What Should I Do with My Life?

Rating:
Summary: On the Road with Career Discussions
Review: The title of this book is a little misleading. This is not a how-to book and won't help you find the answers to your personal career questions. What the book IS is an engaging, inspirational series of interviews or individual stories about people who have found their calling by listening to that inner voice, some who are still searching, and some who stumbled into their life's calling accidentally even when it was in front of them all along. This is not a book to be hurried through all at once, although the reading style is very easy and down to earth. Rather, each person's story should be read and digested on its own merits.

Rating:
Summary: not the only one...
Review: A collection of individuals' own journeys to happiness and contentment in career choices, this book was easy to read and hard to put down. Each "story" or chapter was bound together by the author's own personal account of his brief but meaningful relationship with each main character in this non-fiction collection. With my own career struggles and seeming failures, I was able to pick up the book at any moment of anxiety and read about another's similar feelings of utter distress, and feel a connection with each. In an almost twisted way, I felt as though I was glad that they went through the pains that they did...not to laugh in their misery, but to feel as though someone had personally talked to me about his or her own attempts to find the right path to meaningful work. I highly recommend this book. It is perfect for the student, mid-career professional, or retiree looking for the same.

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Summary: Warning: This book is subversive, and thankfully so!
Review: In an age when M.B.A. programs compete for students over the airways and in the newspapers, and promise degrees on weekends, when parents are training their infants for Harvard, it is welcome to find a book that deals with the serendipities of life, the ironies, the contradictions and illusions we place on ourselves to present a face to the world that we know just who we are and where we are going. America, the externally optimistic country has a "shadow," and to not admit it exists is to escape the nature of being human. In this book, we encounter men and women who thought they knew who they were, had dreams they thought were authentic, but found out through experience that their true natures lay elsewhere. This is a great book for anyone who believes one must always feel centered, focused and targeted toward goals that are encouraged by our culture, but has had at one time or another a knawing sense that what the world sees is not what you are feeling. In its conversational, authentic style, Po has managed to reveal the substance of our doubts and shows us that for true growth to occur, sometimes we must go through periods of confusion. I'm sure there are some people who have a straight-arrow focus on their goals and objectives, but for most of our confused and confusing society, the many and varied stories in this book will be a friend and make you feel like part of a much larger community than we are willing to admit.

Rating:
Summary: How I was hooked
Review: Please do not stop reading this based upon title of this book. Trust me, you will thank me later! Admittedly, this cringe-worthy title question has become the bane of this second-semester senior's very existence. So when I happened upon it in an airport bookstore, I regarded it as yet another reminder of my looming, uncertain future. Considering I had some time to kill (my flight was delayed...again), I figured a book couldn't damage my morale anymore than my parents had already. Thirty pages later, I threw some money at the cashier and was running to make the final boarding call for my flight. I was hooked.

In his New York Times best-selling book, What Should I Do With My Life, Po Bronson bravely breathes new life into a topic previously overshadowed by confusion and doubt. Bronson observes that while preaching the importance of career-minded thought, society rarely permits us the time to explore what it is we are actually passionate about. After interviewing nearly a thousand people, Bronson condensed his research to 50+ short anecdotes investigating the experiences of those who stopped passing through life and started actively engaging it. These career changes range from drastic 180s to small alterations: A career counselor who ironically hated his profession, a lawyer who found satisfaction in making cakes, or a businessman who discovered he was happiest in Hong Kong. Bronson is quick to point out that although not all were successful, each person faced this ultimate question head-on and came out with greater personal clarity.

This is not a how-to book of answers. As Bronson points out, to assert such an arrogant claim would be insulting to the reader's individuality. Instead, Bronson interjects his own battles to abandon bond sales for the unstable yet stimulating world of writing. The author even admits that during the creation of his book, he "...learned to see the extraordinary in the once cast-away ordinary." These are everyday people yet their accomplishments make them uniquely attention worthy. Prompted from his diverse research, Bronson dares the reader to ignite his or her own pursuit of self-discovery.

The energy this book generates is infectious. By revolutionizing a once clichéd question, What Should I Do With My Life has generated exceptional feedback worldwide. His book has prompted thousands to take the time to better understand themselves, and in doing so, has inspired a movement of people no longer settling for 'good enough' but instead demanding a personally rewarding career. Ultimately, Po Bronson conveys that although "obvious questions don't have obvious answers," it's the essential struggle with these questions that will yield the most fulfilling outcomes.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommend
Review: If you're looking for a self-help book or an easy answer to the question used as the book's title then don't bother buying it.

But if you want to read about how others made critical changes in their lives and how they overcame the excuses that most of us make then you should buy this book.

If I could afford to buy this for all of my friends then I would have done it months ago.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding, Life Changing Book
Review: Reading this book changed my life.

The stories continually inspired me to be more open to the instincts within me, the "crazy" ideas that most people dismiss when the voice whispers within them. It reminded me over and over, story after story, that people CAN succeed by living outside of the lines.

I am surprised that the average number of stars from these reviews is only 3. It makes me wonder if perhaps some readers are feeling bad about themselves and the path they've chosen, and misdirecting that criticism to the writer instead of honestly confronting themselves. If you approach this book with an open, willing mind, it has the potential and power to change your life. Po Bronson's comments are insightful as well.

All in all, I'm incredibly thankful that I came across this book.

Rating:
Summary: Open Your Mind To See
Review: This is a well written, interesting, and inspiring book. The subject deals with the ultimate question of what really makes one happy. It is not a self-help book; nor does it offer career advice. Instead, the book is a collection of short stories of people who struggled with the question "what should I do with my life?"

No book is written for everyone. It is amazing to see how closed minded and opinionated book reviewers can be when they disagree. However, harsh criticism, including personal verbal attack, is not the way to prove one's intelligence or literary taste.

Rating:
Summary: Why me?
Review: Hoping to find inspiration in this book, I did find some. At least my life isn't as condescending and dull as Po Bronson's.

Thank you for sharing some of the dullest stories I've ever read (although I'm sure they COULD be interesting if told by another less self absorbed writer).

Also, your views of Texas, San Antonio and Alamo Heights are clouded.

I think Po Bronson has potential as a writer (and as a person) if he would stop believing that the world revolves around him. Just look at his web site...gads!

Rating:
Summary: Massive waste of time
Review: I am upset at how much of a waste this book was ,nothing useful or insightful just unfinished stories of quick coffee cup meetings with people in flux.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, inspirational
Review: I was thrilled by this book, because I ask myself the title question all the time. I'm not sure, but it seems like not everyone does. And, perhaps, asking the question itself is an indication that you're not doing what you should be. So, to read about other people asking the same question, people actually doing things to change their lives was inspirational. And, although, I'm not sure the book changed my life, I'm really glad I read it. I think about things differently now. I'm always in a hurry. I want everything right now. But, that's not the way it usually happens, Bronson says. People slowly get there, and when they're there, sometimes they don't even know. And, shockingly some of them throw it away, and end up starting over again. It made me think that my passions are attainable.

However, the book is not perfect. I liked that Bronson injected his own story into his stories about other people. I found his story the most interesting of them all. He came off as likable, and his fear of commitment and having a child is one I think many of my generation can relate to. I also liked that Bronson befriended his interviewees and perhaps even steered them closer to their goals. I thought that Bronson treated his subjects with compassion, although at times I felt like he was a tad condescending.

Sadly, the people in Bronson's book seemed really similar to each other. First and foremost, they all seemed to have money. And, it's a lot easier to achieve a dream with money, and thus not quite as interesting or inspirational or realistic. Plus, not all, but many were from the San Francisco and L.A. areas of the United States, like Bronson is. I would have been interested to read about people less like Bronson. I couldn't relate to a large number of the people he chose for the book.

That said, most of the people he chose were interesting. It was intriguing in a slightly voyeuristic way to get an inside view into the lives of normal people, not celebrities. The lesson is important: don't lose sight of your passion. And, it's a lesson I needed when I saw this book. So, I recommend it to others asking themselves the title question. You won't wake up the next morning with an answer to the question, but it will probably help you redefine your goals and show you that there is no one definition for success, no one American Dream. One man's paradise is another man's hell. You have to carve out your own happiness. And, most of all, it will comfort you that finding your passion tends not to happen overnight.