Rating: 
Summary: Not a Career/Vocational Guide
Review: If you are looking at this book as a way of finding a new career or vocation you are way off base. This book is about finding out what you want to do with your life not what job you want to do. Sure, there are chapters that deal with jobs but the main point of the book is that you can find what will truly fulfill you in life. Your job (the thing you do to make money) is not who you are - it's just the thing you do so you can finance your life. Barbara Sher wants your life to be worth financing and your job to be rewarding too. Who can fault her for that?
Rating:
Summary: Stands out from the sea of self-help baloney books
Review: I am an incorrigible hater of the self-help genre, because imho self-help publishing industry is a den of thieves preying on human misery and confusion who provide no value whatsoever except a 5-min feel-good "high", and in fact don't shy away from telling harmful lies. I'm not a s.-h. junkie but I believe I've had enough exposure to be qualified to make this statement. Now, why am I bringing this up? I'm bringing this up because this is the first s.-help book that not only is worth something but moreover, is quite good. It's truly unique in that, and it is for that reason that I gave it five stars, even though it's far from flawless when evaluated in its own right. Even though the book claims to have a slant towards adult career changers, I think it is *more* useful to the young (along with a few reviewers below, I sincerely regret I didn't have it in my hands some 15 year ago.) The reason: this book's main achievement is correct, exact, and well worded insight into the state of mind of people exasperated by their career tribulations. If you're older than 25/30, you will utter many HOW-TRUE!s, OH-YEAs, and AHAs when reading this book - you'll recognise yourself many times and you'll have many of your guesses/vague (yet) feelings clearly and precisely articulated for you. And this is why it's good for the young, I think: a young person can properly prepare for likely worklife experiences BEFORE he has, so to speak, "paid his dues" and thus acquired this capability to AHA over this book. He'll be able to avoid spending too much time in consternation. However, if I were to evaluate this book in full detachement from the similarly targeted works, I'd give it a four, rather than a five. That is because while it will give a good general-psychological advice and offer many tricks in that department, it is not *ultimately* practical. When you're through, you'll feel better equipped mentally and somewhat more serene than you were before reading it, BUT! practically you'll still have to find out what and how and even whether to do your thing and decide (on your own) if you're not an idiot after all to even contemplate whatever you're contemplating. No guarantees or super-confidence in the method come from this book, it's still too general, it leaves you about where you were before - though, I stress, in a much better shape. Here, for example: the many case stories of those ubiquitous "John M, 31, photographer" and "Suzan F, 45, CEO of blah blah company" have many gaps in all important places that'll make you wonder if it isn't all works of fiction. I wish this kind of books were written fully responsibly - based on verifiable research rather than unsubstantiated reports on some virtual personalities that look like they may have been made up to fit the theory. Not that I know it's the case, of course... One can't help but wonder though. That aside, this little book, overall, is head and shoulders above the rest, and anyone will benefit from reading it - slowly and carefully. Again: especially the young. Give it to your son/daughter/niece - forewarned is forearmed - you'll save them tons of wasted time and, potentially, psychological turmoil.
Rating:
Summary: I think the last reviewer read a different book!
Review: "I could do anything if I only knew what it was" is NOT about blaming anyone in any way. It is about analysing yourself, to see what you liked doing and were good at back throughout your life (and I was only 27 when I used it, so you don't have to be able to go that far 'back'!) It's an absolutely wonderful book, which saved me from a dull and unfulfilling but high-paying career. I'm now in one that I ADORE and am great at. Well worth reading!
Rating: 
Summary: Blame Your Parents!
Review: This is another touchy-feely book for people who need to feel that their problems are the results of their parents child-rearing techniques. It's a promotional guide for therapy that gives no practical help that I could tell. However, it does give some interesting anecdotes and insights into human behavior and should help the reader identify just where their parents went wrong.
Rating:
Summary: Lost Adult
Review: This book actually got me to the point of putting in writing what I want to do... now, do I think I will actually do it? I guess thats up to me. the truth is - i'm a "scanner." but I'm a scanner whos stuck in a "good" job - meaning its high-paying - and for me to go off and "scan" the other things I'm so interested in would mean a great loss of stability for me... I DID definitely recognize myself in the pages. Just being able to define my style and know that theres others like me helps me feel better. I don't know what I'll do with this knowledge - but I guess at least I know why my heart tells me I'm in the wrong place at my job...
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: If you read the title "I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was" and think, "that's me!" then you should definitely get this book. It will help you tremendously to discover what it is you should be doing, what it is you want to be doing. If you already know what it is you want to do, then perhaps it won't be as useful.
Rating: 
Summary: Sold to Self-Help books!
Review: I've never needed to read Self-Help books; I'm not that kind of girl. But this particular one caught my eye at the bookstore and after actually reading it ... let me tell you, I'm sold! I was looking for a book on Career Change. Naturally, this section of the store has quite a few, but the back jacket of Sher's book kept me interested because it detailed the content I was seeking: - How to find my career path - What am I supposed to be doing with my life - What to do if I have a fear of success - What if I want too many things and cannot choose just ONE thing So I took a chance, what did I have to loose. This is what I learned about myself: - I was a "Jack of all trades, master of none" kinda gal - I love too many things and cannot commit to only one - I am a "scanner" and not often a "diver" when it comes to my passions So, I'm still at the same job, but now I know why I find it unsatisfying and what it is that I should be looking for to suit my "scanning" personality, and now I know how to get it! This book has many great exercises that help you identify and learn about your "self" and take pleasure in the simplicity that is your life. I recommend this book, if you are having doubts about your present career. The worst you'll get from it is practical advice on how to get what you want.
Rating: 
Summary: self-esteem is nice and all, but...
Review: I haven't yet finished this book, in fact I doubt I will. I was looking for a concrete guide to finding a satisfying career, not a bunch of fluffy platitudes. My question is to the reviewers here: while it's good that reading this book made you feel better about yourself and gave you courage and so forth, the important question is: Are you now in a satisfying career? Did the book do what it claims to do?
Rating:
Summary: I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was : How to Disc
Review: I give it 2 stars because it was an easy read. Other than that, it did not help me at all. I thought it was just more of the same.
Rating:
Summary: Well...
Review: I give this book 3 stars (generously) because it is one of the few vocational books I've read that I got SOMETHING out of. When I read the hardcover edition during it's initial release, I still was only a few years out of high school. At that time, with this book, I was able to begin differentiating the social expectations of parents, peers, teachers, society, etc. from my own. That was a big step for me; but, didn't help me resolve my other vocational and educational issues at the time. The only other thing this book helped me with was for the first time arriving at some sort of very general mission statement --- so, atleast I earned a VAGUE conception of what I subconsciously had been holding out for, vocationally. There is another book out there called "Soul Purpose: Discovering and Fulfilling Your Destiny" by Mark Thurston that does a better job with this though. Richard Nelson Bolles' book "How to Find Your Mission in Life" is great for this too. I'd recommend either book over this one to that end. Incidentally, this book involves more lengthy writing exercises than any other book on the subject that I've ever encountered. I felt I the work I put into it was far more than what I got out of it.
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