Customer Reviews

The Ordeal of Change

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Eric Hoffer is a remarkable individual, a self-educated philosopher and original thinker. He made an incredible impact years ago with his first book, The True Believer, which became a cult classic. A generation later, it has been (temporarily) forgotten, along with his second book, which never received the recognition it deserved. The Ordeal of Change relates how human beings deal with change in a series of essays that are both easy to relate to, meaningful to academics and lay people alike, and reflective of scholarship and common-sense. Why are we both attracted to and afraid of change? Hoffer's very readable book answers these questions in understandable and well-grounded terms. I have recommended this book to a dozen executives who have had to deal with resistance to change in their organizations, and somehow never came across this remarkable work by a San Francisco longshoreman who is a rival as a thinker to the best of more recognized intellectuals. Surprise someone whose mind you admire and wish to challenge with this as a gift, and do yourself a favor, proving that you can compete in the world of ideas. I didn't get my copy back from the last person I loaned it to, and can't remember who it was, so I have to buy a second copy of one of my all time favorites.

This work contains a mixture of autobiography and philosophical and social reflection. Hoffer wrote ," My writing grows out of my life, just like a branch out of a tree" And his lifelong journey in learning was really integral to his own life. He began reading Montaigne and spent a lifetime reading more and learning all the time. He makes it clear here that he like most human beings fears change, but understands that to truly thrive from change one must learn, understood that those who rely on what they have learned long ago will have the world pass them. In other words he recommended that Societies like individuals be engaged in a continual process of learning and developing.
Hoffer was a one- of - a kind original. A truly decent person, who walked to the sound of his own drummer. Admirable in his anti- totalitarian stance and his refusal to be cowed by intellectual trend or fashion. He was a believer in American freedom , and an example of what a free - society can produce- at its best.

Hoffer's essays are the best I have ever read on sociology. They are short, well organized and provide the deepest understanding of human nature. I hardly remember a thinker which could compete with Hoffer in this field.

Although Eric Hoffer wrote in the sixties, his observations have remained timeless and spot on for truth. I highly recommend this short, terse book for anyone. His other books are equally fasinating and provide great insights. That Eric Hoffer was a longshoreman who writes well and profoundly is another added benefit for all those who suffer under the delusion that wisdom comes only from an ivory tower. I made this purchase now only because all my copies of Hoffer had been aged, torn, coffee stained and suffered from years in a back pocket and needed replacement. You can take the forty years of reading I have gotten as sufficient testimony as to its worth.

If you are a fan of his "The True Believer", then you will also want to read this book. It is certainly not the ground breaker that his first one was, but it's a very worthy read. I really could not suggest any other of his book for serious commentary, as they don't seem to posses the focus and authenticity of intellect that the first two did.

Every book a jewel. No matter how many times I return to a Hoffer book, there's always something valuable and new.

Every line in this book has the capacity to change your life. It doesn't even have to be an ordeal.

This is not Eric Hoffer's best work. If you have not read "The True Believer" his masterpiece, buy it first. This book talks too much about Communists and it's almost a rehash of his earlier work.

This collection of things originally published in many places reminds me of reading The Saturday Evening Post at my grandparents' home when I was young to see what kind of beliefs Americans were willing to consider. Feeling incredibly heretical and schismatic in 2009, I am delighted that chapter 4 of this book considers major intellectual changes in directions in world history as heresy. Particular insights on Communism as a heresy of Capitalism, making possible a company state controlling a society as science fiction writers have attempted to picture the kind of future into which we keep skidding down like a bobsled going clear through to China if our finances are likely to teach us anything is highly amusing.

Eric Hoffer has written a penetrating book that lasts through the ages. It will be interesting to see how it fits into the Obama Administration and our move toward total Socialism.