I ordered Time Management For Dummies (2nd ed.) from my book club my
mistake, but when it arrived on my doorstep, I decided to keep it. I'm
a busy graduate student, struggling to complete a doctoral degree in
molecular biology, and trying to balance my academic pursuits with my
extra-curricular activities is becoming more difficult. I thought a
primer on time management might be just what I needed to help me get
my life in shape.

On the plus side, this book is a quick read. The author (or perhaps
the editor) has picked up the light, breezy tone common to all the
"... For Dummies" books that I've seen. The chapters are organized
very consistently, beginning with an overview of the chapter's
contents, and ending with a summary of what was discussed. The book
also features the liberal use of icons in the margins, which indicate
items that you might wish to read or to avoid (such as the author's
frequent personal anecdotes, which often have little to do with the
subject matter at hand).

On the minus side, much of the information in this book is of very
limited use to many people. After the first three chapters (which were
moderately useful), the author detours into a discussion of Symantec's
ACT personal management software. The reason for this becomes all too
clear when he mentions three other books he's written -- about
effectively using this same software. Following that chapter-length
digression-cum-advertisement, the remainder of the book delves into
increasingly more trivial aspects of the day-to-day life of a
salesman, such as good phone manners, how to talk to clients, and how
to effectively manage information while traveling on business. While
some of the information in the latter parts of the book is arguably
related to time management (having a more effective phone manner can
help you make more calls faster), it's difficult to see the general
usefulness of tips like noting the names of your client's secretary,
and avoiding onions and garlic for lunch when you have an afternoon
meeting. And some of the advice in the book is just plain wrong. For
example, in the section on "The Ins and Outs of E-Mail", the author
advises that whenever an email is more than a "screen" long, you
should instead write it in a word processor, and send it as an
attachment. (Please, don't do that!)

The first three chapters of the book are the only part I can honestly
recommend, and the advice in those chapters basically boils down to
keeping a list of things that you have to do. There are some other
tips in those chapters, about discarding papers that you no longer
need, and optimizing your filing system, but I could tell that they
wouldn't work well for my situation (as a scientist, I need to keep
most of the notes I take, and might need to find them years later),
and they probably won't work well for yours.

My advice: Page through the first chapters of this while you're
browsing in a book store, but don't waste your money buying it. And
if, by some strange chance, you mis-order this one from your book
club, send it back.




Recommended: No