Rating: 
Summary: A Lifesaver
Review: Beth Sawi's book puts into words the conflicts every working person, especially moms and dads, face every day. And, the advice for how to balance one's life is practical and actually works! This b ook is a must read for every working person who wants to live long enough to enjoy life.
Rating:
Summary: Coming Up for Air
Review: Beth Sawi's book was an exceptionally useful tool as my husband and I evaluated our all-too-busy lives as we were flying back from a vacation. The book helped us set priorities, and talk together about what each of us needs to create a more balanced life. The book is readable and the case studies were particularly helpful. My highest praises for this book!
Rating:
Summary: Coming Up for Air
Review: Beth Sawi's book was an exceptionally useful tool as my husband and I evaluated our all-too-busy lives as we were flying back from a vacation. The book helped us set priorities, and talk together about what each of us needs to create a more balanced life. The book is readable and the case studies were particularly helpful. My highest praises for this book!
Rating:
Summary: A Life-Changing Book !
Review: Coming Up for Air is gratifying to read (and reread) because clearly the author has lived and breathed this topic. Finally - someone really understands the struggle of trying to balance a well-loved (but stressful) career and a full life! The exercises and real-people stories are truly insightful. There are great suggestions to implement right away. I can feel the difference it has made in my outlook already. Almost everyone I know would benefit from reading this book.
Rating: 
Summary: What about regular folk?
Review: I found it a bit hard to relate to the author on this one--she's a high-paid executive who can afford to hire nannies, housekeepers, landscapers, etc. It's a bit easier to have balance when you have money. It would be great to see a book by a regular parent that had some tips in it.
Rating:
Summary: A voice of sanity
Review: I originally picked up this book because I was looking for some books to recommend at the end of an article I was writing about balancing multiple part-time jobs. I didn't expect it would tell me anything I didn't already know. But once I started reading it, I could not put it down. The most valuable thing in this book in her section on identifying your priorities. I have spent way too much of my life confused about what kind of work I should be doing and how I should be spending my time, wondering whether I was doing the right thing, and feeling guilty and angst-ridden about my decisions. This book really helped me make a conscious choice about what my priorities are, and how I can best pursue them. I keep a list of my top 6 priorities in life on an index card in my appointment book, where I can see it. Now when I take a couple hours off to go to a dance class, I don't have to feel guilty, because I know my health is one of my top priorities. Part of the book is devoted to solving problems which are specific to the corporate business world of work. However, workaholism is, in my opinion, rampant in most types of work, and her examples inspired me to come up with solutions to my own specific problems.
Rating:
Summary: A voice of sanity
Review: I originally picked up this book because I was looking for some books to recommend at the end of an article I was writing about balancing multiple part-time jobs. I didn't expect it would tell me anything I didn't already know. But once I started reading it, I could not put it down. The most valuable thing in this book in her section on identifying your priorities. I have spent way too much of my life confused about what kind of work I should be doing and how I should be spending my time, wondering whether I was doing the right thing, and feeling guilty and angst-ridden about my decisions. This book really helped me make a conscious choice about what my priorities are, and how I can best pursue them. I keep a list of my top 6 priorities in life on an index card in my appointment book, where I can see it. Now when I take a couple hours off to go to a dance class, I don't have to feel guilty, because I know my health is one of my top priorities. Part of the book is devoted to solving problems which are specific to the corporate business world of work. However, workaholism is, in my opinion, rampant in most types of work, and her examples inspired me to come up with solutions to my own specific problems.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing. Platitudes.
Review: In her first chapter, which is really an introduction, Sawi explains that her "book is divided into four parts, each designed to show you how to change your work patterns and find more balance in your life." Part One, she explains, helps you understand yourself better. Part 2 tells how to make changes to create a balanced life. Part Three "describes particular situations that are common but may not apply to everyone." The fourth part "talks about activities that will help you increase the balance in your life this year and in the years to come." That's what this book does. It talks. At a very basic level. Opening a book written by a woman who is executive vice president and chief administrative officer at Charles Schwab, I expected more. What I found was a combination of low-level training material that would come from a beginning seminar leader and group therapy. Each chapter starts with a parable. Anyone with a couple of years of experience as a trainer or speaker-or active participant in seminars or conventions-would have heard them several times. Nothing new, unless you just haven't had the exposure to this sort of presentation. The book is filled with quotes-I counted over 100-that appear on page after page. It seemed like the author's research consisted of heavy use of "Bartlett's Quotations." For people who like quotes to stick on the refrigerator door or on a bulletin board next to their desk, this book is a treasure. To present the various issues she deals with, the author uses unattributed quotes from people who suffer from imbalance in their lives. Each is printed in italics to differentiate their contributions from the author's writing. Sometimes that's very helpful, or else it would be difficult to tell the difference. Reading through these pages, with all these "people" sharing their tales, I felt like I was in a group therapy session. If you'd like to experience a therapeutic sort of conversation that explores a lot of the issues around achieving life balance, and you like quotes and fables, read this book. If you're looking for a more concrete treatment of this topic with clear steps to take, keep looking. (...)
Rating:
Summary: Enormously practical and helpful
Review: This book succinctly and gracefully guides the reader toward real-world solutions to very difficult real world problems. It's unusual to find a book which is both a pleasure to read and is very grounded in practical solutions for finding a way to increased contentment. I think the book succeeds so well because it focuses on core challenges in attaining happiness and balance (i.e. given that one can't do everything, what are your real priorities?) and that it provides guidance for attaining realistic, small-step changes that can have an enormous impact on quality of life. It's wonderful to find such graceful writing, not from a professional "self help book writer", but from a woman who has walked the walk...a person who has succeeded in corporate America while raising children and pursuing other interests. There's nothing theoretical here...it's all grounded in the reality of what's possible in our frenzied lives.
Rating:
Summary: Enormously practical and helpful
Review: This book succinctly and gracefully guides the reader toward real-world solutions to very difficult real world problems. It's unusual to find a book which is both a pleasure to read and is very grounded in practical solutions for finding a way to increased contentment. I think the book succeeds so well because it focuses on core challenges in attaining happiness and balance (i.e. given that one can't do everything, what are your real priorities?) and that it provides guidance for attaining realistic, small-step changes that can have an enormous impact on quality of life. It's wonderful to find such graceful writing, not from a professional "self help book writer", but from a woman who has walked the walk...a person who has succeeded in corporate America while raising children and pursuing other interests. There's nothing theoretical here...it's all grounded in the reality of what's possible in our frenzied lives.
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