The Three Boxes of Life:
And how to get out of them

by Richard Bolles

For most people, there are three phases to life: education, work and retirement. In this book, the writer suggests that too often these phases are more like boxes that we get stuck in. He suggests that we should be doing all three things at once. Or at least be able to vary it somewhat. Bolles believes in lifelong education, lifelong work, and lifelong leisure (retirement).

In this book, Richard Bolles uses a horse, a cart and a road as symbols. For him, the horse is the skills you have. The cart is the kind of job you want to get. And the road is the journey of getting hired. He includes some information from one of his other books (What Color is Your Parachute) but there is a lot of new information on careers, jobs, education and the like.

Bolles also refers to a situational party. When at a party, he says, you would tend to hang out with people who are like yourself. So, Bolles asks the reader which corner of the room they would stand in. He classifies people into six types: enterprising, conventional, social, realistic, artistic, and investigative. Each person would prefer a certain type of job because of their personality, and Bolles suggests the occupations that would be of interest.

This book is more for adults than kids. The reading isn't particularly hard but it requires effort (it gets boring). If you are out of work and need a job, or stuck in a job and want out, this is the book for you. If you're still in high school or younger, you can probably wait for the movie to come out.

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