The Age of Unreason [Import] [Paperback]

Charles Handy (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Harvard Business School Press (1991)
• ISBN-10: 0071033114
• ISBN-13: 978-0071033114
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,037,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life-changing, July 25, 2000

By 

Mr. Ian Pring (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Age of Unreason (Paperback)

I read this book as part of an MBA programme, but it's far, far more than a business book. In a series of self-examination exercises, Handy teaches how we can all reassess our lives and change the way we live and work. All this is achieved in a slim, matter-of-fact volume that puts many other business and management books (as well as the slew of self-help literature) to shame, with its erudition and the well-read eclecticism of its author. Maybe half a dozen books in a lifetime make you change the way you think. If this isn't one of them, there's no hope for you.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiration for the soul, April 22, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Age of Unreason (Paperback)

Handy's reasonable tome unveils an argument for becoming questioning, seeking, unreasonable individuals. Written several years ago, Handy's ability to forecast the direction in which businesses are moving (adopting 'cores' and contracting out much of the work) is fascinating. I wonder what I would have thought of this book 8 years ago when it was first published. 'Is he for real?' Charles Handy is very real and so is the future about which he writes

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't take it *too* literally., November 28, 2001

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Age of Unreason (Paperback)

I had to both laugh at and give a helpful vote to the review below which accused the author of citing half-baked fragments of myths and anecdotes as evidence. To a certain degree, it's a fair cop, particularly if you're looking for a book which is going to really stunningly predict the future.

_The Age of Unreason_ isn't about predicting the future, it's about training yourself to look at the future in ways that you might otherwise not have done. As such, I found it a valuable and interesting book which is clearly based in a lot of meditation on learning and learning theories.

Some of the things Handy mentioned turned out to have become true since the book was written. Other things didn't-- but it doesn't matter ultimately. What the book asks is this: Can you recognize the real causes for pain that you identify? Can you think differently to force discontinuous change? Is your vision of the future based on an accurate perception of the past, or are you looking past major factors because you don't recognize the role of gradual change?

People who like this book may like some of the books on developing strategies using scenario exercises. This book also contains a decent (if dated) bibliography.