Rating: 
Summary: Definitely worth investigating
Review: Having just finished reading Po Bronson's 'What Should I Do With My Life' I feel compelled to submit a review partly in praise of the many and varied real-life stories I've read thus far and also in defense of it's contents.
I've read some of the other reviews on this site - and many of them are rather scathing. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, no doubt, however I strongly suspect that several of these are a little askew. If you approach 'What Should I Do With My Life' as a quick-fix self help book you are going to be bitterly disappointed, this book doesn't intend to offer career guidance or solve all your problems - and for anyone looking for the classic 'rags to riches' hollywood-fuelled fantasy you won't find that either. Let's get that out of the way.
Rather, Bronson is a storyteller - and this is a collection of interesting and accessible stories with which we can learn from, identify with and hopefully realize some of our potential. Bronson clearly enjoys what he does - being a humanist writer is a noble cause, and he writes hoping that we might see shades of ourselves, and gain the courage and wisdom to recognize our own inner truths. For the vast majority of us, life is about struggle, compromise, stability/instability, love, hope and occasional opportunity in finding our own passion and meaning in life. It's not as clear cut as winning or losing.
This is reflected in these peoples stories - some brave, some idealistic, some hesitant, and some soaring - but most fascinating. I'm not going to pretend that it's the perfect book, some may find Po Bronson's narrative a bit annoying at times - but to me he seems like a fairly decent, open-minded guy who offers up plenty of questions and doesn't pretend to know all the answers. The only other point about this book I would take issue with is that in it's last third it focuses too much upon people in big business, corporate law, and other similarly large-earning positions, and starts to lose some of it's interest. Still,I wish there were more books like this one and I urge you to investigate.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice title, but not so good content
Review: I began reading the book with a lot of spectation, but after the 4th or 5th chapter I was bored. It's about life of people that decided to change their lifes but it's just too superficial.
I left the book, and just when I don't have anything else to read I open it again and read one more life.
I hope there are better books to help us decide a change of life style.
Rating:
Summary: This book could've been much much more.
Review: I picked up this book hoping for some answers. Honestly, it did have a lot of good nuggets and kernels of wisdom woven into the wordy and sometimes self-indulgent prose. However, I was somewhat disappointed by the narrow scope of the people who made it into the book. All tended to have graduate degrees or people who'd make lots of money in their old jobs who now had the luxury of whiling away the hours deciding what to do next. Although I do not believe it was an intentional slight to the majority of Americans who earn an average of $30-50,000 a year, I don't think he exactly did the readers any favors when on page 316 he states matter of factly, "He'd been passed over for partner and didn't make much money, forty or fifty thousand a year." That statement, in my opinion, is very telling of the priveleged background that Bronson is coming from. So, if you're a college graduate who's done well in life, this could be a great book. If you never went to college or don't have a mint stocked away to start your own fish farm, I'd save your time for a more down-to-earth book like "Working" by Studs Terkel who is the real master at this type of writing.
Rating: 
Summary: The Mini-Biographies of Everyday People
Review: I think I am probably just as guilty as a lot of other people to have been in the bookshop, seen this book lying on the table, and thinking,"oh I better look at this, it might help me figure somethings out". I started to read it right there in the store and got through the first 5 stories when I realized this book was NOT a self-help book. And honestly I was sorta relieved.
I will repeat this again, THIS IS NOT A SELF-HELP BOOK. I don't think it was intended to be. I think that it was a big book of people, who like us, had serious challenges in their life to face and decided to go through or give up on them. I am more fascinated by the "people" in Po Bronson's book and found myself comparing my life to theirs, apples and oranges really. But then I realized that their problems aren't any different to mine nor were their challenges.
How many times have you met a person who really struggled and made it to the top, and came out fine? How many times have you found out information about someone and thought, "Wow look at what their doing! I wish I had the courage, know-how, resources, strength, etc., to do that!" Well like Po Bronson, (I'm sure we all have met at least one), he just put it in text.
I loved the book. My background is one of struggle and I love reading books about people who have succeeded no matter or not but gave it their best at it anyway.
Some of the reviewers here call this "new-agey" and a "waste of money", but I also think that sometimes people have high expectations of what a book is going to be about directly from its title. But they also don't give a book a chance to be what it is intended to be, a book. I titled this review, "The Mini-Biographies of Everyday People", and I think its fitting because that's exactly what it is - NOT a Self-Help book like some may have expected it to be.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and enlightening
Review: In general, I found this book a real upper. For us perfectionists who feel that "I should have figured this out by now," it's encouraging to learn that thousands of other people grapple with the same question, many of them with only partial success. But, at the same time, I was awed by the creativity, drive, and passion that many of these people applied to their search. This isn't a "how to" book or a collection of "happily ever after" fairy tales; it's real people trying to make sense of their lives, and, as in real life, success is not guaranteed.
I agree with other readers that the book has flaws: Bronson sometimes falls into the "counselor" role that he supposedly tried to avoid, and his subjects tend to represent the same demographic. But this isn't an objective, scientific study, and he makes no claims that it is. I liked the "thematic" organization of the book; it was interesting to see how people in very different circumstances addressed the same issue. And I felt that the book's lack of a "self-help" focus was one of its strengths: neither the author nor his subjects feel that they know all the answers, so trying to prescribe a method for addressing the question would be fundamentally dishonest.
Rating:
Summary: Is Po Bronson Clueless?
Review: Is he clueless to not only what he dubs 'his generation' - generation X - but to society in general? The people he includes in his book are rich, part of the 2% of people that benefits from GW Bush's tax cuts. There's his story of the dot-com millionaire who went to find himself for a year and traveled to Italy... hmm tough. His book is filled with stories about a woman born from a family of doctors or a thirty year old on the fast track to becoming an ambassador... what? How can I relate to these people? I can't.There's a line in one of his stories that really got to me, about a couple who gave up the corporate life to buy a tree business. "I suspected Nancy's dad had helped her... because he's wealthy." Doesn't he realize that even though he didn't help her, it's still a huge pyschological advantage, knowing she has a safety net w/ her dad?? As one reviewer said, this could have been such a good book. I want to know about people that had nothing, but still followed their hearts to make their dreams come true. Against all odds kind of stuff... those are the stories that inspire. I can't believe he had such a golden opportunity to speak and inspire people and he chose stories that only a marginal percentage of people can relate to. I'm giving it two stars b/c there's a smattering of interesting stories.
Rating:
Summary: THE question
Review: Mr. Bronson sheds some light on a question that troubles many of us. Is there anyone who hasn't struggled with it? Is there anyone who can say that they've never doubted the path they took?
The book includes many stories about career choices and changes. The reader's task is to try to relate to the stories and come away with some sense of what might be needed in their own lives.
An interesting and unique book worthy of reading.
James Green, author of "If There's One Thing I've Learned."
Rating:
Summary: Real life Americans finding satisfaction and meaning in work
Review: Not a self-help book, despite the title, this book is a compilation of stories of real life Americans finding satisfaction and meaning in work, with varying degrees of success.
Rating: 
Summary: Better to look elsewhere
Review: Po Bronson offers really no insight, and the writing drags and exhausts. I recommend readers to Working by Studs Terkel.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed but important
Review: Questioning his own life, author Po Bronson set out to learn how others made tough career decisions -- and lived with them.
He says he talked to nine hundred people, seventy or so in detail, and he includes the stories of fifty or so career-changers in his book. Bronson does not offer a systematic study or a self-help book. That's important to get out of the way. As other reviewers have observed, you won't find plans or guidance for your own career move. Instead, Bronson offers a jumble of anecdotes, unsystematic and uneven -- just the sort of stories I hear every day as a career coach. People seek new adventures. They weigh the cost (and there always is a cost). Sometimes they decide the cost is too high and they back down. Sometimes they leap and experience disappointment. And sometimes they leap and find themselves soaring. Career-changers are hungry for guidance. Bronson's interviewees often sought his approval -- and his advice. He insists that he's not a career counselor but they asked anyway. This quest for help is typical during any life transition and underscores the need to be cautious about seeking help from whoever happens to show up. And of course this overlap of roles can be viewed as a flaw in the book. Bronson admits lapsing from the journalist role. He gets so involved with his interviewees that the story becomes a quest, a journey-across-the-country story rather than an analysis of career choices. Bronson includes his own story, told in pieces throughout the book. This feature seemed to interrupt the flow: if the author tells his own story, we should be led to anticipate autobiography. Despite these flaws, Bronson comes up with some sound insights into career change. He observes that people avoid change because of the accompanying loss of identity. They hang back "because they don't want to be the kind of person who abandons friends and takes up with a new crowd," precisely what you have to do following a life transition. And he follows up with a warning of solitude that also accompanies any life change. "Get used to being alone," he advises, yet many people fear being alone more than they fear being stuck in a job they hate. WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH MY LIFE offers questions, not answers. It's like attending a giant networking event. You have to sort through the stories on your own. Despite these flaws, I will recommend this book to my clients and to other career coaches. Career change, like any change, is messy. You rarely get to move in a straight line and you always experience pain and loss. And every move is a roll of the dice: a coach can help, but there are no guarantees.
Each story in this book is unique and your own will be too. You, the career changer, must put together your own mosaic and find pattern and meaning on your own.
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