What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question
Bronson, Po. 2005. What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question. Ballantine Books.
Rating:
1
Summary:
The book is supposed to be Bronson’s findings after having interviewed hundreds of people about what they felt they should have done or did with their lives. But I didn’t really find this to be the case. What it seemed like to me was more a strange mixture of Bronson summarizing the lives of some of the people he interviewed and then adding his opinions about their situations.
Add to this mix Bronson’s self-adoration about being invited to a conference of business big whigs where he encouraged all of the CEOs present to make sure their employees liked their jobs (like that is going to happen) and Bronson’s ideas about childbirth and you have ‘What Should I Do With My Life?’
Review:
stereotypical motivation book, but worse!
I absolutely hated this book. This is definitely one instance where I am glad I listened to the CD version instead of reading the actual book because it was abridged and shortened the misery. The problems with this book are so monumental I can’t believe it was even published. Oh wait, yes I can, he’s on the board of directors of a publishing company – he can probably get anything published, including this drivel.
My biggest criticism of the book is that Bronson is falling back on the idealized notion that everyone can do what they want. This is such a ridiculous notion that I can’t even believe people are still claiming it’s possible. Does Bronson really think that someone desperately wants to be a garbage collector? I know the job of my dreams is to clean toilets. Come on! If everyone can have the job of their dreams, who is going to do the menial work like cleaning his office while he vacations in the Caribbean? This notion is often proclaimed by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity (this is the first reason I came to believe Bronson was a subtle Republican propagandist). Social democrats, on the other hand, recognize it’s impossible. Rather than encourage everyone to ‘make it big’, they try to help the little guy so he can at least eke out a bearable living.
My second biggest criticism is that there is absolutely no sense of organization to this book. This leads to a follow up criticism, which is that the thousands of other motivational books that say the exact same thing at least have an organization to them. Bronson’s book doesn’t present a coherent message and what can be understood of the message is no different from thousands of other books that just tell you to ‘be whatever you want to be’ (see criticism 1 above).
The longer I listened to this book, the more I questioned why Bronson was qualified to write this book. If I’m not mistaken, Bronson is a successful fiction writer who writes novels about the business world. Maybe in Bronson’s mind writing fiction equates to expertise in psychology and career counseling, but not in my world. And even though Bronson claims to have interviewed hundreds of people, I was thoroughly convinced by his inability to organize his ‘findings’ that he has no idea how to do social-scientific research. Fiction writer does not equal expert.
I think what we have here is another case of someone getting a little fame from his novels and POOF! the fame goes to his head. Bronson seems to think he knows everything, or at least his opinion is important enough that everyone should hear it. Bronson goes so far in his pipe dream that he even begins giving advice about having children. What makes his advice even worse is that the advice he gives really just echoes Dr. Laura, which is the second indication that Bronson is a closet Republican propagandist.
Overall, I don’t think anyone should be subjected to this incoherent claptrap. This is a poorly written book by a non-expert who is moonlighting as a Republican propagandist in between writing novels. I highly recommend any thinking person avoid this novel like you would an Al Qaeda training camp if you were George Bush, Jr. Absolutely terrible!!!
Note:
Beginning of chapter 1 Bronson talks about a letter from someone who knows you intimately and knows what you are supposed to do in life. It sounds strikingly similar to the Mormon Patriarchal blessing. Only interesting point he makes.