Rating: 
Summary: Simply Fantastic
Review: This is by far my favorite book. It's intuitive and fun, and always keeps my attention. If you have ADD or just a short attention span, like me, usually books don't really interest me. But this book was different. It's inspired me to become a better human being. Read it!
Rating:
Summary: Reclaim your creativity and your right to be happy
Review: I heartily disagree with Robert D. Steele's review, which says that this book presents insights but suggests no solutions. I also disagree that the book's "...two most profound insights...are that our schools beat creativity out of our children, and our corporations suppress individual ideas.." These are indeed two of the key ideas, but I think that the most profound insight of the book is that THERE IS SOMETHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!Most of us are not going to take radical action the way that MacKenzie has (and most of us do not have the luxury of working in a big, rich company that has the wherewithal to tolerate such antics). But the concepts still apply. For example, take the concept of "dynamic following." MacKenzie spent a lot of time listening to his colleagues complain about their jobs. He learned that the most helpful thing to do is merely to listen, but he says that one thing he always replied to was the commonly cited gripe "I wish there were some more dynamic leadership around here." He reportedly would reply, "I wish there were some more dynamic following." This is a new and very helpful way to look at the situation. This is the essence of what I consider the major insight: each of us can make it a personal goal to bring to the table what we think is missing. Instead of blaming management, blaming the corporate culture, blaming the school system, etc., we each have within us the power to speak up, think creatively, communicate more effectively, and use these radical skills to make the world a better place. (If more of us would do this, and keep it up, maybe these things will eventually not seem so radical!) It is not exactly news that schools beat the creativity out of children. It is sobering to be reminded of this by a master storyteller such as MacKenzie, and it is a good thing to be so reminded. It will be an extremely good thing for our society if we can solve that problem, but it will definitely take decades if not centuries. The lesson of this book is that, nevertheless, IT IS NOT TOO LATE! We can reclaim our creativity, and we can use it at work in ways that are effective and mutually beneficial. This book isn't a step-by-step how-to guide, by any means, but it does contain quite a few examples of creative problem-solving at work. It also contains the best example I have ever seen of "out-of-the-box" thinking, a set of hand-written notes that presents a framework for re-thinking organizational structure. There will never be a "solution" to the existence of the "giant hairball," but there is an alternative to being caught up in the hairball and becoming part of the problem. The alternative is to take responsibility for one's own happiness. I think this book makes a substantial contribution to our knowledge about how to do so.
Rating:
Summary: Funny and Fearless
Review: Words of wisdom from a former executive with Hallmark Cards. Creative people in corporate America must read this book...Subtitled "A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace," it's the author's stories of subverting the conglomerate structure/stricture of a very large company's modus operandi. Ways to release real creativity, not the corporate-mandated sort...And filled with delightful sketches and offbeat typesettings. A much-more-scholarly version of all those snarky self-help books, and a good companion to works of writers like Howard Gardiner, Pat Allen and Robert Sternberg. Funny and fearless.
Rating:
Summary: "Corporate Creativity" is not an oxymoron
Review: Gordon MacKenzie articulates well, and illustratively, a challenge I've struggled with for 20 years: how to be creative within the confines of corporate structure. And, yes, it can be done. A frequently humorous and highly inspirational perspective.
Rating:
Summary: We all need to get into orbit!
Review: This book is for anyone who wants to preserve a sense of uniqueness, dignity, and creativity while working in a large corporation. Gordon shows us how to succeed through originality, not conformity. The hairball, while it seems safe, encourages self-preservation and conformity. Only by orbiting the hairball can we fully contribute to the organization while maintaining our own identity. Get out of the hairball and into orbit!
Rating: 
Summary: Over the Top on Cute, Profound Insights, No Solutions
Review:
I would never have bought this book off the shelf, because it is way over the top with cutesy child-like drawings, hard to read type, and other affectations--it goes beyond charming toward excessive cosmetics. It was, however, recommended by someone I trust, and I am glad I read it.
The two most profound insights, insights every teacher and CEO should be required to repeat every day, are that our schools beat creativity out of our children, and our corporations suppress individual ideas and any attempts at diversity.
I read this book twice. The first time, like a cat circling a mouse, I would pick it up and read just one of the stories, expecting to collect enough evidence to discard it completely, and instead being drawn back for another story at random. The second time, more sequentially, looking for the meat to review.
Unfortunately, absent a major revolution in how we manage our organizations, this book does not suggest solutions. Very few can survive on their own unless they are willing to drop down to subsistence living. The sad fact is we have a school system designed over 100 years to deskill people to the point they could work in assembly line jobs (including white collar "company man go along" jobs), and in the same 100 years have focused on building companies in which everyone is replaceable, and no one person can hope to do the business development, product development, service, and billing for any given offering.
Certainly the Internet offers some prospects--say 20 years down the road--for networks of "virtual corporations" to take effect, but in the meantime, I have to judge this book as a really excellent pate de foie gras, just the thing with which to torment the corporate slaves who want to dream of freedom.
Great book, something we can use in another 40 years or so, if we have managed to get a grip on campaign finance reform, neighborhood cottage and networked industries, and radically restructured schools that get away from rote and celebrate the process of learning. Until then, most people are going to have to focus on keeping the job they have, however distasteful it may be, because the harsh reality is that in this day and age, it is the large inefficient organization that provides gainful employment for the majority of us that have not been schooled to be anything other than drones.
I'll end on a positive note: there is something called the Davies J-Curve, a political science finding that suggests that people do not revolt to acquire greater freedom or anything else, but rather when they have experienced all that they wish, and then it is taken away from them. If we have a major recession that decapitates government and cleans out a good third of the small businesses and corporations that are hanging on by a string now, it may just inspire groups of people to revisit how they relate to one another.
One more positive note: if you are a realist, and you know that you have to accept drone status, but want to be cheered up and contemplate little ways around the margins where you can exercise some freedom muscles, this is the book for you. I enjoyed reading this book, and it may be unfair to evaluate it at the strategic level-there is no question that the author is an inspired original thinker, and I hope the day comes when he is the norm, rather than the exception.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, Humorous, Poingnant
Review: For those who missed seeing Gordon speak about Orbiting the Giant Hairball in person, the book is the next best thing. I have repeatedly returned to the wit and wisdom held within the pages here. I recommend buying it at any price - it will make a difference in how you approach life, both in and out of the corporate environment.
Rating:
Summary: I was too good for such a silly looking book...
Review: I discovered "Orbiting the Giant Hairball" in my wife's hands one night several years ago and I (being the not-so-creative type) teased her about her "silly little book". Why, it had all of those drawings and colors and such. Certainly not serious reading, humph!
She revealed that she had briefly considered suggesting I read it as "Orbiting" had leadership parallels and business applications. "HA!" I said, as I waited for her to fall asleep... Several hours later I knew what I must do. I needed to buy numerous copies to hand out to my business associates and friends so I could help Gordon change the world-one reader at a time!
Rating:
Summary: Definitely Refreshing & Stimulating!
Review: Orbiting the Giant Hairball provides many stimulating approaches to creativity, especially in the often stiffling environment of the corporate world. From personal experience, I know that creativity, hence innovation, is also unfortunately under-appreciated and under-compensated by the short-sighted individuals (aka. managers) in most corporations. On the same subject, if you enjoyed Orbiting this Giant Hairball and its creativity lessons, I would like to recommend the true-to-life episodes in the book, MANAGEMENT BY VICE. Written by a scientist (C.B. Don) with years of experience, this book shows the struggles of innovators in high-tech R&D industry fending off counterproductive management, with much wit, lots of hilarious humor (prose, verse and illustration) and the kind of candor rarely encountered beyond the "Giant Hairball". I greatly enjoyed both these books and feel that everyone should have them at hand when dealing with corporate fools and battling to salvage the innovative spirit!
Rating:
Summary: thinking outside the box
Review: Found in the buisness section, yet inspiring in every day life. Truly an example on how to make the most of any sitiuation. Positive and uplifting, fun to read, the illustrations are captivating.A good addition to any library.
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