This much-talked-about and much-written-about book by Spencer Johnson deals with change - the ever constant star in the horizon of our lives. It comes in various forms: in workplace, in family life, in beliefs. More often than not it is unsettling in nature. People refuse to accept change, clinging to old habits, to familiar and comfortable sets of routines and patterns - wishing that change would not touch them. But unfortunately, it does. This book provides a simple and practical way to handle change.

Speaking under the allegory that equates characters Hem and Haw with everyday people like you and me, and cheese with anything that we hold dear, the book unfolds a little fable. The story line runs like this: Hem and Haw, along with two little mice Sniff and Scurry, search actively for cheese in a maze. When they find it, they visit the place everyday. Slowly, complacency grips Hem and Haw. They lose drive and begin to take the cheese for granted. As a result, when one fine morning they find their usual place empty of cheese, they are taken completely by surprise. They keep on sticking to their old work-habits and attitudes, wishing futilely that the cheese would come back by itself. When it doesn't, Haw is the first to recover. He accepts reality and confronts his fear. He asks himself, "What would you do if you weren't afraid?" This helps him overcome his neurotic fear and change with the changed situation. In doing so he regains his lost vitality and happiness and realizes that inactivity is worse than any activity. Soon enough Haw discovers new cheese. But wizened from his experience, he never grows too comfortable for change to take him by surprise again.

The learning's from this fable are encapsulated in a few brief points: -

• Change happens
• Anticipate change
• Monitor change
• Adapt to change quickly
• Change!
• Enjoy the change
• Be ready to change quickly and enjoy it again!

Drawbacks: The book is totally devoted to strategies of reducing the painful effects of change from an individual's perspective. It doesn't delve into the negative effects of change on an organizational level. The moot point is that not all change need to be for the good. And in such cases, it might be better to resist change than yield unquestioningly to its extended arms.

* Contributed by -
Arnab Pal,
Coordinator - IlluminatiX,
The Media and PR Cell,
XIM Bhubaneswar.