1 comments about Complete Idiot's Guide to Making Money with Your Hobby.

1. This book is an amazing tool in turning your hobby into a profitable business. The author covers everything from 'the idea' to actual business laws, regulations, finances and workings.

   As someone who has no business background or experience selling wholesale/retail, I found this book exeptional in its detail and content!

   Highly recommended!

5 comments about Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy.

1. This is a spectacular piece of work with many gifted turns of phrase. The author has done his homework, and melds economic facts and philosophical reflections in a worthy manner. The author opens with a challenge: how should a free people respond to slavery, i.e. should they knowingly buy products and services that are rooted in slavery?
   
   I ordered this book on the strength of the author's appearance on CSPAN BookTV, and this is one of those instances where I think that listening to him talk about the book first is hugely beneficial to appreciating the book. The author, in person (on CSPAN), is funny, intelligent, informative, a really excellent presenter of facts in a coherent manner.
   
   Supreme Court Justice Brandeis is cited in this book: "You can have great concentration of wealth in the hands of a few or you can have democracy. You can't have both." While the author documents slavery, at least 27 million world-wide (not counting the prison-slave population) with 800 million not enslaved but utterly poor going hungry each day, 33 million of them in the USA, his book is a socio-economic ideo-cultural treatise on "whither globalization." His bottom line is clear: if we allow slave labor and sweatshop conditions to undercut each of our homeland industries, we are toast.
   
   The author does something quite special with this book. I am deeply impressed. Since the 1970's I have understood the conflict between multinational corporations and governments, the trade-offs between profits and social value, but it is only recently that my reading has brought forth the sharp battle that will define the 21st Century: the battle between Collective Intelligence (one for all, all for one) and Corruption at all levels of government and business.
   
   The meme "true cost" is the ideological battle line. Also known as the triple bottom line (economic, social, and environmental), it is my view that the ability of my generation to promulgate True Cost information in the next ten years is going to determine what kind of future our children have. The author provides numbers, and I am gripped by the 40 cents paid to the slave laborer for a bucket of tomatos, versus the $12.00 plus paid to the farmer or "organizer/enforcer." The author is eloquent in describing how slave wages have not risen in thirty years, while all else has....
   
   This book is deep, richly textured, a tremendously informative and socially-valuable offering.
   
   Here are a few highlights that stayed with me:
   
   1) US Census statistics are so "delusional and deceptive" that Wall Street investors no longer use them--they commission their own studies.
   
   2) The conditions of slavery and poverty and abuse are so deeply entrenched, and imposed on individual held in isolation from society and the rule of law--when the law is willing to be enforced--that they might as well be on another planet, a slave planet.
   
   3) FBI Special Agents get very high marks for being able to master law enforcement in an illegal immigration environment, but the author speaks of "institutional malfeasance" in how often the FBI transfers people. I have long felt that we need to turn government inside out--we need to mass Latin American specialists across government, military, law enforcement, etc, and we need to start putting people into 10 year tours.
   
   4) It is clear we need a "white hat" side of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), I envision something in which all information they might collect in investigating human rights and other labor violations is firewalled from illigal immigrant status.
   
   5) 911 operators are virtually helpless in responding to foreign langugage calls. I have been saying for years that we need to have an international implementation using Telelanguage.com.
   
   6) The author surprises me with his optimism, his expectation that we can achieve a profound change in attitude across our population, completely boycotting all products and services whose "true cost" include slave labor.
   
   I want to end this laudatory review by pointing readers toward the World Index of Social and Environmental Responsibility, the Interra Project, the World Cafe, and the Earth Intelligence Network.
   
   Below I list a few other books that support this one. The first book documented the commoditization of human labor as the beginning of commercialized evil. The rest are increasingly positive about all of us coming together to overcome power and information asymmetries. "Put enough eyes on it, no bug is invisible. That's us: intelligence officers to the poor and the disenfranchised, who in being lifted from slavery, will create infinite revolutionary wealth. We can do this.
   
   The Manufacture Of Evil: Ethics, Evolution, and the Industrial System
   The Working Poor: Invisible in America
   Nickel and Dimed On (Not) Getting By in America
   The Case Against Wal-Mart
   Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor
   The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central-Eastern Europe
   A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
   The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
   The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom
   Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace



2. Nobodies is a book much like "world on fire" by Amy Chua. Bowe has hit upon serious issues. Involuntary servitude and abuse does exist. Yet Bowe, like Chua, fails to understand the real causes of and solutions to these problems. Consequently he arrives at false conclusions. He does so for two reasons.
   
   One of the main problems with this book is that Bowe does not understand economics. Bowe thinks that wages are determined by political clout. Higher wages derive from citizenship and political action. Bowe does not appreciate the importance of labor productivity in determining wages. Bowe also tends to confuse real and nominal factors in globalization. Bowe also does not understand how productivity hinges about global division of labor.
   
   The other main problem with this book is that Bowe does not understand democratic politics. Bowe has excessive faith in the democratic process because he does not understand the inherent defects of democracy. It is necessarily the case that special interest groups have undue political influence and that voters tend to be poorly informed. There are also inherent problems with the overexpansion and rigidity of bureaucracies.
   
   The third main problem with this book is its appaling use of statistics. Bowe compares the incomes of certain groups at certain points in time. Bowe fails to see how the statistics have changed over time. Decades ago South Korea and Hong Kong had severe poverty. These countries experienced rising living standards as they took part in postwar Globalization. For that matter, all industrialized nations started out with low wages in so called sweatshops, and developed through trade and Globalization. Bowe should consider the improvements realized by participants to Globalization.
   
   Nobodies contains some interesting anecdotes. However, this book is so poorly reasoned that it will serve only to obfuscate these important issues. There is another book that examines problems of citizenship and inclusion more intelligently: The Mystery of Capital by Hernado De Soto. De Soto's book is a must read for those who are interested in Globalization. De Sosto is dead accurate in his analysis and conclusions. If you want to Read Nobodies, do so only after reading The Mystery of Capital.



3. It is unfortunate when some of the most important subjects that need to be approached with an intellecutally honest, scientific mindset, are co-opted by people with an agenda. Income inequality is an important topic about which we should be concerned, and while some of the anecdotal information Mr. Bowe presents in the book are interesting, his Michael Moore-ish analysis and resulting explanation have the unfortunate perspective of the free market being inevitably exploitative and the way to "reform" the system being the tired leftist answer to impose more regulation and let benevolent government control the evil market, and especially the inherently unequal U.S..
   
   Examples
   When discussing income inequality in the U.S., Mr. Bowe uses household income to compare the disparity between the top and bottom quintiles, which is an immediate sign that the argument is skewed. Per capita income is the correct measure because the number of people per household has declined over time (the time period cited, 1960-2005), and the average number of earners per household in the top quintile is more than four times what it is in the bottom quintile (2.09 vs. 0.5). Growing income inequality in the U.S. is real, but not because the free market is inherently unfair, because of three real phenomena.
   1) Immigration (legal and illegal) of unskilled laborers and immigration policy that is more focused on nepotism than the needs of the economy, has expanded the unskilled labor force (over-supplied) and drive down wages.
   2) Education - the public education system has been co-opted by the very unions Mr. Bowe lauds in his book, and the curriculum has been made less rigorous, so we are not producing the scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs to drive future productivity growth and again are over-supplying the unskilled labor force.
   3) Economy - the U.S. economy has evolved into more of a knowledge economy so skilled labor is more valued. Yet, with the education system dumbing down the curriculum and immigration policy not being based on bringing in more skilled workers, the supply of skilled laborers (knowledge workers) is lower, which raises the price (wages) of skilled laborers, and exacerbates the inequalities.
   Instead of increasing the budget of the Department of Labor as Mr. Bowe recommends, perhaps reforming immigration and education would be more productive towards closing inequalities.
   
   When discussing income inequality globally, again Mr. Bowe compares the distibution of wealth between the top and bottom quintiles over time, but with no mention that those groups, especially in the bottom quintile, have changed over time. In the mid-20th century Honk Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Chile would have been in the bottom quintile. Today those economies are in the first and second quintiles specifically because they adopted the free-market policies that Mr. Bowe seems to decry as unfair in this book. Those in the bottom quintiles are the countries who have the most governmental control and the least economic freedom; Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Cuba, etc.
   More government, at any level, is not the answer.
   
   There is a need for an intellectually honest, compassionate voice of questioning dissent in the U.S. and the world. Unfortunately, this book is not it.



4. An expose of the lower income workers of the world who are manipulated by big business.



5. Having read endless papers and legislation regarding the garment industry in Saipan, I appreciate the equally-valid personal experiences Bowe writes about and his attempt to get to the bottom of such a multi-layered issue.
   
   I've only read the third section (about Saipan) as well as the conclusion so far because it pertained to some research I was doing.
   
   While I can't say much about a book whose greater portion I have yet to read, I will say that in his chapters about Saipan, it isn't terribly obvious which "side" he is on. I find this very refreshing, if not surprising, as it is not typical. Bowe presents the issues (and the situations creating them) facing both workers and employers in Saipan's factories and, while his views on a number of matters are pretty clear, when it comes to the factory workers and bosses he does an impressive job of just telling us what he learned, what he heard, and what he saw, without demonizing either side.
   
   The only thing I didn't like was his tendency to generalize about the various groups of people he talks about (by race or ethnicity). However, I can also understand that if he were to delve into the inter-group dynamics and details, his book would not only take on an irritating complexity, but it would be hundreds and hundreds of pages as well.
   
   All in all, as far as that third section goes, it's a fantastic book for anyone who is unfamiliar with the situation in Saipan beyond the media attention it has received. I appreciate the insight from someone who took the time to move to Saipan and see firsthand what was going on.

2 comments about Workforce 2020 : Work and Workers in the 21st Century.

1. This book is a masterpiece of research. So much is said very succinctly. It is vast in scope, breath and depth yet very understandable. Everything is supported by research. Numerous charts are extremely well done, informative and simple to understand. If you want to plan your career or help guide someone elses future, you must read this book. It has vital information about job trends, types of jobs, and what they pay. You will not be sorry about reading this book.



2. This book describes the future workforce to policy makers. It gives individuals making career decisions some objective, long-range data about the future. Projections include fastest-growing occupations, ethnic and age mix of the workforce, needs of employers, and income to be expected.

   As reviewed in Annotated Bibliography of Learning A Living, A Guide to Planning Your Career and Finding A Job for People with Learning Disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorder, and Dyslexia by Dale S. Brown

3 comments about Working Longer: The Solution to the Retirement Income Challenge.

1. Retirement income prospects for the average American are bleak. One third of households are totally dependent on Social Security as their only source of income. Meanwhile half of Americans are taking early retirement at age 62 which permanently reduces these benefits. Once common, defined benefit plans that assure retirees an inflation adjusted income bundled with healthcare provisions are rapidly disappearing outside the public sector. Less than 20% of the work force has these guarantees. Less than half of the private sector work force contributes to any personal retirement plan. And a Federal Reserve study (2004) finds that those that do contribute have only saved about $60,000.
   
   More could be said about this gloomy financial picture, but in this study retirement is viewed from an employment perspective. The authors argue for reshaping government, employer, and employee attitudes on the need to extend working careers another 3-4 years to improve the odds of living comfortably in retirement. Among their key ideas: Raise the early retirement eligiblity age for collecting Social Security from 62 to encourage more Americans to continue working and contributing to their retirement plans. Allow older workers to opt out of the 6.2% Social Security payroll tax to increase their income and encourage them to stay in the work force at a stage when accruing additional Social Security benefits are negligible.
   
   This short study is rigorously organized and amply supported by available research. The key ideas are clearly presented - but there is an academic dryness about it all. The main points are repeated frequently but the treatment is not patronizing. We are convinced. America needs to work to "full retirement" currently age 66. So, rather than raising the early retirement eligibility age for Social Security, why not just simply eliminate it? Certainly there is no arguing with the authors' conclusion that retirement has become a far "messier" experience than in the past. But given the realities they describe, their central thesis - that Americans can have a comfortable retirement by working just another few years - seems overly optimistic.



2. Munnell and Sass propose a straightforward way to reduce longevity risk: working at career jobs for an average of three additional years. This would raise the age at which half the age cohort is out of the workforce from today's 63 to about 66 -- which was the corresponding average age of retirement for men in 1960.
   
   A major driver of early retirements is the earliest eligibility age (EEA) for Social Security benefits: 62. Most workers claim at this age, accepting reduced benefits, instead of working till their full retirement age and receiving full benefits. The authors recommend raising the EEA to 65 as an incentive for workers to stay in the workforce. They also suggest exempting workers and employers from the payroll tax after the worker reaches age 62 and extending Social Security's salary-averaging period from 35 to 40 years (130-131). Meanwhile, "The most important thing workers can do to extend their careers is to keep their skills up to date and remain responsive to employer needs" (119). "Workers will also need to stay healthy" (121).
   
   Another hurdle is employers' lukewarm attitude toward older workers. This results mainly from the increasing cost of healthcare insurance as workers age and the tendency of compensation to rise with age even if productivity declines. These factors can largely be addressed by the actions cited above.
   
   An important factor not mentioned in Working Longer is the investment savvy -- or lack of it -- of the worker in managing 401(k) investments. In a world where millions of people invest their retirement money in stable funds while paying high interest on credit-card debt, this is a major issue. A one-semester course in personal finance for high-school seniors could help future generations of Americans manage their financial lives more effectively.
   
   For additional perspectives on this important book, see the reviews in The Economist and The New York Times.



3. It is essential to work longer for all Americans. Why? The money is not enough from social security, pension and 401K. With the recent stock market meltdown, everyone loses money.
   
   It does not matter how smart you are. You made millions last year. But then you bought a condo in Manhattan. It went down this year.
   
   I agree with the authors. Working is the only way to make money with a guarantee, you earn it.

No comments about The Job Description Handbook.

2 comments about Community Helpers from a to Z (Alphabasics).

1. Community Helpers is an extremely reasonably priced book that is packed with interesting information about many careers. The photographs of workers, enhance the details given about each occupation. As a teacher I was pleased to read the clear descriptions of so many jobs packed into one book! I recommend this book for all children thinking about their future and for the adults that are helping them to do this.



2. Book is great resource for introduction to community helpers and Alphabet.
   If using with preschoolers, make the book work as a themed resource. Introducing a few letters weekly with corresponding activities in your centers to go along with community occupations is great. Especially role playing. The pictures are of real people doing real jobs and performing real services in the community. !!The possibilities for use of this book is endless". Good book overall. Gives enough information about each occupation and great to envoke further research on individual occupations for older students.

5 comments about Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams.

1. As someone who came from a blue-collar background himself, the author and those he interviews make a lot of sense, so much so that a lot of it seems to come straight out of my experience. Anyone else from that background reading the book will also likely experience plenty of "Oh Wow!" moments. The amazing thing is, though, is seeing who these people are today and having a genuine respect for those who managed to make it in the world despite the disadvantages the world had given them.



2. Limbo is a swift read that provides plenty of "aha" moments even if you're not, strictly speaking, blue-collar. It's a little memoir, a little overview, and overall an interesting look at what happens when blue-collar students enter the white-collar world of college and beyond. Although I'm not, strictly-speaking, from a blue-collar family, I recognized many of the reactions Lubrano's interviewees had when they arrived on campuses like Amherst (my alma mater) and found worlds they had never really known about and had to navigate. Although not a scholarly book, Limbo rings true through the individuals Lubrano interviews and his own look at his life growing up in Brooklyn and going to college at Columbia. He covers not just college but marriage and work in a style that's comfortable and reportorial (he is, in fact, a reporter).
   My biggest reservation is that Lubrano tends to fall for the romantic fallacy that all working class people are pure of heart and deed and all middle- and upper- middle class people are snobs and phonies. A little more distance might have given the book a sharper edge, but he capitalizes on his own experience well.



3. I first discovered this book in Summer 2007 at a university library. I checked it out for nearly 2 months and read from it constantly.
   
   This summer (2008), I bought the softcover adition from Amazon. I have all my favorite quotes highlighted and dog earred. It's essentially a holy scripture for Straddlers.
   
   I could attempt to explain why I like the book so much, but I'm not articulate enough. Lubrano says everything with such ease and in such an understandable way. As you're reading you come across things that you identify with so deeply, and you never thought someone else felt things the same way. The book allowed me to pinpoint things about myself that I never could, but I now understand myself and the world(s) I'm trying to live in much better.
   
   It's thoroughly satisfying and completely essential if you are from a working class background and attending university. I'm considering giving it as a Christmas gift to several friends this year.



4. I've bought nearly a dozen copies of this book (used!) and sent them to friends. Lubrano's "reporting" on "the imposter syndrome" makes for a great read that is almost therapeutic for anyone who, like me, finds himself on every page. The dark side of the American dream is seldom talked about for a reason. Blue collar folks want to believe it can be a dream come true. White collar folks either don't get it, or sometimes, if they do, want to keep blue collar folks in the dark about what "straddling" the divide between two sets of values and two different cultures can do to you. The truth is that the move "up" isn't all bad; the lie is that it is all good and only gets better. Lubrano's book is a great place to start understanding the "Stories We Tell" (Irvin Peckham) with the lives we live. It's a great place to start a conversation with your real self. Lubrano writes in his introduction: "My goal was to write a book about an existing social class, the white-collar children -- first-generation college graduates -- of blue-collar parents, and to write one that would be accessible to those without a Ph.D." I think he succeeds at that better than he knows.



5. This book was really inspiring to me, and helped me stay focused on working my way through college. Don't give up!

5 comments about Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining: Cases, Practice, and Law (8th Edition).

1. This is the first time I have order a textbook online. My experience was awesome. I received my order in a timely manner. The textbook was in outstanding condition. This text consisted of labor law material along with various labor law cases and procedures. I just order another book I am awaiting for the early arrival of this text.
   THANK YOU AMAZON !!



2. I only bought this book because I'm in labor relations class. It's as dry as a piece of stale bread. But if you want to know anything and everything about Labor Relations and the history, BUY IT!



3. This book worked perfect for my class. I encourage everyone that sells a book to include what edition their book is and whether it's the international version or not. This can be critical to the course you are taking.



4. don't have too much to say other than i was glad i bought this through amazon rather than my school bookstore since i saved over $100. exact same book.



5. Overall a pretty robust text on labor relations. I would have enjoyed it more if there would have been a deeper legal history, mostly it discussed arbitration, and failed to cover the legal battle that led up to the NLBR's establishment. Besides that problem, this text is good enough.

2 comments about Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration.

1. If this depressing book cannot convince people that racism is alive and well in America today, I don't know what could. Dr. Pager reports on an empirical research project in which teams of well-put-together white and black college students went job-hunting in and around Milwaukee, with one member of each team "marked" as an ex-convict. What she found is astonishing. Black job applicants WITHOUT drug convictions fared no better than white ex-cons WITH convictions; with "two strikes" against them, black men with a drug conviction had almost no chance of getting a call-back from a prospective employer. This problem was especially pronounced in the suburbs, which are gaining an increasing proportion of jobs despite the fact that many job-seekers remain in the cities. Dr. Pager also includes informative and well-written chapters on the state of mass incarceration in the United States today, as well as the massive and growing problem of prisoner reentry. With more than 600,000 people pouring out of prisons each year, Dr. Pager's book is a must-read for anyone concerned with the public policy aspects of the reentry problem. This is yet another excellent entry into the recent crop of books cataloging the collateral consequences of mass imprisonment. (See my Amazon list on "Prison World" for more.)



2. This book is loaded with useful information for the student of corrections, criminology and/or sociology. While this is a book rich with very well done research, Pager's honest admission that low sample numbers in her research, (which need to be expanded on to bolster confidence in results), might undermine the message to some policy makers.
   
   Also, while Pager recommends a few ideas, the book seems to offer more in the way of what is going on and not as much about what to do about it. However, in my opinion, the paucity of solutions contributes to this as an objective piece of research.
   
   The bottom line is that this is a very relevant and important book that should start a dialogue.

5 comments about The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism.

1. I don't know yet if I learned something I didn't knew from this book. The examples Sennett gives are really entertaining; so much that I think maybe he should follow the Clifford Geertz road (or a more mainstream Barbara Ehrenreich one!). It was also refreshing to listen to old classic names as Smith, some old greek and that one of the Encyclopedia (ah, yes, Diderot). The use of the classics was especially good in Sennett's discussion of character and work, from antiquity passing by Christendom, Calvinism and reaching Weber's 'wordly ascetism' (Ch. 6: The Work Ethic). The rest of the book is not very innovative for the informed sociologist (but I loved the shot in the last chapter against those neo-tocquevillian communitarians Putnam style). So I don't know if recommend this book to you or not. It brings some interesting ideas about the relation of labor structure to character, but mostly does not go deep enough in each facet of the subject. Each chapter could be expanded to be a book in itself, and maybe Sennett's intention was to let us to do it! About those reviewers that are in favour of late-capitalism oppression: enjoy your 'happy life' because nobody's safe. Maybe next year it will be your turn. Anyway we will help you; that is the problem of being from the Left... we care.



2. A doctor warned me once that people weren't built for rapid mentally jumping from one thing to another and that hi-tech companies tended to use people up. Sennett's warning came quite late.
   
   Sennett's findings seem well intended but not surprising at all to anyone who has worked in hi-tech. I suspect many other workers have noticed the consequences of the "new" capitalism. Similarly, there seems nothing wrong with trying to simplify what is happening by noting a few key characteristics and values. Sennett's observations on the exploitation of "teamwork", although familiar, are welcome. "Risk", "failure", "flexibility" , it all can become as manipulative as political speech about "liberty", "democracy" and "free markets".
   
   However, the 176 pages seem like 20. Despite footnotes, Sennett seems to be writing as if he were the first observer of capitalism, entirely out of character for the profound author of "The Hidden Injuries of Class:. The exact nature of the impact on character in this newer book seems largely unestablished. The efforts of unions, albeit sparse with hi-tech, goes unnoticed. The real consequences on real lives becomes an apparent gentlemenly philosophical exercise. How carefully he closes: "But I do know a regime which provides human beings no deep reasons to care about one another cannot long preserve its legitimacy". If there were, in this book, more sociological and less anecdotal support for such a claim, "The Corrosion of Character" might be worth your reading. As it is, you may well know it yourself.
   
   Sennett does note at the end a "fear of the resurgence of unions". I didn't see that Sennett provided any pointers on where to seek help apart from an abstract appeal to community. Instead of watching your own character corrode, one possibility is seeking out a union on the Web (such as the Industrial Workers of the World).
   
   This book was a big disappointment as I had read Sennett before and been quite impressed, so I may now have expected a lot. It may still be that for some readers this book will help identify for them what is troubling about their work and serve as a basis for discussion of work problems with others.



3. An important book, in which some of the undesirable effects of the ways our every-day working lives are organized are put under scrutiny and criticized. All those who want to continue to work with real human beings rather than with post-modern robots should read this book.



4. Transient consultants have replaced entrenched bureaucrats. Teams and teamwork have replaced adversarial labor/management and individual ego-driven rivalries. Knowledge gleaned from marketing studies has replaced knowledge gained from every day experience. New machines have made the once complex extremely simple, and the once dangerous safely sanitized. Companies that were once entrenched ethnic enclaves are now look more closely like America.
   
   While not totally disapproving, the author looks at these and other current developments and finds them wanting. Work no longer generates the kind of passionate commitment it once did, and he cannot blame the workers, because their employers no longer show the loyalty they once did. In newly created world of permanent transience, little is cumulative, and the only test is who can do the best job now according to given specifications, with little concern for the past or for the future. Individual personal character is corroded--gradually destroyed--because sacrificing for the future makes little sense and virtues like loyalty to coworkers and one's employer are unrewarded, unexpected, and unappreciated.
   
   The author finds the new arrangements are more about glib superficial agreements rather than the creation of authentic human relationships. Teams focus on short-term ends, with leaders who play down their authority and assume the falsely modest role of facilitators. A more adversarial assertion of self-interest and opinion would in the long run serve the companies better, as people bind together from honest discussion and disputes, the author asserts.
   
   The author's individual chapters are each in themselves excellent essays: they are entitled Drift, Routine, Flexible, Illegible, Risk, The Work Ethic, Failure, and The Dangerous Pronoun. The most profound chapters are perhaps those on (1) risk, which documents the odds against success and the difficulty many people have adjusting to this reality; (2) the work ethic, which shows how it is undermined in many different ways by transience in co-workers and authority structures; and (3) failure, which shows both its commonality and the difficulties workers have in dealing with it and crafting a successful future because it is often experienced more as a personal reckoning than as a result of powerful institutional and competitive forces undermining their best efforts.
   
   The author adds statistical tables which document the decline of manufacturing and the rise of personnel and computer and data processing services; declining employment and the rise of wage inequality; lower productivity growth in the U.S. than in France, Germany, Japan; the steady decline in union membership as a percentage of the workforce and its plateau in actual number of workers covered; the rising percentage of women from 22 to 44 in the workforce and the declining percentages of workers in other generational categories; the rising number of workers on flexible schedules; the rising number of workers using computers; the generally falling earnings that job switchers get; the slow rise in jobs requiring a college degree; and the great rise in percentage and numbers within the labor movement of public sector workers.
   
   The strength of the author's approach is that he mixes analysis of anecdotes with scholarly research touching on both workers and working conditions and life in general. The author not only brings a lot of fresh material to the analysis of corporate working conditions, but he provides original and creative analysis to familiar material so that we see it with new significance in new contexts.
   
   No one should consider taking a corporate job, or a job in a large organization, without reading this book. It is sociology at its best, both the critiquing economic trends and relating them to lives of individuals who are both representative and compelling. The author's writing is gripping, passionate, and thought-provoking. He manages simulaneously the difficult tasks of both synthesizing past scholarhip and breaking new ground extremely well.



5. This should have been a better book. It focuses too much on downsizing (which is important, but is a different topic) and not enough on how actual people experience work inside corporations. I don't really disagree with anything Sennett says, but would like a richer insight into how people are actually working these days. Fear of layoffs is part of it, but how work today impacts people socially and psychologically is equally important. I'd recommend Lilian Rubin's Worlds of Pain: Life in the Working-Class Family as one example of the kind of rich insight I'm talking about. Her book is out of date, but is still exemplary of how to do social/cultural work. Sennett caught the theory bug, which is alarming. Stay focused on what real people say, not what theorists say.