TOP DRAWER BOOK REVIEW
by
HL Carpenter

 

Was Your Boss Raised By Wolves?
by Gerald M. Groe, Ph.D.
ISBN 1-56414-814-9
221 pages; softcover
Career Press, New Jersey, 2005

What can wolves teach you about succeeding in the workplace?

According to author and consultant Gerry Groe, quite a bit. You may find that conclusion a stretch, but Dr. Groe manages to make a case for similarities between wolf packs and supposedly more civilized human workplaces.

It’s not clear where Dr. Groe learned about four-legged wolves. But it is quite obvious he’s had some awful employment experiences. It’s equally obvious he figures you’re going to have some awful experiences, too, and he’d like you to be prepared.

From his perspective, that means you need to understand your place in the pack ... umm, office hierarchy, and figure out the best way to ensure your survival. His less than novel suggestion: Spend your time making your boss happy. (In case you were wondering, wolves do this, too.)

If you’re hunting for fresh career advice, here’s a tip: Pursue your quarry through the dead trees of some other forest. Was Your Boss Raised by Wolves? is nothing more than a short article, stuffed with platitudes and stitched together with wolf yarns in order to better masquerade as a book, my dear. Unless you’ve never set paw in an office, it’s doubtful you’ll learn a thing by reading it.

BONUS REVIEW:
The Singing Life of Birds
by Donald Kroodsma
ISBN 0-618-40568-2
482 pages; hardcover; $28.00
Houghton Mifflin, New York, 2005

The Singing Life of Birds is pure pleasure, on the wing. Professor Kroodsma loves his work, which is the science of avian bioacoustics. That’s a fancy term that means he’s an expert on birdsong. What’s not to love?

In The Singing Life of Birds, you can join him vicariously on his field expeditions. You’ll discover that it’s typically male birds who sing, that some species learn their songs and some have music embedded in their genes, and that if you listen carefully, you can identify individual birds of the same species by flourishes they add to the songs they sing.

You may find an overabundance of detail in The Singing Life of Birds, thanks to Professor Kroodsma’s fascination with his subject. And you may never want to think of birdsong as ‘avian vocal behavior’. But after reading the book and enjoying the accompanying CD, it’s likely you’ll have a whole new appreciation for the fabulous symphony that’s available for free, right in your own back yard.

 

Review originally published October 2005.