Careers Books

For years, I've quoted this author in my seminars: "When one is excessively busy, his heart is dead". There is no better source for understanding what to do about this common affliction than this small, powerful book. She guides the reader to finding the balance between grace, strength, and relaxation - the harmonious "rhythm of ease and effort". In finding this point of balance, the reader will discover a more peaceful path toward his or her destiny. The section "From Reacting to Restfully Controlling" is a valuable perspective on learning to respond, rather than react, a topic covered in my Intentional Living: Lessons from the Tree of Life.In addition, the Asian-inspired wisdom of surrendering to reveal your destiny, of doing less to achieve more, so well presented here, was the inspiration for my chapter "Being and Doing" in Letters to My Granddaughters; Insights and inspiration for a life journey.

I bought this book a couple of years ago. Tried to start it severa times, it was always such a struggle.

Perhaps it was the gash in the cover of the book, but more likely it was that I wasn't ready for these wonderful teachings.

This afternoon I gave up. Put aside a couple of priority projects and wanted to read from a pile of important books I've been meaning to get to. Instead I picked up Do Less, Achhieve More, thinking I'd read for a few minutes again.

Once I let go of the struggle, the words flowed effortlessly and I saw answer to some of my largest challenges in life. I finished the book in 90 minutes without interuption.

I wish I could promise this experience to all who read. I cannont. But I can promise that there is much wisdom in this one.

The first story in this book is about a rainmaker who brings rain to a village that had been in a drought for five years. He evidently does this by putting himself in "harmony with the Divine." Later in this book, when asked how he discovered his destiny, the rainmaker replies that he asked the "universal Being to make clear his way".

So if you are the kind of person who thinks that one person meditating inside a tent can influence weather patterns, then I guess this would be a good book to read. However, if like me you are interested in reading a book with some useful and practical tips on balancing your time, then I doubt you will find anything of interest in this book.

--Not just about getting ahead in business, but about living a good and worthwhile life ... I was able to give this book a first reading in just a couple of sittings, but I know that I'll be returning to it again and again in months and years to come.

I love this book. Have read it at least four times, usually on long flights above the ocean or across a country. Here are its five principal lessons:

Desired outcome after reading:
Accomplish more by finding a better balance between effort and ease.

1. Trade what you have for what you want
"At any moment, your life is completely full... You had twenty four hours yesterday, and I guarantee that you used every minute and second of it." To make your life today different than it was yesterday, you have to give up something to make room for activities that will bring you what you desire. "Often, the greater the reward, the larger the adjustment you will have to make in your life."

2. Change your dreams, change your life
"Your dreams are like a movie projector reflecting your conscious and unconscious thoughts. If you want to know the quality of your life, examine the quality of your dreams." Do whatever you can to push your dreams to new levels: cut out pictures from magazines, imagine that you are (not will be, but are right now) wildly successful. Take long, imaginary rides in your yacht or Ferrari.

3. Surrender, and see your destiny
Giving into destiny does not mean doing nothing. It means "accepting life as you find it. It means using your given ability, talent and strength to do all you can to bring about a better life for yourself and others." She believes destiny reveals itself in three stages: first, you are dissatisfied with life; next, you come to some dramatic turning point - be careful not to get stuck here, as many do; finally you recognize that no one can take away what is destined to be yours, and then you have much in common with other great men and woemn.

4. Be willing not to survive
Once you turn to face the worst of all consequences, fear disappears. Death can actually become your protector. Once you accept death and turn to face it, daily stress and frustration drifts away. You gain the freedom to recognize what is truly important, rather than what you feel compelled to do.

5. Put your mind at ease
"The only reality that exists for you is in your own mind." Grant yourself grace. You can choose to enjoy or dread your ride through life; this is a choice that happens in your mind, not in the world around you.

I bought the book and value it for its insightful and practical advice. Penelope's advice will challenge you, resonate with you or be disagreeable with you which is quite evident when you look over the other reviews here. It will not bore you or put you to sleep. This book is thought provoking and made me reflect back on the decisions I made or didn't make in my career. I honestly believe it could have helped me in my career. Three themes in this book that most resonated with me were 1) the importance of knowing yourself, 2) being likeable matters more than being competent, and 3) understanding that control of your life comes from within yourself as opposed to making excuses or placing blame elsewhere. A topic as important as career advice needs more than one book or one author's point of view and this book should be one of them. She covers a lot of material (45 rules) in this book so it must have been an arduous undertaking to define all of them, give supporting statements and examples, and tie them all together. The rules are well explained and provide a good starting point for further exploration if necessary.
It's a book on a landscape that is changing and does have new rules. It doesn't mean some of the old rules don't still apply. It's also important to remember this is a self-help book and will only be as effective as the person who implements it. A book can provide a good starting point but it isn't an end all. I have self-help books on golf but it wasn't until I hit many balls at the range, played games with more experienced players, and got lessons from a golf pro (in that order) that I started to really feel confident about my swing and enjoy the game. My point is that the search for a satisfying and meaningful career will require preparation, practice with trial and error, and learning through feedback given by other players or a pro (career coach) if necessary.
This book was the first book I bought without reviewing it first in a bookstore, library, or whatever. [...] I agreed with much of it so I bought the book and I'm glad I did. The advice given in this book is to the point. It is illustrated with her own and other peoples' experiences (successes and failures). Her writing style makes this book easy to read. It is also well laid out which makes it easy to find what you're looking for in the book. There is no doubt the advice is brazen and hence the title. Here's the brazen last paragraph on a recent blog post (4/14/08) titled How to get a job that's way beyond your experience - "Tough part: Seeing your true self and believing in the person you see. This is actually the tough part of all of life. Which explains why I like writing about career advice so much." She challenges herself and is always looking for new and fresh perspectives from her readers. There are no sacred cows here so that's why I like to read and comment on her blog. I would recommend buying this book.

Penelope Trunk has taken the material from her blog and her Yahoo finance column to provide an interesting perspective on working today. You may not agree with everything she says, but she has an interesting perspective with lots of good suggestions on finding a job, interviewing, and getting ahead. I've shared many of her suggestions with other workers and gotten positive feedback on how to deal with bosses and managing both work and life.

I just heard Penelope Trunk on a public radio show (WNYC) and she managed to be insulting, narrow-minded, and ageist all at once in a short interview. If anyone attempted to turn me away from this book, or from taking her seriously, they couldn't have done a better job of it than she did herself. Imagine, she gets bored while driving, so uses her Blackberry. Take advice from this person? You'd have to be crazy.

I heard Penelope interviewed on NY Public Radio and found her so off-putting that it makes me not want to trust her advice or opinion much less buy her book. She came across not as brazen, but as cruel and obnoxious with no sense of civility. I sure wouldn't want to follow her example. So although the book once sounded interesting in theory, the author has now ruined its appeal.

If you are starting career, think about this book "talk"... Penelope can translate for you the real life of work.

Job is good, think in your development.

At.
Adm. Fabrício Pupo
[...]

I followed the steps in this book and had more interviews than I could keep up with. I accepted a job offer 3 weeks after I read this book.

I will use this book as the go to information source in making my business grow. Love it.

This book gives you a lot of great information that a lawn care operator would not think about when starting up a business. It takes a lot more than a push mower and a trimmer to make money in this business and this book lets you know what a professional in this occupation does. This is not a book that tells you how to cut grass, fertilize, ect. It deals with what it takes to run a lawn care business and it has a pricing list, checklists, etc. that helps you calculate your start up costs. Good book.

THE BOOK WAS VERY SHORT AND DID NOT EXPAND VERY MUCH IN A LOT OF IMPORTANT AREA'S...THIS COULD OF ALMOST BEEN A START UP BOOK FOR ANY TYPE OF SMALL SERVICE BUSINESS. I WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED IN THE FACT THAT SEVERAL OF THE ORGANIZATIONS LISTED WERE EITHER NO LONGER FUNCTIONING OR NEVER DID. THE CONTACT NUMBERS AND WEB ADDRESSES ARE ALL DEAD ENDS. THE BOOK DID HOWEVER HAVE GOOD POINTS ON OUTLINING THE START OF YOUR BUSINESS (HOWEVER GEARED FOR SOMEONE WITH A LOT OF MONEY TO START). I ALSO THINK THE BOOK BARELY TOUCHED UPON THE AREA'S OF HOW TO ATTAIN LICENSE'S AND PERMIT'S. OVERALL I WAS DISAPPOINTED BUT IT WAS NOT A TOTAL LOSS, I LEARNED A FEW THINGS THAT I WILL PROBABLY USE IN THE START UP OF MY BUSINESS.

I am an integral coach who does a lot of career counseling. This is hands down my absolute favorite book on this topic because it provides inspiration, practical tools and presents good information in a way that is very easy for anyone to understand.

This book is essentially about finding your vocation or your heart's deepest desire. It encourages you to align your work with your values as much as possible and it is written from a spiritual perspective that is generally Eastern, but it does not actually push a particular worldview over any others.

If you have the discipline to work through this book, you will learn a lot about yourself and the type of work that makes you most happy. It will also show you how to take what you most love doing and create opportunities to do more of it.

This book is particularly good for mid-life career changers and young people who are idealistic or torn between their head and their heart. It provides tools that will help them to cut through confusion and get clarity about what really matters to them.

This is my favorite work by this author. His other work is good, but I find this particular book a step above his other work. If you want a good career resource in a similar vein, I also recommend "The Beginner's Guide to Finding Your Perfect Job" by Rick Jarow. This is a very helpful and inexpensive tape or CD.

It would have been more honest (and less pretentious) if the author had not succumbed to the temptation to present this book as a kind of corollary of Zen. When push comes to shove, Zen Buddhism doesn't earn its living as a career-aid. Its primary purpose is to help provide an answer to the problem of suffering and impermanence (as the Buddha taught) - albeit in a form developed by Far-eastern Buddhists.

If Zen has anything to say - about getting through life in this world, almost all of it can be summed up with the axiom - don't plan on staying around, shed excess baggage, find what was there - before you were born! That isn't the message in this book. It is too long-winded. The best ideas in it could have been presented in a third of the space used.Save trees!

The book provides a well thought out methodology as to how to
determine personal philosophy, strengths and desires and marry these with career planning.

The scene is repeated at 7 a.m. every morning. Millions of people roll over and hit the buttons on their alarm clocks, dreading the fact that they will soon be heading off to jobs they consider drudgery, mere vehicles for paying their bills. The lucky ones will only dislike their jobs a little bit. If they're really fortunate, they'll find work tolerable, even though it falls short of satisfying their yearnings. A handful of blessed individuals will actually feel happy as they walk into their jobs, knowing they're heading for work that brings them fulfillment. But once you've committed 40 hours a week to something, shouldn't it give you joy? In this comprehensive, revealing - though excessively long - tome, Laurence G. Boldt proposes that everyone has the power to choose a satisfying career. By taking a spiritual approach (that's the Zen message) and embarking upon real self-examination, you can discover your true interests and free yourself to pursue your passion. Boldt offers concrete suggestions for success, such as how to write a convincing resume, weigh the pros and cons of entrepreneurship, and conduct a successful interview. He provides pages of exercises, resources and questionnaires. Plenty of books provide such tips, but this may be the only one that dishes them up along with ancient Chinese proverbs and Japanese calligraphy. So we suggest that if you're just starting out or stuck in an unsatisfying job, find a comfortable chair, light a stick of incense and take a journey within yourself. You may be surprised at what you find - your life's work.

Do you seek more than the conventional nine-to-five job.do you seek a job that can advance your spiritual life. a job that merely positions you to solve problem after problem or a job that will help you reveal life's mysteries.a job where you fill you pockets til your last day or a job that helps you contribute to the well being of others?

If you're on the quest, Boldt gives you the tools you've never received. What's the quest? When the knights of King Arthur's court had seen an apparition of the Grail through a veil, they determined to go on a quest to find it. And they thought, "We should go out together to find the Grail" But then they realized that this would be "a disgrace." No, each must go alone into the forest and enter at the point he himself would choose, "where it was darkest and there was no path." A hero is a chooser of the questions of his life and thereby, of his quest. To walk this pathless path is to take the hero's journey.

Realize that public education equips you with skills and attitudes to make you more valuable as a worker for those whose agenda you will spend your lives servicing. It hasn't been to help students discover their own purposes and construct and realize goals based on these.

This book, much life Srikumar Rao's Are You Ready To Succeed at once inspires your quest and arms you with tools to bravely chart your way.

Not enough information. Very slim book, with little information. Basically, all of the information it contained I have found on websites.

This book was very informative but I already knew most of what was in the book from research of my own. I would suggest this book to anyone suffering from IBS who wants to learn more about this health issue. Great book.

On page 40 she states, "55% of patients reported that bran made their IBH worse and yet the 1st recipe in "20 Recipe You Cannot Live Without" is Raisin Bran Muffins! Whereas in the definitive book on IBS "Eating for IBS" says stay away from whole wheat, milk, cheese, and red meat (which I followed and it solved our IBS problem), this book pushes whole wheat, whole milk, eggs, and dairy.

"Eating for IBS" helped. Following the recipes in this book would not.

Unfortunately a well-intentioned author provides just another "me too" guide, which includes all the persistent misconceptions about the role of diet in IBS-D; D&C; and C subpopulations. Clearly not current with the literature and does not understand the processing of benign antigens by the gastroimmune system nor the process of oral tolerance (which is compromised in this condition leading to the symptoms). As with any of these books, authors do not yet understand the fact that to achieve a high-rate and significant degree of remission the diet must be patient-specific. This cannot be accomplished with the procedures recommended much less with the dietary advice provided. Probabilities dictate that you are bound to find some people who experience some relief from some of the recommendations, and many people who receive little relief. Some will experience worsening of their symptoms. IBS patients will be consuming foods and additives left and right which perpetuate their symptoms using these types of books for guidance which is well out of date.

I have IBS/D and I found this book to be a very useful guide. It helped me to realize that I had been eating foods that were hurting me. The list of gassy foods is especially on-point and the most comprehensive one that I've seen yet. I've followed the recommendations in this book closely and noticed a marked difference in how I feel. A great guide to keep on hand in your kitchen.

By now, probably most of you have heard of the scandal about James Frey's Oprah Book Club bestseller, "A Million Little Pieces." As it turns out, the book, published as an autobiography, has been disclosed by thesmokinggun.com to be fiction.

Debra Ristau, coauthor of "Horse Whispers & Lies", the expose about her cousin, said that many people have contacted her with regard to the Frey issue's relevance to her book and Monty's own allegedly false autobiography.

She and her mother Joyce Renebome have now (Jan. 31, 2006) returned their book to their website. Some used print copies are still available through Amazon.com. Apparently, the authors also plan to copy their documentation for their book to the web, which will be a herculean task, due to the volume of material they collected.

See the book HORSE WHISPERS & LIES complete and online and free at http://www.horsewhispersandlies.com/index.html

From the home page:
>
Monty Roberts: "The Real Horse Whisperer?"
His best-seller, "The Man Who Listens to Horses," was sold as NON-FICTION. (Random House 1996)
Like James Frey's, "A Million Little Pieces," Monty's memoirs are not even close to the truth. Worse, Monty accuses his parents of heinous acts to make himself the hero.
>

Monty Roberts' "Horse Sense for People" is a good book about an extraordinary person. Rising above his own abusive childhood where he suffered 71 broken bones by age 12 from his father's beatings he has shown that his Join-Up method with horses can be used to "tame" unruly children. He and his wife Pat raised 47 foster children plus three of their own. Roberts said, "I had show there is a better life if you get rid of violence."
Roberts turned the horse world on its head and gained international fame when he developed a technique called Join-Up based on communicating with horses using their natural body language. He says communication among humans and horses enables Join-Up and has identified 187 signs with which he can communicate with a horse. He says, "The language of the horse is the language of gestures. It is a gift we all have."
Roberts has trained over 70,000 wild horses and usually gets and out-of-control horse to accept saddle, bridle and rider in 30 minutes. He learned to "listen" to horses by paying attention to the way they communicate with each other with their ears, eyes and body postures. An essential part of Join-Up is the breakthrough moment when a horse bonds and nudges him.
Now 70, Roberts rode his first horse at age three, won his first riding trophy at age 4 and spent most of his life working as a competitive rider trainer, winning four world championships and training hundreds of stakes-wining racehorses.
Roberts is the author of three best sellers including the book "The Man Who Listens to Horses" that sold 4.5 million copies. He wrote the book at the urging of Queen Elizabeth II who invited Roberts to train her equestrian staff. His work inspired "The Horse Whisperer" a best selling novel by Nicholas Evans that was made into the movie starring Robert Redford.
Roberts travels the world giving lectures and demonstrating his techniques. Much of the money from his non-profit organization goes to local charities and communities he visits. He also holds dozens of workshops at his "Flag is Up" farm in California for corporate executives (representatives from over 200 corporations attended the past decade), businesses, educators, social workers and other leaders who want to create conditions that foster trust, cooperation and partnership to improve efficiency, motivation and satisfaction.
For years the educational authorities were skeptical about Roberts' discipline methods until a failing British School adopted his practices in a last-ditch attempt to evade closure. The results were spectacular. In less than four years the Kingshurst Junior School in Solihule was transformed into a center of excellence. The 290 pupils with 40% special needs children love going to school now.
Roberts, a grandfather with a cowboy hat, is now inundated with requests for help from schools all over the world. For discipline he uses signed contracts titled "A Road Map to Excellence" that outline the effects of children's positive and negative behavior. Roberts says, "Before they act they must know the consequences of their actions. Contracts allow kids to manage their own lives. It's about assuming responsibility...there is no such thing as teaching-only learning."
Roberts discovered that many people who cry or faint when the horse nudges him in Join-Up have experienced mental or physical abuse.
Roberts says people, like horses, perform better in environments that "request" rather than "demand" where they are willing partners.
Central to Roberts' horse training methods is the complete elimination of physical and emotional violence. He says, "The more you use pain, force and coercion, the more the horse holds back and tries to fight."
Roberts admits that applying pain may result in obedience and compliance but says it is ultimately counterproductive as there is no choice. Teaching through partnership allows the freedom to choose and produces a sense of accomplishment that is more productive than force and intimidation.
Roberts has performed his horse-gentling techniques before hundreds of thousands of people around the world. He says, "Remaining cool and getting out of the punishment business is critical to having an effective relationship with horses and children."

Less Horse, More People

I'm not that interested in social reform, so I liked this book least of the three written by Mr. Roberts. It's about applying Join-Up principles to people, at all levels of society. Philosophy is interspersed with stories of the author's experiences with remedial horses and people. Key statements are 'Violence is never the answer', 'Violence is always for the violator and never for the victim', and 'No one of us was born with the right to say 'you must or I'll hurt you' to any other creature, animal or human'.

The book is not clear on exactly what it means by violence. (Page 68: -quote- All of this raises the question, "How do you define violence?" It's a very difficult question with no simple answer. -endquote-) 'Coercive Violence', is my best guess. I am unsure if the nonviolence statements were meant to extend to human self-defense.

The author himself describes man as 'fight', horses as 'flight'. Thus, they're very different. It seems logical that horse-human analogies must fall apart eventually, specially if you believe (as I do) that people are moral beings and can choose to do right or wrong in ways that horses cannot. The book also gives brief opinions on a few subjects that really deserve thorough study and discussion before conclusions are drawn; firearm restriction, criminal incarceration, tracking devices for offenders, spanking.

*Content Note: Parents getting this book for pre- or young teens should know that it includes a vivid story of sexual abuse, told in the victim's words.

If you are looking for information on horses and Join-Up, I suggest you buy Mr. Robert's other fascinating books "The Man Who Listens to Horses" and "Shy Boy". Give "Horse Sense for People" a test run at your library before parting with cash.

These are my personal opinions only and you may react to the book quite differently. This review is not intended in ANY way as a detraction of Mr. Monty Robert's fine work with horses or even of the application of some "Horse Sense" (common sense?) to people.

This book is an easy read for people interrested in horses- combined with people recoveries. It speks about respect and engaging into the language the person/horse concerned already speaks. It may be revolutionary to people who have a past of/in violence (verbal or physical) even if its just at low levels. It helped me makeing sence of a whole bundle of feelings, ideas, perseptions and ideals. This book does contain one chapter which speaks very direct and hosistic about one particular case of child abuse. Wich is defnetly R18!!! Usefull read in my view as a future Social Practitioner.

I enjoy self-help/psychology books, and was intrigued by his idea of using body language to communicate with horses. I haven't read any of his other books, so the information about Equus (the language of horses) was new and completely fascinating.

Roberts' main method of transferring his horse ideas to people is by telling heartwarming 'communication' stories from corporations and by telling heartwarming anecdotes about how he saved yet another troubled teen's life with his kind and steadfast nature.

As much as I can admire someone who starts horses in less than half an hour, and as much as I can agree that it's better not to hurt defenseless animals, extrapolating these theories to "violence is never the answer" makes me roll my eyes.

It would be better if he had stayed with specifics and not tried to lay down a world-guiding philosophy. Because when you get right down to it, if the question is serious enough, (Like, "should the South secede from the Union") violence is the only possible answer.

The stories are interesing enough to make up for it, but I could have done without the self-congratulatory air. Like actresses who write diet books, people who write about what they don't know often embarass themselves.

There have been huge licenses taken with the original book. Laying the two side by side, you can see that very little of the original has been retained. While the message is similar, it is really a rip-off of the original.

I found this audio series somewhat difficult to listen to because of the unvarying tone of the reader and difficult to understand because of sentence structure. But all-&-all worth listening to and studying.

I still haven't finished it but i find this book awesome!!!

I referred to it after seing Mark Ridout's website. It contains lots of pratical tips about both wedding photography business and wedding photography itself.

Go for it!

I generally like books from the Thomson's digital photography series. Their books are typically lucid, well illustrated, and informative. Karney's book fits well into the Thomson series. He brings his expert, professional knowledge to the craft of wedding photography, focusing primarily on the technical aspects of the profession.

But keep in mind Karney's book is a general guide about wedding photography. If you already have such a book, you probably won't learn too much different in this one. He introduces the basics of choosing camera and software related equipment, setting up and carrying out a wedding shoot, and processing the photos after you've shot the wedding.

Specific chapters include: Equipment Matters, Computers and Software (main focus on PC and Windows users. No Mac examples present), Setting Up a Website, Getting Ready for the Big Day, Making Creative and Fun (this section could be expanded), and Proofing, Selling, and Printing.

He primarily shares and explains the tools he uses, such as iView Media Pro iView MediaPro 3 (Win/Mac) and Photodex ProShow. He doesn't delve into the latest popular software like Adobe Lightroom Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 Win/Mac or Apple's Aperture Apple Aperture 1.5. But the workflow process he introduces could apply to almost any digital management system.

The book is well illustrated and even contains a few useful camera tutorials that every photography should either know about or learn. In fact, it would be great to see Karney write an entire book of these types of tutorials.

Cons: The book is lacking in a few areas. I felt he should have spent more time on photo technique and style. You will certainly need to check out other books on this subject. And many of the photos included in the book, while very nice, don't always illustrate the points he's making on a particular page. For example, all the tutorials could have used photos to illustrate what he is instructing readers to do. I also think he could have included more about how Photoshop actions useful to wedding photographers. PS actions are huge time savers for anyone in the business. And finally, the business aspects wedding photography are not well introduced in this book, but again you can find more information in other books about this topic. Check out Best Business Practices for Photographers

Overall, though, the book is one of many that a serious beginning photographer should read. I've read better ones than this, but I do appreciate the information and experience Karney shares in his book. I highly suggest getting this or a similar book if you're just starting out in the profession and you're looking for ideas and suggestions from a pro.

There is a lot of good information for the beginning photographer getting into the wedding business. I like the way that the wedding day is broken into segments and details what the photographer and crew need to do to stay on top of the event. I would like to see more alternative programs or methods to accomplish the finishing touches. The book compares iview and lightroom and gave good coverage to both. There was limited coverage to the use of the internet to share photos. The mention of fotofusion as an alternative to using photoshop for collage layouts is good advice.
There are some typos in the book but they do not take away from the overall message in the book. I am now just getting back into wedding photography after an absence of several years. The book has been great in detailing how the art of the wedding photographer has changed.
I recommend this book for anyone who wants to get an in depth overview of wedding photography as an occupational choice.