While I gave a quick glance at The Asshole Survival Guide by Robert I Sutton, it was not a top priority and by the time I was ready to take a closer look, my ARC of this title (provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review) expired. Unfortunately, my initial impression was it was rather lengthy and not in a quick, easy to read, format which would have made it more inviting. Perhaps if I had spent a little longer and read more of the anecdotes It might have led to a more favorable outcome.

This is a business book book written about how to deal with difficult people at work and how not to be difficult at work. The author offers lots of examples and some real solutions. There is some repetition and the book could have been shorter. Anyone who deals with other people will enjoy this book.

Do you work with assholes? Do you dread getting up every day to go to work because you have to deal with them, when all you want to do is light that ass up? Is your family full of assholes? Do you avoid holiday gatherings so you won’t have to encounter that asshole aunt or other relative? Well, you aren’t alone!

The Asshole Survival Guide: How to Deal With People Who Treat You Like Dirt by Robert Sutton is the book I’m reading to help me tactfully deal with the many assholes in my life, especially the ones at work that I cannot run over with my car.

This book is pretty darn good. It is funny and informative and can help anyone who is going through some issues at work with co-workers or bosses who are making your work life unbearable. Sutton includes many rules or tips, including making sure we aren’t the assholes in the situation. Look at ourselves first before pointing the finger at someone else. Now that we know it isn’t us, hopefully, what kind of asshole are we dealing with and how bad is it? Once we know that, we should try Sutton’s strategies to help us. Additionally, what I appreciated Sutton stating is it is ok to quit; in fact, it is easier to get out early on than to stay and become just like those assholes or stay and try to make it work and be miserable.

Without telling too much about this book, all I will say is that I am happy to see that I have applied some of Sutton’s tips, yay me! However, I think I should apply some others so I can start living my best life. Like he states, if one strategy isn’t working, we should revise it or try something else.

So, in short, if you need some tips on how to handle yourself and the assholes in your life, give this book a shot!







I received an advanced ebook copy from NetGalley to read and review.

I also received a book copy from my job.

WARNING!!!

While useful, this book is also very, VERY depressing, because it basically says, here's how you can cope if you can't escape, but if you can, escape. It's not big on fighting, but I think that is because people only act like huge jerks when they can get away with it. If they couldn't, they would have been brought down by now.

So, unless I want to have Mutually Assured Destruction, my game plan is avoidance at all costs.

Not what I wanted to hear, but perhaps what I needed to hear. I just bought a copy of this book for a friend in a very VERY toxic work environment. His health is suffering, so I hope that this book will help him figure out a game plan that can keep him out of the doctor's office or ER for more than a week! Stress can kill you folks. This book can help when it's caused by a particular person/persons.

So, depressing, but even more depressingly, so SO important for us nowadays. 4 stars. Would be five, but it depressed me too much to be happy enough to give it five. Sigh. I need a palate cleanser!

My thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

Let's face it, we all come across some less than savory people like this that make us uncomfortable and sometimes feel defenseless. Catchy title. You won't be able to resist picking it up and skimming through it.

Since writing his book about “building civilized workplaces,” The No Asshole Rule, author Robert I. Sutton was besieged with questions by readers about what they should do to deal with abusive people at work.

In The Asshole Survival Guide, Sutton shares strategies and tips that he developed over the years.

I approached this book from the perspective of a person who was bullied and ostracized in school, and who has encountered incidents of bullying during my professional career. As a lifetime stakeholder, I was therefore greatly appreciative to be able to read Sutton’s new work.

I'm sure Robert I. Sutton isn't an asshole, but The Asshole Survival Guide sort of paints him as one. Having not read his original "Asshole" book, I can't compare the two. However, I firmly believe this could've been a ten-page article and contained just as much usable content. Sutton provided lots of great examples that did enhance his strategies, but it almost became a book of assholes at work stories (which could do really well if marketed that way!). It's an interesting read and worthwhile if you've got a co-worker making your everyday life miserable; because of all the examples provided, the readers might even get a laugh once they realize the stories Sutton shares came from someone's daily life!

There is a audience for this type of book and Sutton knows how to cater to them. It was a bit surprising for me not being familiar with her previous work but I was amused and entertained just the same. I could see why he is a best seller.