I would recommend this book to all workers and managers seeking to achieve the most out of their workplace and themselves.
Warren Thurston - Owner of Boggle Books
“The Home of Quality eBook Reviews”
http://www.bogglebooks.com/
S. Louise Underdahl takes the reader on an adventure into the world of work. It is an activity which all of us participate in. How we react to the kind of work we do varies from individuals and the workplace.
In the world of today the education of new starters is well rounded. This presents to management a new challenge that must be resolved. Workers now have a broader expectation of what a job must consist of.
The nineteenth century saw workers as tools to serve the needs of industry. This attitude came across in the literature of the time, such as the Charles Dickens novel “Hard Times”. One of the characters in the book is a teacher at a London school with an autocratic outlook.
Mr Gradrind believed his students to be like a jug. Open the top of their head and pour in the facts. Close the lid and then push them out into the world as a complete human being, ready to fulfill the needs of industry.
This attitude that people need only to work to meet the needs of industry is gradually changing. More and more employees want to have an increased ownership in the work process than ever before. Transcendent work is a system that the author believes is the solution to this demand.
To achieve a workplace that is transcendent the mix of attitude and content needs to be right. This is where the worker feels that they have input and control over the work process. Therefore they are going to have their intellectual needs satisfied, which will bring joy to their work experience.
“Soul of Work” is a well-researched exposure on the true meaning of work. The author has thrown new light onto a topic thought to be dull and mundane. Work can and should be a joyful experience.
I would recommend this book to all workers and managers seeking to achieve the most out of their workplace and themselves.
About
Warren Thurston
BoggleBooks
is the Web site of Warren Thurston, an Australian author
of children's books. His latest book, GLADISS AND THE
ALIEN, is published by Sunny Side Up Publishing, the
home of quality ebooks.
GLADISS AND THE ALIEN is a delightful story for 8
to 12 year olds about the adventures of a horse named
Gladiss. Animal smugglers, a crooked circus owner; an
Alien and the courage of Gladiss' owner Sally are the
main ingredients of the tale.
FREE eBook Review
BoggleBooks
will provide a FREE ebook review of any fiction genre to
authors.
New
Approach to Workplace Harmony
Transcendent
Work is the dynamic new therapy for stimulating
productivity, improving workplace harmony and increasing
satisfaction in the twenty-first century. Effective for blue,
white and gold collar
workers. All corporate
citizens will get value from this perspective on
proactive participation in the workforce.
PR
Web - The Free Wire Service
Press Release - July 27, 2003
Find
the Soul in Your Work - or Make a Career Change Reviewed
by Simona Nielsen, Danish Editor, Writer and
Publisher
For
4 years I was stuck in a bad job and what really
surprised me was that I didn’t realize it, before
I’d been there for 2 years. A job is your identity.
The first thing people ask is ‘So what do you do (for
a living)?’ Then it’s great to be able to say
‘I’m a…..’ or ‘I work at…’ I suppose
that’s why I didn’t think much about why I had this
job. Is it for the money? Well…yeah! Is it a job where
I can develop? NO! After the first two years I started
daydreaming. I wished I sat at my computer and wrote. I
wished I could be at home and away from people who
always expected me to be satisfied with what I did. Then
I started asking myself ‘What do YOU want?’ I knew I
didn’t want to be in this job no longer. I wanted to
follow my dream. But it still had to take me two more
years before I asked the manager to fire me.
I
followed my dream and what I do today, I really love! I
can’t get enough of my job. I work 60 hours a week
from my home and I just LOVE it! I’ve never felt this
way about a job before. Writing is my first love (when
it comes to jobs!) – being a publisher, my second.
When I started on this people said ‘that sounds
interesting…but can you live on it?’ That’s the
point in life for many people. It doesn’t matter
whether you love/like your job or not – just make sure
you make money. That just didn’t work for me.
You
spend almost half your life on your job. Make sure
it’s the right one, or you’ll never feel happiness.
This is what author S. Louise Underdahl, Ph.D., is
trying to tell us in her book ‘The Soul of Work’.
Reading this book made me realize I did the right thing.
If you’re not happy with what you do, seek inspiration
in this book. It’s worth it!
Source:
BellaOnLine's Mental
Health
About
Simona
Nielsen
Simona
Nielsen founded The
Writer's Room on February 1, 2002. The concept was
to build a community for writers to have their work
published in a tough business.
Implement
some of the ideas in this book in your workplace (as an
HRD Manager for example) Swamy's
Book Reviews
Category: Management,
Psychology
Key words: Organization, Culture, Soul of work
'The
Soul of Work' by Louise Underdahl is an excellent
treatise on work culture, work organization and all
other aspects connected with people and working. The
book is the result of the author's doctoral research at
University of Southern California and fetched her a
well-earned PhD in Public Administration. In about 300
pages, the author puts forth well-structured views about
work culture in various organizations and presents a
good case for treating the work as fun and not as a
chore. That is what she means by A Quest for the
Transcendent. To transcend boredom and an attitude of
working for a living to a state of living for work!
In
the words of the author: " To better use the time
we are given...to make the most of those shining
moments. Challenge, inspiration, raison d'etre. Since
the average individual spends most waking hours on the
job, work presents unprecedented opportunities to better
use the time we are given. Transcendent work negates the
need to escape, eliminates the "I'd be rather
sailing, skiing, golfing" mindset. The soul of work
lies in the enduring satisfaction which only personal
growth through purposeful endeavor can provide. The
transitory exhilaration of amusement cannot compare to
the genuine fulfillment of meaningful, creative, and
challenging work. Transcendent work is the apogee of fun
and the optimal use of those shining moments.'
The
first three chapters form the background, where the
author gives the work done by others, concepts of work,
and raises the important question, why do some people
say, 'I'd rather be working?' The next four chapters
detail the actual research work carried out. Part III
gives the conclusion of her research work in the space
of three chapters. The author gives selected references
as Bibliography in Part IV.
I
share with you the potential reader of the book, what I
wrote at the end of the book: " This book doesn't
give you straight do's and don'ts to improve your
worklife or to have fun at your work place. But if you
are a researcher, you will find a gold-mine of
information and references in this book."
If
you are looking for some light-reading to spend an
afternoon, this is certainly not recommended. If
however, you are interested in a very important subject
and would like to either implement some of the ideas in
this book in your workplace (as a HRD manager for
example) or if you are an individual looking for some
pointers to understand your own approach to work, you
will certainly find this book useful.
ImportantNewBooks
- Reviews
Reviewed
by Kim M., St. Joseph, Missouri
This
book was very helpful, it told how to be better at
your job and have fun too. I like that it
told you how to get along with everyone in the
workplace. I also liked the fact that there were
names of other books to get on certain subjects in
the book.
I wish
the company that I worked for would give this book
to all their group leaders. Then they might treat
us little people with a little more respect.
|
Reviewed
by Beverly G., Jeffersonville, Indiana
I
liked how many different angles this author took to
explain her strategies. I found most of her suggestions
good and worthwhile in trying. She seems to have
wonderful insight into the working world and its dilemmas.
I
found her insight to be very
enlightening and will try some of her suggestions on my
work site. Anything to improve being at work is welcome.
Reviewed
by Mary B., St. Catharines, Canada
This
will be a very excellent job searching book for anyone
looking for work especially for the young people just
out of school. It is also an excellent handbook for
those people that are stuck in dead end jobs that they
don't enjoy. It will help show them that it is so much
better to really be interested in the work you do to
make it in the job market today.
This
book also is very good for the people who are stuck in a
job that they have no interest in. It really helps put
in perspective that you should really love the work you
do to make it in your field of work or else you will be
stuck in a dead end job that can drain you.
Click
here for other reviews of The Soul of Work.
The
Next Best-Seller? It's Up to You
Importantnewbooks.com.
A place for authors to show
the world what they have written. All they have to do is
give some books away for free. Readers get a
chance to tell the world whether this author has it or
not. For all to see. Authors get publicity, readers not
only have a chance to get free books to review, but also
discover many really great books that otherwise might
not have seen the light of day. Everybody wins.
Mitch
Weiss, creator of ImportantNewBooks.
Make Work Fun
Author Discloses Secrets Found In Years Of Research
"Work can alienate man from his world and himself or it can provide opportunities for self-actualization," says Dr.
Louise Underdahl, researcher and author of new book, Soul of Work (available from
1stBooks Library).
Most individuals think of work as life's most stressful yet unavoidable component. Yet, research proves that a negative work attitude has detrimental effects on health. The San Francisco Trauma Foundation shows individuals who believe they are under stress run the second highest risk for sickness.
In order to be stress-free, work must be "transcendent work, which has meaning and purpose. Today's job must relate and contribute to employees' interests and development," says
Underdahl.
The Soul of Work answers the major question, "What is the purpose of life?" Underdahl uses her research to change the definition of work into all the meaningful activity to which we choose to devote our waking hours.
Dr. Underdahl holds a BA in English Literature from UCLA, an MSLS (Library
Science - USC), MPA (Public Administration - USC), and PhD (Public Administration - USC). She serves as
Risk Analyst in UCLA Medical Center's Risk Management Department.
About 1stBooks Library:
Based in Bloomington, Indiana, 1stBooks Library was established in 1997 in order to fulfill the dream of authors who wished to have their books published while retaining all rights and control of content. 1stBooks Library currently boasts an author base of more than 6,000 strong and is the only profitable company of its kind in the world. For more information, visit our online media kit at
www.1stbooks.com and click the "Media" image at the top of the page.
# # #
Press Contacts:
Cindy Baker, Press Release Coordinator
tel: 812-339-6000 x244
fax: 812-339-6554
email: pressreleases@1stbooks.com
For review copies, please provide a street address.
Return
to top of Press
page.
|