When to Jump: If the Job You Have Isn’t the Life You Want

In his debut, Lewis, a financial analyst turned pro squash player, gathers together 44 first-person case studies from career changers to help readers make their own career jumps. The stories range from small changes, such as an internal move within a company, to dramatic ones, such as the case of a pro football player who becomes an HBO writer. The examples are a mix of people famous (e.g., Michael Lewis, bond salesman turned bestselling author) and not (Barbara Harris, PR person turned bishop). Lewis shares stories of his own “jump” as a preface to each of the book’s four sections: “Listen to the Little Voice,” “Make a Plan,” “Let Yourself Be Lucky,” and “Don’t Look Back.” By “Let Yourself Be Lucky,” when Lewis decides to quit his company and head to New Zealand to pursue his dream of playing squash professionally, the reader can’t help but cheer him on. Lewis is overeager in a Boy Scout way, but likable and helpful, offering collections of tips extracted from the jumpers’ stories at the end of each section. As he states in the introduction, he wants his book to be a “steady hand of support” rather than a mere manual. Most importantly, Lewis and his jumpers offer enough wisdom that readers will return to these stories even after making their own jump. [em](Jan.) [/em]