Rating: 
Summary: OK. I get it. But...
Review: ...I have a big problem with the premise that people need to constantly move with the Cheese. After listening to the tape, I'd ask myself, "What is the role of Cheese in my life?" Is Cheese, perhaps, more important to me than Spirit, which has no use for earthly Cheese? Is Loyalty less important? What about Emotional Foundation? Trust? Faith? Inner Peace? All of these immeasurable functions would be discounted in the world of Hem and Haw, Sniff and Scurry. In real-world terms, would I be ready to discard my belief systems, my choice of relationships, choice of careers, etc., etc. just because I sense my Cheese resources are dwindling? And what would I leave behind?I believe many life situations--building a business, a marriage or relationship, building a faith practice, writing a symphony, raising children, or even building a retirement profolio etc.--require long-term commitment, loyalty, trust and longsuffering tenacity. And dedicating my efforts solely on pursuing Cheese would undoubtably make my life cheap and meaningless, often devoting most of my time to trudging dark, treacherous mazes and writing proverbs on its walls. "My life pursuing Cheese," by...a reader from Atlanta. That doesn't sound like a best seller to me as a final testament. While the parable itself is somewhat commendable and important, I resented its simplistic and sarcastic presentation (I'm speaking of the tape version). And having the book not yet in paperback and at 92+ pages hardback, I sense the authors'interest in making money over that of telling a good story. Of course, when Cheese does move, I plan to hear (or reread) this useful parable again for comfort and resolve. When it's time to "be still" however, I'd put the tape (book) away and enjoy the sunshine.
Rating: 
Summary: There is nothing like a good parable...
Review: and this is nothing like a good parable. This was too contrived to be good, and very disappointing. Very silly and not all that well-written. Parables are inspired, this read as if the author spent too much time making the obvious complicated!
Rating: 
Summary: Pricey
Review: This book has only 94 pages (in large font), and it's so expensive. It's like going to an expensive mediocre restaurant: The food's OK, but overpriced and overhyped. (And where's the beef?) The message is nice, cute, simple and easy to read. It's more like a pamphlet than a book actually, the kind that you would read at the waiting room of a doctor's office. It deals with how to handle change in our lives and in our fast-paced everchanging world, and the author creates a parody of how 4 different personalities react to change. The ideas were presented clearly, and the analogy is brilliant. It was a fun read, but I guess I just felt a bit ripped-off by the publishing company.
Rating: 
Summary: Getting Out of Your Head and Back to Reality
Review: Sometimes, we get trapped in our own heads and inertia, and need an idea, an experience, or a book to coach us out of it. Who Moved My Cheese? accomplishes this wonderfully well, painting a captivating picture of the mechanics by which we enslave ourselves and entomb our discontent. Short, sweet, and movtivationally written, I give this book 5 stars. I highly recommend "The One Minute Manager" as well, by the same authors. Both books capture the subtle nuances of human thought and motivation in a excellent format. They may simplify, and not delve into the fine details and exceptions within their topics, but they are all the better for that. Think of them them as poetry, capturing essense in a way that longer works simply cannot. The one caveat I'd add is that anything simple CAN be dangerous out of context. Nothing in life is this simple. ... After all, thinking something is very different from continually living something. Still, I don't thing this caveat distracts from the book. The book is a simple meditation on an important topic- reacting to change. It doesn't make claims to being a complex treatise, and to complain about it not being so is like complaining that a haiku is to short. The book is true to its intent, and I think a review should take into account intent, audience, and execution of intent- hence my five stars. As for the high price hardcover, I never actually thought about that...well, that's what the market is for- supply and demand. I've no complaints. Books are the best deal on the planet. I've read many $$$ books that I'd happily have paid $$$ to read. As a side note, in many ways, this book reflects an essential concept of most eastern philosophy, including Buddha's Four Noble Truths:
1. suffering is the nature of reality (Dukkha)
2. suffering is caused by attachment to permanence (Samudaya)
3. by overcoming attachment, we can overcome suffering (Nirodha)
4. the way to this is The Noble Eightfold Path (Magga) A detailed metaphysics of cheese awaits construction...
Rating:
Summary: Change, how to deal with it, how to evolve
Review: Simple, concise, clear, easy, in fact too easy. A worthy story of mankind looking in the mirror and attempting to address "change". But change is not scarey, change is about evolving, and as people and people in business evolution is key. Since first reading this book, my office purchased 3 more and have entered then into our corporate library. All Sales and Marketing people within our organisation have read it and believed to have obtained some "a-ha" experience. Further it is now required reading for all new staff. Treat yourself, buy the book, you will read in about 2 hours, its life message is awesome... its business potential is equally as awesome!
Rating:
Summary: Adjusting to the harsh reality if change...
Review: Evolutionary biologists tell us that it is the not the intelligent creatures who survive but those who adapt to changing conditions. It's an easy observation that flexible people have far less stress and emotional pain in their lives too. The book Who Moved My Cheese is about adapting to change. It is told in the form of a parable. It is currently the #1 business best seller. The author, Spencer Johnson, is one of the co-authors of The One Minute Manager, but, thankfully, Who Moved My Cheese is much shorter, readable and entertaining. The book is written in ordinary language, with no jargon, psychological or otherwise. It's an easy one-hour read and doesn't have the feel of a business book. There are four characters in the book: two mice named Sniff and Scurry and two littlepeople, named Hem and Haw. They live in a maze. Every day there is a big piece of tasty cheese in one spot in the maze. Every day everyone goes and gets their fill. One day the cheese disappears. Sniff and Scurry, simple creatures that they are, react instantly by running wildly throughout the maze looking for new cheese, which they quickly find. Hem and Haw are self-important, middle-class burghers. Their comfortable lives are based on things staying the way they are. Their minds are richer and more complicated than Sniff and Scurry's. When the cheese disappears, they go into denial, anger, resentment, bitterness and all sorts of desperate speculation. They want their cheese back, but they can't or won't do anything about it because they are so set in their ways. They starve. Eventually Haw, slowly and painfully adjusts to reality, but he must overcome his paralyzing fears of going out into the unfamiliar parts of the maze and looking for new cheese. Hem just doesn't "get" it. He can't get over the fact that someone took away his cheese. He refuses to look for new cheese and just goes on hoping that someone will put a big piece of cheese back in the old cheese station. Cheese is a symbol for what we want out of life, be it money, power, a job, inner peace or a stable relationship. The maze represents life but, more specifically, the context, be it organizational, social or mental, within which we look for our cheese. The author tells us that each of the four characters represent attitudes within us. That itself is a fairly optimistic message. They could have said that each person is like one of the characters, which would mean that many of us ( the Hems) are doomed! The title of the book involves an optimistic modification of our attitudes also. It's, Who Moved My Cheese," not "Who Took My Cheese." The former suggests it's just a matter of finding out where the new cheese is, that latter, that you have no options. I think most people fall into the Haw category, but there are lots of Hems in this world. (I'm one of them!) One of the messages of the book is that when confronted with unsettling changes, if we feel like a Hem, if we are going to have to take a few lessons from Haw, if we want to survive. We should look for the Sniff's, Scurry's and Haw's within us to improve ourselves. The best line in the book is, "What you are afraid of is never as bad as what you imagine." People are far more able to adapt than they realize. The moral of the story is to be alert for changes and to move where and when the cheese moves. If only I would take my own advice! ... Enjoy the Cheese.
Rating:
Summary: I don't know...
Review: So the point of the book is "all things always change". I knew that. I've always phrased it, "adapt, migrate or die", but okay, it's just a style thing. I didn't particularly like the book because it was a little simplistic and predictable for me. I can understand how some people could enjoy the metaphor of the mice and the cheese. I just already worked this out.
Rating:
Summary: Too Medium
Review: This book was truthful and a helpful reminder; however, a timeless parable should impart wisdom most of all unto the previously wise. 'Who Moved My Cheese?' either attempts to target the 'employee' or hopes to resurrect the hapless employer. By definition a parable is a simple construct, yet a timeless parable constructs its power upon a seemingly endless depth of meaning and continual output of inspiration. "Who Moved My Cheese?," is a one time read and therefore achieves good coffee table adornment rather than majestic bookshelf, multi-generational longevity...
Rating:
Summary: Good idea for a book, but ...
Review: I can't believe this book became a bestseller. Was it because the authors had written other bestseller books? The first thought I had after reading the book was: "I gotta get a book published too!" (I have one in the works). Anyway, the *real* message in this book is about coping with change ... how to confront it, how to understand what to do & how to deal with it. The topic is definitely book-worthy, but the material covered in this book is barely enough for an article. This book is more like a self-help advice book, like a speech from a big brother telling you that it's sometimes good to take risks. The presentation of the idea in this book could have been edited down to about 10 pages and made enough for the first chapter. There should have been additional chapters that analyzed each of the issues related to coping with change in detail. You'll finish this entire book in less than an hour and find yourself saying "Huh? ... I paid 20 bucks (15, whatever) for this?!" Just read it in a library (or your bookstore!) ...
Rating:
Summary: Little Stars
Review: I skipped the 4 and 5 star reviews. It is amazing how the 3 and under folk all have the same dim and dim-witted view on life. They will be in my prayers. God speaks to us from a wide variety of sources, this book speaks from Christian (Hebraic) scripture and will be the source of a years worth of sermons.
Those who thought it too simple missed the point, that is the point, like most easily digested points it is simple, unambigious and clearly laid out.
Like the good book I live by this is sent from a good source and it will be an added chapter.
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