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Summary: Except that we're not lab mice, and you're no psychologist.
Review: The premise of this allegory is fundamentally flawed. We're not lab mice in this rat race, but we are being experimented upon. As the pay gap widens, this book is a brainwashing tool to try to convince us that not only is this okay, but we're bad mice if we don't embrace change which sells us short.
They didn't move the cheese, they stole the cheese and are giving us garbage.As I write this note, this review has been up for a while and 82 people have voted on it so far, 48 finding it helpful. Excellent. I'd like to add that most of the people purchasing this book are actually corporations or managers to give as 'gifts' to the little mice who work for them. A present to give in exchange might be something by Howard Zinn perhaps?
Rating: 
Summary: Who Moved My Cheese - A Realistic Perspective
Review: Who Moved My Cheese?
By Spender Johnson, M.D. Who Moved My Cheese? A Realistic Perspective Who Moved My Cheese? Is a story about 4 little beings - two mice (Sniff and Scurry) and two little people (Hem and Haw), and Cheese. The story is about how these four little characters adapt to change, which is depicted by the depletion of the cheese supply and the motivation (or the lack of it) to acquire more cheese. At firsts glance, Who Moved My Cheese? Is a very simplistic story...may be too simplistic. The basic message of the book is that change happens, whether we like it or not, whether we are prepared for it or not and that the best we can do is to adapt to it quickly and move on. However, the book is more about fear. We do not oppose change if we perceive it as positive but when we do not know what the change will bring or when we have an inclination that the change will be negative, then we become paralyzed with fear - the fear of the unknown. I think this is what we have to deal with in order to be able to handle and adapt to change. The only way to be really prepared for change is to demystify the change by being prepared...being on the look out for pointers that indicate that change is coming your way and equipping yourself with the necessary tools to deal with it. However, life is not as simplistic as munching away on some cheese and never expecting it to be depleted...we all know that! Change is difficult to adapt to because in most instances, it is sudden and it can be totally unexpected. Picking up after a bad/difficult experience can be a very difficult and painful experience - and truth be told, change does not always lead to better things...at times the grass is greener where you came from no matter how hard you try. Who Moved My Cheese? does not address this type of change because the story is based entirely on being able to predict what will happen in the future. Also, it is interesting to note that the characters in Who Moved My Cheese? are the same size "mice=people" and both have to rely on someone else putting the cheese in some station in the maze. Even the little people do not make their own cheese and their survival depends highly on chance (bumping into some good cheese) than in figuring out how to make their own cheese. This might indicate an imbalance of power (very corporate business thinking). Irrespective of the move to a new cheese station, the amount of cheese in that station is still controlled by another power. Again, adapting to change is not always a "unilateral" decision. A lot can depend on those around you - your family, society, the environment, etc. However, adapting to change does start with the individual.
Rating:
Summary: I'm Worth More Than Cheese
Review: If you want a book that you can: a) Buy in bulk, so you can distribute them to all of your employees just prior to a massive lay-off, in some selfish attempt to feel better about it,
or b) Use as evidence that you are a capable manager, when in fact you've run a company into the ground to the point where you need to resort to above-mentioned layoffs ..then buy this piece of junk. It makes a rather profound statement about learning to get on with your life after something bad happens to you... which in and of itself is well and good. But it wraps it up in the wrong package, twisting a fairly harmless philosophy around. That it, instead of teaching people the value in working through a loss, they try to convince people in advance that it is OK to expect a loss and not to fight it when it happens. It's corporate brainwashing of the kind that science fiction writers have been warning us about for decades. I'm not being a comedian: I know of at least three large companies that did (a) and have had conversations with executives that boast (b). That is why this book is still a best-seller... not because it has any literary merit, philosophical worth, or any value whatsoever. Too bad there isn't a "zero" star rating.
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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.
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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: Deal with it!
Review: This was good! I can say immediately that I have been both Hem and Haw. When life throws you a change, you have to deal with it, or it will control you, and you will get NO PLACE AT ALL!!! This is a tough lesson to learn. We want what is ours, and instead of looking for a new opportunity, we pout, like Hem. Unlike Haw, who was able to get something out of what they had gotten themselves into. He laughed at his past, and although for awhile he wasn't finding any cheese, it was a heck of a lot better then sitting on his can doing nothing! Now, for all you Hems out there who "didn't get anything out of this and are still wondering what the point is...." Why don't you actually try reading the book?! It helps to actually try and get something out of it, not just look at the cover and say like Hem would say, "But... But... But..." C'mon! Get your feelings off of your sleeves! Get the chip off of your shoulder. It helps. Really, it does. Out with the old, in with the new. The Sniffs and Scurrys out there have already read this book and are rolling right along with the punches, keeping their running shoes around their necks, just in case. Change does happen, people. That is life. Deal with it! Or life will deal with you.
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Summary: Interesting Point on the 1-Star Reviews...
Review: ...many of them focus on how this book would be useful for corporate "brainwashing" of the rank-and-file to accept any change forced upon them...while it's true the this is a potential use of a book such as this, it misses the point. You can be happier and healthier by forseeing, preparing for, and adjusting to change than by fighting it. Yes, it may be wrong for managers to make seemingly-random changes at any whim that takes them, but grousing about it doesnt accomplish anything. Even taking steps to make changes inside your organization in reaction to the change is still better for you (and your organization) than doing nothing or complaining - there is a difference between complaining in your cube alone or with co-workers (usually pointless as it leads to no change beyond angering all concerned even further) and talking to superiors about the change and modifying your environment accordingly. This book does a wonderful job of illustrating this in a clear, concise format that is a quick and enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: Be ready for change and see it...
Review: This book was helpful because it helped me consider my frame of mind in light of change. It is an opportunity to reflect and that is clearly it's value. The story is simple for a reason. I purchased it with the other recommended title, The Emotional Intelligence Quickbook and read them both in an afternoon. I think they are a great pairing because the emotional intelligence aspect really considers how you feel about the change and how this affects your judgement.
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