Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life

First of all, the book is so childish, it's embarrassing to read. In fact, I found my self skipping over parts just because I couldn't read that slowly. And I'm not a speedy reader. Even the discussions before and after the story seem to be written for a pre-schooler.

Secondly, the book's basic premise is that we're all small little animals (the smartest of whom are mice) who are running around in a maze looking for cheese being placed in arbitrary positions by some unknown power. Yep, that's exactly the way that I want to envision my life's paradigm. The book's message is to "go for the cheese" and to bow to the will of those unknown powers. And if you stand up and challenge the situation, in effect challenging those powers, you're clearly a loser.

In fact, fans of the book will probably accuse me of being a "Hem." Well, if Hem hadn't been this poor defenseless little critter stuck in the maze, but had been able to reach out to the guy in the white coat who had moved his cheese, I'm guessing it would have been a much different story. Hem would have gotten his cheese, throttled the lab assistant, and maybe even have found some nice apple pie as well.

This frightening and insipid book insists that we be meek and simply go with the flow. But sometimes standing up and struggling is the answer. But that struggle, while it is necessary for most companies and organizations to survive and grow, is not what many managers want. They want you to be quiet and go find your new cheese. In fact, I was flipping through the endorsements for this book and I found almost all of the people to be managers and executives who presumably like to be surrounded by "yes men."

Finally, the mercenary Dr. Johnson uses the text to blatantly sell more copies. On the very last page, the character known as Michael says that "it works best, of course, when everyone in your organization knows the story." And on the facing page, what do we see but a form to order more copies. I felt like I had just read a hardcover piece of literature for motivational products.

This book is wrong. It teaches that you must accept change without regard to whether it is appropriate it not. It teaches that you must not struggle, you must not fight...you must simply accept whatever change happens. You must meekly move on to find your cheese, wherever it has been arbitrarily placed. I'm sure that Saddam Hussein would have loved to buy a few of these books to airdrop on Kuwait before his invasion.

From management's perspective, this is the perfect book to distribute when a company is going through a reorganization. Rather than try to justify their actions and admit that they're burying a few bodies, management can simply say, "are you a Hem or a Haw?"

One final piece of advice. If you're ever interviewing for a job, and you see this book on someone's desk, get up and walk out. No, don't walk - run. Your cheese isn't at that company.


Make you think again about your life   February 7, 2000
 38 out of 44 found this review helpful

The impressive thing about this book is that within a few pages (that take only an hour of reading) makes you think again and again about your life. It leads you to think about the chances that you are missing by hanging out with old missed chances. It forces you to move on. It shows you some of the wrong directions in your life, business, family etc. This book is a must have, and a great gift for friends


Great reading--If you're 12!   June 14, 2000
 38 out of 51 found this review helpful

This book contains some of the most banal prose I've ever read. The book reads for a sixth-grade reading level. Then there's the obvious theme: accept change. After living in the real world for the past 20+ years, who doesn't know that s/he must accept change? I'm saddened, because of the high sales of this book, to wonder about the literacy level of many managers.


This is the "Real World"?   December 31, 2000
 38 out of 52 found this review helpful

I received this book as a gift for Christmas from a supposed "family" member. He said it would change my life. It changed his. My other family members chimed in, saying it was the best thing they had ever read. I now wish I was adopted.

I read the thing in 15 minutes (Not a good sign. A supposed "life" changing book that packs all its knowledge into a format that can be read in such a short amount of time. Something is wrong with that. I'm not even going to mention the primary language used. If this is a book written for businesses by a high ranking business consultant, its a nice commentary on the intelligence level of those running our economy. I feel safer already.)

I am finishing my last semester in a University and am about to enter the "real world", which I think prompted my loving family to purchase this book for me. Now I'm thinking of failing a class just so I can stay in college for as long as possible just so I don't have to endure the idiocy of the real world.

According to this book, something you strive for can simply be picked up and moved by some powerful figure and you simply have to accept it and "move" with it, disregarding everything that you have put into the "cheese". That's very heartening. I'm looking forward to being a pawn for a CEO. Only, I must keep my running shoes on, just in case I'm "down-sized". But, I have to move with the cheese right? Blech.

This book is simple propaganda. Be loyal, be submissive, those higher up than you know better. Just move with the cheese and all will be well. Unless your baby daughter catches influenza and you just lost your health benefits because the company is cutting costs and your years with them really don't matter, seeing that it's all about the bottom line anyway. Just move with the cheese my friend.

Man. I'm looking forward to entering this fun filled, action packed world we've created for ourselves. Thanks Spencer!


LIKE EATING MOLDY KRAFT MACARONI   June 3, 2002
 38 out of 52 found this review helpful

I'm so glad others out there despise this book as much as I. It was given to all employees at my company a month before we were told no one was getting an annual bonus this year. (Coincidence? I think not.) Our CEO claimed it was the best thing he's ever read. Ever feel like you work for an idiot? This book is downright demoralizing and depressing when it's given to you by a company you slave 8-5 for everyday. They must think we have the intelligence of bridge trolls. I hated the message of this book so much, and the condescending stupidity it connotates that I actually burned it at a keg party the following weekend. The scary part? IT WOULDN'T BURN! We had to set it on fire so many times we gave up and threw it in the trash. The one positive was that after reading it I felt smarter than our management team and know now that someday, all the people who hate this book will come together to crush the cheese lovers. Oh yeah.