Working Ourselves to Death: The High Cost of Workaholism and the Rewards of Recovery

Rating:
Summary: Too burdened with 12-step jargon to be useful
Review: Fassel is taking on an issue that I believe is crucial in our society and I am pleased to see that, but I am disappointed in this book. She fails to get at the heart of some of the issues she raises because she is so mired in twelve-step jargon. Is it really impossible to cut back to a reasonable work load without calling on a "higher power" and going to meetings? And is the jargon of "disease" and "addiction" really applicable here? I also grew weary of the endless neologisms using the suffix "-aholic, with words like "care-aholic." This has really become overused.

I'd rather see a book that addresses the REAL issues--the unrealistic demands of companies and bosses, our society's obsession with "getting ahead" and consumption, our lack of adequate vacation time. Many other cultures have shorter work weeks, more vacation time and better family leave policies than ours, and they didn't have to go twelve-stepping to do it--they developed POLITICAL and social solutions to overwork instead. It seems we could do that here. Fassel's approach seems inadequate--and what good does it do for "work-aholics" to "make searching and fearless moral inventories of themselves" if our society's approach to the economy does not change?

Rating:
Summary: So glad it's back in print
Review: Working Ourselves to Death changed my life. I now HAVE a life. Fassel sheds light on the consequences of overinvolvement in work and provides concrete advice on how to extract yourself from the kind of soul-killing obsession that work can become. If you can't leave the office behind, this book will show you the way out.