Evil Plans: Having Fun on the Road to World Domination [Hardcover]

Hugh MacLeod (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 17, 2011

The acclaimed author of Ignore Everybody is back with more irreverent wisdom, wit, and original cartoons.

"It has never been easier to make a great living doing what you love. But to make it happen, first you need an EVIL PLAN. Everybody needs to get away from lousy bosses, from boring, dead-end jobs that they hate, and ACTUALLY start doing something they love, something that matters. Life is short." -Hugh MacLeod

Freud once said that in order to be truly happy people need two things: the capacity to work and the capacity to love. Evil Plans is about being able to do both at the same time. The sometimes unfortunate side effect is that others will hate you for it. MacLeod's insights are brash, wise, and often funny.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Hugh MacLeod is a cartoonist and professional blogger known for his ideas about how Web 2.0 affects marketing. After a decade of working as an advertising copywriter, MacLeod started blogging at gapingvoid.com in 2001, publishing cartoons that he drew on the back of business cards in his spare time. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover; First Edition edition (February 17, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591843847
• ISBN-13: 978-1591843849
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #210,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hugh MacLeod worked as an advertising copywriter for more than a decade, while developing his skills as a cartoonist and pundit. His blog is Gaping Void, and more than a million people have downloaded the original post that inspired this book, "How to be Creative." He also lectures and consults on Web 2.0 and its impact on business.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 79 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ask yourself why February 21, 2011

By Scott Barstow

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Why do you do what you do? It's the question you will be forced to answer while you are reading this book. Just like 'Ignore Everybody', Hugh's first book, I found this book to be the kind of reading that wakes you up and makes you ask ( and hopefully answer ) the tough questions.

If I were to summarize Evil Plans in 100 words or less, it would be something like this:

Q: Why do you do what you do?
A: To make money so that I can do the things I really want to do

Q: Why not just do the thing you really want to do?
A: Umm... err.. gasp... cough I can't afford to / I'm not good enough / I don't know how / My friends will think I am an idiot

Q: What would it take to make it so you could do that which you love, and that which you are uniquely able to do?
A: (silence)

That's where your Evil Plan begins.

Buy this book. Then keep reading it once a week on the journey to doing what you love.

74 of 87 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Fast Food Professional Advice March 30, 2011

By Robert S. Costic

Format:Hardcover

The book is kind of like fast food. It was apparently easy to make, it's easy to read, and while it may feel good at the time its quality is dubious. We have a 170-page book filled with two page chapters and a lot of pages consisting entirely of two-by-three inch cartoons with bumper sticker phrases such as "Love doesn't have a purpose; love is a purpose."

While the book doesn't have a lot of content, we do get some interesting insights about the author. He lives in a rural area in west Texas. He's working on ten projects at any given time. He works constantly, often taking conference calls from 7am until late into the night. He doesn't find time to watch television or take vacations. He apparently doesn't have a family, and in an aside he admits that he doesn't really have time for a relationship. And yet he boasts about his life as if it is not only the best way to live, but that it will be the only way we will be able to live in the future.

I don't doubt that this author has found some success with his projects. But judging with my eyes the quality of his drawings and book, along with how he describes his life, he doesn't really convince me that he is much of a role model or that his advice has much merit.

34 of 40 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Nothing new or overly helpful February 24, 2011

By DCG

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Pretty much the same info as all the other books out here trying to motivate people to follow their passion. The book features a few bits of valuable advice, but mostly is about things that are common sense. Also, Hugh focuses pretty heavily on quoting other people's advice, rather than providing his own. I wanted to like the book, but honestly did not get much useful information out of it.