The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need
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Manufacturer: Riverhead Trade
Author: Daniel H. Pink
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 650.14
EAN: 9781594482915
ISBN: 1594482918
Label: Riverhead Trade
Manufacturer: Riverhead Trade
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 160
Publication Date: 2008-04-01
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Studio: Riverhead Trade
Dewey Decimal Number: 650.14
EAN: 9781594482915
ISBN: 1594482918
Label: Riverhead Trade
Manufacturer: Riverhead Trade
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 160
Publication Date: 2008-04-01
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Studio: Riverhead Trade
Editorial Review of The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need
There's never been a career guide like The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need. Told in manga–the Japanese comic book format that's an international sensation--it's the fully illustrated story of a young Everyman just out of college who lands his first job. Johnny Bunko is new to the Boggs Corp., and he stumbles through his early months as a working stiff until a crisis prompts him to rethink his approach. Step by step he builds a career, illustrating as he does the six core lessons of finding, keeping, and flourishing in satisfying work. A groundbreaking guide to surviving and flourishing in any career, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko is smart, engaging and insightful, and offers practical advice for anyone looking for a life of rewarding work.
Customer Reviews of The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need
Customer Rating: 
Review Summary: Career comics advice for people who don't like to read
Review: Any comic book -- excuse me, "manga" book -- which claims it's "the last career guide you'll ever need" is either deluded or written for suckers. The book develops a few rules of thumb which purport to outline a sort of template for giving work and career choice meaning. People who think along lines of following rules will probably eat this stuff up, but the problems with rule following are many: How should one prioritize the rules? What are the meta-rules -- the rules that tell us when to make exception to the rules? How general or particular should the application of the rule be? Why do we trust rules as opposed to deciding merely situation-by-situation? If expert rule givers give us different rule sets, then to which rule set should we give heed? Indeed, the book gives a few general platitudes which few would find controversial. And it's fun to read manga. But Superman, Spiderman, Batman, etc. are fun to read also, yet why would we build our personal ethic around these stories? Likewise, why should we take manga boy, Johnny Bunko, as any more informative about career choice? Answer: we shouldn't. Look -- it's a fun book; but, that's all it is.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Got 30 minutes? Read this book...
Review: "The Karate Kid" meets "Office Space" through the popular Japanese medium "Manga" in this totally enjoyable read. Meet Johnny, toiling slavishly in an unrewarding and uninspiring dead-end job, thinking he's "paying his dues," and "getting his ticket punched." Enter Diana, 3-foot-nothing hard hitting tough love career counseling pixie (think spawn of Mr. Miyagi and Tinkerbell), to show Johnny the ropes and get him moving in a good orderly direction. Fun stuff.
Do I think Mssrs. Pink and Pas have encapsulated the meaning of life into a 125-page comic book? Not necessarily; unlike "7 Habits" or "What Color is Your Parachute," however, this is a career guide that the recent/impending 18-24 year old high school/college graduate in your life might actually a) read all the way through, and 2) spend the remainder of the hour thinking about. That in itself is no mean feat given the distractions confronting today's youth.
Now, if I were even fractionally as gifted and talented as the authors, and chose to write a career guide, I might not necessarily espouse precisely the same recipe, but that's OK; if all this book does is get read by the intended audience, and spark debate on the topic, that in itself constitutes successful literature, in my opinion.
Go ahead, get the book, read it, and pass it on (along with some chopsticks); I sincerely doubt you will regret it. 10 bucks well spent.
Enjoy!
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Must-Read for ALL graduates, educators, parents, and those looking for a career change!
Review: We've all been `Johnny Bunko' at one time or other. Now, there's help...
Following the success of Daniel H. Pink's brilliant A WHOLE NEW MIND. WHY RIGHT-BRAINERS WILL RULE THE WORLD, THE ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY BUNKO. THE LAST CAREER GUIDE YOU'LL EVER NEED is a refreshing new style of advice book geared for American audiences but with a universal message applicable anywhere. This time, Pink has chosen to use a Manga illustrated novel format--a style popular in Japan for books on all topics and for people of all ages--as a vehicle for his sage advice. Achieving a winning combination, Pink expertly merges illustrator Rob Ten Pas' Manga frames with his own wit and wisdom. `Johnny Bunko' is so entertaining and easy to follow that even left-brainers will love it! :)
The novel follows the title character and a couple of his co-workers on an adventure to not only solve a work-related situation but to also uncover some mysteries. Through this process, the friends look back on their lives, do some soul searching, and stumble upon tips for career and personal success. The book is very accessible and one can read it in an hour or so. What's more important, readers will gain practical tips for choosing more personally successful and enjoyable career paths, rather than sticking to those chosen by the people around them. Pink stresses that one must feel comfortable with one's career choice, and urges readers to follow one's strengths and strive to make a positive difference, among other things. It's a great message for anyone finding his or her way through the maze career choices in the not-so-cut-and-dry 21st century job market.
I recommend Pinks' `A Whole New Mind' and his dynamic video lectures for everyone working in business or education. But, I ESPECIALLY recommend `Johnny Bunko' for recent graduates (both high school and college) and for anyone else looking to make a career and/ or life change. I teach at a high school and I have been telling everyone I know about this book. I have given it or recommended it to students, parents, counselors, teachers, friends, and even my babysitter. Parents should especially consider buying this book for their teenage children... once they read it themselves. Teens will appreciate the message and they will consider their parents "way hip" for having chosen this ultra-cool 21st century advice book for them. After all, teens' post-graduation world is different that ours was and they deserve career advice from a person who understands this job market better than most today.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Modern day Seuss writes the new best Grad gift!
Review: This is the perfect "back to school" gift for that college student that thinks they have no worries in the world :-)!
The sooner they get the lessons and start to realize the skills they will really need... the better off they will be!
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Don't let the presentation fool you...content rich.
Review: Having read all of Daniel Pink's other books, I was excited to see this on the shelf. I started with Free Agent Nation a few years ago, which gave me a totally new perspective on the whole concept of work in the 21st century. I then worked my way into A Whole New Mind, which gave me--a mostly right-brained technology worker--hope for the future in a previously left-brain dominated world. It's neat to see not only the world itself shifting from left-brain to right-brain, but also to see this author's presentation jump into an obviously quirky/fun style. I loved the other books, but then again I love to read. I was a little concerned about the Manga style at first, but I didn't pick it up because of the style or the graphics: Mr. Pink's books are all extremely thought-provoking, and have pointed me in the right direction many times (not just job searches and career moves). So, yes, I bought the book simply because of the author's name on the side, but when I flipped through it in the bookstore, I realized it had a lot of substance. Like any good parable, it's an entertaining story about a fictional character who is just like a lot of us at work. I love the fact that the author's eating his own dog food here, by presenting this book in a fun way that draws you in (he talks about content -> design -> story in his previous book). I read this book once all the way through too fast...and then went back and re-read it when I had more time, and picked up a lot of things I had missed the first time around. It resonated so much with me that I let my girlfriend read it (she loved it) and I'm thinking of loaning it to other friends who seem bored with their jobs/lives. I've been reading a lot of books lately that have given me back far more than I've put into them monetarily. My only concern is that people might overlook or dismiss this useful book simply because of the Manga presentation. Once you start reading, the characters come to life (especially Johnny, for anyone who's done the same job over and over again without really finding joy in it), and you start to see ways of improving your own situation. If you enjoy reading this book (I know I sound like Amazon or whatever making recommendations), go back and take a look at Free Agent Nation (although it is a few years old, it has good advice and entertaining stories) and A Whole New Mind (more recent, and pulls the author's thoughts together into a more detail-rich and current book than the first). This book certainly stands alone, but you might enjoy rounding this parable out with the full-scale novels of his other two books. To summarize: unless you're totally, 100% happy with your current job or life situation, you should read Johnny Bunko to see if there aren't a few things you might be missing. Warning: side effects may include increased cravings for Asian food eaten with chopsticks!
Review Summary: Career comics advice for people who don't like to read
Review: Any comic book -- excuse me, "manga" book -- which claims it's "the last career guide you'll ever need" is either deluded or written for suckers. The book develops a few rules of thumb which purport to outline a sort of template for giving work and career choice meaning. People who think along lines of following rules will probably eat this stuff up, but the problems with rule following are many: How should one prioritize the rules? What are the meta-rules -- the rules that tell us when to make exception to the rules? How general or particular should the application of the rule be? Why do we trust rules as opposed to deciding merely situation-by-situation? If expert rule givers give us different rule sets, then to which rule set should we give heed? Indeed, the book gives a few general platitudes which few would find controversial. And it's fun to read manga. But Superman, Spiderman, Batman, etc. are fun to read also, yet why would we build our personal ethic around these stories? Likewise, why should we take manga boy, Johnny Bunko, as any more informative about career choice? Answer: we shouldn't. Look -- it's a fun book; but, that's all it is.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Got 30 minutes? Read this book...
Review: "The Karate Kid" meets "Office Space" through the popular Japanese medium "Manga" in this totally enjoyable read. Meet Johnny, toiling slavishly in an unrewarding and uninspiring dead-end job, thinking he's "paying his dues," and "getting his ticket punched." Enter Diana, 3-foot-nothing hard hitting tough love career counseling pixie (think spawn of Mr. Miyagi and Tinkerbell), to show Johnny the ropes and get him moving in a good orderly direction. Fun stuff.
Do I think Mssrs. Pink and Pas have encapsulated the meaning of life into a 125-page comic book? Not necessarily; unlike "7 Habits" or "What Color is Your Parachute," however, this is a career guide that the recent/impending 18-24 year old high school/college graduate in your life might actually a) read all the way through, and 2) spend the remainder of the hour thinking about. That in itself is no mean feat given the distractions confronting today's youth.
Now, if I were even fractionally as gifted and talented as the authors, and chose to write a career guide, I might not necessarily espouse precisely the same recipe, but that's OK; if all this book does is get read by the intended audience, and spark debate on the topic, that in itself constitutes successful literature, in my opinion.
Go ahead, get the book, read it, and pass it on (along with some chopsticks); I sincerely doubt you will regret it. 10 bucks well spent.
Enjoy!
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Must-Read for ALL graduates, educators, parents, and those looking for a career change!
Review: We've all been `Johnny Bunko' at one time or other. Now, there's help...
Following the success of Daniel H. Pink's brilliant A WHOLE NEW MIND. WHY RIGHT-BRAINERS WILL RULE THE WORLD, THE ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY BUNKO. THE LAST CAREER GUIDE YOU'LL EVER NEED is a refreshing new style of advice book geared for American audiences but with a universal message applicable anywhere. This time, Pink has chosen to use a Manga illustrated novel format--a style popular in Japan for books on all topics and for people of all ages--as a vehicle for his sage advice. Achieving a winning combination, Pink expertly merges illustrator Rob Ten Pas' Manga frames with his own wit and wisdom. `Johnny Bunko' is so entertaining and easy to follow that even left-brainers will love it! :)
The novel follows the title character and a couple of his co-workers on an adventure to not only solve a work-related situation but to also uncover some mysteries. Through this process, the friends look back on their lives, do some soul searching, and stumble upon tips for career and personal success. The book is very accessible and one can read it in an hour or so. What's more important, readers will gain practical tips for choosing more personally successful and enjoyable career paths, rather than sticking to those chosen by the people around them. Pink stresses that one must feel comfortable with one's career choice, and urges readers to follow one's strengths and strive to make a positive difference, among other things. It's a great message for anyone finding his or her way through the maze career choices in the not-so-cut-and-dry 21st century job market.
I recommend Pinks' `A Whole New Mind' and his dynamic video lectures for everyone working in business or education. But, I ESPECIALLY recommend `Johnny Bunko' for recent graduates (both high school and college) and for anyone else looking to make a career and/ or life change. I teach at a high school and I have been telling everyone I know about this book. I have given it or recommended it to students, parents, counselors, teachers, friends, and even my babysitter. Parents should especially consider buying this book for their teenage children... once they read it themselves. Teens will appreciate the message and they will consider their parents "way hip" for having chosen this ultra-cool 21st century advice book for them. After all, teens' post-graduation world is different that ours was and they deserve career advice from a person who understands this job market better than most today.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Modern day Seuss writes the new best Grad gift!
Review: This is the perfect "back to school" gift for that college student that thinks they have no worries in the world :-)!
The sooner they get the lessons and start to realize the skills they will really need... the better off they will be!
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Don't let the presentation fool you...content rich.
Review: Having read all of Daniel Pink's other books, I was excited to see this on the shelf. I started with Free Agent Nation a few years ago, which gave me a totally new perspective on the whole concept of work in the 21st century. I then worked my way into A Whole New Mind, which gave me--a mostly right-brained technology worker--hope for the future in a previously left-brain dominated world. It's neat to see not only the world itself shifting from left-brain to right-brain, but also to see this author's presentation jump into an obviously quirky/fun style. I loved the other books, but then again I love to read. I was a little concerned about the Manga style at first, but I didn't pick it up because of the style or the graphics: Mr. Pink's books are all extremely thought-provoking, and have pointed me in the right direction many times (not just job searches and career moves). So, yes, I bought the book simply because of the author's name on the side, but when I flipped through it in the bookstore, I realized it had a lot of substance. Like any good parable, it's an entertaining story about a fictional character who is just like a lot of us at work. I love the fact that the author's eating his own dog food here, by presenting this book in a fun way that draws you in (he talks about content -> design -> story in his previous book). I read this book once all the way through too fast...and then went back and re-read it when I had more time, and picked up a lot of things I had missed the first time around. It resonated so much with me that I let my girlfriend read it (she loved it) and I'm thinking of loaning it to other friends who seem bored with their jobs/lives. I've been reading a lot of books lately that have given me back far more than I've put into them monetarily. My only concern is that people might overlook or dismiss this useful book simply because of the Manga presentation. Once you start reading, the characters come to life (especially Johnny, for anyone who's done the same job over and over again without really finding joy in it), and you start to see ways of improving your own situation. If you enjoy reading this book (I know I sound like Amazon or whatever making recommendations), go back and take a look at Free Agent Nation (although it is a few years old, it has good advice and entertaining stories) and A Whole New Mind (more recent, and pulls the author's thoughts together into a more detail-rich and current book than the first). This book certainly stands alone, but you might enjoy rounding this parable out with the full-scale novels of his other two books. To summarize: unless you're totally, 100% happy with your current job or life situation, you should read Johnny Bunko to see if there aren't a few things you might be missing. Warning: side effects may include increased cravings for Asian food eaten with chopsticks!