Rating: 
Summary: I Liked It! I Really LIKED It!
Review: I feel badly for all those reviewers who got no joy from this little book. Yes, there is nothing new here -- check up regularly to see if things are changing, embrace change, etc. etc. But I liked Michael's use (pg 85) of the characters to motivate his workers. I am imagining myself enjoying new cheese!
Rating: 
Summary: One Star Because They Won't Let Me Put NO Stars!
Review: One can almost hear the ice tinkling in the glasses at management cocktail parties, as six-figure-makers stand with jutted jaw discussing what an "amazing" (a word the authors have chosen to place on the cover!) management book this is (not). "Why, it's the perfect tool we need to persuade our ignorant, rigid, non-thinking, resistent-to-change employees to see the light and do what we say," one might say. Here we go again with the paradigm shift parable, repackaged this time as a children's story (for adults! What next? Saturday morning cartoons?) This book is the perfect example of what is wrong with America: We are constantly being spoon-fed the rediculous and far too many are swallowing, making yet another foolish fad a national craze (after all, is this not the way we measure success?). Did anyone notice that the cheese-seeking authors strive to bolster their perceived importance of this book by not only hawking their previous accomplishment on the cover -- but they also dupe the public with a gold ribbon-style graphic which is obviously intended to lead the buyer into thinking this must be an award winning book! Yes, Ken and Spence, change CAN be good. Like when you get to update your sailboat to a yacht or buy that larger property in the Hamptons as the result of another bestseller. But to middle America (us heathens who refuse to search out "new cheese" without first asking why) change is very often not good. I congratulate you both for a stellar job in masterful manipulation of corporate America. You know just what buttons to push and how to package the age old "Change and Live/Don't Change and Die" rule of business. You must have sold a lot of books and made all kinds of cheese with your efforts, fellas. Whoever paid a dime for this book must be asking the real question:"Who STOLE My Cheese?" And the answer is, "Those two big RATS, Spence Johnson and Ken Blanchard."
Rating:
Summary: Only book that I have ever returned.
Review: This book left me saying, "IS THAT IT"! My first error in buying a book without reading the reviews first. I assumed it was going to be something great! I was wrong! I think alot of people made the same mistake as I did, much to the delite of the author. The reason the book has sold so well can be summed up in four words, "The One Minute Manager". "PURSUE, ADAPT AND OVERCOME", I think I learned this more from an old Clint Eastwood movie. Save Your Money!
Rating:
Summary: A frightening book
Review: I had a chance to read this book last night. Actually, I could have read it during the commercials of a rerun of "Gilligan's Island." This book is frightening. And it's inspirational. I mean inspirational in the sense that you can take one tiny little insignificant and silly story, wrap some inane gibberish around it, bind it in hardcover and sell it for $20 a throw. And because it is clearly propaganda, multiple copies of the book are bought and distributed at many companies, sales meetings, conventions, etc. Someday, I'd like to figure out a scam like that. First of all, the book is so childish, it's embarrassing to read. In fact, I found my self skipping over parts just because I couldn't read that slowly. And I'm not a speedy reader. Even the discussions before and after the story seem to be written for a pre-schooler. Secondly, the book's basic premise is that we're all small little animals (the smartest of whom are mice) who are running around in a maze looking for cheese being placed in arbitrary positions by some unknown power. Yep, that's exactly the way that I want to envision my life's paradigm. The book's message is to "go for the cheese" and to bow to the will of those unknown powers. And if you stand up and challenge the situation, in effect challenging those powers, you're clearly a loser. In fact, fans of the book will probably accuse me of being a "Hem." Well, if Hem hadn't been this poor defenseless little critter stuck in the maze, but had been able to reach out to the guy in the white coat who had moved his cheese, I'm guessing it would have been a much different story. Hem would have gotten his cheese, throttled the lab assistant, and maybe even have found some nice apple pie as well. This frightening and insipid book insists that we be meek and simply go with the flow. But sometimes standing up and struggling is the answer. But that struggle, while it is necessary for most companies and organizations to survive and grow, is not what many managers want. They want you to be quiet and go find your new cheese. In fact, I was flipping through the endorsements for this book and I found almost all of the people to be managers and executives who presumably like to be surrounded by "yes men." Finally, the mercenary Dr. Johnson uses the text to blatantly sell more copies. On the very last page, the character known as Michael says that "it works best, of course, when everyone in your organization knows the story." And on the facing page, what do we see but a form to order more copies. I felt like I had just read a hardcover piece of literature for motivational products. This book is wrong. It teaches that you must accept change without regard to whether it is appropriate it not. It teaches that you must not struggle, you must not fight...you must simply accept whatever change happens. You must meekly move on to find your cheese, wherever it has been arbitrarily placed. I'm sure that Saddam Hussein would have loved to buy a few of these books to airdrop on Kuwait before his invasion. From management's perspective, this is the perfect book to distribute when a company is going through a reorganization. Rather than try to justify their actions and admit that they're burying a few bodies, management can simply say, "are you a Hem or a Haw?" One final piece of advice. If you're ever interviewing for a job, and you see this book on someone's desk, get up and walk out. No, don't walk - run. Your cheese isn't at that company.
Rating:
Summary: Who Moved My Cheese?
Review: Excellent quick read (45 mins or less) that you'll want to read again!
Rating: 
Summary: Save your money
Review: I am ashamed to have contributed my money to the "Who Moved My Cheese" industry (Book, Movie, Programs, Products at www.whomovedmycheese.com) which is devoted to browbeating people with the obvious. Talk about hype . . . even disregarding the majority of rave reviews on Amazon.com, and the cover blurb . . . of the ninety-six pages in this small book, four are devoted to testimonials, six are "The Story Behind the Story", four are the actual prologue to the story, eighteen are a rehash of the story (sort of an epilog), and the last page is an order form for more copies of the book. Only fifty-one pages are the actual "parable", and of these, fiftteen are taken up by full-page illustrations reminiscent of the word slides at a motivational meeting - for example, "Smell the Cheese Often, So You Know When It is Getting Old". In case the reader misses the point, these cutesy word slides are repeated later, under more literal headings, such as "Monitor Change." The story is just what you would expect of someone whose job it is to promote change. It does have some charm, but that is seriously marred by Haw's ruminations about his state of mind. This writing is not in the same league as the story of the ant and the grasshopper. These is one moment of drama in the story, when Hem decides to make a hole to see if he can find more Cheese. It seems for a moment that the characters might find a way out of the maze in which they are eternally trapped. They might get out of the maze and into the laboratory kitchen, where the cheese really comes from. But resistance to the system is not on the author's agenda, and in the story, the hole leads nowhere. Although Hem says, "I'm going to get to the bottom of this," the author intends for us to see that resistance is futile, and the route to success is running the rat race as mindlessly as possible. Save your money.
Rating:
Summary: Cheese? Oh please.....
Review: Somewhat entertaining overview of the rat-race as we know it. The message "Who Moved My Cheese" sells is "Pay attention and Adapt" Around my office, people seem to read this book just to be able to discuss it with others who've read it. Could have just as easily written a book called, "How to take a novel five-minute dinner story and turn it into a boring, drawn-out, condescendingly irritating book." My recommendation: Borrow it and save your $.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun but not particularly insightful
Review: This was a fun little allegory. For the price, I would have preferred something a little more substantial. I find it very difficult to believe the claim at the front of this book that this allegory has changed people's lives. The message is simple and obvious.
Rating:
Summary: a quick read (or listen) for those with open minds
Review: In addition to an open mind, you'll also need to be receptive to abstract thinking to get the book's message and successfully apply it to individual situations. The book is about our pursuit of "cheese" or happiness (goals, dreams, etc.) and says quite simply that, if we can no longer find our cheese, we should search for it. Individuals are in control of initiating that search and, in my opinion, the book doesn't imply that others are in charge of "cheese placement" (or removal). But, if we find that we can no longer find our cheese (happiness) in a work or personal situation, that we should weigh whether or not we should continue with the same old routine or make some changes in our jobs, lives, etc. The mice/little people in the maze alegory was mildly cute and lightens the mood for thinking about a situation that in reality may be difficult.
Rating:
Summary: Insights to an important idea
Review: If change is frightening or difficult, you will find helpful insights in this short, entertaining story. The power and weakness of the book comes from its simplicity. We are reminded that change is the only constant, the only sure thing we can bet on. By embracing change, we can learn to anticipate, adjust and adapt. In other words, our response to change is very much the result of how we think about it. The book uses a simple story to make these and other important points. This is a great book for managers who are trying to understand how to adapt to the fast changing business environment of the Internet Age. If you do not expect to find all the answers in one place you will enjoy this very quick read.
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