As I write this note, this review has been up for a while and 82 people have voted on it so far, 48 finding it helpful. Excellent. I'd like to add that most of the people purchasing this book are actually corporations or managers to give as 'gifts' to the little mice who work for them. A present to give in exchange might be something by Howard Zinn perhaps?
Who Moved My Cheese? A Realistic Perspective
Who Moved My Cheese? Is a story about 4 little beings - two mice (Sniff and Scurry) and two little people (Hem and Haw), and Cheese. The story is about how these four little characters adapt to change, which is depicted by the depletion of the cheese supply and the motivation (or the lack of it) to acquire more cheese.
At firsts glance, Who Moved My Cheese? Is a very simplistic story...may be too simplistic. The basic message of the book is that change happens, whether we like it or not, whether we are prepared for it or not and that the best we can do is to adapt to it quickly and move on. However, the book is more about fear. We do not oppose change if we perceive it as positive but when we do not know what the change will bring or when we have an inclination that the change will be negative, then we become paralyzed with fear - the fear of the unknown. I think this is what we have to deal with in order to be able to handle and adapt to change. The only way to be really prepared for change is to demystify the change by being prepared...being on the look out for pointers that indicate that change is coming your way and equipping yourself with the necessary tools to deal with it.
However, life is not as simplistic as munching away on some cheese and never expecting it to be depleted...we all know that! Change is difficult to adapt to because in most instances, it is sudden and it can be totally unexpected. Picking up after a bad/difficult experience can be a very difficult and painful experience - and truth be told, change does not always lead to better things...at times the grass is greener where you came from no matter how hard you try. Who Moved My Cheese? does not address this type of change because the story is based entirely on being able to predict what will happen in the future.
Also, it is interesting to note that the characters in Who Moved My Cheese? are the same size "mice=people" and both have to rely on someone else putting the cheese in some station in the maze. Even the little people do not make their own cheese and their survival depends highly on chance (bumping into some good cheese) than in figuring out how to make their own cheese. This might indicate an imbalance of power (very corporate business thinking). Irrespective of the move to a new cheese station, the amount of cheese in that station is still controlled by another power.
Again, adapting to change is not always a "unilateral" decision. A lot can depend on those around you - your family, society, the environment, etc. However, adapting to change does start with the individual.
Some other books that our company has found very beneficial include 7 HABITS by Stephen Covey and Super Self by Charles Givens. Another is Million Dollar Habits by Brian Tracy.