The 4 Hour Best Seller?

A friend just recommended The 4 Hour Body by Timothy Ferris, author of The Four Hour Work Week, as a great holiday gift, so I went over to Amazon to check it out.  I must confess that while I was intrigued by the whole Four Hour Work Week concept and ensuing media blitz, I also felt there was something vaguely affiliate marketing spammy about the whole thing.  I never read the book so it could be awesome, but the initial reviews I saw on Amazon for the new one make me think I may have been right:

Over 100 Five Star reviews in less than a day?
Con: All the information isn’t exactly new or just in this book. For example, the diet is Paleo, which is fine, but not what I expected from the ads. I really hoped for something new here, and what is new sounds dubious at best…Some of the claims in the books description are a little exaggerated… I also do not like that this book has gotten so many perfect reviews so quickly, and that critical reviews are being removed.

And then there’s this one:

Review the Reviews
If you are swayed by reviews then you don’t even need to read the book. Testimonials are the best form of marketing there is. Take a second and figure out how there are over 100 reviews of 5 stars before the book was released. I know you WANT to believe there is a way to “hack” your life… and that is truly the root of your problems.

Given the fan base around the first book, I could actually see this getting a ton of great reviews on the first day, but then again Tim Ferris might want to spend four minutes reading Lifestyle Lift: Fake Reviews Will Cost You Real $.