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Summary: The cheese is "tainted"!
Review: A former employer of mine gave us all a copy of the best-selling book, telling us that after reading it, our productivity and attitude would increase tenfold. So, I, like all the others, read it. Like many on this site, I found the "revelations" to be trite, repetitive, and an insult to me as an adult. The only thing that the book tells me is that we Americans are suckers for any self-help guru with an "idea" destined to improve our believed-to-be mundane lives.
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Summary: Guaranteed to be a best seller (CEOs have deep pockets)
Review: "If this wasn't so rediculous, it'd be even funnier." -- Who Moved My Cheese This audiobook was given to me, along with a number of other coping-with-trying-times resources, by one of my many middle managers in the midst of a merger. With an open mind I gave it a shot. What did I have to loose, except my job? This book is an over-simplistic metaphor for unexpected change that is beyond one's control, in which "cheese" is a symbol of something you want, ie: happiness, security, financial resources. The message the authors attempt to convey is that your future, success, security, and ultimately happiness is within your control. While this may be PARTLY true, the tone of the childlike story is so condescending (an unintended byproduct of the tale's simplification, I suspect), one could easily get the feeling it was penned by the committee representing CEOs Happily Unopposed to Bad Behavior (CHUBB). The book amplifies feelings of rejection and betrayal by the faceless "Cheese Removers". It raises many questions like, "What if I was counting on that cheese for future use", but offers no answer other than you've got to go out and find more "cheese" for yourself, even though everything you had was just taken from you for no apparent reason. To me (and many others) this was not an inspiring read. It was painful. This book was destined to be a best seller because, no doubt, it can be ordered by the box-load by those anticipating removing others' cheese. Sure, the message is a fine one, it's the delivery that flat-out stinks.
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Summary: A simple approach to changing!
Review: It really amazes me to see the previous reviews. This book is very good if you are looking for motivation to stay on your toes. It is not meant to be a philisophical interpretation of life or changes in life. This book was very helpful for my co-worker and me. We were both very unhappy at our jobs and both read this book. After reading it, I cleaned my desk and starting looking for my passion. However, she knew that she should leave but couldn't get herself to make the steps necessary.
One month later I left!!! God definitely gets all of the glory, and the book added to my determination. This book will be good for anyone who want to make a change, knows a friend who wants change, or even for a child to teach these principles early. I consider a book that even a child could read a damn good book. Try it, you'll like it!
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Summary: Who Cut My Health Benefits?
Review: I could've saved a lot of paper and written this "parable" using five words: "[stuff] happens, deal with it". Don't ask questions, don't think creatively, just put on your little running shoes and join the rat race. If someone cuts your benefits, your pay, your job, don't ask "Why" -- it's probably your fault anyhow. Just deal with it. This book implies that we are better off blindly following our animal instincts or the directives of others ("Two Blind Mice"?) rather than using our reasoned intellect. As "suggested" reading in a workplace, this book will do nothing more than foster resentment amoungst the thinking masses. And to the manager who "suggested" I read this, I plan to "suggest" she read Dostoyevsky's "Notes From Underground" or Camus' "The Stranger" for a more thoughtful depiction of man's relationship with the world.
Rating:
Summary: Where's Mickey?
Review: The major analogy in this book is mice looking for cheese. Okay....interesting. A major theme of "Who Moved My Cheese" is that change happens in our lives. Really? And change occurs at times whether we initiate it or not. That so? And, a large majority of people are averse to change. I do agree. The metaphor of cheese in this book represents the things that are most important to us in our lives. It can vary for each individual. It can be career, relationships, spirituality, financial independence, or achieving a lifestyle change, for example. This book is written in a juvenile way which insults the readers. The concepts are redundant, impish, and oversimplified. I am a bit surprised something such as this can continue to sell to the American public. Or perhaps, I shouldn't be surprised at all, considering the state of the nation and Americans as a people, in June, of 2003. In regards to a person who works for a bureaucratic agency that had employees read and use this test to help people "feel better about themselves" or become efficient: it does not surprise me that government workers would be forced to read this book, bought with taxpayer dollars, and take the test, paid with taxpayer dollars, to get results that mean absolutely nothing--financed by taxpayer dollars. When it comes to the government, the cheese is in the rubbish bin--not eaten--but wasted.
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Summary: It's all about power
Review: When you write a book on why those WITHOUT power should be accepting of any treatment by those WITH power, you're guaranteed to sell millions of copies of said book to those WITH power. It's little wonder that managers, CEOs, teachers, and pretty much anyone with authority over others praises this book. It gives them a moral blank cheque, and condemns anyone NOT in a position of power for even questioning, to say nothing of failing to conform. If you want a crash course in what's wrong with humanity, read this book. The fact that there are people in this world who read and agree with it is horrific.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book within its genre
Review: This book is about attitudes toward change in life, in particular at work. The book teaches that change is inevitable, and if you know how to deal with it, it can be positive. The main thing in life is to have the right attitude. This is an important lesson to learn. Categorize this book along with other great books about the true meaning of life, such as "Tuesdays With Morrie" and "Feynman's Rainbow".
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Summary: Say Cheese - Great gift for confused people
Review: I got this book as a gift from a manager who quit and loved it (the book!) from the start. It is the perfect digestable book for people who are stuck in life, are afraid of change, or just completely confused. Anyone can read it in a few hours and will understand it. So it is also a great gift for all the confused people you might know.
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Summary: A Poor Excuse
Review: After the author's stellar accomplishment in the One Minute Manager, the Cheese book is a very poor duplication of a formula. It appears that the author is trying hard to come up with an original idea to continue his success, but I was vastly disappointed, even angry in the reading of this nonsensical tale. Not worth my time, and certainly not the price!
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Summary: This Is Not For Adults (not intelligent ones, anyway)
Review: This is probably the worst book I've read recently that is allegedly intended for adults. I'm told it's been on the bestseller list for some time so I picked it up, and now I have a very low opinion of the bestsellers' readership. This should have been a pamphlet given out at youth camp, at best; instead, it is given large fonts, wide margins, pictures on practically every other page, and then made into a "book." If America is really having light-bulb moments while reading this book, I'm very scared to think about the average adult's level of common sense and intelligence. Perhaps most Americans don't like to read, and this is one of those books that they can actually boast that they have finished. If you're an adult learning life lessons from this book, you're probably the type who tunes into the Jerry Springer show to get relationship advice. P.S. By the way, what's wrong with making all four of the characters mice? What's with the two of them being "little people" (that eat nothing but cheese)? Weird.
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