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Office Politics
Office Politics
Oct 7, 2024 11:23 AM

Author:Oliver James

Office Politics

A fascinating exposé of office culture, in the style of the bestselling Affluenza, from popular psychologist Oliver James

The modern working world is a dangerous place, where game-playing, duplicity and sheer malevolence are rife. Do talent and hard work count for nothing? Is politics everything?

In this fascinating exposé, Oliver James reveals the murky underside of modern office life. With cutting-edge research and eye-opening interviews, he highlights the nasty practices that propel people to the top and shows how industries and cultures are fostering this behaviour.

He then divulges strategies and techniques for not only surviving but thriving in these difficult environments. With the right mindset, you can distinguish and deal with toxic and overpromoted colleagues, charm your way through interviews and use office politics to your advantage.

Office Politics will overthrow your perceptions of office life and set you on a new path to success.

Oliver James trained and practised as a child clinical psychologist and, since 1988, has worked as a writer, journalist and television documentary producer and presenter. His books include Juvenile Violence in a Winner-Loser Culture, the bestselling They F*** You Up, Affluenza and Contented Dementia. He is a trustee of two children's charities: the National Family and Parenting Institute and Homestart.

Reviews

I can't remember the last time I read such a useful and eye-opening book. But be warned: after reading it, you may never want to go to work again.

—— Mail on Sunday

Oliver James is excellent at showing why social scientists think that the surge in material affluence can produce the opposite of happiness.

—— Avner Offer, Professor of Economic History, University of Oxford

Coetzee’s writing is characteristically spare and penetrating… Kurtz proves both a lucid expositor and an evocative literary stylist, bringing psychoanalytic ideas and practices to life with rare precision and immediacy

—— Josh Cohen , Literary Review

[Arabella Kurtz] writes with wonderful eloquence about imagination and the self, parrying Coetzee's relentless unmasking with her gently intelligent demurral

—— Tessa Hadley , Guardian

Coetzee is an exceptionally clear thinker, and his gift for expressing complex concepts through considered, precise prose is impressive

—— Totally Dublin

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt shows in his wonderfully smart and readable The Happiness Hypothesis [that] modern science and history have a lot to say to each other

—— Washington Post

You know what? Reading it did actually make this reviewer happier.

—— Arena

This is my most gifted book.

—— Prof Damien Hughes, co-author of HIGH PERFORMANCE

Riveting... Brilliantly synthesising ancient cultural insights with modern psychology and even holding out some faint hope that your happiness, if not your tallness, might be marginally adjustable after all.

—— Sunday Times

Marvellous... Haidt...takes us on an extraordinary journey... I don't think I've ever read a book that laid out the contemporary understanding of the human condition with such simple clarity and sense.

—— James Flint , Guardian

A delightful book... By some margin the most intellectually substantial book to arise from the 'Positive Psychology' movement.

—— Nature

With singular gusto, Haidt measures ten 'Great Ideas' against past/present research in psychology and science. "LJ" 's verdict: Dr. Phil et al. don't have diddly on the old-school sages. No man is an island, indeed, and no modern reader should be without this carefully considered demystification of life

—— Library Journal Best Books 2006

[T]he psychologist Jonathan Haidt shows in his wonderfully smart and readable "The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom" [that] modern science and history have a lot to say to each other

—— Darrin McMahon, The Washington Post

Haidt's remedy for the modern glut of frivolous self-help literature is to review and revise the classics, examining the ideas of thinkers like Plato, Buddha and Jesus in light of modern research into human behavior. Along the way, Haidt, a social psychologist, provides practical advice for parenting, romance, work and coping with the political and cultural divisions currently preoccupying the country. The new science he outlines mostly confirms ancient wisdom, but Haidt finds several instances where the two disagree, suggesting that the surest path to happiness is to embrace and balance both old and new thinking

—— Psychology Today

This unusual book sets itself apart from the self-help category with its extensive scientific references, and intelligent, neutral prose, while the author's illuminating illustration of how the human mind works is both educational and refreshing

—— Sunday Times

Rising stars of 2015: one to watch

—— Guardian

Using a series of fascinating case studies as a framework, Dr O’Sullivan skillfully weaves the historical understanding, and misunderstanding, of functional illness into a series of narratives that are moving and thought provoking.

—— Adam Staten , British Journal of General Practice

A sympathetic, insightful study of psychosomatic illness

—— Charlie Hegarty , Catholic Herald

An excellent study of psychosomatic disorders

—— Stuart Kelly , Scotland on Sunday

Fascinating foray into the subject of how mental factors affect our health.

—— Simon Shaw , Mail on Sunday

Her Book, shortlisted for the 2016 Wellcome prize, describes case histories…with precision and compassion.

—— Jane Shilling , Daily Mail

It’s not only a beautifully written book…it’s also a book to start a revolution in healthcare.

—— Helen Rumbelow , The Times

Humane and deeply sympathetic.

—— Jane Shilling , Daily Telegraph

Impressively vivid and sympathetic argument for the reality of the mind’s more harrowing inventions.

—— Brian Dillon , Irish Times

A compassionate, honest and compelling read.

—— Lady

She mixes an easily accessible vocabulary with complex medical terms, something which I found both enjoyable and informative… Ultimately I found this book quite fascinating… I would recommend this book, which contains some hard hitting and highly personal stories.

—— Independent Nurse

A great immersion in psychosomatic problems… If you want to get a head-on feeling for the clinical experience of psychosomatic patients, read this book.

—— Edward Shorter , British Medical Journal

[A] controversial but utterly compassionate memoir.

—— Damian Barr , Guardian

It is as addictive as a great box set makes you rethink some of your closest relationships and wonder about some of the people you know best; and above all, like all truly great book it is about love and compassion.

—— Sathnam Sanghera , The Times, Book of the Year

Epstein is too respectful of the complexity of his subject matter to leap to any grand conclusions. The book was conceived partially as a rebuttal to glib theorising, and it is all the more fascinating as a result

—— Ken Early , Irish Times

Fascinating from start to finish

—— Amanda Khouv , Women's Fitness

Epstein forces us to rethink the very nature of athleticism

—— GrrlScientist , Guardian

Looks at the science of extraordinary athletic performance.

—— Adam Whitehead , Daily Telegraph

Captivating… Dazzling and illuminating

—— Richard Moore , Guardian

Epstein is not afraid to follow science in “trekking deep into the bramble patches of sensitive topics like gender and race"

—— Choice

Captivating… In a particularly fascinating chapter, Epstein investigates an old theory that purports to explain why Jamaica produces so many Olympic sprinters

—— Christie Ashwanden , Scotsman
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