Rating: 
Summary: Sometimes the movie is better than the book
Review: When I saw the original film, from which this book was made, I was inspired like never before and put many of the principles to good use. When I read the book two years later, I found it seriously lacking. Where the movie is both exciting and insightful, the book is quite pedestrian. It seems almost as if it had been written by a high school student. Buy the movie, grab yourself a bag of popcorn and prepare yourself for a (real) paradigm shift.
Rating:
Summary: Fishing in the Real World
Review: After reading the book "Fish!", all I could think of was the fact that people would either love or hate this "engrossing parable" that stars Mary Jane as the manager who turned the toxic-energy dump of the 3rd floor into be a productive and pleasant place with the help of Lonnie, who works in the work-renowned Pike Place Fish market. And the latter group of people who will hate this book will be the hardened skeptics, the 'been-there-done-that' workers who have been around for years. People who already have their minds set that nothing is that easy, thank you. In short, real world people.
I appreciated how the book was approached as a short and sweet parable, and how the four key principles were presented in a light, simplistic way. However, Mary Jane's world of suddenly complacent employees and suddenly helpful boss seemed light years away from the unyielding people we usually have in the workplace we call the real world. The skeptic in me refuses to believe that everything is just this easy and everyone is just as willing to change their views. In the child care center where I work, we could hardly get the owner to dole out money for an emergency substitute teacher. I could just imagine the heart attack he'd get if we asked for a budget of $200 to be spent at our own discretion to work on a group-motivating project, and sad to say, I could easily imagine most of today's bosses with that attitude as opposed to the SOB-turned-softy Bill that was Mary Jane's boss.Another thought that entered my head is how the book left everything to vague. Choose your attitude. Play. Make your customers' day. Be present. Ok, now how do we do that (in a real world sense, that is)? And what if your definition of play conflicts with my definition of play, and has an adverse effect? The book was very helpful to me in a sense that it reinforced these self-help concepts in my head, but it may have helped better if it took that into consideration and told us how to deal with differences of opinions. I'm not saying I didn't like the book. It gave me, at the least, something to read and ponder about while waiting for the 28 bus. At the most, it inspired me that turning an ordinary child care center around into a wonderful, thriving place for kids and parents takes nothing more than choosing to have a healthy attitude and playing. Then the bus pulls over with a squeal of brakes, and I remember my director's name is not Mary Jane and the only fish place close to us only offers whiting sandwiches, not inspiration. Sighing, I board the bus.
Rating: 
Summary: Fish has an important purpose
Review: The purpose of Fish is to give individuals permission to have fun in the workplace. Many of our employees are involved with crisis intervention and were subject to burnout before integating the message in this book and another book called Optimal Thinking: How To Be Your Best Self. Today's corporate world should not support those who do not bring their best self to the job. Optimal Thinking shows the employee how to do this --- and optimize every situation. Fish is an inspirational story that says your best self can play too. Read each of these books, train your people with Optimal Thinking and Fish seminars and you will have the best of the best.
Rating:
Summary: Good principles, bad follow-through
Review: Although there is no doubt that the principles of choosing your attitude, being present, and having fun will create a more enjoyable work environment and, therefore, more productivity, better relations with customers, etc., the failure of these concepts is that the book doesn't carry the thought to completion. Yes, we all like to have fun, we can agree on that. However, people's definition of fun differs. How do you get a large group of people to agree? What if your definition of fun conflicts with my definition of fun, and has an adverse effect? I can already hear the grumbling if the manager at my job required everybody to go to the fish market on their lunch hour, because it is so much fun. When the workers bring up the point that they already have plans for their lunch hour, and the manager tells them to cancel those plans, the issue has shifted from "let me show you something really fun" to "I'm the one who decides how you should spend your lunch." As a result, you have already alienated at least some of your people. The book gets three stars for the good intentions and the sound principles, but only three stars, because it's not very useful in the real world, unless you also delve deeper into people's definition of these principles.
Rating:
Summary: I really enjoyed this book.
Review: Another business book with a message told via a parable. How does a manager newly assigned to a department turn it from a "toxic waste dump" to one that helps its internal customers serve their external customers? I won't give away the details, but it's a very pleasant read with a lot of good advice. It's a very short read (1-2 hours max.) but one you'll probably want to read it several times over your lifetime.
Rating: 
Summary: great principles if you look beyond the corn
Review: The first principle we learn in Fish! is Choose Your Attitude. How appropriate, since what you get from this book completely depends on the attitude you choose when reading it. The four principles of Choose Your Attitude, Play, Make Their Day, and Be Present are solid and have been proven at the real life Pike Place Fish in Seattle (the video is magnificent). No one can poke holes in the validity of these ideas. If you are looking to simply glean some excellent ways to help you love the work you do, then this book is for you. However, it may be difficult to swallow the story that is used to illustrate these principles. If you approach this book with a skeptical eye, you may be disappointed. The fictional team in this story seems to come together and open their hearts to each other much too quickly and easily. For me, the corny factor dropped Fish! from five stars down to four. My advice? Get this book anyway. Choose your attitude. Look beyond the corny facets to find and apply the valuable nuggets. They are there. Larry Hehn, Author of Get the Prize: Nine Keys for a Life of Victory
Rating: 
Summary: Making the difficult silly
Review: This is one of the worst management books I've ever read. The objective is to boost employee morale and create a commitment to change. There is a great risk that the book will create the opposite. Motivating people is a difficult task. This book will not help. Save your money.
Rating:
Summary: Add fun. laughter and the resource to be our best
Review: Fish is a charming tale which introduces fun and laughter into the workplace -- and the concept works! Having read Optimal Thinking by Dr. Rosalene Glickman recently, I am sold on her new paradigm of transforming managers and employees who don't necessarily do their best into optimizers (Optimal Thinkers) who make the commitment to be their best regardless of the circumstances. Optimizers ask questions like, What is supremely important here? What will make each task today most enjoyable?/most profitable? Is this the best you/we can do? With both of these books, we can optimize (rather than just improve) morale and productivity in the workplace.
Rating:
Summary: Fish: Good and Short
Review: Many years ago, when I was on my way to see the movie Top Gun, a friend of mind commented, "Goose gets killed." Although I had no idea what he was talking about, as soon as Anthony Edwards appeared on the screen, I knew he was toast. Analogously, if you don't want me to ruin the book Fish! for you, please stop reading now. "When we choose to love the work we do, we can catch our limit of happiness, meaning, and fulfillment every day," is the message of Fish! It is a parable of a capable executive, Mary Jane, who is called upon to revive the apathetic, Third Floor Operations Group for the fictitious First Guarantee Financial Company in Seattle.
One day, while walking and ruminating about her work problems, she finds herself at the famous Pike Place Fish Market where employees perform for gathering crowds while selling fish. The energy of the market is exciting and contagious. One of the market employees, Lonnie, engages Mary Jane in a conversation, and subsequently becomes her mentor in transforming the Third Floor Operations Group. The lessons Lonnie teaches Mary Jane are:
1. Choose your attitude, even if you can't choose your work.
2. Play; have fun.
3. Make their day; engage your customers.
4. Be present; pay attention to your employees and coworkers. The book is immensely popular, ranked 45 in sales on Amazon's list. There are few books like it that explain how to inject fun and enthusiasm into the work place. Some companies are handing copies out to employees in an effort to provide inspiration for improving corporate culture.
I can't help wondering how three authors wrote a book that's only 107 pages. It's a light read: crack it open while you're on line at LaGuardia and you'll be smiling to yourself on the last page before the seat belt sign goes off.
Rating:
Summary: Good Only So Far
Review: The idea is good: Four simple steps to make your workplace dynamic, fun and customer oriented. But to prevent any note of negativity from intruding on this Never-Never Land there's nothing to this book beyond these four steps. Are your customers crabby even though you've "chosen your attitude?" Does your boss think that "play" is goofing off? Did you "make their day," and get a grievance filed against you for harassment?
And what happens when you try to "be present" with coworkers who have joined the living dead and want only to suck the energy from your soul?
Most of us work in the Dilbert Universe where our best efforts are wasted on demented coworkers, jerk customers and insane bosses.
I pity the poor supervisor who gets saddled with implementing the chirpy ideas in this book. They may not fail but if they do it will because THEY are at fault, not the authors.
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