I loved the first part of Unemployment Boot Camp: Tactics for Surviving and Thriving in the 21st Century as Long described working for a company that was laying people off in waves. Her humor about a situation that “causes you to reach heights of paranoia the likes of which you haven’t experienced since junior high” made me laugh and her observations rang true to me.

The second half of the book was more matter of fact. Here is what you need to do if you want to feel better and get moving while unemployed. The ideas are solid, but they lacked the humorous delivery of the first half.

In line with the “Boot Camp” title, the instructions are delivered without any soft-peddling, but… the problem, in my mind, is there isn’t any drill seargent to push the reader. Without anyone pushing and lacking any Tony-Robins-style dose of inspiration, I’m not sure the author will convince many readers to follow her advice. It’s too easy to think, “sure I ought to think about my life goals, but right now I need to pay my rent before my landlord throws me out of here.”

At 63 pages Unemployment Boot Camp: Tactics for Surviving and Thriving in the 21st Century is a fast read aside from sitting and working through the exercises. I’d rather the author tossed out fewer exercises, but more motivation. I’d also have liked to see her explore how she turned the corner from “lying around watching videos” to pushing herself to write a book with the same introspection and humor that are sprinkled through the awaiting-layoff days.