Rating: 
Summary: Find Your Creative Passion
Review: At 154 pages, this book is a short and an easy read. You can tell that the author is also a lecturer because the book seems like it makes a few basic points that could have been projected on a screen using PowerPoint slides. This book is not an intellectual analysis of data, but more like an inspirational pep talk.You are practically presented with an outline in each chapter, complete with bolded headings and sub-headings. This book is also filled with poignant quotes from notable people spanning the ages of history. This approach is appropriate and effective for this subject matter. The thesis of the book is simply find what taps into your creative passion in life and you will find the work you love. The book actually does give you a methodolgy to follow to uncover what at first seems to be an amorphous task. The "Focusing Questions" the author presents throughout the second half of the book is an opportunity for the reader to reflect and think about how this can make sense for him or her. The title of the book may be a little misleading. "Finding the work you love" is not referring to actually getting the job. The title is referring to finding within yourself what it is that you would love to do for your life's work. The audience for this book could be anyone from the high school or college graduate to the senior citizen. Anyone who is not sure what contribution they want to make for the rest of their lives might benefit from a bit of focused insight and reflection. Even if you are sure about what your life's work is, the book could still be valuable as a reinforcement that you are on the right path for you.
Rating:
Summary: Find Your Creative Passion
Review: At 154 pages, this book is a short and an easy read. You can tell that the author is also a lecturer because the book seems like it makes a few basic points that could have been projected on a screen using PowerPoint slides. This book is not an intellectual analysis of data, but more like an inspirational pep talk. You are practically presented with an outline in each chapter, complete with bolded headings and sub-headings. This book is also filled with poignant quotes from notable people spanning the ages of history. This approach is appropriate and effective for this subject matter. The thesis of the book is simply find what taps into your creative passion in life and you will find the work you love. The book actually does give you a methodolgy to follow to uncover what at first seems to be an amorphous task. The "Focusing Questions" the author presents throughout the second half of the book is an opportunity for the reader to reflect and think about how this can make sense for him or her. The title of the book may be a little misleading. "Finding the work you love" is not referring to actually getting the job. The title is referring to finding within yourself what it is that you would love to do for your life's work. The audience for this book could be anyone from the high school or college graduate to the senior citizen. Anyone who is not sure what contribution they want to make for the rest of their lives might benefit from a bit of focused insight and reflection. Even if you are sure about what your life's work is, the book could still be valuable as a reinforcement that you are on the right path for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Great quote book, not-so-great career advice
Review: Boldt strings together quotes and cliches with the dexterity of a high school debate team captain. It's like he's sleeping with a copy of Bartlett's Quotations under his pillow. But as anyone who's listened to a high school debate knows, "proof by quotation" does not make for a compelling argument. It's actually pretty tiring to read. You keep waiting for the wisdom, the enlightening bits, the heart of the book. It never comes. If you want career advice, or are seeking your life's calling, you'd be better off reading Po Bronson, Barbara Sher, Richard Bolles, Marsha Sinetar, Nancy Anderson, or heck, even Dr. Phil! Or better yet, get a good career counselor, coach, or therapist to help you face to face, step by step. Save yourself the effort on this one...
Rating:
Summary: Great quote book, not-so-great career advice
Review: Boldt strings together quotes and cliches with the dexterity of a high school debate team captain. It's like he's sleeping with a copy of Bartlett's Quotations under his pillow. But as anyone who's listened to a high school debate knows, "proof by quotation" does not make for a compelling argument. It's actually pretty tiring to read. You keep waiting for the wisdom, the enlightening bits, the heart of the book. It never comes. If you want career advice, or are seeking your life's calling, you'd be better off reading Po Bronson, Barbara Sher, Richard Bolles, Marsha Sinetar, Nancy Anderson, or heck, even Dr. Phil! Or better yet, get a good career counselor, coach, or therapist to help you face to face, step by step. Save yourself the effort on this one...
Rating:
Summary: An underwhelming exercise rife with unrelenting clichés
Review: Boldt's examination of the world is through a narrow rose-colored scope of naiveté. Utterly trivial and trite advice meant for people who didn't already realize that work is more than just a function of life. Loving the work you do will obviously make your life infinitely more fulfilling but to disregard every other external factor in choosing a job is impractical at best. People are able to love and take interest in more than one area of study. And although work and love are not mutually exclusive, it's more than likely that they won't align perfectly-after all, that's why work is called work. One can say that I sure like-even love-to sleep, but no one's going to pay me for sleeping. Quotes are more effective when used sparingly, but Boldt actually manages to string a hundred or so of them together into a drone of Oprah-esque derivative commentaries. In the last lines of Boldt's book, he even makes a stab at marketing his other books so that you can understand this book "in more detail." Incredulous and shameful! A 2-hour book not worth the 2-hour read. Truly uninspiring!
Rating:
Summary: Short and Effective
Review: For anyone whose ever tried to read "What Color is Your Parachute?" multiple times and has tossed it aside an equal number because it really didn't help, I recommend "How to Find the Work You Love." Instead of focusing on what color tie to wear or whether to send that follow up thank you card to your prospective employer, Laurence G. Boldt instead starts with the big questions and systematically focuses them down into simple, yet effective criteria to pursue the work you love. The first 2 chapters examine the paradigms and obstacles that get in the way of doing the work you love. The third chapter offers a basic formula for finding the work you love: -Decide what you are looking for -Decide to keep looking until you find it -Decide when you have found it He then defines "it" with 4 simple criteria: Integrity, Service, Enjoyment, Excellence. The following chapters examine each in more detail, mixing in focusing questions here and there. The questions range from 'When you were a child, what did you most love to do?' to 'What is the purpose of your life?' to identifying ways you can earn a living doing what you love and identifying those in your life most/least supportive of your dreams. The epilogue briefly guides you on where to go, now that you've found work that you love. This is the best "job" book I've ever read. It never does get to what color tie to where, but I refer back to it again and again for that right-brain focus. If you are more of a left-brain type and prefer more concrete structure and less abstract questioning, I recommend "Zen and the Art of Making a Living" by the same author. It still has the abstract bits, but there are a lot more tools that help you develop specific career strategy and plannning.
Rating: 
Summary: This book will work for you, if you will work with it.
Review: How to Find the Work You Love is meant to provide the reader with an interactive experience. Its purpose is to engage readers in an inner dialogue that will lead to the identification their true passion in life. It is a book intended for people who are reasonably in touch with themselves or who are willing to be. It is certainly not a book for people who want to be told what to do. I was bemused by the customer reviewer who said he spent 2 1/2 hours reading the book and found it of no help. It goes without saying that he didn't do the exercises. (I can assure you no one can read the book AND seriously answer all of the focusing questions in it in a couple of hours.) Reading about how to use a hammer or saw will not build a deck or a fence. To the get the finished product you have to pick up the tools and use them. Reading a book about how to find the work YOU love and failing to do any of the soul-searching and clarification work contained in the exercises-and then throwing up your hands and saying it didn't work-is like taking a hammer back to the hardware store and complaining that IT didn't build your fence. How to Find the Work You Love is a tool for you to work with. If you are ready to do the work, this book can help you to get in touch with your calling in life, as many satisfied readers will attest. If you are not, and you would rather be told what to do, save your money and call the psychic hotline.
Rating: 
Summary: Is there a limit to how many quotes a book can have?
Review: I don't know if anyone has counted the number of quotes in this book, but there has to be at least one super-enlightened inspirational tidbit every three sentences. In keeping with this, here is a quote from an average reader who has not found his life's mission "if you can't clearly formulate any of your own ideas, you shouldn't write a book"
Rating:
Summary: A great book for those interested in finding work love
Review: I found this book to be a great help and a wonderful inspiration. It packs a powerful punch for such a small book. There are many useful quotes and nuggets of advice from the greats in history who decided to pursue what they love rather than stay in a 9-5 job that they hated. In our crazy, I want it now, fast paced, materialistic society where money seems to be the bottom line, many of us have forgotten that we all will be dead some day. What a waste of time it is to stay in a job you hate. The author of this book doesn't assume that finding work you love is going to be easy. I can't say that I had a revelation after reading this book (which I first read about a year ago and read again last week) It's not as if you immediately go and find the work you love after reading this book. What is valuable though, is the wonderful insight it gives you on the possibilities. This may be difficult for many who have been weaned on getting everything quickly. I advise you read it, then make up your own mind.
Rating: 
Summary: Helpful book for those with realistic expectations
Review: I guess to me the test as to whether a book is good or not comes down to 1) did I enjoy reading it and 2) did it provide what I was looking for when I bought it. And Mr. Boldt's book passed both tests for me. Advising an individual on what career he might find most rewarding is quite a challenge...and trying to do it for, say, 10's or 100's of thousands of strangers through a short book must be really daunting. But I thought he did a good job. This book kind of reminded me of the "The Wealthy Barber" book of a few years back. Both books cover a topic where there are more theories and approaches than you can shake a stick at. And many authors propose ideas that promise quick and easy solutions that ultimately disappoint. But like "The Wealthy Barber", "How to Find the Work You Love" avoids this temptation. Neither book has any earth-shattering, eye-popping theories that will cause one to wonder how such ideas managed to remain a secret to the rest of us until now. Both rely on basic, straightforward advice, that, if followed, will likely help the reader achieve his goal. It is a collection of ideas, suggestions and examples designed to help people with a very common, but important, question. Yes, there are a lot of quotes in this book,as other reviewers point out. But I thought they were thoughtful and apt. Anyway, I think it was well worth the $. In a field where a lot of resources promise a lot and deliver little, I felt this book offered something realistic and delivered.
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