NUKS Book Club

Name: Who Moved My Cheese

Author: Spencer Johnson

Places to Buy:

- www.amazon.com

- Borders bookstore

Change has always been a significant and reoccurring event of life. Personally, I have always viewed change as a bad or negative thing as it is natural that a person fears a future that holds the unknown. Spencer Johnson’s award winning Who Moved My Cheese? has truly motivated me as a person to accept change and handle it. After reading this marvelous fable, I no longer fear change and have learned to accept that change is indeed an inevitable part of life.

The allegory talks about four main characters. Two of those characters are human beings named “Hem” and “Haw”, and the other two are in fact mice called “Sniff” and “Scurry”. All four are stuck in a maze, which alludes to one’s environment or world, and they’re all looking for cheese. The cheese alludes to happiness, success, a happy marriage or whatever one is looking for in life. At first, all of them were without the cheese and they split to two groups: the mice and the men. One day both find cheese in Station C and establish their lives and daily routines eating from that cheese. The reader notices that the humans are becoming increasingly arrogant and overconfident through their conversations.

One day both groups arrive at Station C to find there wasn’t any more cheese. The mice were not surprised as they had noticed the cheese getting smaller and smaller and had prepared themselves mentally and physically. They were prepared mentally as they knew one day it wouldn’t be anymore and physically in that they were prepared to set off looking for more cheese, which they did. The humans’ reaction, however, was the complete opposite. They become frustrated and irritated and believe somebody moved their cheese and want to know who, hence the title “Who Moved My Cheese?.” The humans were completely unprepared as they believed the cheese would last forever. At first they keep denying that it’s gone and then when they realize it actually is gone they keep complaining that the world is unfair and in the end go back home hungry. They continue to come back to the station everyday hoping to find the cheese as they are in denial. It continues until Haw suggests they look for new cheese but Hem refutes the proposal.

At the same time Haw and Hem are in denial and continuing to attend Station C hoping for the cheese to magically reappear, the mice find new cheese in Station N. One day Haw realizes that he should move on, and writes on the wall of Station C the phrase “If You Do Not Change, You Can Become Extinct” for his friend Hem, and decides to move on. After that he writes “What Would You Do, If You Were Not Afraid” on the wall, thinks about what he wrote, and then decides to start his journey. After a few doubts here and there, and a few fears, and after finding a small yet tastier piece of cheese, Haw is finally enjoying life again and begins to smile. He then realizes that “When you move beyond your fear, you feel free.” He then decides to go back to Hem with a few bits of cheese he has found while looking for new cheese but he did not really find a new supply. Hem refuses to accept Haw’s pieces of cheese and still had his mind set that the cheese will reappear. Haw then continues his journey due to his new, more optimistic personality and finds Station N which is full of cheese. However, instead of going back for Hem, he decides to let him find his own way and writes a number of steps on the biggest wall in Station N, which were:

1. They Keep Moving the Cheese
2. Get Ready for The Cheese to Move
3. Smell The Cheese Often so you know if it’s getting old
4. The Quicker You Let Go of Old Cheese, the Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese
5. Move With The Cheese
6. Savor The Adventure and Enjoy The Taste of New Cheese
7. They Keep Moving the Cheese

Which correspondingly means in relation to Change that:

• Change Happens
• Anticipate Change
• Monitor Change
• Adapt To Change Quickly
• Change
• Enjoy Change!
• Be Ready To Change Quickly And Enjoy It Again & Again

Haw learned from his past experience and begins to monitor the cheese everyday while exploring new areas of the maze to prevent complacency and arrogance from getting the better of him. The story ends with Haw hearing someone approaching the station. He could not tell who it was, but he was hoping that his friend Hem found his way.

In short, “Who Moved My Cheese?” is very well-written and the lessons learned from this book will not only change your view towards life, it will help put it into guidelines that are truly useful in helping you getting through the inevitable obstacles of life.