, and you and I share the same birthday wish list (except for the girlfriend thing, haha)!

For my family, education has been the pathway to a better life. My parents came from very humble beginnings. They both came from large families (my father was one of seven, my mother one of sixteen) in the Philippines — there was no money for school. Through hard work and determination, they were able to earn a college degree. My beloved dad (who passed away last year) left home at a young age to pursue his education. My siblings and our children have benefited from their many sacrifices. Education is the reason our family is blessed with what we have today.

I’ve posted on my book club message boards (http://www.meetup.com/literary-lounge/messages/boards/thread/14319931, http://www.meetup.com/The-Traveling-Women-Books-and-Tea-Club/messages/boards/thread/14320011, and two more groups that are not-public), and plan to promote through email and facebook.

Congratulations on meeting your goal! In the time it took me to write up the posts and this comment — you’ve reached your $20k. Woohoo!
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Simone Lackerbauer — July 31st, 2011, 12:14 pm

Contest? Yes, please!

What does education mean for me?

Well, first of all, I want to be a university instructor for media/communication theory and research, I am currently working on that, but still a few years away from reaching my goal, even if I get accepted for the program I want to get into for my Ph.D.

The main thing about education is for me to inspire others… and to get inspired by them. No matter whether you teach at kindergarten, high school or university. It’s not just about transmitting knowledge and passing exams. It’s more about the intellectual (or practical!) exchange of creativity, thoughts, knowledge and tools you can use to extend your intellectual horizon. No matter how much you think you know about a certain topic, there is always a book you haven’t read yet or an opinion of which you weren’t aware so far that will partly or completely change your knowledge.

Education and learning are life-long processes. Formal education is a very important part of it, but what’s more important is that people are willing to learn themselves: by themselves, by reading, by “learning-by-doing” and “do-it-yourself”, by talking to others, by having access to intellectual and pracital tools they can use to learn.

One of the topics of my Master’s thesis is how cyberculture redefines autodidacticism and self-learning, how it gives us new possibilities to learn more and to learn whatever we want. To find the books we might want to read in order to learn certain things, or to find forums and websites where we can exchange our thoughts with others.

Inspiring others and getting inspired. Supporting formal and self-motivated learning. Offering tools for learning. That’s what education means for me.

Donation – check.
Facebook promotion – check.
Google+ promotion – check.
Twitter promotion – check.
Sending the link to all book-lovers and education supporters among my friends – check.
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Mukul Verma — July 31st, 2011, 12:17 pm

THANK YOU ALL!!!!

$20,000 is now past (I mean $40,000 to build 2 library)

Cheers,
Mukul

PS – Keep donating, this is no reason to still not help a great cause
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Annie — July 31st, 2011, 12:44 pm

Inspiring others to dream through education is the best gift we can give others. Thank you for supporting and promoting such a great organization! I’ve made my donation and posted the link through Facebook and Twitter, hopefully together we can make a great impact.
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Marty Cornish — July 31st, 2011, 1:46 pm

Tim,

Education to me is the only thing nobody can ever take away from you. I wasn’t a particularly good student in high school, but one of my former baseball coaches told me a story, and I’ve realized the importance of education, learning other languages, etc. ever since. I’ll share it with the group now, and then I have 1 more that showed me the other side of the coin.

My coach told me about a Palestinian engineer (nameless for obvious reasons) who came to the United States to go to college in Illinois. He learned English while here in the US, but after marrying and having his first child moved to Kuwait in the Mid 1980s. He lived there happily and amassed solid wealth. However, in 1990, he and his family were on vacation in San Diego, where their first son was born, when Iraq invaded Kuwait and destroyed their home and all of their possessions. His bank account- swept clean. Left with nothing but the luggage they brought with them, AND importantly their EDUCATIONS, they were forced to stay in the United States and make their living. They did, and now that I see that most of this story is on Wikipedia, the man is the father of Gibran Hamdan, the first of Pakisani descent to play in the NFL. His brother Bush, who I played baseball against growing up, played football at Boise State and helped design and call the famous play they used to beat Oklahoma whenever that was. I had the opportunity to do some work while in college for their father, and although very humble, he thanks education for saving his life.

I hate to try to tell another story following that one, but 1 other is especially relevant. In college, our Spanish department, and professor, encouraged (required) us to participate in a program called “Project Bridge,” where we were paired with a Hispanic worker at the college who wanted to improve his or her English skills. I was fortunate enough to be paired with a man named Luis from Peru. The first time I met him, we started talking, and he started explaining Peru, drawing pictures because his English was very weak. He then told me a story, and I had no idea what and how to believe it because I had just met him and it sounded straight out of a movie.

He told me (half in English and half Spanish) about how while in Peru he was an internal auditor (I didn’t know what that was) for a beer company (I knew what beer was), and so he would go around to the different factories and check their books, typically driving by car. Peru is basically split into 3 parts: beach, mountains, and then jungle, from east to west.

One particular time, Luis had just came through las montanas and was getting ready to enter the jungle, when he noticed a line of cars stopped up ahead. Suddenly, a group of men with machine guns surrounded his car and he had a gun in his face. Next thing he knew, Luis was scrambling to show his papers and was led into the Jungle by El Sendero Luminoso (Look them up). Luis was held by these guys for 3 days. They demanded the names of all of the factory owners or $1 million, otherwise he would be killed. Finally, he convinced “The Luminous Path” to let him go (or they still thought they could extort him). So he went back to his home, family, and job, where he told his boss he refused to travel anywhere.

Later, after working for a few weeks, they kidnapped his wife and told her to let him know that if he did not produce the $1 million or the list of names that they would kill his wife and children. The next day, Luis quit his job, grabbed his family and a few belongings, and moved to Baltimore, MD, eventually landing in Orlando, FL and Rollins College, where I met him.

Though he has an exciting story of survival, and is thankful to be safe in the United States, Luis works in facility management because his English is weak and he has trouble communicating here. He had a CPA in Peru, and is a brilliant man, but because he lacks English language education he is not able to use his skills and mind the way he should.

Those 2 stories represent education for me. Tim, keep up the good work with everything. This is my first post but I love what you do.

I’m 24 and quit my first job last month after working for 2 years. I own a company teaching kids 8-18 baseball lessons called Round Trip Baseball, and quit to pursue it full time. You can learn about that here:http://rockville.patch.com/art?icles/career-path-leads-to-bas?e-paths-for-wootton-alumnus

So, for your birthday I posted to the Round Trip Baseball facebook page, my own page, and twitter feed.

I also am going to give $34 for every lesson booked between July 31 and August 14th to my own Room to Read page located here: http://roomtoread.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=319894&supid=332962973

I also donated to my page as well as yours, which looks like it has now made it over the incredible $20,000 mark. Congratulations, very impressive. I hope this was interesting to anyone reading it, I don’t make a habit of spending my Sundays writing blog posts, but really enjoyed doing so this weekend.

Happy birthday weekend,

Marty
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Jackie Messinger — July 31st, 2011, 1:58 pm

Education is the crossroads where the sum of one’s experiences meets the boundless resources utilized to shape what lies ahead.

*i’d like to believe that my retweet and facebook posting may have helped reach the +20,000$ mark. I can’t believe that by the time I got to an actual computer vs. my phone, my donation brought the total to $21,500. Happy Birthday and then some.
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mike donelly — July 31st, 2011, 2:00 pm

>>- If you all help raise $20,000, I will personally foot the bill for another $20,000 library.

>>Strange and unexpected. Social cause with conditions. If you guys do and achieve then Tim will do else not.

Yes I read some study somewhere that said this is a mistake. People are much more willing to give if the promoter of the initiative (usually a corporation) has already put his money where his mouth is.
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W. Lou — July 31st, 2011, 2:02 pm

Tim – RU still interested in improving/changing public schools? We could have a provocative talk – have done lots of thinking on this.W. Lou, Ph.D. – scholarly pursuits curriculum & instruction, neuro-education, human development. Will B in SF Aug. Interested? email please.
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Charlie — July 31st, 2011, 3:17 pm

“What does education mean to you?”

Education is the prising open of the lid of your ideas.
Every action starts with the idea: “I can”
With every conceptual limitation broken, with every new perspective experienced, with every new possibility understood, we move from “I can’t” to “I can” and that is the soul of education.

I’ve linked this page on my facebook and made a donation. I love education and anything that makes us free.
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Latif Nanji — July 31st, 2011, 3:24 pm

Education is the never-ending pursuit of understanding one’s self and the capacity to contribute to the world in a positive way. It’s not simply a means to an end with a monetary goal in mind. It’s the possibility to transform ourselves and others. It’s the realization that education is the best tool we have for adapting our minds, relationships and environment into an unpredictable future. It’s the spark that ignites the creativity inside of us, without the fear of hesitation. I was fortunate enough to discover what education meant at an early age and this is my story.

During the summer after grade 11, I was eager to earn some extra cash but my parents encouraged me to teach English, math and science to refugees from Afghanistan in our community in Calgary. Many of these refugees had just arrived from areas stricken with war, death and poverty. They shared deeply emotional stories about how they lost their parents, brothers, sisters and friends. Now, with a new life in Canada, they had a grand sense of hope and wonder for the future. Over the next two months I taught some of the most hardworking and persistent students. They knew that the one thing that could shape their futures in the most meaningful and positive way was education. I recall during one tutoring session I was sitting with a student named Kaleel who was older than me at the time. We had spent weeks learning grade seven mathematics. We endured many struggles due a language barrier and sharing ideas was often difficult. However, as the sessions progressed he was making significant breakthroughs. During his last few lessons he had finally conquered the course and with a confident smile said “If I can do this, I can do anything.” He was ambitious to start transforming his life in a positive way. That’s the power of education.

Everyone in the pictures on my blog has donated to the cause. Also, I’ve asked everyone who donates to post in the comment section of my blog. I’ve used Twitter, Facebook and a social networking site called Pokerspace.com (I am a part owner) for my social media campaign.

The story, photos and social media information are posted on my blog at Jellymind. http://www.jellymind.com.

Thanks for the opportunity Tim and Happy Birthday!

Latif Nanji
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Wes Butler — July 31st, 2011, 3:33 pm

Tim,
Didn’t have time to spread the word in my circles but made a nice donation to help. Hope it all goes well…

I plan to do something similar for my birthday in a few months…be sure to pass the word when I do.

Many happy returns..

Ciao,

Wes
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Andy Strote — July 31st, 2011, 3:43 pm

Congrats Tim and happy birthday. Donation made! What does education mean to me? Simple. Freedom of choice. With an education you have so many more choices. Without it, it’s really limited. Anyway, this is out to my FB friends and going out on Twitter. BTW you may want to consider building libraries in Toronto. We have a mayor who is proud of his ignorance thinking of closing libraries as a budget cutting measure.
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Simon Maxwell — July 31st, 2011, 5:43 pm

Hey Tim,

Just reading your book and I have to say that it has really helped me refocus and get really excited about my future again ….

Regarding reading …. I couldn’t agree with you more …. I support a group in Nicaragua and every year am able to put hundreds of children to school for the year because it only costs about $5 CDN to put a child in Nicaragua in school for the year.

The group is called w w w dot school box dot c a … they do great stuff.

I look forward to following you …

Awesome stuff ….

Cheers.
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Jenn Perell — July 31st, 2011, 5:50 pm

Since literacy begins with the ABC’s…
Education means:
Altitude
Brain growing Books
Creativity sparkler
Dynamism
Escape
Freedom
Growth
Happiness
Inspiration
Joy in Journaling
Keeping abreast of what’s up in the world
Love Letters
Mental Massage
New things
Opportunity
Page turning
Quelling the thirst for knowledge
Reading
Self-respect
Titillating
Understanding
Verbose Vacation
Words
Xenogamy of your thoughts with others
Younker’s learning
Zazzy vocabulary
………………………
That was fun! I FB posted, tweeted, and emailed. I just started your book and this is my first day on your blog. It was just my b-day too – your present is cooler than mine! This is great. All my best, jP
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Barbara — July 31st, 2011, 6:30 pm

…just went kayaking with your Mom on gorgeous Accabonac Creek. I mentioned that my 21 year old daughter was working with CIEE at Khan Kaen University in Northern Thailand. She told me about your birthday project to promote literacy in rural Asia. I went home immediately to your website and ‘skyped’ Larissa in Thailand. Your mom is so proud of you and I feel so lucky to have met your parents today. I can’t wait to read your books, now that I saw the youtube trailers and read the interview transcripts and website blogs. BTW Happy Birthday!! What a wonderful tribute…
Sincerely,
Barbara Gaias
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Elyssa Tommer — July 31st, 2011, 6:35 pm

What is education to me?

Knowledge is power… and you gain knowledge through education. With education and knowledge walls crumble, worlds collated, love flourishes and shit gets done. We are all one in the same and should all equally have access to education. Nuff said…

I love what you are up to in the world.

I’ve posted on Facebook, hit the “like” button, tweeted it, sent an email to my co-workers, friends and clients, and posted it on my blog and my blog page on Facebook.

Keep it up… much love.
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Paula Bolte — July 31st, 2011, 6:50 pm

Hy appy Birthday Tim!

What does education mean to me?
As I celebrate my 46th year on this earth, I think about the different attitudes I’ve had towards education. There’s always a time in your life where you ‘hate school’ and ‘don’t see the point’. Education used to be ‘school’. Now, education means to me, helping my 17 year old decide what’s important in life, helping him decide how he wants to spend his days after high school. Education is working in my little toy store and helping families find the best toys for their kids. Toys that foster their imagination and teach them wonderful skills. Education is taking everyday opportunities to learn something new. Education is listening. Education is continuing to read, learn & grow every day.

I posted your campaign on all 3 of my facebook pages. I offered my customers a gift certificate worth 10% of any donation they make. If I won the ticket, I would give it to my son, so he could continue his education.

Thank you,
Paula B.
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Fredrik — July 31st, 2011, 6:51 pm

Hi Tim:

Five minutes into the audio…4 hour week, and I was hooked.

Have been listening to several audio books…I am a very late bloomer when it comes to action. Jim Rohn, Napoleon Hill, and others have attempted to steer me into the right path. All are good and all have great suggestions and advice. The only problem is that I was not turned on to any sort of self-improvement until I was well into being 40, laid off, and not knowing what tomorrow may bring.

I have gotten stronger and better than I was before.

This is not a success story. This is a work in progress. By “this”, I mean “me”.

Just wanted to say “thanks”.

Cheers,
Fred
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Tracy — July 31st, 2011, 6:55 pm

Tim,
Thanks for inspiring me- great cause- donated for your birthday and set up a recurring one in memory of my Mom, who was an amazing teacher.

Happy Birthday and thanks for using your influence in a way I respect.

TC
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Bjorn Karlman — July 31st, 2011, 7:39 pm

Grattis på födelsedagen, Tim! (happy bday in my native Swedish).

As the Third Culture Kid of overseas nonprofit worker parents that invested over a decade of their lives to working on public health, education and medical projects in Africa and Asia, you definitely caught my attention with the Room to Read library building project.

I want to make a positive, international, sustainable and SMART impact for education in developing countries using today’s tools so your ephilanthropy ideas are like music to my ears. I officially work in health care philanthropy and I can say that you are miles ahead of most of the sector’s stateside fundraising professionals.

Here’s my stab at supporting your project (I share numbers/measurement backup sheepishly as I am only starting out in my quest to do good online and you and several of your readers are clearly already demigods in the arena):

1) I made an online donation

2) I tweeted from different angles about the project to my (wait for it:)) 345 followers

3) I posted to both my personal page (with a very international and well-traveled 1135 friends) and my blog fan page on Facebook 317 fans)

4) I wrote a blog post focusing on the importance of doing what REALLY matters and including multiple links for people to give to your project. (I am working hard on expanding the blog and currently it has a worldwide Alexa world wide ranking of #678,322 and stateside #54,940. It ranks as “relatively popular” (#140) in the Chico-Redding, CA area where I live and in San Francisco (#20,403). Alexa estimates the positive 3-month increase in global reach for the blog at 960%. I am trying to employ MED rules to keep this momentum going while avoiding burnout)

5) Emailed my blog subscribers (AWebber results show a 50% + opening average on the emails I send to them)

6) Posted two links (one directly to the cause page and one to my post) to my other accounts: (Google Buzz, Gtalk Status, MySpace, LinkedIn, Identi.ca, FriendFeed, Flickr)

7) Sold my wife on the cause and the donation:)

Alright, that about covers it. I am drawing inspiration from the following 4WW passage about the Princeton undergrads that you urged to compete for the RT trip ticket to anywhere in the world:

“It was a difficult challenge, perhaps impossible, and the other students would outdo them. Since all of them overestimated the competition, none of them showed up.”

So this is me showing up. But regardless of the outcome, Happy Birthday again and thanks for using your platform in a uniquely meaningful way. You’ve convinced me of what CAN be done:)
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Tasya — July 31st, 2011, 7:43 pm

Hi Tim,

as always you’ve inspired me to copycat you! Keep your eyes peeled for my birthday on February 1st my friend. You’ll see what I have in store

As per yours: I’ve contributed to your great cause. Love your work.

Spread the word. Spread the love.

Happy Birthday T.
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Bjorn Karlman — July 31st, 2011, 8:01 pm

Ahem… after reviewing your contest rules it looks like my book-length comment left out one of they key criteria:

“Lastly, answer the following question at the top of your comment: “What does education mean to you?””

Education to me is quite simply the leverage that allows individuals and societies to improve and grow. It is absolutely critical and I truly believe that the lack of it lies at the root of the majority of global problems. I ABSOLUTELY support Room to Read’s efforts to promote literacy and education.
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Chase Barfield — July 31st, 2011, 8:01 pm

What does education mean to me? Education can be found in everything we do from our experiences to a typical class room setting. Education is the assimilation of information in order to be utilized for our own purposes. Education means the antithesis of ignorance.

I fully admire what you have done philanthropically and what you continue to do. I support you in your effort. I already posted this to two twitter accounts (personal and corporate), two facebook accounts and my G+ account with a link back to this page. Good luck with your effort.
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piashx — July 31st, 2011, 8:09 pm

Tim, ready to donate through paypal but you only have credit card donations, anyway to open it up to paypal donors?
Education means life for me.
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Tonya — July 31st, 2011, 8:11 pm

This is an awesome cause to donate to. Rachel told me about it and I was all for it. As a teacher, there is nothing more important to me than supporting the education, especially for those that need it most..!
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Daine Li — July 31st, 2011, 8:15 pm

I think this is a great cause because it is vital for kids to have a decent childhood and educational background to create a stable basis for the rest of their life. You’re really making a different by reaching out to the children with the education they deserve!
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Erik Truby — July 31st, 2011, 8:20 pm

Education lets you innovate, lets you take chances and explore places people are afraid to go. Education gives you knowledge and confidence to act on that knowledge. it also means you can do really cool shit that blows people’s minds. Or so I hear.

That being said, I posted to my Twitter, asked a couple celebs I follow to retweet, posted on Facebook, all of which yielded one click (at least according to my bit.ly tracking).

On the other hand, I also setup a Google ad campaign pointing to the site, and got 110 clicks. I probably could have gotten more, but i didn’t have much of a budget

Not that great, i’ll admit, but I’m still learning. thanks for the challenge, Tim, and happy birthday.
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bj rock — July 31st, 2011, 8:22 pm

thanks to rachel found out about this great donate for library. For this iam forever greatful to her.
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sudip — July 31st, 2011, 8:22 pm

What you are doing is awesome. I appereciate you. You are so cool man that you are helping the children to read. Really there are people around the globe who needs to be taken care of. I will do my best from my side to help you. Hope this campaign will be a great success.
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elyse sparkes — July 31st, 2011, 8:29 pm

I just came across this quote in Yoga Journal, referring to Yoga Sutra 1.17, that really resonates with me about education.

“…before you can know something, you first have to learn it.”

I think reading sparks our imagination, and then our actions and experiences educate us. Self discovery is the ultimate form of education.

I donated and spread the word through facebook!

Tim, I heard about your books from my friend Eric Morrow (scroll way up in the comments!!) and was completely inspired from Four Hour Workweek and just finished 4 Hour Body in two days. I’m fascinated by your ideas, passion, and action.
Happy Birthday!
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Tom Cronin — July 31st, 2011, 8:33 pm

“What does education mean to me?”

Hey Tim,

I have just read this blog post and doing everything I can with the short time I have…

I have donated US$2,000 to your Room to Read page.

I figured that trying to explain what I will do to promote this opportunity and just how much the education of our children means to me would be best done by video…

http://www.youtube.com/ScienceofStillness

Enjoy

Tom
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wendy rogers — July 31st, 2011, 8:53 pm

I just learned about this site and how this charity works. This is so wonderful to be able to help those in need. Thanks for allowing this to happen.
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Matt F — July 31st, 2011, 9:01 pm

This is a great cause to donate. Understanding while I read was one of the greatest assets I had to achieve my personal goals and I know that this makes a difference for others also. Thanks for showing me this Laura.
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Melanie Farber — July 31st, 2011, 9:11 pm

Education is creativity, it is without limit and without walls. Education happens in a classroom with a teacher, but it also happens at home, playing games and sports, living life, reading books, playing music. Education is about living and learning and growing, not about testing. Education is failing and trying again, trying better. Education is service. Education is what I’ve devoted my professional life to.

I posted your link on FB and sent an email to friends as well. I find it *interesting* that I finished reading your book and checked out your website only an hour before this ends…

Thank you for your wonderful gift to children!
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Bradrick — July 31st, 2011, 9:19 pm

What a great idea and nice gesture. Great finding out about this, and seeing that there are people who want to do positive things for others in this world. Keep up the great work.
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Alex Mrida — July 31st, 2011, 9:32 pm

Education is the freedom to soar, even if it’s only within your own mind.
I donated and shared on facebook. Happy Birthday and thanks for giving these kids a chance.
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Rachel Rofe — July 31st, 2011, 9:49 pm

What does education mean to me?

Education, to me, is the highest leverage thing we can possibly do to solve the world’s problems.

When people are empowered with education, there is hope.

People can take education and they can do things with it. They can look for new solutions to problems in the world. They can learn to stand up for themselves. They can make change.

Most importantly, they can learn there’s another way instead of what they have now.

If you think about it, life is one huge white circle of possibility. So many people have problems that cause them to be hyper-focused on one tiny black speck in this HUGE infinite white circle, when they could be looking at such a bigger picture.

Education opens someone’s eyes to all of the infiniteness.

I know this because I went through it personally. I’ll give you a little bit of my back-story, not to get sympathy, but because it formed the reason why education is so huge for me. The quick version is: just a few years ago I was 100 pounds overweight, broke, and totally despondent.

I was sexually and physically abused throughout my childhood, hated myself so much that I wouldn’t brush my teeth or shower for weeks, and grew up thinking it was normal to be raped by my father. (This is EXTREMELY vulnerable for me to be sharing, by the way.)

When I was 14, my little 11 year old sister called me crying. She saw my father throw my mother’s head into a wall. Then he told my sister how she wasn’t really his daughter (untrue), and he tried to drive her and my mother into oncoming traffic. My sister had to reach through the center console and turn the wheel around.

I’m trying to keep this short, so I’ll just say things didn’t get better from there.

I honestly had no idea there was any other way besides the life I was living. I was focused on that black speck, not knowing about the huge infiniteness of possibilities in this world. I thought I’d forever be fat, with low self esteem, and no idea about how to stand up for myself.

EDUCATION is what saved my life. I came across a book called Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind. I never knew about personal development before and this totally shook my world up. The book led me into a 3 day seminar, and then a Warrior Camp, and countless more books.

That education taught me that it was possible to change my story.

I honestly didn’t know I could before that.

I learned that I could do anything I wanted to.

Since educating myself, I changed my life around completely. I’ve lost the 100 pounds, traveled to many places, and quit my dead-end retail job and started working for myself. I was a cover story in a magazine for my weight loss, was featured in a few magazines for my entrepreneurial skills, and wrote a book about meditation.

I’ve had so many people from my school days find me on Facebook and tell me they were blown away at the things I’ve accomplished. I think most people don’t know how much things can change. That’s why education is so crucial.

Of course, education isn’t just for people like me. Educating people in poor countries is literally their key to enhancing their lives and opening them up to other opportunities besides the ones they’re currently open to.

For example, a lot of little boys in Afghanistan aren’t able to go to school. They’re too busy trying to raise money for their family. Many boys end up entering the Taliban not because they believe in it, but because it pays.

That’s a TRAVESTY.

And that’s just one example. I’ve read so many stories about children who are forced to play small and live small lives… and also so many about the exceptions, with people who DID get to educate themselves and make their worlds so much better.

All of this to say… I am EXTREMELY passionate about education.

And since talk is cheap, I should point out that 2 weeks ago a friend and I raised $50,000 for underprivileged children in a school in an Indian Reservation in Arizona. I am so proud to know that the people who donated and I helped possibly re-write a child’s entire life.

You can read about it here if you like:

http://rachelrofe.com/how-we-raised-50k-in-less-than-10-hours-for-charity

I found out a little late about this contest but I still did my best to do several things to get the word out.

I wrote a blog post. I told my friends. I emailed it. I posted to Twitter, Facebook, my Facebook Page, Google Buzz, GTalk, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, and Flickr. I posted about it in an online forum.

I also ran a campaign and paid people $.30 per click to come over and check it out. I figured this would be a way to broaden my reach and hopefully get others spreading the word too. Hopefully the money I spent translated into thousands of dollars for the library.

You can track how many clicks I’ve been able to bring over by going to this specific link: https://bitly.com/donateforlibrary+ (make sure to keep the + at the end). That link will give you stats on how many people came, and from where. I sent most people to my blog post first.

Thank you very much for this opportunity, happy birthday, and congratulations for raising all the money you did.
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Rosevita — July 31st, 2011, 9:50 pm

Happy birthday! What a great idea

If these libraries or your schools include computer/internet access, we’d be thrilled to provide free licenses to the students so they can build their vocabulary in a totally personalized fashion.

We will soon launch a usage-focused mode, which is especially awesome for English Language learners.

Right now every penny I own (and some that I don’t own) go into this grand new upgrade, so no big checks from me this time around.
Something tells me that this is not your last project of this kind

Always fun and inspiring to see what you’re coming up with!
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Kimberly @ Championship Circle — July 31st, 2011, 9:57 pm

What an amazing idea! Rachel925, if you know her, let me know about this.

Fabulous idea, and I can’t wait to hear more about it! TY
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Alex K — July 31st, 2011, 10:17 pm

I just want to take a second to thank you. I would’ve never found out about this cause without you.
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josh — July 31st, 2011, 10:22 pm

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

mine is July 30th, turned the old age of twenty…..wait for it…………three, what are the odds….. and don’t answer that
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ImHereToHelp — July 31st, 2011, 10:47 pm

my friend was telling me about this, i just thought i would come by and say HAPPY BIRTHDAY
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Jessica Rehberger — July 31st, 2011, 10:57 pm

Hi Tim! !Feliz cumpleanos! I made a donation for the school you are building. Way to go!!
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Jamie — July 31st, 2011, 11:50 pm

Happy Birthday 34th birthday! Just made your deadline for donation, wasnt able to broadcast because i just got back from a long adventure in the woods. Tim, thank you for continually being outstanding. Thank you for taking your role of influence and always making it count.

“The most valuable of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it has to be done, whether you like it or not.”
- Aldous Huxley

Seemed fitting. Just finished rereading “A Brave New World”. Reading is so important. It breaks barriers of many sorts beyond social, racial, or a just a fixed idea and crosses through thresholds both internal and external outside that of both personal, social, and global bounds bringing us past the place of what we thought possible into worlds of promise and imagination. It reminds us the importance of our past. It forewarns us of immanent futures and has the ability to paint a brighter reality for a greater tomorrow. Reading connects us on a level beyond space and time while simultaneously sparking higher levels of autonomy. Just as it did for the savage in Huxley’s novel, its brings LIBERATION. AND, the library is a much better and more interesting place to meet girls (or boys) than a bar. ; )
good luck kids.
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Charlton Locke — July 31st, 2011, 11:56 pm

Q. What Does Education Mean To Me?
A. Self-determination. Education provides choices and the means to achieve those choices.

Forwarding you 100 copies of The Salaried Entrepreneur to distribute as you see fit! Had purchased 160 copies with hard part being figuring out where best to place them. Actionablebooks.com states: Our inaugural Actionable Literacy Project is aptly titled, “The Salaried Entrepreneur”.
This is a DVD of 12 video interviews with 12 of the leading thinkers and best selling business authors of our time, discussing the content from their most recent books, and what it takes to be a successful individual in the 21st century.
For 25 bucks.
If that wasn’t good enough already, 100% of the profits from the sale of this DVD go to Room to Read – an organization dedicated to improving literacy and education rates globally.
It’s what we call a “win-win”.
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DanielJack — August 1st, 2011, 12:27 am

It’s the realization that education is the best tool we have for adapting our minds, relationships and environment into an unpredictable future. It’s the spark that ignites the creativity inside of us, without the fear of hesitation
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Sheila @ A Postcard a Day — August 1st, 2011, 12:47 am

I came here from http://rachelrofe.com/giving-in-the-name-of-education. What an excellent idea this is! I’m lucky, I have a library on my doorstep. I can read to my heart’s content – and I know I would be lost without it. Education must be backed up by knowledge and one of the best ways is to foster a love of reading.

Congratulations on your birthday wish!
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maria — August 1st, 2011, 1:07 am

Awesome Tim! I made a donation for the school you are building. Way to go!!
how you appreciate it
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Jack — August 1st, 2011, 1:10 am

Tim,

A very good human being you are. What ever you are doing for the good cause is appreciated. God always with you.
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Aash Han — August 1st, 2011, 1:42 am

My friend told me about this. I was overwhelmed to hear this. Education is the only friend of isolation.
I just want to say “Happy birthday” and
thankful for letting me know about this noble cause.
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Ki'une — August 1st, 2011, 2:11 am

Tim,

It’s been weighing on my mind a bit, but in the article I referred to in my last comment, I end with a plight to help me get books to a young girl I met in Myanmar. Circumstances prevent her from going to school, but she has a lot of potential. If possible, perhaps you can share or tweet the article to increase my chances of finding a traveller headed that way?

Here’s the link to the article again:

http://bit.ly/oSTROM

All the best,

Ki’une
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Francis Martinez — August 1st, 2011, 2:50 am

What a great idea. Education is the most valuable thing that we can bequest our children and of great importance to all of us and libraries are of supreme importance to all of us. I found about your charity through Rachel Roffe at her website and I so glad I did. Keep it up, I shall be donating to your marvellous and inspiring work.
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Samrat — August 1st, 2011, 3:00 am

To me education means being able to improve your personal situation. Given nothing else, if all you have is an education, you have been empowered to live life to the fullest and the sky is the limit. With an education, we can all achieve our dreams!
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Bibek — August 1st, 2011, 3:47 am

you are doing a great job everyone need to appreciate this. Happy Birthday to you.
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Emilio Navarro — August 1st, 2011, 4:32 am

I know is late but just came across the post and took action, I made a donation and answer the question, here it go:

Education for me is the ability to gain freedom, to chose what we want after learning new knowledge, education is the choice to being able to seek new knowledge to become even better humans. In most cases I believe education increase communication between people and it might avoid having a fight. The more educate we are the more you can understand others and others can understand you.

I also posted your post in my Facebook!

By the way FELIZ CUMPLEÑOS!
Emilio
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Kristi Bundick — August 1st, 2011, 4:43 am

This is an awesome cause. This will truly be appreciated.
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Lucy Low — August 1st, 2011, 4:49 am

Recently, I was at my friends page, donateforlibrary , and I came across your page. You are such a generous person, you have no idea. I completely agree with how you said how no one is going to help them, in order for action to occur, we need to MAKE it happen. I can also see where everybody else is coming from. This post definately changed my view on this. Thank you for that.
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Sohag — August 1st, 2011, 5:56 am

Hey Tim,

Good on you man and thanks for letting me know about this cause.
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Dan — August 1st, 2011, 7:45 am

I know this contest has ended, but thought I’d leave a comment anyway, so…you’re welcome.

I have had a rewarding, yet at times, tumultuous courtship with education and learning over past two and half decades, but have come to realize that knowledge is one of the most valuable and most taken-for-granted commodities we have. I believe that if you’re life is not spiraling up, it is spiraling down, and continuing to push the limits of self-development and attaining knowledge is key to spiraling upward. Though this upward spiraling of knowledge and self-betterment (which overflows to world-betterment) is not dependent on one’s ability to read, illiteracy is a HUGE obstacle. Learning to read opens an unlimited number of doors to progress for individuals and communities. I liken it to Tim’s Minimum Effective Dose idea from the 4HB – the smallest things can reap the largest, and in this case, limitless rewards.

Cheers all,

Dan
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Jeff Nabers — August 1st, 2011, 10:17 am

Just donated. Great strategy.

Maybe some day soon we’ll get rid of our corrupt income tax system and free up billions more to be donated directly to beneficiaries every day through free market strategies like this

– Jeff
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- Mukul Verma — August 1st, 2011, 10:29 am
  
  Hey Jeff,
  
  What I do is call up Salvation Army ask what they are short on and buy gift certificates from the 5-6 stores they need most, therefore 100% goes to the kids this way (no admin fee’s, no corruption)
  Reply
JJ — August 1st, 2011, 10:29 am

Happy birthday, and I admire your dedication to literacy. I just wanted to react briefly to your assertion that more literacy means less welfare states. The places with the highest literacy and best educational systems in the world are welfare states with large state expenditures on education (and many other sectors of the economy as well), such as the Nordic countries. The main reason for such abysmal social and economic conditions in many developing countries is that the government does not have the capacity and funds to develop and implement high quality educational, health-care, judicial and infrastructural systems. Besides corruption and mismanagement, one of the reasons for this state failure is the insistence of Western governments, through the IMF/WB/WTO, that these countries maintain a small state and do not spend too much money on social programs. Yet such spending, most importantly on education, is precisely what all these countries need.

The main difference between these countries and (formerly agrarian and backward) countries like South Korea, is that the countries developed an efficient bureaucracy and a wonderful educational systems. Private humanitarian efforts to improve literacy are surely very laudable and important, but the most crucial thing, likely to have the most impact, is to figure out how to induce developing countries’ bureaucracies to create, fund and efficiently run high-quality educational programs.

In this process, creative thinkers and entrepreneurs like yourself (and of course myself and the rest of your fans!) have a potentially very important role to play. Let’s say we get together a bunch of civil servants or former civil servants from the educational systems of countries like Finland and Germany or whatever, and form a private company that works with bureaucracies in developing countries to aggressively combat their literacy problems.

Think of India, where over 25% of the country’s billion people can’t read and write. The country has a government, but it’s never gotten around to really tackling illiteracy. We know it can be done. But countries probably won’t figure it out on their own, with the present trajectory of small humanitarian projects, private or publicly funded. We need something different, such as what I’ve described.

Of course, while a state needs to be strong enough to run a good educational system, it doesn’t necessarily need to have a lavish welfare state (though the countries with them in Northern Europe seem to be doing fine). And you’re certainly right that if everyone can read and write then there will probably be fewer people relying on state aid to survive.
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Natalie Bauer — August 1st, 2011, 10:48 am

Very Happy Birthday Tim! May all of your wishes come true.

I’m late to the party and donated this morning. I love Room to Read! I’ll pass the link around.

Alles Gute und Liebe!
Natalie
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Owen Malcolm — August 1st, 2011, 1:55 pm

Happy birthday Tim
I was too late to participate
Education means choice. Informed intelligent choice of where to live, how to live and what to do.
On another note Tim, with your interest in combat sports your should check out master instructor Geoff Todd, CQB teacher. World class and an amazing guy.
Regards
Owen
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Pamela D — August 1st, 2011, 3:14 pm

I just read this – so I am taking out my checkbook. Happy Birthday. Thanks for giving a shit.

It’s 2011 and 1 in 4 #women can’t read this sentence

http://owl.li/5SbbS
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Janin — August 1st, 2011, 10:30 pm

I love books and I love reading and I hope my small birthday present allows more children the opportunities I have had to explore the world through books. Knowledge is power. Thank you Tim and Happy Birthday!
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Doc Kane — August 1st, 2011, 10:44 pm

Tim,

I’d still like to help, regardless of any prizes. I notice you already raised 26K! Wow. That is just tremendous. For those of us who would still like to donate, is the funding going to the same goal, or are you working on another idea that I should hold off on? Such great stuff.

Cheers,
Doc
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Jorge (jocote) N — August 1st, 2011, 11:31 pm

Are the terms education, schooling and learning interchangeable? – an internet hunt to find out only got me more confused; in other words, they’re often used interchangeably. I then decided to look at the root of these words and their meanings. That was more helpful and allowed me to get some clarity; the following may still be wrong or inaccurate but hopefully it can serve as food for thought. Here’s the short of my interpretations:
Meaning of “Learning” – to acquire knowledge or be cultivated. This comes by experience or study.
Education – the etymology of the word was more insightful than any dictionary description. The word EDUCATE is from the latin EDUCO, which means “to draw out from within” or “bring out”.
An analogy I read is that education is like sculpting (the art is “drawn out” of the raw substance) while learning is more like painting (a projection or interpretation of an external image). The source is John Taylor Gatto though I couldn’t find the original quote; sorry.
What about schooling? – A school is a place of instruction, therefore, schooling is the process of instructing or teaching. Instruction, in turn, is to build or arrange. In other words, schooling is to acquire and develop skills useful in our society.
Observe that “reading” is a means to communicate what others are thinking or have thought. A great way to share experiences and life lessons. I think it can help any of us in the process of acquiring knowledge (learning), acquiring a new skill (schooling) or become inspired (education).
A simple and quick answer to education is the age-old adage: “know thyself”. Embrace living, the journey is an education.
Happy birthday Tim !
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Jorge (jocote) N — August 1st, 2011, 11:51 pm

I think leading a stoic lifestyle aligns very well with the meaning of education I shared earlier. Love it !
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Jonathan Lum — August 2nd, 2011, 1:53 am

This comment is for especially for Tim but for anyone who reads it.

But before I talk to everyone I wanna say to you Tim, what I’m feeling right now is that before I blow up I should pay tribute to one of the three people I’ve ever consciously modeled myself after in my 21 years of life. The first was Bruce lee, the second was Eben Pagan, and you were the most recent. My hair used to go down my back, but now it cut short like yours because I want to be like you.

I changed my mind about talking to everyone so to everyone else, you can see what I see in Tim and acknowledge the good things you see and feel as your positive qualities.

Positive qualities I see are too many too count but but we got a few words that we use for all of them. I’ma leave you with the one that’ll probly make the most sense – Love,.

Love is a state that we all know. Yes I meant it as a feeling state in a moment called acceptance. Love is undefinable, but as a word it is; so ima use is how I do to show you.

TIm: from my point of view – scares people by feeling love in scary situations, by accepting all the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as they happen while they happen. ex. in the random show you see tim lookin open, honest, listening, n eyes open. (probly even in sun glasses)

What’s scary to me? When I’m speaking my thoughts and I get interupted by something that’s out of my train of logic. Tim shows me that that’s no reason to flash. To be honest his friend on the Random Show stay blurting out words and saying things that would have me lookin away thinking that this guy really wants to be heard… but I’d only be thinking that because I want to be heard…

The biggest gift that Tim’s given me is the seed of testing assumptions.
}}}
I’ve changed and grown so much that I’ve been 51-50′d on multiple occasions and labelled a maniac.
}}}
The changes that concern you, Tim: I want to promote you in a way that likely hasn’t been done yet. For about 3-4 days I’ve been learning – testing the assumptions on how long it takes to good at singing and rapping. Thing about doing those two is that it’s something that’s picked up now not over a certain amount of time.
The assumption is that it’d take something around 10 years and a few hours every day to achieve the level of mastery that those making millions have. I blieve that it takes only belief, love, and focus. All learning is achieved now and I’m full of nows that were like music. Extending tones, emphasizing anuciation, and allowing yourself to hear it turns life into a musical.
- so i’m full of song and rap. All the pros do is put a structure on that to control and direct people’s attention.. I and my brother’ve been doing something like that and see millions coming our way.

So what i’ma do some day soon to promote you Tim is make a rap/rnb song and video dedicated to you just as a thanks for what you’ve awoken in me. Or have my big black brother Young Quan do it for/with me. He grew up with and knows some famous bay rappers like J. Stalin and Mistah Fab. I got some Asian partners that be making music videos, beats, and raps. So whenever I feel pressed and inspired to do this for you it’s a matter of 3 fone calls away from happening.

I’m not gonna be putting your name in my mouth to the world without your permission of course tho. cuz I know that I do things and I’m with people who’s behavior you may or may not condone. So if I caught your attention let me know. FB’s probly the best place.
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Emelina Minero — August 2nd, 2011, 11:24 am

I love this. I shared it on my FB page and profile and I tweeted it. Congrats on reaching well above and beyond the $20,000 goal. That’s so cool that you’re using your influence to make a positive impact on the world. That’s one of my life goals that I hope to achieve sooner than later, gain a strong influence so I can help others.

Too bad this wasn’t running longer, I was starting to scheme ideas on further ways to promote it, but on a positive note, it sure gave me a lot of promoting ideas that I can implement in the future.
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Lawrence — August 2nd, 2011, 1:19 pm

Just bumped in to you, 2 days to late it seems
That is short notice ?
Good Luck !!!
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Erica Dohring — August 2nd, 2011, 4:22 pm

Hi Tim,
I am a college student without a lot of extra money, but I do have quite a few books I’ve accumulated over the years. I’d be interested to donate my own books and also do a book drive. What is the best way I could go about doing that to best help your cause?
Thank you,
Erica
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Hans Pedersen — August 2nd, 2011, 5:01 pm

Tim,

I understand the contest is over but I am sure you like reading comments anyways.

“What does education mean to you?”

Well it does not mean the same thing that my professors at James Madison University (JMU) defined it as studying boring books, taking multiple choice tests, listening to monotone voices, staring at boring power points long enough to accumulate enough Credits to satisfy a degree that in this economy, will get you a entry level position at best or be a thorn in the side of most “University Graduates” every time they send that monthly loan payment check! In America you can pay for the title of “Education” and if you don’t pay you do not receive the title. Education is only valuable if you do something with it. When you receive a degree you should say you have been informed of a subject or of things previously unknown. The reason why I say this because education should be about initiative and a drive to become “educated” not just because you made it through university.

It similar to people that say they are worldly because their parents paid for a trip around Europe. Until those people immerse themselves in a culture or take the time to veer away from the beaten path they have just traveled but are not “worldly”.

Because I had the opportunity to be educated in the US and Canada I am able to read, write and speak English. The foundation of my education is invaluable. I cannot describe how fortunate and lucky I am to have been educated in North America. My foundation is strong and can withstand anything life throws at me except death of course. But because of my educational background I have the opportunity to do anything. With the opportunity to do anything means that I have no limitations. With no limitations my imagination can run wild and my dreams can become reality. I enjoy learning and becoming more educated on topics of interest or topics in which I do not have a vast understanding. Again, it is the foundation of the education I received that allows me to further and expand my thoughts, mental horizon, understanding, and my critical thinking ability. The more I learn, more information I accumulate, the more experiences I have the more valuable my education becomes. The value of my education has no ceiling and it always more and more meaningful to me the more I “DO”. Every time I “DO” something that is different from past experiences value is created.

I am only 26 and I am too young to give a lengthy and deep response to your question. I have not had the opportunity to educate someone the same way in which I have been educated to read, write and talk. However, I understand the absolute value in the education of all persons in this world. Over time my understanding of education will evolve into something that I do not recognize today but I know it will evolve. My education is still in its pre-school ears and will be forever changing. I look forward to learning, experiencing and embracing life.

Thanks,

Hans
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Joyel — August 2nd, 2011, 5:52 pm

Appears you have reached your goal! Congrats and Happy Birthday.
I’ve added and will do so more in the future.
Blessings.
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Terry Caldwell — August 2nd, 2011, 6:05 pm

Hi Tim,

I admire all the work you’ve done and continue to do, Not only are you very smart, Your very handsome.

I would love to meet you someday.

Terry Caldwell
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Tomas Becklin — August 2nd, 2011, 6:33 pm

Education = Opportunity

Facebook, Twitter and forcing friends and family to help out.
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Tim — August 3rd, 2011, 8:29 am

What a noble endeavor,I would also like to say that just as important as building a library is filling it with “nutritionally dense” books and not alot of fluff books that do not challenge the readers. I would recommend the classics of more than just one country (Indian classics,Chinese classics,etc.) as well as one that should be required reading
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George Mihaly — August 3rd, 2011, 1:53 pm

Love the call to action for a great cause. Cheers to your continued health, wealth, and wisdom Tim! -George-
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NCA — August 3rd, 2011, 4:54 pm

Education means….never having to say, “would you like to biggie size that”.
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Ann-Marie — August 3rd, 2011, 9:59 pm

I missed the deadline…but, I wanted to share my KISS on literacy……Literacy leads to perspective, perspective leads to awareness, awareness leads to opinion, opinion leads to choice, choice leads to yes, or no!
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Petru — August 4th, 2011, 2:27 am

_______________________________

===== HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIM ======
_______________________________
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Daniel Hayes — August 4th, 2011, 7:22 am

Tim-

Well done. I missed your deadline…hopefully I didn’t miss the kids’ deadline. Great project. Look forward to seeing you at the Evernote Conference.
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Dan — August 4th, 2011, 8:03 am

I appreciate all you have given to others’, Tim.
Here is a (belated?) happy birthday present back at ya, to help others get addicted to reading.

I wouldn’t be where I am today if my mother had not read to me before I could walk

Cheers,

Dan
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frank — August 4th, 2011, 8:52 am

Hey Tim. Happy Birthday man.

I’d love to talk with you for 15 mins about your fundraising initiative. I’ve been working in this space for almost 10 years and Room to Read is using our tools to drive their online fundraising.

I’d love to get your insight on how to be an effective fundraiser based on your experience with this initiative.

15 mins … and we could find a way to make it benefit RtoR in some way.

Thanks for the consideration.

- frank
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Frank — August 4th, 2011, 4:11 pm

We are two weeks into the program (fat loss). We are a crew of three firefighters trying to get healthy at our age. Our driver, who is already fit and competes in triathalons, hasnt lost a sigle pound or an inch off his measurements. Also he is getting headaches. We all seem to be eating a lot of beans (legumes) have come up with some great meals. But I think he is missing out on the glucose/ sugars that a brain needs to function. Glucose is the brains only food. It cannot burn fat or protein.
What do you think?
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Paulina — August 5th, 2011, 1:30 am

Dear Timothy,

I read you book titled „4-hour workweek”. I fully agree that we spend too much time doing nothing and we waste time in office. Of course, sometimes there are more tasks to do than in 4 hours, but we can’t manage our own time.
I post graduated from projects management. I know rules and principles. So I wanted very much my run my own project. First projects I made for my family. One for my father and his clothes company, another for my aunt. Projects objectives were: to launch a new brand for Polish market. In Europe there have been only four agencies. My main activities were: premises adaptation under offices standardization plan, advertising, promotional and information actions.
Everything was fine, so I decided to run sth big. Together with my friend we set up our own business. The scope of work included: building conversion, equipment selection, recruitment process, marketing and administrative matters. In one word – everything. But … I and my friend had a completely different knowledge and experience about business. I will not criticize her in this e-mail as probably the fault lies somewhere in the middle.
I decided to come up with company. But I have two loans from banks. I have worked since I graduated law studies in 2004. Now, I found another, much more better job. Wonderful. But … must be every time some “but”? I terminated the contract of employment with a three-months notice period and I signed another in new place with new employer.
I will be given a certificate of employment and on it will be information about my financial obligations. So, the new employer will see that I made sth wrong.
Solutions are as follow:
1. sell my shares. Who would like to buy my shares? Or a whole company? You can see how it looks like by putting “galija” dot com dot pl. Our beauty parlour works on dermocosmtics from LA, Deramlogica. How to find a person who would like to be an owner of a spa salon in Poznan, Poland?
2. my father looks for an investor for his company or for someone who is interested in sewing clothes for foreign brands.
3. to find a person, some kind of business angel who will sing a contract with me that I sell him a half of my company (or a whole). I will return loans to banks, and on certification of employment will not be any remarks.
Sometimes I wonder what is going on. My father had his company in a small building and we were producing clothes in three shifts, we had a lot of orders and we were selling it in Poland and Europe. My father hired almost 100 people. Then he decided to buy something bigger (sth means building, a better place for such a great number of employees). He found a townhouse. He renovated it completely. Townhouse has three floors. Everything is new. But we lost a lot of customers. Now in my father company work only 8 people.
World crisis. By this two words we can explain everything. Sometimes we should let / leave well alone.
I would be appreciated for you advice.
Maybe observation from another perspective would let to see better solutions?
Do you think I have a chance to find a buyer for my company or investor for my father enterprise?
Sunny regards from the oldest town in Poland,
Paulina

PS. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.
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Paulina — August 5th, 2011, 2:25 am

Dear Tim,

I can’t donate money. I do not have foreign currency bank account. But I have a lot of books (in polish and English), and magazines. Also books for learning English for children. They are new, as I did not use it. I started learning English in high-school. (please shut your eyes to my language mistakes) . I have also notebooks, pencils, pens and coloured pencils. All new.
Very often newlyweds for their wedding instead of flowers ask for something else: donation for children foundation or stationery for children from orphanage.
Last months three young ladies from our district got married. So, instead of flowers we (with my sisters and mum) bought a lot of stationery. We bought too much. So, if the new library needs also copy-books or pencils, books, please let me know.

It amazing what you can do for them. Your attitude is worth to follow.
Sunny regards,
Paulina
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Josh — August 5th, 2011, 10:10 am

Tim, I’m confused, man….. instead of asking me & your other readers for $34 over your blog, we could all be on the beach with you asking us each for $34 THOUSAND dollars! In person! In Mandarin Chinese!!! After we compete in the Argentine Tango World Championship and I beat you in the finals!!!

Is blogging for $34 the most effective way to spread literacy throughout the world, or are you trying to fix the world’s weaknesses instead of emphasizing the world’s strengths??? Come on man it doesn’t have to be lonely at the top!!! It’s equally as lonely here in the middle looking for the most effective way to the top!!!
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- Josh — August 5th, 2011, 11:05 am
  
  You had a nice goal for the big 3-4. Build two new schools with your contribution and the $34 contributions from your readers.
  
  What if your goal for your 35th bday was:
  Build THIRTY-FIVE new schools using the $35,000 donations from your 35 new NR buddies!! The only rules are those we set for ourselves!!! Hahaha!
  Reply
Jeff M — August 5th, 2011, 12:18 pm

Tim, completely unrelated to this blog, but I wanted to get your take on where woman fit into your NR lifestyle and daily decision making. To quote Napoleon Hill in “Think and Grow Rich”:

“Man’s greatest motivating force is his desire to please woman!”

Do you agree with this statement? Any comments on how women affect your decision making?
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david summersong — August 5th, 2011, 10:00 pm

I CAN GIVE YOU 60 YEARS OF VERIFICATION OF YOUR IDEAS. I HAVE USED COLD AND ISOMETRICS SINCE 1950 AND WAS A PROTEIN FURNACE AND A WORLD’S STRONGEST MAN COMPETITOR IN THE LATE 60S AND EARLY 70S. I GOT RUN OVER AND BADLY BROKEN BY A TRUCK IN 1990. I HAVE BEEN REBUILDING MYSELF SINCE AND AM DELIGHTED TO SEE YOU PUT PROPER NAMES AND NUMBERS TO THINGS THAT I HAVE KNOWN AND DONE, LARGELY THRU INTUITION, IN SPITE OF AN EXTENSIVE ALLOPATHIC EDUCATION. I LOOK FORWARD TO FINISHING THE BOOK AND ALL YOUR OTHER AVAILABLE MATERIAL AND REFERENCES IN ORDER TO BE PROPERLY AVAILABLE FOR AN INTERESTING CONVERSATION, SHOULD YOU WANT TO. I AM IN HARTFORD, CT. SHOULD YOU BE IN THE AREA. MY CELLPHONE# IS::
860-508-2750. KEEP UP THE OBSESSIVE GOOD WORK. LEARNING THRU CRAZINESS HAS APPARENTLY BEEN ONE OF MY MOTTOS.
BEST WISHES. DAVID SUMMERSONG
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Tas — August 6th, 2011, 5:26 am

Hi folks,

?”You are not little birdies sitting in the nest with your mouths open to receive half-digested worms of knowledge regurgitated by the faculty. Education is not about content. It is not even about skills. It is a habit or stance of mind. It is not something you have. It is something you are.” (Andrew Abbott: The Aims of Education Address)

This is the best article I have ever read about education:
http://www.inf.fu-berlin.de/lehre/pmo/eng/Abbott-Education.pdf

Best wishes,
Tas
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JanM — August 6th, 2011, 5:52 am

wow! You have a wonderful wish for your birthday Tim! I wish I could join in, but unfortunately I still can’t…but for the moment, I guess I can help out by sending this page to others and even post these on twitter, and maybe others could help out on a donation… God bless you my friend.
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george — August 6th, 2011, 12:58 pm

Tim,

I love your stuff…started a business with 4hww, lost 15 lbs slow carbin’, but I think that the language in your books is placing an unfortunate ceiling on your credibility. It makes you sound less smart than you obviously are. Your words need to get out to many folks, but when you include obscenities, it takes something from your message. Some may tell me to shove it, but I do feel this way.

Thanks for helping me expand my horizons, and reduce my waistline.

George
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Amanda — August 6th, 2011, 5:05 pm

I was just wondering if
1. Is Ezekiel bread okay to eat (3 slices a day) for optimal fat loss while lifting?
2. During pregnancy is it a good idea to follow the diet?
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Steven Grindlay — August 8th, 2011, 1:18 pm

Hey Tim, Belated Birthday Greetings!

I live in Africa,

Quite simply education means life!
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panggung boneka — August 8th, 2011, 6:41 pm

Great move,… Happy Birthday, getting the work out by FB and mail. I imagine not being able to read like being in a country where you don’t speak a single word of the language. Reading is the basis of communication, it almost belongs to ones senses.

All the best Tim, lets get the books out there.
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David P — August 8th, 2011, 9:22 pm

Dear Tim

Happy birthday! Awesome idea of a birthday present. There are gonna be lots of kids who’ll be better of as a result.

Just a shout out to give a massive thank you for all the work you’ve been doing. For being awesome, stretching yourself to the limit, writing the 4HWW and 4HB. There’s that quote from Marianne Williamson “…as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same..”.

You truly are that person, elevating minds to a higher level and showing what’s possible. After reading 4HWW and seeing the success vids of all those who’ve done it before I know what the way forward is. I haven’t created my muse yet, but I will by the end of the year. Really looking foward to hearing you speak in Melbourne this coming October.

David P
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debbie b — August 9th, 2011, 6:29 am

The program is not working for a menopausel 55 yr old woman, very energetic but need to lose 30 lbs. would be extremely happy with 20. Been on two weeks and have seen NO results. I’ve actually gained 2 more lbs!!!!Does anyone have any info that would help? Should I do a more controlled binge day i.e., less carb intake? PLEASE HELP.
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Jean Gilhead — August 9th, 2011, 12:21 pm

Hi Tim. My experience is similar to that of Debbie B (menopausel 55 yr old woman). I’ve been on the prog for 4 weeks now and have lost some fat off everywhere EXCEPT belly and waist (the main areas needing help), so I’m starting to look a little strange now! Please advise us Tim.
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- debbie b — August 9th, 2011, 2:24 pm
  
  Jean,This is a sad commentary, but I actually feel better knowing I’m not the only one. I’m thinking this isn’t for me. Maybe one day when my body is in balance. I think I’m fighting a losing battle!! It’s very frustrating to constantly get contradicting diet advice. I just wish something worked.
  Reply
  - Jean Gilhead — August 10th, 2011, 12:30 am
    
    Hi Debbie – only you know your body, but why not keep going for a little longer, say at least for one month, before you decide it’s not for you? Since eating this way I feel fitter, more energetic and more flexible – ie less stiff – in my joints etc. I do know my body is full of toxins aquired over the years, so it makes sense that it’s going to take a little time to shift them out of my system, so I’m prepared to be patient and keep going with this. One question – do you eat breakfast within half an hour of waking? That seems to make a difference to resetting the metabolism…
    Reply
Coren Smith — August 9th, 2011, 5:05 pm

To me, education means self and world improvement.

Thanks, Tim! You Rock! I will gladly help spread the word and donate what I can.

Love to all!
Coren Smith
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Swen — August 11th, 2011, 9:14 am

wish i had put my $28 to Room to Read instead of the 4 hour body…
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- Charlie Hoehn — August 11th, 2011, 3:00 pm
  
  Sorry you didn’t like the book! It’s only $14 on Amazon.
  Reply
Colin Smithson — August 11th, 2011, 11:46 am

I am 62 in December and started the program in Mid Feb. I have lost until today, 11/08/11, over 20 kilos.
I have bags of energy and my body looks great (shame about the face). I swim open water now and am back to squash and tennis.

So if anyone has doubts about the routines, don’t have. Stick with it and regain energy.

Good luck to all,
Colin
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David Hennessey — August 12th, 2011, 1:28 pm

Hi Tim,
I was just on a plane after visiting a friend who had a serious stroke and I somehow got inspired to write about how to be a reading role model for children since reading has forever nourished my life. Then I read your blog. Your idea is great – libraries are wonderful.

I also want to suggest to people to become reading role models for children.
I wrote this article to share some ideas. I hope you don’t mind the link.

http://thewondertechnique.com/how-to-become-a-reading-role-model-and-change-a-child-forever/

Keep up the great work,
David
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Tasha — August 13th, 2011, 10:47 am

Awesome, Tim, and Happy Birthday. I am halfway through being 34 and it has been one of the best years of my life so far without a doubt. I am on day 6 of the slow-carb diet and as of this morning have lost 7 lbs so far without any exercise. I’m impressed. No better motivation than getting off to a good start. Love the event you’ve created, so important to think outside of ourselves. Thank you.
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Laura L. Post, MD, PhD, JD — August 13th, 2011, 6:26 pm

Good Sunday Morning 14 August 2011 from Cairns,
Four days ago, I picked up a copy of 4hww on my way to a conference that I just attended in Sydney, and have been carefully reading it since then. One question and a comment. QUESTION – How would you conceptualize chatting with co-workers {which in your book it would seem you determine to be non-productive and therefore inefficient and needing to be eliminated} in a culture in which such terse limit-setting would be viewed as selfish, not sufficiently other-centered, frankly hostile, and not conducive to any collegial or social onsideration? COMMENT – I agree with many of your ideas, and have on my own come to some of your realizations and adopted many of your productivity-focused uncluttering and personal-dream-goal-setting behaviors, but I believe that your ideas about taking oneself out of the situation is not applicable to a treatment environment such as mine, in which I am the sole psychiatrist in a clinic of eminently capable and competent counselors, in which the notion of not being available to patients is professionally unethical as well as clinically unhelpful. Best, Laura
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christine — August 13th, 2011, 8:16 pm

Since starting 4hb, slow carb diet, I look 8 months pregnant. My previously flat upper abdoman is now huge!, and performing my yoga stretches is uncomfortable, as my swollen gut is in the way. It has only been 4 days, but the enlarged abdoman thing is a real downer. The waist of my previosly loose pants are now tight! What could be wrong? Please advise ASAP, as I’m considering stopping due to my new appearance.
Christine
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Peter — August 13th, 2011, 10:53 pm

@ Tim and everyone
I know this is not the right place to post this. I have read ‘Becoming Uberman’ on The Hour Body and am very interested in making this attempt. Considering to try ‘The Everyman 3-Nap’ where I’d sleep for 4 hours total. BUT I am unsure as am only 18 years old and in high school. I thought doing this would shorten my sleep time and, thus I’d be able to do more work. PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHETHER I SHOULD ATTEMPT.
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- Peter — August 14th, 2011, 12:57 am
  
  Amendment: I’m considering to try ‘The Siesta’ instead because the other methods are unrealistic for a high school student. This is a 6.3hours of sleep and 20mins sleep method. I am nearly at the end of finishing my high school years and thought I’d be great to reduce the amount of sleep using a suitable method, to be able to work more. So is it ok?
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Theo — August 14th, 2011, 10:03 am

Tim’s next venture is a fiction book!!

He’s been reading the book Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field according to his Kindle page:

https://kindle.amazon.com/profile/Timothy-C–Ferriss/1134215

When is the book coming out Tim ?
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Johnathan Cranford — August 17th, 2011, 3:03 pm

Hi Tim,

I have a product that debuted at the 2008 Summer Olympic games in front of millions of people but I’m having trouble marketing it here in the US. I’ve followed your principals in the book but I’m hitting a wall. Any advice would be great.

Thx
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Josh — August 17th, 2011, 8:14 pm

POST IDEA: in The 4 Hour Body u mentioned Warren Buffet and his 30 second mind rules of thum brought thogether from different desciples, what are yours?
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noch — August 18th, 2011, 2:09 am

pretty cool idea – what are the results of your birthday present?
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Sasha — August 18th, 2011, 2:11 am

Happy Birthday Tim!

Your donation is not that unusual. You’re doing cool things like this all the time.
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Luke — August 18th, 2011, 10:28 am

Awesome man, glad you are taking on this kind of thing. I think it’s true that big problems can be solved by simple things like education but not necessarily easy.

I’ve gotten pretty passionate about these kinds of things the more I age and realize the world around me.
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Annie Tichenor — August 18th, 2011, 11:46 am

I’m not clear on where to vote. My enthusiastic vote goes to Rachel Rofe.
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Karen — August 21st, 2011, 4:48 pm

Happy Birthday have a wonderful year full of celebration and daily opportunity.
At 11 years I could not read then I was lucky to be one of 5 in a reading program. At 15 yrs told not allowed to sit exams as I was not smart enough, motivation that inspired years of learning. I sat 8 exams passed all but the compulsory exam Art, in a system bent towards statistics. There were at least 40 other children denied the opportunity that year, reading is a great start, learning to think, be different, empower and have courage are part of education. ‘Experiments in truth’ Gandhi, inspires me in constructive living, authenticity, knowing the self. Through contrast, failure and what we do not want we learn to expand and find what we do want and education can help us. Wonderfully, I graduated psychology degree 22 years later while working full time and still learning. Volunteered in literacy, education, traveled and like to volunteer in Hawaii with Habitat for Humanity one day soon. I have just bought your book 4 hr work week, loving the material and inspirations. Look forward to more wonderful living. Thanks for the materials. Great gift for many!
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Yvette Lareaux — August 22nd, 2011, 9:47 am

Happy Birthday Tim!!

You’re such an incredible person for doing such an incredible deed. Nothing like giving someone a gift that, not only will last a lifetime, but one that they may then share with others.

You’re fabulous. Keep up the good works. I’m making sure everyone knows about your noble cause through my Facebook page, my Bulletin board at my work (at a university) and through word of mouth.
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Danielle — August 25th, 2011, 9:56 pm

I missed the date, but what an inspiring story. Thank you for the money you raised to help increase literacy!
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Gary — August 28th, 2011, 6:44 am

Hi Tim,

Did I miss the Top 5
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Sarah — August 29th, 2011, 10:23 pm

Hi Tim,
Teaching kids to read is my passion. I home school my own 8 kids so I have lots of practice! I have one with Dsylexia. It’s become my passion to use visual thinking games, puzzles and art to teach Dyslexic Kids to read. Last Spring I read 4 HOUR BLOG and realized that Dyslexia Games could be my muse – as well as my little gift to the world. My husband and I seriously followed all your advice and launched the boat August 1st. We are already past stage 2 – selling several sets of workbooks every day! Since we read the book my husband has felt inspired to learn sail-boating- because of the 4 Hour Work Week – He is going on 5 DAY Sailing Boat Race adventure on Lake Michigan… while I stay home with ALL 8 Kids… I’m not sure if I should thank you or not! You should email my husband and tell him that next time he stays home with the 8 kids for 5 days while I go sit on a mountain and play the flute or paint landscapes in Austria. Happy Birthday! Well right now we are looking for ways to capture more sales on our website – 2% to 3% buy.. I know you are a busy guy and you only work 4 hours a week- so I don’t expect to hear from you! Happy Adventures! ~ Sarah
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Justin Germino — September 1st, 2011, 1:59 pm

I turn 34 at the end of the month, happy belayed birthday.
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Joan — September 4th, 2011, 11:08 pm

No one can really deny that education/learning means everything to all of us. It’s basically one of the foundations in molding or improving your personality. Of course, learning can be done in different ways: and it usually starts in the logic of ‘question and answer’ process. And yes, we humans really can’t be satisfied easily with just answers and we tend to explore more through reading, or we learn through experience. Reading is a must.
Anyway… This is really a great project. I wish most of the people could think of this, especially those who are more fortunate.
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Alex Anthony Pee — September 5th, 2011, 12:10 am

Since my birthday is fast approaching I have also been thinking of what gifts I might be receiving on that very special day. Years have passed by and I have held different gifts in my hands. Now, I have been thinking on another level. After reading your blog, I got struck by your ideas of helping other people especially children who are not given the chance to learn reading. Here in the philippines a lot of children are deprived from education. I am challenged by your views and I want to be given the opportunity to be like you. I want everyone to make you there example.
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Gabrielle Sagaral — September 5th, 2011, 1:35 am

What a great way to get back and be grateful of the fortunate life you live! I cannot also imagine kids not having been able to read or even hold a book in their hands. No matter how poor and unfortunate these kids are, education should not be deprived from them. They hold as much a right to education as we school-bred kids are. We cannot take that away from them. Though we are not filthy rich ourselves, as members of civil society, we should have the social consciousness to help those who are in a lesser state than we are.

As the Dalai Lama have said, what makes us human is our compassion for others. And surely you are a human being!
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Maria Heide Solamo — September 5th, 2011, 4:53 am

as i read your blog, you are really a good person with a good heart. i was really touched and impressed with your blog by sharing your idea of what you wanted for your birthday. education for me is really important because as my parents said, education is the only thing they could give to me that it can never be taken away from me. so for you to think of spending your money in a good way by making a library to kids who are deprived with education and sharing to other people your idea to earn big funds well i think it’s really a wonderful birthday gift if your wish will be granted many children will be happy. bravo! I’m happy to read your blog it opens my mind to help some poor children in my own little way.
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Kristine Ann T. Cagampang — September 5th, 2011, 9:22 pm

I am so disappointed that I have read this only today. But having read what you will do ( and I assume that it has been done already), I have been deeply touched with your actions. Being and Asian and having traveled to several Southeast Asian countries myself, I have seen the horrors that poverty can do to an individual, and even families. This is the reason why I have vowed to myself that I will be involved in development projects in the future, when I am given the opportunity. (I hope this would be soon though).

Kudos to you for making this world a better place!
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Angelia Paula S. Soria — September 7th, 2011, 3:06 am

This is how everyone should spend their birthdays, giving instead of receiving. People would often sat, “It’s my birthday so I should be the one receiving,” but what they often forgot is that having to celebrate another year of their life is more than enough of a gift than any other tangible things that money can buy. Having to spend another good year of life would be very rewarding knowing that you spent this making someone else’s life a better one.
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Kharyn Lo — September 7th, 2011, 3:10 am

I love what you want to do,and i know that we can’t help everyone,but that simple gesture of kindness would change someones life in the future…
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Anna Lydnor B. Barriga — September 7th, 2011, 8:44 pm

What a good heart you have! Pure and generous. If only all people have the same heart as you have…we don’t have to be rich to help people in need.
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Vincent Francis Cece — September 8th, 2011, 1:31 am

This is a new way of giving gift to one’s self. You got a nice heart for the children and the poor. People should also realize that being happy is not just satisfying own self but also seeing other people happy because you satisfied them.
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christelie Pocbit — September 8th, 2011, 9:01 pm

indeed! there is no future without education. thanks for the kindness for our children who haven’t experience reading books. i am not fun of reading but this article triggers me to do so. Education for me is a social status. i believe there are opportunities outside if one came from the four corners of the classroom. its not that we are not capable anymore if we can’t afford going to school but the thing is that it is a social requirements. anyway, i love the way how you celebrated you’re birthday. God Bless You!
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Princess Hannah — September 8th, 2011, 11:20 pm

That was an awesome way to celebrate your birthday! I wonder how great it would be if there’d be more people that would celebrate their birthdays like you do. Your idea of raising funds to teach illiterate people how to read and write would really be beneficial especially to those people living in poor countries where education (sad to say) is a privilege and not a right.

Education really plays a huge role in your success especially here in the Philippines wherein you are required to earn a diploma before you could get a decent job with a decent pay. Above all, education and your knowledge is the only thing that cannot be stolen from you.

Thumbs up to you, Tim!
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monclernimei — September 16th, 2011, 9:58 pm

Reading means dreaming: dreaming of a new tool, dreaming of a better world, dreaming of our future profession, dreaming of something fantastic. It also means learning, I learned English through reading ( I started with archie, Betty and Veronica, hihi! ). Reading means knowledge of other cultures.

I adore this project Tim, because I think books are specially important for children. Kids are tomorrow’s leaders and they need to enjoy being kids and be able to dream and learn while holding a book in their hands.
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cristina martinez — September 18th, 2011, 11:59 am

Great Idea !!! I will forwaed to my friends on FB
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Micaela — October 14th, 2011, 11:14 am

I guess the time for official comments is over, but here’s what I think: What an education means, loosely speaking, depends on what that education has been like. I read Michaels post about how to get anything you want Without having the university qualifications, and that article hits the nail on the head. If you have had an education that makes you believe you can’t do anything without official credential, or –something I rebelled against myself—if you are educated to believe that being an ‘university intellectual elite’ turns you into an intellectual snob, education gets stagnant and in some ways even destructive. I finished my degree and postgrad in Politics, Philosophy and Economics despite becoming disenchanted with many of the academic attitudes that encourage self esteem to be completely attached to being groomed into some type of office worker. I recommend a book called Dumbing us Down, written by an advertiser who, disenchanted with his profession, borrowed a friend’s teaching license and became a highschool teacher. Too many years of boxed schooling can have the opposite effect that we would want. What I really learnt though is that once you somehow open your mind enough to start reading books outside what other people prescribe, and take on the proactive approach to search for the best (as judged by readers) books on the topic you want to learn, possibilities and creativity explode. And that is when you tap into the potential that good education gives you—the potential to discover your priorities and accomplish your goals: be it to develop new knowledge and share it with others, get an income, buff your body up or retire to Nepal.
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tayor throne — January 21st, 2012, 12:55 pm

Howdy, while technically education has no effect on development, I agree everyone should have access to such resources. And even though, your 13 years older than me, I just discovered your books and I absolutely adore you and hope one day I run into you in eastern europe on a clydesdale in a forest. That’s all. Happy belated birthday.
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- taylor throne — January 21st, 2012, 1:01 pm
  
  And by tayor, I mean Taylor. And I love you.
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