Rating: 
Summary: Inconclusive
Review: The book presents a large number of cases that are neither well-categorised nor described.
Rating: 
Summary: The most arrogant writer?
Review: The book could have been great--the topic has such potential to be entertaining and inspiring. I don't mind the armchair psychology and I like reading about life decisions of real people. The problem is that the author is so arrogant that the book quickly becomes annoying. By the fifth chapter, it was almost ridiculous how he would compliment himself. I was calling my friends and reading aloud the text, just to laugh at it. By the 10th chapter I had to put the book down.
Rating:
Summary: Dissapointing
Review: I can't understand those that think this is an important book. I thought it would be an interesting study, so I kept reading, hoping that the next chapter would show people that knew what they wanted to do with their lives and how they got there. Instead, more of people with no idea. Directly after reading this, I read Michael Lewis' Moneyball. He presents person after person who knows exactly what they want to do with their lives. Great book, read this instead.
Rating:
Summary: trite and incomplete
Review: I read the first 50 pages before I decided to stop reading this book. Bronson slaps together trite, incomplete and uninsightful interviews with a lofty title. Instead of developing the stories of a few individuals, Bronson gives the reader many 4 page interviews that are full of irrelevant discussion and Bronson's own trite analysis. Perhaps only a page or two are devoted to describing the struggles the person went through to arrive at his/her decision. This book has no answer's and also fails to ask the right questions. It also does a poor job of describing the stories' of the interviewees.
Rating:
Summary: What would Po Bronson do?
Review: After reading numerous reviews and after the NPR interview, I was really excited to read this book. In the end, it was nothing like I expected it to be. Instead of reading essays about career changes and interesting occupations, I felt like I was reading essays about what the author would do in each of the given situations. I find this to be rather arrogant given most of the circumstances. The book has much thought-provoking potential, but it falls way short. I found Bronson's observations to be a bit short sighted and not always on target. In the end, I was just annoyed. This definitely would have benefitted from a more "hands-off" approach on the author's part. What a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: It didn't work for me
Review: If you have an amiable or expressive social learning style this book would interest you. I have an analytical driver style so after the first chapter I was bored. I thought the book would be more like 'What Color is Your Parachute' or 'Whistle While You Work'. I expected some interesting means/methods to discover what I want to be when I grow up. If you find yourself lacking self-esteem or seek the comfort how others finds themselves, try this book. There was too much emphasis on the Generation 'Why' crowd in the interviews. Maybe the author feels more comfortable interviewing his generation.
Rating:
Summary: title should be: "Redefining the Yuppie"
Review: This book was an easy read and it was fun to learn what people
do with their lives. However, halfway through the book, you
realize the "real people" in this book are all
white (or asian) whining yuppies in the 25-35
age range and it gets annoying. Oh gee, next time I go
through life going to ivy league schools, and I'm
torn between my job as a professional dancer and
a stock broker with a zillion dollar salary and
I want to quit it all to become a school teacher, but I have
to sell my BMW, I'll know i'm not alone.
Rating: 
Summary: Your life BEGINS each day.
Review: If you are one of the few people in this world who LOVES her/his job each and every day, consider yourself extraordinarily LUCKY! (You many think of this book as wasteful of your time.) As for the rest of us, we could use a little deep thinking on the subject of what it is that we DO for a paycheck.
Do we need to keep doing what we are doing - or should we change it?
This handy little book explores the things some people did that were GOOD, and what other people did that were NOT so good at all. The reader is encouraged to apply what she has read, and hopefully - it will transform the trajectory of her life....The aim is to redirect oneself into a life more worthy. After all - professional work requires tons of personal effort..shouldn't it be fun at least SOME OF THE TIME??? If this book helps someone to spend some valuable time examining thier professional life; it is well worth it.
No, this handy little book will NOT TELL YOU WHAT TO DO with your life -- it only begs the questions -- is what you're doing worth one's effort, and do you really wish to waste much more time spinning your wheels at something you HATE and DETEST doing?
One can appreciate the interviews Mr. Bronson conducted, and the time he spent traveling alone in order for himself to reflect on his career as well.
I'd say Bronson is in the right business.
I found the book to be most inspiring.
One additional unexpected bonus (that means nothing at all)...Mr. Bronson is surprisingly handsome. Not to insinuate that authors are bad looking, but I was pleasantly surprized to see his lovely face at the end of the book.
If he gets tired of writing, I suppose he could choose modeling as a career alternative! HA!
Rating:
Summary: what should I do with my life
Review: Mildly complex, mildly amusing tales of (usually fairly young) individuals who are searching for the "true" story of their lives. They hope and long (consciously, but mostly unconsciously) to align their work lives and work-identity with a sought-after "truth" about who they really are. Most of the individuals in the book have obviously not done intrapsychic therapy work, and therefore have not learned that their stories (some long and complicated, some short and obvious) all revolve around family-of-origin themes. Most of the individuals in this book have not yet recognized that reality, and the author only addresses this important issue briefly overall. Too bad, because it would be a much more powerful and useful exploration of the search for meaning, if Mr. Bronson included more wisdom about the REAL underlying themes of the human condition.
Rating:
Summary: Bronson's best work yet
Review: Po Bronson digs deep in the zitergeist (if that's a word) of our times. He captured the Go Go high finance 80s with "the Bombradiers" and the rage of the internet rush with "Nudist on the Late Shift" and "The first 20 million is always the hardest" As many people are questioning their lives in a post-internet-bubble post-9/11 world, the book strikes at a question many are asking.Approaching this subject without a definite agenda is a difficult task. There is no "Salvation is in religeon" or "Follow my framework" or "Just listen to yourself" easy answer here. Instead, the book follows some loose themes of people struggling with this question. Perhaps this lack of a concrete answer (and there really is none!) is why there is so much passion both praising and attacking this work. As someone going through some of these questions myself, I came away with some definite takeaways:
1 - Figuring out what to do is not an easy task.
2 - It's rarely a quick process.
3 - Others are going through it to, and it's not a fruitless pursuit. Although I did not come out of reading the book with a grand Buddhist enlightenment, I did come away with a better understanding of the murky question suggested by the title.
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