Rework

This book is filled with some great advice for those who want to start their own business, have their own business, or are just interested in the subject.

As a fan of 37 Signals the company and a frequent reader of their blog, I was excited when Rework was first announced (so excited I pre-ordered it). From the initial descriptions, I was excited to read a full-length book from Jason Fried and David Heinemeir Hansson. My hope was that they would expand on the ideas frequently discussed on their blog and elaborate on some more of their personal experiences in running a very successful small company.

Unfortunately, if you are familiar with the authors, their blog, or their previous book "Getting Real", then very little of the content in this book is new. All of the lessons and chapters feel like retreads of previous material, even down to some of the analogies such as "be like a chef" or "be a curator".

So while I think some of the lessons in this book are great, I feel that it deserves a 3 star rating because so few of these lessons are new material.

On a similar note, I think my biggest gripe here might be with the length of the book: it may appear to be 270 pages, but there are only about 100 pages of actual content in Rework. The book is really about 100 or so one-page essays, separated by a full page illustration between each section.

I really wanted to be excited by this book but having read their previous output, unfortunately I found very little new material to digest and the illustrations between sections feel like nothing more than filler.

So if you are not familiar with 37 Signals or their blog, and you dream of one day starting your own company, then this book is filled with great advice. But if you are familiar with the company, their blog, or "Getting Real", there is almost nothing new here for you.