There were some decent ideas in here, but I found the book kind of neener neener. Rather than core solid principles, the chapters are built on fluffy quotes, isn't-that-nice stories and the author's decidedly wander-prone personality. I appreciate that he understands so much of formal education (and employment) is meaningless busywork, but that doesn't automatically mean that you have to shoot to the other end of the spectrum and spend your life flipping off authority figures. Part of the core assumption seems to be that if you're not "sticking it" to convention in some way (for example, by supporting homosexual marriage), your life is boring. When he started talking about his volunteer trip to Africa for the fifth time, I got bored and stopped reading.

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I found this book to be compelling and inspirational, and I'm looking forward to reading it again. Definitely a book that makes you want to get up and DO something - quit your job, travel, start a business. I particularly liked the "one-year, self-directed, alternative graduate school experience" list (which included such things as subscribing to a language learning podcast and listening to it five days a week for a year, etc).

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This book is nowhere as solid as the same author's book "The $100 Startup," which was based on wide research and a broad range of examples. This one offers more of the author pontificating, using his own life and personality as exemplars and adding a few anecdotes about other people here and there. I am not sure who the intended audience is, and I didn't find it that useful or inspiring.

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Looking for a different way to manage your worklife? This book is loaded with fresh and exciting ideas, but also serves as an excellent introduction to the work of Chris Guillebeau, who has many other valuable resources available online. For example, although not everyone wishes they had a graduate degree, his guidelines for an alternative education are ones that would benefit almost everyone.

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I've followed Chris's blog for a while, and found the book to be a phenomenal next step. It's a great walk through living the way you want while doing something meaningful with your life. Not a memoir, instruction manual or self-improvement book, it has the hybrid vigor of a quality blending.

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