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The Empty Raincoat: Making Sense of the Future
 
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The Empty Raincoat: Making Sense of the Future (Paperback)

by Charles B. Handy (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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The Empty Raincoat: Making Sense of the Future + The Age of Unreason: New Thinking For A New World + Understanding Organizations [Fourth Edition]
Price For All Three: £22.92

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Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Random House Business Books; New edition edition (17 Aug 1995)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099301253
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099301257
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 41,899 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #50 in  Books > Business, Finance & Law > Management > Organizational Theory & Behaviour

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Product Description

Sir Graham Day – Financial Times
‘If you are part of, think about, care about or are in any way influenced by the world of work, and who is not, this powerful and moving book is for you.’

Hamish McRae – Director Magazine
A necessary and important contribution to our understanding of the way we live now.’

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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
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 (3)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb: very thought provoking, 20 April 1999
By A Customer
I read this book as part of the recommended reading for my MBA.The book reveals the hollowness at the heart of economic growth and its impact on human aspirations. The dilemma of greater corporate wealth and fewer jobs is explored. The book ranges over changing business and society.

Throughout the book, reference is made to two "principles" or "facts". Firstly, the Sigmoid curve which describes the "life" cycle of beginning slowly, then wax and wane and secondly the doughnut principle with work at the centre and free or external to work time making up the rest of the doughnut. How big the rest of the doughnut is depends on the individual.

For myself, the book is refreshing. The author continually asks if work is everything and should it be the preoccupying factor in a persons life. Do we live to work or do we work to live? This is a question that I continually ask myself.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking, sound advice if you're mid-career, 24 Nov 2006
By C. M. Perkins (Stirling, Scotland.) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Given this book is now coming up for twelve years old, I found Handy's ideas remarkably relevant to current issues in the world of work.

After a rather complex presentation of life's paradoxes, such as the paradox of time (we never seem to have enough, yet more is available to us than our predecessors - we live longer and have gadgets to help us make and do things), he gets to the book's core concepts.

The Sigmoid Curve is the best career management advice I have ever come across - recognise where you are on the first S-curve of your career and plan for the second before the first goes into decline. In today's fluid employment market that is more relevant now than ever.

The Doughnut Principle is a thought-provoking examination of work life balance. With the finite amount of time you have represented by the outer circle, the amount of time you devote to work is the inner circle - how thick do you want your doughnut to be?

And the Chinese Contract is about the contracts we make with ourselves and others - are they equitable or are we being selfish?

From here the book gets very philosophical, with Handy musing on the future of society, corporations and government. I found this section of the book less engaging, but interesting nonetheless.

The book's theme is inspired by a statue in Minneapolis that provided the title - are we just `empty raincoats' - units of labour and intellect - a cog in a corporate machine? Or is there someone of substance to fill the raincoat with meaning and purpose that goes beyond work?

If, like me, you're mid-career, young family, thinking about what the future holds, this is a really good book to read.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent guidance for a globalising world, 17 Aug 2001
By The Flying Dutchman (The Hague, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
I was impressed by the simplicity and directness of this book. Handy deals with crucial issues of modern society. Handy takes a very broad perspective, hence some of the considerations may not be of practical relevance, but some of the concepts in this book are truly "mind openers". Strongly recommended for those who don't take things at face value...!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking ideas for difficult times.
This book is not new having been written nearly fifteen years ago. However the recent events in the financial markets reveal that its message remains remarkably relevant... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Steven Unwin

4.0 out of 5 stars Fresh, relevant and constructive critique of 'work'
Handy always seems to find a unique perspective on the world of work but even so it's hard to believe this book has been around for well over a decade, it just feels so fresh and... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Matt Wilson

4.0 out of 5 stars A measure of non-progress?
The ideas in this book might be a bit dated - not because they are any less relevant, but just because people have subsequently moved beyond and built on them. Read more
Published on 1 Aug 2003

2.0 out of 5 stars Idealist
Personally speaking, I found this book to be the out-of-touch ramblings of an ageing idealist. Handy has a big downer on the Anglo Saxon style of capatalism and adores the softer... Read more
Published on 16 Jul 2003

2.0 out of 5 stars Idealist
Personally speaking, I found this book to be the out-of-touch ramblings of an ageing idealist. Handy has a big downer on the Anglo Saxon style of capatalism and adores the softer... Read more
Published on 16 Jul 2003 by Tim

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