Rating: 
Summary: Please Take This Cheese Away!
Review: The basic theme of this book is that we're all little creatures who are running around in a maze looking for cheese being placed in arbitrary positions by some higher power. The book is divided into three parts. The first and last parts involve several former classmates who meet for lunch after their high school reunion, and share the changes that each is experiencing in his/her life. The middle part of the book appears to be a metaphor about change; it is about two mice named Sniff and Scurry, and two "little people" named Hem and Haw. They are neighbors who live in a maze and eat only cheese, which represents what we want in life. Every morning Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Haw head over to the Cheese Station, a place in the maze where they were used to finding an endless supply of cheese. One day the Cheese is not there. Sniff and Scurry, who are simple, uncomplicated creatures, quickly size up the situation and take off in pursuit of more cheese. Hem and Haw have difficulty accepting that their routine has changed and expect the cheese to be replaced by morning, but the cheese is never replaced. Eventually Hem realizes that he must take a risk and adventure into the maze for a new source of cheese. He cannot convince Haw that taking action is better than sitting and waiting, so he goes off alone. Through trial and error, he finally finds more cheese, and rejoins Sniff and Scurry who found the supply earlier and are now happily full, and the three of them coexist in harmony and bliss from this point on. Hem and the mice have learned the lesson, and are ready to move if the situation changes again. At the end of the story, they hear noises and hope that it is Haw who finally realized that he needed to find a new source of cheese. I found this book to be an absurd example of a self-help guide/ professional, business tactic manual. The book is written so simplistically, it's childish to read. I found myself skipping over parts just because I was bored to tears. I personally would not want to work for a company that observed this dogma. This book goes against most of what I believe in as a professional. 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 it not. From management's perspective, I can see that this might be just the right kind of propaganda to distribute to staff when a company is going through a re-organization or downsizing; they can use this to justify their tactics. Overall, I found this book annoying and grating, and would probably not recommend it to anyone I know. I find that standing up and struggling is usually the answer in life (or at least in my life). But that struggle, while it is necessary for most companies and organizations to survive and grow, is not what most managers want. They just want you to be quiet and go find your cheese.
Rating:
Summary: Moldy Minds
Review: I was required to read "Who Moved My Cheese," and to post this review, as part of my masters' degree curriculum. I read the book in the bathroom of room 817 of the Chattanooga, Tennessee, Marriott Hotel. While our two children (aged five and two), slept peacefully in the hotel beds in the next room, I sat up on the vanity near the sink, while my husband stretched out in the tub, reading Karen Armstrong's "The Battle for God." How did we come to be thus: reading books in a small, uncomfortable room under a brash and flickering florescent light? In fact, just hours before, someone had Moved Our Cheese. That someone was the Sheraton Read House Hotel down the street which, despite our having paid in advance through lodging.com for a two-room suite, had, upon our arrival at 4:30 p.m., given that suite to someone else. So it was with particular interest that I opened the pages of Spencer Johnson's best-seller, truly wanting to know: what should a rational person do when their cheese has been moved? Dr. Johnson's tale is a simple one: two mice, Sniff and Scurry, and two "little people" named Hem and Haw, one day discover that the traditional source of their cheese is gone. As Johnson explains it: "Cheese in this case is a metaphor for what you want to have in life, whether it is a good job, a loving relationship, money, a possession, health or spiritual peace of mind." Predictably, when the two mice realize the cheese is gone and it is not coming back, they sniff and scurry off and find an abundant new source of cheese. The human like creatures do not fare as well: Hem continues to bemoan the loss of his cheese and to feel sorry for himself, whilst Haw, after an initial period of fear and self-doubt, comes to realize that more cheese, better cheese, new and interesting cheese, is out there for the asking. If only one is courageous enough to see past the loss, new opportunities await. In other words: If Your Company Gave You This Book You Are About to be Fired or Downsized, Little Mousie. Love, Management. What did I learn from this book that I can apply to my personal and professional life? As I was already familiar with the concept of reality and how to deal with it, the book was not particularly helpful (although Johnson's chutzpah did make me laugh a lot ). However, reading "Who Moved My Cheese" did do quite a bit to confirm that our society is not getting any smarter. Is this what becomes a national bestseller today? Trite, insipid platitudes aimed at those who are grasping at the one-minute pop psychology solution? Is it a coincidence that the ½ hour it takes to read this book is about the same amount of time it takes to watch a TV sitcom? This book does nothing to assuage those who fear that we're becoming a nation of morons: indeed, it validated for me the suspicion that much of our culture today is directed toward the lowest common denominator. How else can we explain the popularity of a book that is more appropriate for my five-year-old son than someone out in the business world. The book's "lessons" are so painfully simplistic as to be insulting. Surely every reasonable person has figured out, by the age of 25, that change is inevitable and one must roll with the punches? Can America's business leaders really believe their workforces are such simpletons as to benefit from such gems as (real chapter headings, I am not making this up): "Change Happens," "Anticipate the Change," "Monitor Change," "Adapt to Change Quickly," "Change," "Enjoy Change!," and "Be Ready to Quickly Change Again and Again?" Indeed, the only one truly benefiting, it seems to me, is Dr. Spencer Johnson. At $19.95 a pop that little mouse must surely laugh himself to sleep every night.
Rating: 
Summary: Cheesy.
Review: I hate change. It is my biggest weakness. When I was recommended to read 'Who Moved My Cheese,' I was looking for a thick, hard cover book with gold wordings and a dark background in the self-improvement section. But it turned out to be the exact opposite. With a book so thin and words written in font size 16 (I think), I wondered if I could get anything out of it. And I'm still wondering if I did. A childlike story that gets its point across, it's easy for the reader to grasps the importance of embracing change. I think Dr. Johnson was going for a simple story with a huge impact. The discussion part at the end of the book helps the reader understand better by applying real scenarios we go through everyday in our personal and work life. When I was done with the final page, I agreed with Dr. Johnson wholeheartedly. I understood the story and the dangers of resisting change. But so what? We all know that. It just wasn't inspiring and motivating enough for a stubborn mule like me.
Rating: 
Summary: A Book for the Heart, Not for the Mind
Review: Who Moved My Cheese was not written to enlighten the mind; it was written to encourage the heart. It's no secret that the business environment is churning today. Things are changing so fast, it makes your head spin. There is no security for anyone - from large, established corporations to individual workers. The rules change constantly. Much has been written about the fear of losing one's job. Companies have been downsizing, right-sizing, merging - and dying for several years. The relationship between employers and employees has changed drastically. And the change is not going to stop; the rate of change is going to 'increase. Adapting to all these changes, especially the loss of a sense of security, can be extremely traumatic. Who Moved My Cheese is intended to help people, from CEOs to hourly workers, acknowledge that things are changing and that they can deal with it - even profit from it. It gives people renewed hope, realistic hope. It can help both organizations and individuals redefine who they are and how they can compete in the new marketplace. It's a wake-up call. It's a challenge to transform oneself from a victim to an opportunist.
Rating:
Summary: Dealing with change and assessing risk
Review: This short parable about dealing with change helped my son to start a new business after failing in a previous attempt. If you have difficulty dealing with change, this book will help you to overcome it. You will understand the benefits involved in take small steps to create desirable outcomes. I also recommend Optimal Thinking by Rosalene Glickman, Ph.D. (Wiley 2002) to show you how to make the best choices in any situation, evaluate risk, and master the emotions that thwart success.
Rating:
Summary: Stinky Cheese: The World's Most Insipid Management Method
Review: First, let me say that I have never felt my intelligence more insulted than when reading Dr. Spencer Johnson's book, Who Moved My Cheese? With support and acclaim from major corporations such as AAA, General Motors, MCI, Kodak, Time Warner, and Whirlpool, I was expecting just what the front cover promised, "a gem - small and valuable". However, as I began reading this insipid, little book, I realized that it was a trite, loquacious rendering of fourth-grade wisdom.
This "wisdom" comes in the form of a child's bedtime story told by a professional adult to other professional adults. The story takes place in a maze, much like one you might find in a scientist's lab full of scurrying mice tracking down bits of cheese. Two mice, "Sniff" and "Scurry", as well as two "little people" (small creatures - just as their name denotes), "Hem" and "Haw", live in this maze. Their days consist of finding, keeping, and eating cheese, which is magically provided for them by some outside source. One day, they wake to find that the cheese is gone. While "Sniff" and "Scurry" go hunting through the maze for more cheese, "Hem" and "Haw" keep on at the old site waiting days for a new batch of cheese to be provided for them.
Eventually, "Hem" and "Haw" make a journey throughout the maze to find more cheese - obviously, because if they do not, they will die of starvation (let me say that I personally do not consider an all-diary diet as either healthy or nutritious). On their journey, they encounter several high school gym teacher-esque posters with inspirational meditations such as, "Old beliefs to not lead to new cheese"; "Move with the cheese, and enjoy it"; and "It is safer to search in the maze than remain in a cheese-less situation". (Pearls of wisdom if ever were spoken, I'm sure.)
Of course, "Hem" and "Haw" do find a new location full of cheese where "Sniff" and "Scurry" have been for days already. There, they discover the "handwriting on the wall", a rather irreverent and incompetent allusion to the Judeo-Christian Biblical accounts of the Ten Commandments and the book of Daniel's (yes, of the lion's den) divine handwriting on the wall. All seven (according to the Bible's book of Revolation, seven is God's holy number) of the "handwriting on the wall" phrases are including on a handy-dandy little bookmark that comes free (!) with the book (ah, it's all worth it now).
My problem with all of this lovely, itemized wisdom is just that - its lack of any apparent real or new wisdom. I refuse to believe that companies that have enjoyed as much success as Amway, Exxon, Hewlett-Packard, Pepsi, and Shell do not already know and have not already applied the information offered by our distinguished Dr. Johnson. In fact, I daresay that more research into the marketing strategies and company developments of these corporations would prove the very fact that Dr. Johnson has only reiterated what they have been practicing for years already.
Not only does Spencer Johnson spew out some of the most common sense business information, but he also includes a large amount of personal propaganda and praise on the cover and the first several pages of the text:
"Spencer Johnson's unique insights and storytelling make this a rare book..." Randy Harris of Merrill Lynch International proclaims. John Lopiano of the Xerox Corporation says, "This wonderful book is an asset to any person or group". Even Albert Simone, president of Rochester Institute of Technology states that, "Dr. Johnson's enticing images and language give us a fundamentally sound and memorable way of managing change".
Even former co-author, Ken Blanchard, Ph.D. (together they wrote The One Minute Manager) throws in his two cents with a stupefying forward retelling the success of the book within his own companies, "When I told people about the story and then they got to read Who Moved My Cheese? you could almost feel the release of negative energy beginning to occur. Person after person from every department went out of their way to thank me for the book and told me how helpful it had been to them already... The Ken Blanchard Companies are constantly changing. They keep moving our cheese." Thank you Dr. Blanchard.
So, why, you are probably asking, if this book is so ridiculous are all of these distinguished companies and people of fine credentials praising its wonders? In truth, I cannot be sure. My first theory was that they must have been drugged, brainwashed, mind-melded (I don't really know what this is, but I think it's pretty bad) or paid off by Dr. Johnson and his associates in a scheme to hype his book to the public, boosting sales and making them all incredibly wealthy. Next, I thought that perhaps Dr. Johnson and friends had infused the pages of the book with a chemical that shuts down the human brain's ability to recognize useless and crappy self-help manuals (which is why I read my copy with plastic gloves and a gas mask). My last theory had to do with an alien plot for world domination, but I threw that one out after a while.
Honestly, and in all seriousness, I can find no logical reason why any person with the IQ of a rock or higher would read this book and get anything useful from it. Its painfully obvious "discoveries" about the changing nature of the business world are insulting to human intelligence; and its self-serving self-proclamation (touted by Johnson himself) is irreverent and even a little disgusting. As the ancient Roman writer and philosopher Pliny said, "Aiunt enim multum legendum esse, non multa." It means, "Truly they say that much must be read, not many things." Pliny was differentiating between reading much that is good, useful, and wise ("much must be read") and reading a lot without censoring out the "trash" so to speak ("not many things"). My advice to you: wake up and smell the cheese; it stinks.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughts about change
Review: Who Moved My Cheese is a nice book to help you reflect on change and the impact on your life. I read it in an evening and it did help me to think quite a bit, and the story was a breeze to get through. I also ordered the Emotional Intelligence Quickbook which was recommended on this page--read them both in one night ;) Anyway, I recommend the Quickbook as well because it taught me how my emotions play a role in how I react to change, and had some really great research on specific strategies that folks have used to get results. It also came with a free emotional intelligence test which was fun and taught me a lot.
Rating:
Summary: Simple, Fun, and Enlightening
Review: I avoided this book for months because the title struck me as something I did not have the time for. However, once I overcame my arrogance, I discovered this small book featuring mice in a maze as a metaphor for real life had an important message to tell. People naturally resist change, and in today's societal and economic environment, this means being left behind. The authors do a great job of illustrating how those who anticipate and/or accept change prosper, while those who resist change, fail. This book is a quick read, but offers a valuable lesson for life. I recommend it for anyone brave enough to face their fear of change.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice little book
Review: I work for a fortune 500 company and this book was highly recommended by our management team. So much so that they bought several dozen copies for our employee library and gave several more away as gifts. I really don't understand the people bashing this book. All I can figure out is that they never read it or resist change. In either case, their loss.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: There is not much I can say about this book that has not already been said in the eleven hundred reviews already written.
The book is a gem, it helped me to look at change in a totally different way. I was able to see myself and others in Scurry and Hem, my two favorite characters. Since reading it I have recommended this book to many and plan to re-read it over and over again.
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