The Age of Unreason

Rating:
Summary: You Get What You Pay For
Review: A company at which I worked adopted one of the philosophies in this book -- the core business -- and outsourced all of the functions it considered non-core, such as human resources, accounting, info technology etc. The resulting situation was miserable, I've never worked with unhappier people, and I'm glad as heck to be away from that outfit. The "unreason" concept is definitely nothing to be proud of.

Rating:
Summary: Don't take it *too* literally.
Review: I had to both laugh at and give a helpful vote to the review below which accused the author of citing half-maked fragments of myths and anecdotes as evidence. To a certain degree, it's a fair cop, particularly if you're looking for a book which is going to really stunningly predict the future.

_The Age of Unreason_ isn't about predicting the future, it's about training yourself to look at the future in ways that you might otherwise not have done. As such, I found it a valuable and interesting book which is clearly based in a lot of meditation on learning and learning theories.

Some of the things Handy mentioned turned out to have become true since the book was written. Other things didn't-- but it doesn't matter ultimately. What the book asks is this: Can you recognize the real causes for pain that you identify? Can you think differently to force discontinuous change? Is your vision of the future based on an accurate perception of the past, or are you looking past major factors because you don't recognize the role of gradual change?

People who like this book may like some of the books on developing strategies using scenario exercises. This book also contains a decent (if dated) bibliography.

Rating:
Summary: Will stretch your thinking
Review: Very though provoking read. Even though written in '89 it has some very topical and relevant ideas. This is by no means a how to book, although there are suggestions and concepts to consider. Rather Handy gives arguments and suggestions on why adaptation to worn out approaches to organizations need to be considered. His writing style is informative without being overbearing, pretty quick read. If someone wants to understand more on why organizations need to adapt their designs and what some of the implications are then this is a good read, although some ideas are unique.