The Art of Quitting: When Enough is Enough [Paperback]

Evan Harris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2004

Here's important food for thought for men and women who are bored with their job, are in a tired relationship, or who simply feel overdue for an interlude of personal freedom. Mixing humor, cracker-barrel philosophy, and good common sense, author Evan Harris offers realistic advice by describing more than 20 techniques designed to get her readers out of virtually any nasty situation. They include offering one's antagonist a calm, reasonable argument, or going to the opposite extreme and making a scene. Maybe most satisfying of all is a technique she calls achieving, then vanishing. She also advises on recognizing signs that the time to quit has come. For instance, if you dream about quitting a job where you're underappreciated, it's time to quit. Or if that once-special person in your life cannot understand your feelings, it's time to break off the relationship. Quoting comedian W. C. Fields, Evan Harris reminds her readers: "If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it."

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

back cover:


The Art of Quitting is delicious food for thought for those bored with their jobs, or in a tired relationship, or simply overdue for a fresh breath of personal freedom. Mixing humor, cracker-barrel philosophy, and plain common sense, author Evan Harris offers realistic advice on more than twenty techniques for the easiest, most satisfying way to get out of virtually any nasty situation.



Perhaps you long to renounce the cage of middle management for the free and easy life of a painter in Tahiti. (Quit your job.) It could be that all the classes you’d wanted to attend were full when you went to register. (Quit school.) Or maybe you’ve suddenly realized that if you don’t break it off now, you’ll end up like so and so. (Quit your lover.) Though it flies in the face of conventional wisdom, it is an undeniable truth: quitting can be the best decision you’ll ever make.



front flap copy


The Art of


Quitting


When Enough Is Enough



For anyone who’s ever grown bored with a partner, tired of a job, or sick of an apartment, The Art of Quitting offers wry wisdom on the unsung art of giving up. It’s filled with advice and encouragement on cutting losses, pulling up stakes, and moving one, and instructs on techniques like Make a Scene, Achieve and Vanish and Burn a Bridge. Quitters take chances. Quitters decide for themselves when enough is enough. As author Evan Harris counsels, patience my be a virtue, but quitting is an art.



“If at first you don’t succeed, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.”
—W.C. Fields



back flap


Evan Harris has written about the art of quitting for Harper’s magazine, the New York Times, Utne Reader, and the radio program This American Life. She was the coeditor with Shelley Ross of Quitter Quarterly for two years, until they quit. She lives in East Hampton, New York, with her husband and son.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series (November 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764129619
• ISBN-13: 978-0764129612
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #330,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Possibilities Are Endless, January 17, 2005

By 

prisrob "pris," (New England USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Art of Quitting: When Enough is Enough (Paperback)

"The Art Of Quitting: When Enough Is Enough" may be the most unusual and most helpful book I have ever read. It is a little book 7" by 5", 139 pages and full of wisdom, wit and weirdness. A friend suggested this book when I talked about planning for retirement. You don't just retire, you know, you have to plan to retire. And that, my friend, is the jest of this book. You don't just quit, you have to plan to quit.

"Quitting does not come out of the clear, blue sky. Every quitter enters into his quit armed with something to quit, a number of methods at his disposal, and a natural predilection for how to proceed" so says, Evan Harris the author. She has written a book filled with all of the information you need (and some you don't need, but fun to read). There is work ahead- you must keep track of many items, if quitting is to be successful. Type of quit, technique, and style of the quitter are all part of the equation that must go into the quit.

There are 6 types of quits. You need to focus on what it is you don't want. Get it right!

1.Job quitting-paid or unpaid

2.Person quitting

3.Thing quitting

4.Location quitting

5.Idea quitting

6.Habit quitting

There are 20 techniques in quitting and Evan Harris writes a chapter on each type. They are informative and humorous. At first I thought this book was maybe, well, silly, but then I understood. Much of this book is written tongue in cheek, but it is filled with wisdom if you know how to interpret it. Quitting has a schedule- it starts with euphoria and may enter into post quitting depression. Some helpful hints are to tell everyone you know, that you have quit, they will congratulate you, or think about quitting something else so you can have the euphoria again.

Quitting is an art, an act of will and a form of expression, Some people may not understand and some will be jealous. Quit because you can. One of the most popular techniques of quitting that we can all identify with is the Make a Scene Quit. One example would be to wait for your boss to appear and ask you one more time to carry out some mindless task. Scream at your boss, and say, "I have had it", tear up your most important work and throw it at your boss and stomp out and say "I, Quit" No more job, for sure. Or use the Abandon and Conceal Quit. No one will know you are doing it- refuse to wear underwear, quit reading the table of contents, or stop believing in germs.

The most helpful quit is the Plot and Endure quit- You are planning to retire- you can tolerate most anything because you know there's an end in sight.

As W.C. Fields said "If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit. No use in being a damn fool about it." This book is for real and can be very useful. It is also full of information to use at your next cocktail party or at the dentist's office when you are kept waiting. We are all going to quit something at some time in our life. Be prepared. Read the encyclopedia of quitting and go on do it. You know, I really have had enough of this, I quit. Highly recommended. prisrob