Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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883 of 1,094 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Worthless, June 29, 2004
The unbelievably large number of people who think this is a good book is very scary. I hope these people are not important decision makers. Everything bad that can be said about this book has been said before, so I'll just compile a "Best of" list for you. (By the way, in case you're wondering, "Dr." Johnson's degree is in education.)Regarding management and corporate American in general
* This book is the cop-out for managers who believe in change for change's sake.
* It's corporate brainwashing of the kind that science fiction writers have been warning us about for decades.
* Never have I come closer to the mind crushing monotony and impersonality of corporate America than when I read this book.
* No, change is not a good thing when it happens on a regular basis. That means upper management can't make up their minds.
* If you are thinking about buying this book, I assume you are a manager of some type Regarding the intellectual level of the book:
* I have never felt my intelligence more insulted than when reading this.
* It's patronizing, shallow, insipid, and still manages to be patently insulting to those employees who might actually be capable of analytical thought. That's quite a feat.
* Should appeal to intellectually challenged only.
* It is a sad comment on our culture, society, and educational system that so many people have found this inane drivel to be "life-changing".
* (...)BR>* (...).
* Distilling these important matters into the inane parable of mice in a maze is a literary device meant for grade school students.
* The book presents an excellent reading for absolute imbeciles or people high on drugs. Regarding the message of the book:
* It teaches that you must not struggle, succumb to the will of the greater power of management, and accept change without regard to whether it is appropriate or not.
* Don't think, just go with the changes as we prescribe them. If you don't, you're inflexible or afraid of change.
* The ideas in this book could have been expressed in a paragraph and even then they would not have been worth the time to read them The people who more productively decided to just make jokes about the stupidity that is this book said:
* As I was already familiar with the concept of reality and how to deal with it, the book was not particularly helpful.
* Your time would be better spent just taking a nap.
* Buy real cheese. Don't buy this sorry excuse for a book.
* I think people like it cause it can be read and finished while sitting on the toilet.
* Resistance is futile!
* Any manager who would try to force these ideas on their employees would be better off just spiking the coffee with anti-depressants.
* The South Park gang would find it too puerile. If you were even mildly amused by anything in this review, then you are already infinitely better off than if you read the book. Now please vote "Yes" on my review (after all, I just saved you $14+). Thanks!
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392 of 490 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Show me the cheese., December 23, 1999
First of all, let me suggest that I read this book more than 20 years ago when it was called "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," by Richard Bach. Then I read it again five years later when it was called "Illusions," also by Richard Bach. The central theme here, as well as in Mr. Bach's books, is learning to let go of your fears and anxieties so you can do and accomplish the things in life that will truly make you happy. This is not a novel notion. Nor is the concept of change as an intimidating proposition, as anyone who has moved as a child or even entered a new school can attest to from an early age. To be fair, while "Who Moved My Cheese" is overly simplistic, it does impart a modicum of encouragement and inspiration. However, I believe the message has been expressed through far more interesting story lines, such as in Mr. Bach's parable-like novellas, which by the way, I recommend to anyone who found Mr. Johnson's effort compelling and rewarding. On a substantive level, I feel Mr. Johnson could have taken the story development quite a ways further and to a deeper, more intricate level, particularly for someone who fancies himself an authority in the field of professional development. Some might argue that its appeal is in its simplicity. That's fine if you take it at bare-bones face value. Others might contest that sugar-coated, child-like allegories are great material for second-grade book reports, but when senior-management types start passing such efforts off as holy gospel, I become circumspect. Furthermore, I fear countless workplaces overflowing with trite "cheeseisms." In fact, I'm sure it's just a matter of time before conventional-wisdom-spouting clones from all walks of business start retorting to reasonable issues raised at business meetings with the glib reply "move with the cheese," at which point these people should be gently slapped back to reality. I personally would have liked to have seen more obstacles and characters introduced to the story. Even Alice had more interesting encounters in Wonderland, and she negotiated all of them with poise and dignity in her effort to reach her goal. Perhaps instead of worrying about the business associate he left behind, our protagonist could have met new business associates in the maze, with the common cause of finding the new cheese. Better yet, maybe the littleperson who was in charge of Cheese Station C should have been axed for mismanagement. And then the new littleperson in charge could have assembled a task force to go out and hunt for new cheese. We littlepeople don't always have to go it alone. Obviously, I am complicating the story line. But I think a fable that resembles a business farce or a comedy of errors with a positive ending would be far more engaging. Just saying "change happens, be proactive rather than reactive" is old news. The least Johnson could have done was come up with more interesting "writings on the wall," most of which were insipid at best. Then you could walk away with actual tools in the form of little adages you can repeat to yourself when the need arises. However, there was one writing on the wall that I thought had an elegant poignancy about it which I believe was the most useful tidbit to be gleaned from the entire book. And that is "What would you do if you weren't afraid?" This is a thought one does not normally think to put to oneself in just that manner, unlike the vast majority of platitudes which infest this marginal read.
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217 of 271 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Lemmings, hurtling over the cliff's edge, August 30, 2000
This is the WORST business book I have ever read. The intent behind it is valid, but the content can be summed up in a few statements:Change will happen If you don't change, you will die (figuratively or literally) Watch for signs of change, so you can be prepared to change, too Change is good, and can lead to something better There. Do you feel like paying me [good money] for that priceless knowledge? This is a parable, which means they dressed up the real content by writing a goofy story about mice and little people, taking up more pages so they could justify the cost. Unfortunately, they could only drag the story out so far (how many times can you read, "and he kept walking and looking for more cheese"). The book was still only about 20 pages long, too short for a hardcover, so they added a second story to frame the parable itself. The second story is about a group at a reunion that talks about the book. Even THAT doesn't add enough pages to justify printing it in hardcover, so they increased the print size to roughly what you see in books for 3 year olds. The author, publisher and whoever else was involved in this moneymaking scheme obviously recognized that many people would see through their efforts. Their solution? Put in a statement saying, in effect, "If you think this book isn't worthwhile, then you aren't a talented, cutting edge business person like all the other who read the book are." Believe me, someone in your office (probably your boss) is waving this book around, exclaiming how wonderful it is and telling you to read it. ASK IF YOU CAN BORROW HIS COPY. Do not spend money on it yourself. You're going to have to read it, unfortunately, because the herd has spoken and you can't stray from the herd. I'll bet the person who started the rumor that this was a good book is getting royalties. It's the only explanation. The one saving grace about this book is it's a quick read. I finished it in 23 minutes. At least you can soon move on to something more worthwhile.
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