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The Curmudgeon's Guide to Getting Ahead: Dos and Don'ts of Right Behavior, Tough Thinking, Clear Writing, and Living a Good Life Hardcover – April 8, 2014

4.4 out of 5 stars 196 customer reviews

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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 144 pages
  • Publisher: Crown Business (April 8, 2014)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0804141444
  • ISBN-13: 978-0804141444
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 7.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (196 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,034 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Top Customer Reviews

By Paul Mastin TOP 1000 REVIEWER on April 8, 2014
Format: Hardcover
I have been a fan of Charles Murray since I read his classic Losing Ground while I was in college. Many are familiar with Murray's always thought-provoking and insightful work in his books and his work with the American Enterprise Institute. During his tenure at AEI, he as seen countless college interns and young scholars come through their doors. His new book, The Curmudgeon's Guide to Getting Ahead, is a wonderful distillation of practical advice for these young people and others.

As a writer, Murray is of course concerned with language usage, in both written and spoken communication. Most of it is standard style manual material, but this passage stands out: "Do you use the word like as a verbal tic? I mean, like, do you insert it in, like, random points in your, like, spoken conversation? If the answer is yes, this is the single most important tip in the entire book: STOP IT!" Well said! His tips on writing (and re-writing) are worth a read for any aspiring writer.

Some of his advice will seem old-fashioned and out of date, but it's still hard to argue with it. Speaking of tattoos, he agrees that they have a place in history, "first among savage tribes and then, more recently, among the lowest classes of Western societies." He reluctantly makes exceptions for insignias from the armed forces, but clearly advises against any visible tattoos.

Some of his best advice is for that class of students and young people who end up in places like AEI for internships, which he calls "affirmative action for the advantaged.
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Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
May is fast approaching, and with May comes the season of graduations.
Daughters and sons, nephews and nieces, young people we’ve cherished for one reason or another: they’re about to embark on the next journey in their life, and we want to speed them along their way with a meaningful gift. Cash is always handy, of course, to the young—and I might add, to some of us who are old—but cash is a cold gift, the sort of boon and gratuity given by most of us out of desperation, ignorant of what those just graduating from high school or college might need or want.
While these graduates may well appreciate hard cash, there is a gift available this season to accompany your check. Charles Murray’s The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Getting Ahead: Dos and Don’ts of Right Behavior, Tough Thinking, Clear Writing, and Living a Good Life (ISBN 978-0-8041-4144-4, $17.95) is written for young people in their late teens and through their twenties, and offers some great advice to grads and to anyone that age struggling with all that life can throw at them these days.
As Murray writes in the Introduction to The Curmudgeon’s Guide: “I wish I could tell you that his little book will fix all that. (Your problems). It won’t, but it might help.”
And he’s right. While the future offers no guarantees, The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Getting Ahead does give the young some excellent advice. Here are just a headings from Murray’s bits of wisdom, culled, I might add, from a lifetime of experience:
“Don’t use first names with people considerably older than you until asked, and sometimes not even then.
“Excise the word ‘like’ from your spoken English.
“On piercings, tattoos, and hair of a color not known to nature. (Here Murray strongly advises jobseekers not to display any of these.
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Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I’m an older guy who literally, as an executive, has had thousands of employees, and the challenges of managing and mentoring specific age groups has been something that has consumed a fair amount of time in the past decade. Additionally, I am married to an HR executive, and she deals with organizations who hire and manage Gen-Xers and Millennials with regularity. We have shared thoughts for years that are very neatly aggregated in this book, and I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to read it.

I chose five stars, despite the fact that so many offer that rating for all kinds of insipid things, because it so directly reflects my experience and the advice that I frequently offer young turks and new entrants into the job market. Page after page elicited laughs, reflections, and nods.

Regardless of whether you are an employer or the stated target (20-somethings breaking into business), this book will be of value. As a curmudgeonly sort who for years couldn’t figure out why young folks didn’t know these basics, it is a delight to hear someone state them so clearly and straightforwardly. I tip my hat to Mr. Murray.

One section I cannot underscore enough regards simple communication. Buy Send, regarding corporate email, read it, and inculcate its practical advice into your daily routine. Please. Also, buy Strunk & White and learn basic English; we have lost command, even at executive levels, of basic pronoun usage (for heaven’s sake, learn how to use ‘myself’ correctly and quit substituting it for your ignorance of when to use ‘me’ and ‘I’; it just makes you look like you didn’t pay attention in high school), correct use of then and than, etc. You may think to say so makes me a grammar elitist, but it honestly matters in business, regardless of whether you like it or not. Kudos to Mr. Murray for pointing this out.

It is a quick read and to the point, and I hope you will give it the time I feel it deserves. Well done.
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