Mention Books Concering Parkinson's Law
Original Title: | Parkinson's Law |
ISBN: | 1568490151 (ISBN13: 9781568490151) |
Edition Language: | English |
C. Northcote Parkinson
Hardcover | Pages: 112 pages Rating: 4.03 | 690 Users | 100 Reviews
Commentary To Books Parkinson's Law
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.For a more complete, and very enjoyable review, see Jan-Maat's: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The above, Parkinson's law, and many corollaries, examples, and observed "proofs" of the law, are the topics addressed in this book by the originator of the law, C. Northcote Parkinson. Parkinson was a British Naval historian, who published his original version of this book as a much briefer essay in The Economist. One surely has no trouble seeing where the dictum would come from, given the author's familiarity with a branch of the armed forces.
A very funny book, and a quick read. If you're a little on the cynical side, and ever run into it at a book sale or used book store, you might want to pick it up.
I can't check it out, since the copy I read has been returned to the friend who loaned it to me, but as I recall it was a little hard to decide in some places whether the author was totally serious or was just being humorous. Likewise, whether the "experiences" he was relating had really been experienced. That is, whether the work was fiction, non-fiction, or a bit of both.
The Wiki piece on Parkinson says "Much of the essay is dedicated to a summary of purportedly (my emphasis) scientific observations supporting his law." It is the mathematical formulations, and the supposed evidence for them, that I found a bit much, though still very humorous.
By the way, Wiki also notes an extremely useful (for all procrastinators) corollary to Parkinson's law, called the Stock–Sanford corollary:
If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do.
This is a bit of wisdom that all of us can benefit from, in today's 24-7-365 telephone number world.
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Describe Regarding Books Parkinson's Law
Title | : | Parkinson's Law |
Author | : | C. Northcote Parkinson |
Book Format | : | Hardcover |
Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 112 pages |
Published | : | July 1st 2003 by Buccaneer Books (first published 1957) |
Categories | : | Business. Nonfiction. Psychology. Humor. Management. Leadership |
Rating Regarding Books Parkinson's Law
Ratings: 4.03 From 690 Users | 100 ReviewsJudgment Regarding Books Parkinson's Law
Read the full review on excellentbookreviews.comDisclaimer: I have read the German version of this book, which states that the original was published in 1980 as Parkinson: The Law by Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. There seem to be different versions around.In the 1950s, C. Northcote Parkinson published his famous law, a half serious and half sarcastic description of the growth of bureaucracy. He found that Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion, meaning that theHow can one not read this? It is a seminal text and still oh so valid. No excuses - it is very short and even downloadable as in pdf.
Thoroughly entertaining; very well written. It contains a few societal and corporate behavioural gems. Well worth the read.
The humour's slightly dated, but this is much more lively than subsequent imitators and contains in only 113 pages what modern business books bloat out to entire volumes. Reading it in 2020 gives a big dose of "there is nothing new under the sun" -- interpersonal dynamics and office life really don't change!
Parkinson's Law is a collection of satirical essays by C. Northcote Parkinson, in the vein of Jonathan Swift or even Mark Twain in that its power comes from the juxtaposition of the perceived self-importance of the language used with the absurdity of the ideas. What makes Parkinsons Law different, when compared to something like Swifts A Modest Proposal, is that Parkinson offers observations rather than solutions. With observations--such as Short List, or Principles of Selection where Parkinson
Well I followed Ted's recommendation in his review and when I came across a secondhand copy of Parkinson's Law (view spoiler)[ originally 3 shillings and sixpence (view spoiler)[seventeen and a half pence in new money(view spoiler)[but the half penny has now retired from circulation(view spoiler)[such are the visible signs of inflation (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)] I grabbed it.Unnaturally I had heard of Parkinson's law, that work expands to fill the time
Ну что тут еще сказать. Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion
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