Toxic Work: How to Overcome Stress, Overload, and Burnout and Revitalize Your Career

Rating:
Summary: An Insightful Book
Review: The Author definitely has a deep understanding of the negative effects that work can have on your health. I particularly liked the idea of thinking of your career as a collage rather than a photo (i.e., designing a composite career).

I was distracted by all the feminist references. For example, "Bobbie" feels she has disappointed her family because they expected a boy. The Author explains that women are treated like second class citizens despite being "better students and more productive employees than men" and that women have been told all their lives that they are "less valued and valuable than their brothers". The book also tells the sad tale of "Marianne", a closeted lesbian, and her "homophobic VP".

All of that may be true, but it doesn't relate to the topic of overcoming burnout and revitalizing your career. The book was useful, but would have been better if the Author had stayed on-topic.

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary resource - Used as required text for courses
Review: Toxic Work is a wonderful resource. I have used the book as a required text for both my graduate level Managment Training and Development and Human Resource Management courses. My students, without exception, rave about the content. Dr. Reinhold's humor and insight have provided me and over 100 of my students with a great set of career problem solving tools and a teriffic bibliography. I keep hoping that there will be a sequel ... perhaps Toxic Two. Keep them comming.

Rating:
Summary: Work is Less Toxic Now
Review: Toxic Work is the first reference book in the career section which has a bibliography worth reading. The book not only does all the work for you by collecting and organizing relevent resources, but provides a wealth of examples. The author doesn't give pat answers, but takes the reader through the problem-solving process. I found the book empowering because it provides the structure and information I needed to generate a successful game plan. I became proactive, and am happily employed at the same job that sent me to the book store looking for an escape.