Dec 19, 2001 10:17 PM
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(Updated Dec 22, 2001 01:43 PM)
A mouth-watering title !!!!!!! This is the comment of my friend who did not read the book. The subtitle says what it is all about – “An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life.” The author is Dr.Spencer Johnson, who also has penned “One Minute Manager” with Dr.Kenneth Blanchard – another of my favourite books in the non-fiction genre.
The book is written in three sections – First section is a reunion of old classmates who are trying to deal with change in their life, second is the story as narrated by one of the classmates and third is a discussion.
In the story, Cheese is a metaphor for what we want in life – money, job, relationship, freedom etc. It revolves around 4 characters – two human like and two rodents – Hem & Haw are the “people” and Sniff and Scurry, the rodents. (Just to break the suspense, the rodents are smarter in this story, really !!!!). All of them live in a maze and have found Cheese in a corner called Cheese Station C. At first, there is plenty of cheese available. The rodents visit and eat it without the complacency of “people”. Hem & Haw however, settle into a lazy rhythm of reaching there and fill their stomach without worrying about tomorrow, without even a thought that the Cheese supply wont last. One day they find that Cheese has actually been moved. Sniff & Scurry, in typical rodent-like fashion, start searching for the next Cheese station even without slight hesitation. Hem & Haw, however, can’t believe that their Cheese has been moved, in a typical human-like manner, get frustrated, shake their fists, overanalyze the situation, dig the whole place around to find cheese ( I guess they are not Ludlum-sque enough to blame the Government for moving the Cheese :-) ). They refuse to budge and come back to Cheese Station C in the hope of finding new cheese next day. Haw gets the idea later in the stage, though he has a fear of the Maze and moves on to hunt for cheese without his buddy. He finds New Cheese at Cheese Station N and Sniff & Scurry are there too. Haw stays on in the same place. Even the crumbs of New Cheese cannot drag him out of his cozy lil’ place.
The Maze is a metaphor for where we look for what we want in our life – Work, Home, Community etc. The 4 characters are various types of personalities we encounter in our life – they react differently to change. Some initiate change, some move with the Cheese and some follow the Cheese. Some, can’t accept change and yell at how life is unfair to them.
The book is not too thick like many non-fiction ones. I will never regret that I paid $9.95 for it, though it is available in India for Rs.95. Cheese gives us new paradigms for our life – I used to be a stubborn person by nature, who refused to believe that things can change – now I really experienced the paradigm shift (have read of that happening to many – first experience and take my word, feels good like ice cream :-) ). Now, whenever I see change and reactions to change – I have new vocabulary to describe the situation – “They Keep Moving the Cheese”, “Get Ready for the Cheese to Move”, “Move with the Cheese” (these are terms Haw coins as he gets out into the Maze in search of new Cheese). A wonderful book in the non-fiction genre. I will treasure “Who Moved…” & “Jonathan Livingstone Seagull” for EVER.
