 | A Working Stiff's Manifesto: A Memoir of Thirty Jobs I Quit, Nine That Fired Me, and Three I Can't Remember by Iain Levison
Buy new: $11.01 / Used from: $2.42 41 jobs you'd never want - that will make any liberal arts grad feel good about the job they have. True and incredibly funny.
|
 | Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
Buy new: $10.08 / Used from: $1.99 One woman sets off to see how hard it is to live on minimum wage . Along the way she tries her hand as a maid and a waitress, and tries creatively to make ends meet.
|
 | The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J. Jacobs
Buy new: $10.80 / Used from: $0.94 A.J. Jacobs sets off in pursuit of reading the complete set of encyclopedias and exploring intelligence as a mensa member, game show contestant, puzzler and general all-around know-it-all!
|
 | Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream by Adam W. Shepard
Buy new: $14.36 / Used from: $5.51 Disillusioned with "Nickeled and Dimed" a college grad tries his own hand at working his way out of a homeless shelter (with only $25, a sleeping bag and no contacts).
|
 | House of Cards: Love, Faith, and Other Social Expressions by David Ellis Dickerson
Buy new: $16.24 / Used from: $7.60 Dickerson wrote greeting cards for Hallmark (which initially seems like the world's best job, not most horrible.) But, travel with him anyway on his laugh-out-loud journey as he awkwardly tries to adapt his creativity to the staid corporate world, find friends, happiness, deal with his puritan upbringing and lose his 29-year old virginity in Kansas City. You won't be sorry you did.
|
 | Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream by Barbara Ehrenreich
Buy new: $10.40 / Used from: $0.01 Barbara of "Nickeled and Dimed" is at it again. This time she changes up her background and goes interviewing for a white collar job. Experiment isn't as well set up as others - but it's still an insightful, entertaining read.
|
 | Confessions of a Tax Collector: One Man's Tour of Duty Inside the IRS by Richard Yancey
Buy used from: $0.08 Probably one of the best memoirs of a horrible job I've read. In desperate need of money and a job, Richard becomes a Tax Collector. Share his journey to become the best Tax Collector possible - while battling the moral intricacies and politics of the position.
|
 | The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
Buy new: $10.07 / Used from: $7.10 One grumpy man goes on a laugh-out-loud research journey to find happiness, visiting what he thinks are the happiest and most unhappy places on earth. In this fun read, he discovers happiness isn't a place after all.
|
 | Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disney's Brave New Town by Douglas Frantz
Buy new: $16.24 / Used from: $0.01 A couple pack up their lives and family and move to Celebration to become one of the first to live in this planned community by Disney - where many hoped to find a utopia.
|
 | Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour by Kate Fox
Buy new: $12.21 / Used from: $7.48 Kate Fox, English herself, decides to find out what makes the English tick. Along the way she conducts several experiments (from jumping in lines to bumping into folks to see their reaction), all in the name of figuring out the common traits of her countrymen. If you know a Brit, you'll want to read this one!
|
 | Tabloid Prodigy: Dishing the Dirt, Getting the Gossip, and Selling My Soul in the Cutthroat World of Hollywood Reporting by Marlise Elizabeth Kast
Buy new: $9.98 / Used from: $2.86 Marlise wrote this just a few years ago, but it tells the tale of her career as a Globe Tabloid Reporter in the 90's - where lying, trash diving, and creating scandulous headlines were all in a day's work. Along the way, she dishes dirt about her pursuit of the hottest tabloid stories of the day.
|
 | Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip--Confessions of a Cynical Waiter by Steve Dublanica
Buy new: $17.96 / Used from: $3.74 An inside look at the ups-n-downs of being a waiter (and why you want to be very nice to them in a fine dining restaurant!)
|
 | Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.) by Anthony Bourdain
Buy new: $10.85 / Used from: $4.91 The inside scoop about life in a kitchen by Anthony Bourdain (now master of dry wit on the travel channel), and why you want to be very careful what you order on which days at a fine dining restaurant.
|
 | Just Do It: How One Couple Turned Off the TV and Turned On Their Sex Lives for 101 Days (No Excuses!) by Douglas Brown
Buy new: $11.16 / Used from: $6.95 Why couples feel obligated to write about their experiments to get their sex life back on track is beyond me. But, this one sure beats the "365 Days of Intimacy" featured on Oprah.
|
 | Tattoo Machine: Tall Tales, True Stories, and My Life in Ink by Jeff Johnson
Buy new: $16.50 / Used from: $8.86 Take a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on in the weird, crude world of a tattoo artists business in Portland.
|
 | The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists by Neil Strauss
Buy new: $23.75 / Used from: $17.95 Fascinating and entertaining look at a sub-culture of not-so-attractive men with a single focused world of picking up women.
|
 | Anatomy of Greed: Telling the Unshredded Truth from Inside Enron by Brian Cruver
Buy new: $13.30 / Used from: $1.57 Talk about a horrible job. Cruver was hired at Enron just before it fell, and with very wry humor tells a fascinating tale!
|
 | The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less by Terry Ryan
Buy used from: $2.89 One mother supports her 10 kids and alcoholic husband in the 50's by entering contests. A great, witty and well-written read.
|
 | Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $0.01 One woman's experiment to see if she can find herself in a bizzare trip through Italy (eating), India (praying) and Indonesia (loving). The best part is Italy - but the weird experiment has made her a phenomenon.
|
 | Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $3.00 This is the tale of one woman in a dead end job who sets herself the task of making every recipe in Julia Child's book "The Art of French Cooking" and blogs about it. The book isn't the romantic comedy movie version. Julie is really much more honest and foul-mouthed in this book that inspired the movie. It's a great human experiment, with lots of lessons along the way.
|
Listmania!
