Customer comments on this selection.
Forgettable but not reprehensible... "Who Moved My Cheese?" is a simple fictional story about some people and some mice in a maze, told to demonstrate the necessity to not only tolerate but embrace change in our modern world. Through this tale, the author suggests that we can be paralyzed by our refusal to change, and only those who learn how to change will be able to thrive in our society in which change is happening faster and faster in virtually every arena of life.
Cue the big yawn. I just don't understand how people can find this premise to be so earth-shatteringly profound. If you've never read a book before, I suppose it's possible that something here might sound new. But I feel like I've heard the very simple principles from "Who Moved My Cheese?" told in a million different ways by a million different authors, always told more compellingly and more interestingly. This story is rather lifeless, devoid of humor or drama or anything to connect me to it. I just don't see the strong appeal.
On the other side, this book seems utterly harmless to me. Though some decry it as an excuse for management to force change upon an unwitting and unconvinced working class, I just don't see it. I won't deny that some lousy leaders may have tried to use this book inappropriately, but the message of the book is nothing oppressive or insidious. To suggest that this book is somehow dangerous is akin to suggesting that shovels are deadly weapons, just because a nut-case whacked somebody over the head with a shovel a few years ago. That is an unfairly sweeping judgment against a benign tool.
This is one of those books that I suspect I'll completely forget in a few weeks. It left me with nothing substantial, neither good nor bad. There are so many more significant books that have been published in the past decade, so I wouldn't direct anyone to this one. But if you do read it, I'm confident that the sky won't fall.
Short, Simple, Effective A great book that shows that short books can be among the most effective. Sure, it is simple, and sometimes seems obvious. But sometimes it helps to take a seemingly obvious concept and twist it around a bit, show it in a new context, and reflect on it differently. The book achieved its great popularity for a reason. For people dealing with a period of unwanted change, it can be very encouraging.
-- Doug Warshauer, Author of If I'm So Smart Where Did All My Money Go: Balancing Your Financial Objectives for Lasting Wealth
Great book for dealing with change! This book was a great read. We purchased several of them for employees in our company who have difficulty dealing with the ever changing corporate environment. All of the employees got something out of the book, and a few said it would help them deal with changes in their personal lives as well.
Book was well written, easy to understand, and we loved the story!
A mindless book This is a mindless book - it assumes (1) all change is good, and (2) that you are better off if you adapt to it quickly. Not all change in life is like the shifting cheese in a maze described by the book; in fact, I'd say most change is NOT like that.
The simplistic view it holds is rather patronizing, but worse is if you actually try to base your life on this philosophy. It's not wise to do so. Everything should be evaluated against your standards, and what is good, you follow. What is bad/evil/poor, you avoid. You don't give your mind over to "change is always good" mantra if you are a thinking person. After all, who says where the cheese moves is good? That question/discussion is never addressed.
Borrow this book from somewhere to read it if you wish - don't waste your money purchasing it.
A bound shibboleth Someone who I know extolled this book and therefore, I wasted neither my time nor money on it. As an alternative to this tripe, if you are interested in the topic of change, read "Future Shock" by Alvin Toffler. First published in 1970, it is a modern classic of culture today.
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