Rating: 
Summary: Simply Elegant
Review: I read this book when when first published and found it understated. I just began to reread it again. It is an old comfortable friend revisited, after years of life and testing that have proven themselves. The author's examples, illustrations, and ideas are relevant and thought provoking. I used the concept as a position statement in business policy that changed the business from the inside out. Thank you Mr. Koch. Keep an open mind in reading this book. I found it applicable to most everything. Think.
Rating:
Summary: First-rate
Review: This book had depth and insight. I've read enough about his recommendations having worked where they've been applied, including companies run with a skeletal administrative staff being more effective and Warren Buffet's investments (Buffet said, "I think all investors should be only allowed to invest in 20 stocks during their lifetime. Then they'd choose carefully and hold on to them, and be better off." More with less.) I've only just finished the book, so I'll have to let it soak in and see if what I read can be applied to my actual life! A lot of it was perhaps to general. How is one to know what is the 80% and which is the 20% in many areas of life? But this book is definitely an eye-opener.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: This book reminds me of a movie you just saw, that you keep thinking about for the next few weeks. I thought the was book was succinct, interesting, entertaining, and brilliant!
Rating: 
Summary: beware of consultants who believe this too religiously...
Review: ...because they apply it to their work with clients. I was an internal consultant dealing with consultants from one of the most prestigious strategy firms. They applied the 80/20 rule to their work... and missed the boat. When applied to business strategy and contracts with consultants, make sure you get the full 100%, or even 80%, rather than the 20% they want to give you. Caveat emptor with strategy consultants, folks!
Rating:
Summary: Worked for me!
Review: I read this book almost 2 years ago.
Applied its theories to the 4 companies I was working for.
Managed to cut my working hours by 25% and still maintained my original salary. Opened my own business in the meantime.
With all the extra time I've created I get to think of new ways to make my life more fun and easier on the bank balance.
A simple approach to calculating where you are wasting time, money & effort and where to move the effort to create more time and money. I'm about to review 20% of the book again now and apply the formula to my Japanese language studies, exercise regime and anything else I can think of. If you've read all these messages here about this book, you're wasting time. Stop here. Buy the book. Express delivery. With the extra money you spend on getting the book delivered quickly the quicker you can put that time saved to work on the book. Also, I've increased spending on everything however I find that I'm not getting into debt whereas before I read the book, I would fret over shopping and still have the same kind of bank balance that I do now. It's not the best book I've ever read but it sure has created extra time for me to read more good books.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE TOP 5 BOOKS I'VE EVER OWNED
Review: I WILL RARLY TAKE THE TIME TO WRITE ABOUT A BOOK,
BUT DID FOR THIS ONE, ITS IMPLICATIONS & TRUE USEFULLNESS IN EVERY DAY LIFE IS HARD TO DISPUTE, A VERY POWERFUL BOOK. ONE OF THE TOP 5 BOOKS I'VE EVER OWNED, NOT A BOOK YOU WILL LOOK FORWARD TO ENDING BUT WILL SAVOR WHAT THE AUTHOR HAS TO OFFER YOU AND SAY IN HIS WORDS.
BETTER USE A HIGHLITER FOR THIS BOOK IN ORDER TO GO BACK AND REVEIW THE MANY USEFUL POINTS! IF I COULD IMPROVE ON THE BOOK I CAME UP WITH THE 80-20-20 RULE OR 4-5% OF A SAMPLE ARE THE REAL GEMS! LOOK FOR THEM!
Rating:
Summary: Focusing personal and corporate energy where it counts.
Review: Richard Koch masterfully amplifies and focuses Vilfredo Pareto's familiar Principle of Imbalance for 21st century readers. Whether you run a household or work within a giant corporation, you will find useful insights into how to apply your time for the greatest improvements in your life and your organization's bottom line. At The Stanton Group we continuously apply 80/20 logic to our manufacturing management consulting services, and the bottom-line results have been exciting. This approach helps us to build on already existing client strengths and apply them to business areas where they will yield the most benefit. This book is a real gem, a must-read for all managers who want to keep organizations lean without cutting muscle.
Rating: 
Summary: I think they are teaching numerology at Oxford University.
Review: I thank Richard Koch for reintroducing the 80/20 principle but pretty much after an explanation the principle follows a whole bunch of exceptions to the 80/20 rule - the 99/1 rule, 65/35, 83/26, blah, blah, blah. His system is basically analysis of data presented as "rules" and exceptions. Much like numerologists try to find patterns in numbers and exceptions to them, the author of this book finds patterns with percentages and tries to make a religion out of it. You can't ignore the good advice of focusing in on your most productive parts of your life and discarding unvaluable components. That advice is valuable. But don't try to make sense of his numerology. It's borderline silly.
Rating: 
Summary: an intriguing concept
Review: Sometimes a single idea or reflection is worth the price of the book, especially if it leads to new pathways of thinking. In an ironic twist, this book is a self reinforcing example of the principle Mr. Koch highlights: 80% of the value in this book comes from 20% of its content, with the other four fifths meant only to increase the number of pages to publishable length... This book is valuable not because it has any specific advice or instruction for the reader (do this, do that etc),but because it can help you reassess your own life, or your own business, in potentially groundbreaking ways. Koch's idea that the average "busy" individual has a surplus of time,rather than a sharp scarcity of it, is intriguing and worth pondering. As an individual who constantly feels that there are too few hours in the day to get everything done, I was both fascinated and horrified to see how much of my time I use ineffectively even though I fancy myself to be an efficiency nut.
Rating:
Summary: The 80/20 Principle
Review: Mr. Koch should have used his own advice when writing this book, that is 20% (I am being generous)was worthy of my attention, with 80% filler of repeating "80/20" this and that............ and more word fillers. Of course 50 pages is not too impresive. Be cautious of some of his advice, and mine the true golden nuggets that he does provide if you insist on proceeding further.
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