Product Description

Who Moved My Cheese? is an amusing and enlightening story of four characters who live in a maze and look for cheese to nourish them and make them happy. Cheese is a metaphor for what you want to have in life - whether it is a good job, a loving relationship, money or a possession, health or spirital peace of mind. And the maze is where you look for what you want - the organisation you work in, or the family or community you live in. This profound book from bestselling author, Spencer Johnson, will show you how to anticipate change, adapt to change quickly, enjoy change and be ready to change quickly again and again. Discover the secret for yourself and learn how to deal with change, so that you suffer from less stress and enjoy more success in your work and in life. Written for all ages, this story takes less than an hour to read, but its unique insights can last for a lifetime.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #645 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 94 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Change can be a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. The message of Who Moved My Cheese? is that all can come to see it as a blessing, if they understand the nature of cheese and the role it plays in their lives. Who Moved My Cheese? is a parable that takes place in a maze. Four beings live in that maze: Sniff and Scurry are mice, non-analytical and non-judgmental; they just want cheese and are willing to do whatever it takes to get it. Hem and Haw are "little people", mouse-size humans who have an entirely different relationship with cheese. It's not just sustenance to them; it's their self-image. Their lives and belief systems are built around the cheese they've found. Most of us reading the story will see the cheese as something related to our livelihoods--our jobs, our career paths, the industries we work in--although it can stand for anything, from health to relationships. The point of the story is that we have to be alert to changes in the cheese and be prepared to go running off in search of new sources of cheese when the cheese we have runs out.

Dr. Johnson, co-author of The One Minute Manager and many other books, presents this parable to business, church groups, schools, military organisations--anywhere where you find people who may fear or resist change. And although more analytical and sceptical readers may find the tale a little too simplistic, its beauty is that it sums up all natural history in just 94 pages: things change. They always have changed and always will change. And while there's no single way to deal with change, the consequence of pretending change won't happen is always the same: the cheese runs out. --Lou Schuler, Amazon.com

Review
A motivational book to help you deal with change in your life --Guardian

Designed to help people thrive during periods of change --Sunday Times

It leaves you feeling upbeat, and excited, and ready to go out and find your own cheese --Better Business

A firm favourite with businessfolk --Daily Mirrorr

Highly influential
--Financial Times magazine

The Mirror
"Its message about opening your mind to change stays with you long after you have finished it."

Customer Reviews

A parable that rings as true as a plastic bell
This book attempts to be a metaphor for understanding and embracing change, which it attempts to illustrate using an invented story of some little creatures who have a handy supply of cheese that - guess what - gets moved. Some of the creatures move on in search of new cheese, some keep coming back in the forlorn hope that the cheese will reappear. I'm sure you get the picture, and the point. It can be summed up in a sentence and I'm afraid that plodding through this book does little to enhance the point. Metaphors can be powerful tools for illustrating great truths and teachings - just think of the parables and myths in the world's great religions. And maybe the author has hit on a metaphor that works for a lot of people, judging by the sales figures. But after... reading the book in the half hour between fasten seat belts and the meal service, I was left feeling a mixture of disappointment, outrage and bafflement. Disappointment because I had been told that this was a wonderful, moving tale. Different strokes for different folks, but I've felt more touched and involved by weather forecasts. At no point did any of this book connect with me. In fact, the attempted metaphor is so embarrassingly clunky and transparently contrived that I ended up feeling outrage. What I now feel is bewilderment. There are loads of huge media successes that I may not like - Springer, the Die Hard movies, Gangsta Rap etc - but I can imagine what people get out of them. They are tongue-in-cheek, hammed up gut-level stuff. Whereas "Who Moved my Cheese" is ponderous, tedious, moralising and rings as true as a plastic bell. I hesitate to say that it's the worst book I've ever read, but I can't think of any worse. Still, at least it's short. Try comparing it with "The man who planted trees" by Jean Giono.

Entertaining Lesson.
A short story about 2 mice and 2 'little people' in a maze looking for cheese.

Of course 'cheese' is just a metaphor for what you want in life (such as money, the ideal job), and the 'maze' represents where you are looking for what you want (such as your family, an organization). As the story goes, one of the characters (Haw) learns to deal with change successfully and writes what he has learned on the maze wall. In this way, the reader gets the main points in the book and can learn too how to deal with life's changes.

A little book that is big on wisdom, many should find it entertaining and useful. Also recommended The Sixty-Second Motivator -another short story that is to the point and practical.

Trite and irritating
I found this book incredibly trite and irritating. Essentially the book's message to employees is that change happens, so get used to it. No wonder then that some large corporations have distributed copies of this to their staff - before dumping their employees in yet another 'right-sizing' programme. I'd advise people to buy a grown-up's book on managing change!