Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do by Studs Terkel Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do
Book Review: how people see their job tells a lot about them
Summary: 5 Stars
What's engaging about this is the stories. Studs is known for his work getting people to tell their stories. This is one of his contributions to the cultural history of America, told first person, in a way that is timeless and just as relevant today as when it was written. One way to sum it up might be to say this is about what people learned from their work, and about themselves and others in the process. The subject might sound boring, but it's alive and seething with emotions.
On the face of it this is a dated survey of Americans and how they feel about their jobs. While there's some nostalgia in here in the attitudes and jobs of eras past it's also a fun read and one that I would recommend to teens, college students and anyone interested in perspectives about work and how we see ourselves and others.
We all know that most people hate their jobs. Work is seen as something we have to do, and few of us seem to find a job that we like or enjoy. How we feel about work, and what we do for a living, in many ways defines who we are. Seeing people share their their perspectives on this helps us see ourselves in a different light, and taken as a whole this book helps us see a perspective of America's history.
One thing I found interesting in this was the work ethic people found even in jobs they hated. Work ethics seem to be less clearly defined today in a world where ethics have gone astray, and where people tend to care less about what they do and how they do it. Seeing the pride a man took in his work, even if he hated it, tells us something about the character of a person. It's also interesting to see how people who had jobs you would assume they would have hated were content in their roles and saw what they did as a service even when others might look down on them.
The construction worker who wants to make sure his son doesn't have to do what he does was one I enjoyed and remember. An airline stewardess in an era dominated by of bigoted males... the stories this books tells are about relationships and attitudes, and in a way it's still very vital and contemporary.
It's about relationships with work, family, with other people, and with ourselves and or past and future. You'll probably see yourself and people you know in the attitudes within this book. In that way it's timeless, candid and informative, and touching.
Book Review: an epic of America--
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a fascinating book. Filled with brief, antecdotal stories of people narrowing down their lives to reflections on their jobs, the very souls of many of these people shine through. People good and bad, generous and selfish, greedy, self-absorbed, charitable and open-hearted, Terkel has captured more than just an historical document chronicling the present-past-tense viewpoints of a handful of citizens, but has exposed a universal understanding of differences of opinion throughout the nation. People speak, sometimes angry, often full of regret and a sense of meaninglessness or loss, and they tell the story of human aspiration and dreams. For all the increasingly irrelevent references to issues and phenomenon of the early 1970s, for every comment on times gone by dimming increasingly into the past, there remains a profound relevence for every civilization to come (and no doubt every one that preceded the subjects) regarding the very search for meaning in our lives.
I could rarely recommend a more powerful book dealing almost esclusively with the conscience and so I urge you, when times look either up or down, to browse through this rather hefty tome and think deeply down into yourself and wonder if you are truly pleased with the direction of your life. Herein some of the most brazenly arrogant and humbly neglectful people relate both their triumphs and regrets. Somehow master-interviewer Terkel was allowed access to all of these demons pigeonholed beneath the romanticized personas people tend to put on when attempting to define themselves.
Buy this, read this. Now . . .
Book Review: MAGNUM OPUS!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Studs Terkel wanted to write a book about working for a living. So he sat down with a grocery store cashier and interviewed her about her job. He didn't ask very many questions; he just turned on a tape recorder and let her pour her heart out. She explained what she did for a living, how and why she came to do it, what she liked and disliked about her job. She talked about the little dramas and boredom that filled her working hours and the toll it took on her private life. When she was finished talking she had created a vivid "snapshot" with words of what it's like to work as a grocery store cashier.
Then Studs interviewed a bartender, a teacher, a pro athlete and dozens of other people from dozens of professions. They each created in their own words unique self-portraits of themselves at work. The book Working is like an art gallery filled with these detailed self-portraits.
And just like strolling through an art gallery looking at paintings will give you a feel for the visions of a variety of artists, reading Working will give you a taste of the flavor of the working lives of it's subjects.
Book Review: The dreams and experiences of ordinary working folk
Summary: 5 Stars
Labor history students will easily recall Studs Terkel's Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day And How They Feel About What They Do to be a landmark charting the dreams and experiences of ordinary working folk: add a new foreword by Adam Cohen of the New York Times to Terkel's classic and you return an important reference to modern times, with over a hundred interviews with working folk as relevant today as when it was first done.
Book Review: One of the best books I have ever read
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a wonderful book, I am so glad I read it because it has helped me to look at the funny side of working and realize that everyone is dealing with the same set of basic issues at work.
One of the nice things about the book is that it is made up of short stories, so it can be picked up or put down at short notice and you don't lose anything.
If you have been in the work force I'm sure you will love this book. If not, read it anyway because it'll give you a glimpse of what's in store if/when you start working.