What Should I Do with My Life? : The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

Rating:
Summary: A year after reading it still comes to mind
Review: Reading the reviews of this book was fascinating. ome people seem to like the book but some were obviously angered by it. My guess is it breaks down like this. If you see the world as black and white, you're lucky, but don't read this book. There are no guidelines or formulas. If your vision of the world is more orientated towards grays this book is super. The patterns that emerge from these seemingly unrelated stories are consistent with what I observed since reading the book. Even watching the Wizard Of Oz reminded me of the stories where an unhappy person moved back home (to the country, etc.) and was unhappy there too. Thanks to the author for an insightful study.

Rating:
Summary: Views of others on the journey... but no promises of answers
Review: This book is fabulous. It's only the second that I've had the attention span to read continually on plane flights (the other being The Alchemist).

If you're trying to figure out where you're going career-wise, and just in the world in general, this book could be helpful to you. It consists of stories of different people who have made their missteps, found their true callings, are still looking, etc. The author's voice is great through this. He tries not to influence the person's telling of their story, but yet knows that he inevitably does. That actually makes the book stronger.

You may recognize pieces of yourself throughout the book - I know I have. If you're unsatisfied with one-size-fits-all career advice workbook kind of things that have little acknowledgement of your life outside of work, and would like to hear stories but not promises of a quick fix for anyone's situation, get this book.

Rating:
Summary: A reminder to NOT "Get over it."
Review: We're always looking for the "hard luck" stories of triumph - rags to riches. The stories in this book touched me, because these were ordinary people who may have achieved a certain economic status or other measure of success and still were not satisfied.

There are a lot of us out there who feel like phonies or walking zombies or ungrateful, because we're keeping up an appearance of contentment. We beat ourselves up by saying, "get over it." But we can't.

This book reminded me not to settle for enough to pay my bills and go on the occasional vacation. It reminded me of the struggle we all have: to get to the very thing we're here to accomplish, the thing that comes naturally. It reminded me how hard it is to find that thing, or acknowledge it. It reminded me that it takes courage to start over, even if to onlookers starting from scratch is stupid.

I thank Po for reminded me to seek to answer the question rather than blowing it off as existential drivel.

Rating:
Summary: My review of What Should I Do With My Life
Review: What Should I Do With my Life is an interesting book about the various paths people have taken with their lives. I was impressed by the courage and accomplishments of almost every person in this book. I loved the story of Leela DeSouza who had a passion for ballet dancing. She also worked as a top runway model in her spare time. However, she was not content until she went to college. She attended the University of Chicago and Stanford business school. This led her to a White House fellowship and her current job at a high tech public relations firm. It was very interesting to read how people in one profession switched to another one entirely different. I enjoyed the story of Kurt Slauson who studied to be an English professor until his older brother committed suicide. He rediscovered a passion for cooking and went to culinary school to become a chef. I loved the determination of the British chemistry professor who became a lawyer at the age of 70. He was turned down for employment because of his age, but he remained undaunted to achieve his dream. I enjoyed the story of the Harvard Business graduate. This young man turned his back on the family business and had the courage to change his career path and his lifestyle. He eventually became a police officer in the rough section of El Monte California. I loved the story of Janelle London who who switched from being a lawyer to an organ donation activist after her kidney transplant failed. What Should I Do With My Life is a very entertaining and insightful book.

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre book for an important topic
Review: What Should I Do With My Life? focuses on the big question of how one should spend their life (specifically their job). The book consists of several stories of real people who have struggled with the question that the author has gone out and interviewed.

While the topic of the book certainly caught my eye, I wasn't extremely impressed by the stories of the people. Some were interesting, but none were really inspirational. The book also seemed to be missing an extremely important part of the whole premise, specifically why is this question so important?

The stories themselves are not terribly exciting. I also didn't understand why there was coarse language sprinkled throughout the book. Perhaps it was to keep the stories ad people "real" but I found that it added nothing to the underlying question and merely annoyed me.

In the end the book really doesn't offer any advice or guidelines to the reader about how to go about choosing their path. The author also inserts his own story in a few chapters but he doesn't offer any indication on the page that he is now talking about himself and not another person. I found this to be quite annoying.

Best bet... borrow it or pick it up if you are really having problems. Otherwise it's just going to be a waste of time for you. 3 out of 5 stars.