Rating: 
Summary: readable, practical, valuable
Review: That's a second book by Sher that I've read, which I did because I really liked another one. But, this time, I've been reading really carefully and critically. In other words, what I do is not just saunter along soaking in the feel-good factor, but re-reading a lot and asking myself very specific questions everywhere I can. Well, and so the first and most important question I have is how do you know if it's all true, and if it is, to what degree? I mean the lady's own career went magically from an unemployed anthropologist (divorced, with 4 kids, in NYC - ever tried to live in NYC unemployed with 4 kids? OK, if not, don't try, before checking out the rents in the classified section of the NYT) to some kind of professional councellor with the city social services, to (in a year!) a self-employed advisor to the public (not in issues related to anthropology). I think there's something missing here, or it's not the whole story, or it simply isn't true, or the lady is feeding snake oil to the NYC suckers for a living, which is a good job, of course, but where's a proof of competence? One begins to understand why some professionals must be licensed in order to practise, otherwise how would you know your doctor is not a recent BA in political science disaffected by his original vocational choice.As the previous Sher book that I read, this one is well written, goes really easy and contains a lot of good insight as far as analyzing personal experiences of the author. That part, imo, is 100% bona fide. But then we get to those energetic, very categorical pronunciamentoes, incantations, and quasi-religious "you can do it" pep talk, and that's where it gets more questionable. The author posits a lot, but where is supporting evidence? Personal history cases, how do I know it's not all made up? Are those real people? Were they interviewed again, 20 years later, to see where they are now, and are they successful, and if so, how much of their success is due to Sher's techniques and how much to something else? I mean, it all seems blatantly deficient in the scientific method department. The fact that the book is published is no proof of concepts offered therein. At the same time, Sher proposes a number of rather radical ideas here, so be careful if you decide to implement them headlong. For example: she completely - no make it COMPLETELY - ignores the factor of time. She goes, you try this, if it's no good, you try something else, and again and again, at least you're accumulating life experience. My man, that's very true about experience, but consider this: you try something at 20, and next time you'll be 30, another try, boom, you're 40. I don't say don't do anything, I say the author's oblivious to that side, so don't be too quick to jump in if you got a mortgage... that usually happens after you reach 30. Another thing, she puts a lot of weight on exploring your, for lack of better word, "inner depths" in order to find general direction. But what about the fact that you simply don't know a lot? The problem is, an individual's progression in life is much more complex and his exposure to different things is much more important that mining the dormant childhood fantasies. Which intersects with the time factor I've mentioned above. So, from that standpoint, the book is simplistic, it ignores important and rather obvious things. OK, to summarize it all: it's a useful book (the analytical component is flawless) to read if you're very deliberate in interpreting it and super careful in acting out the advice. Otherwise, be careful. It's not really any kind of scientific research, and the author is unlikely to be accountable in any way for the results. The author is a lady who switched jobs herself and it's completely unclear from this book what credentials she can claim to the line of work she's supposedly in at the moment, other than the low quality of social services in NYC that enabled her to enter a field for which she's not qualified professionally - and even that assuming what the book says about it is true, of which I'm certain not at all. I also came to question the mass of glowing reviews here, after all, didn't the things I've mentioned occur to anyone else?
Rating:
Summary: The best book I've ever read on the subject
Review: This book is a must read for everyone. The first part of the book takes you through deciding what your dreams are and what you want to accomplish in life and why. And the second part, my favorite, takes you step-by-step to accomplishing your goals. All those time management and organizational books out there cannot compare with her system. She takes you dreams and turns them into reality one action at a time.
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