Having written about money and families in the past he now turns his attentions to the office, and the inter-personal relationships within an office,

For the first part of the book he identifies the three types of particularly nasty individual that you will encounter, the psychopath, the Machiavelli and the narcissists. He details how they will behave, and how to deal with them. The next part of the book looks at case studies of individuals and ties it in with how you can improve the way that you deal with these type of people.

He conclude with measure that you can take to improve your own skills in dealing with the people and pressures of a modern business world.

All of the books that I have read by Oliver James have been really interesting, cover all the aspects of the subject that he is writing about, and offer solutions for you. And this is no different. ( )

Found this a confirmation of what I (and probably most people) had long suspected. Progression at work is less dependent on intelligence and diligence but more to do with fostering an impression or reputation through basically acting. The book is divided into two parts. The first deals with the types of people who you really need to avoid, what he calls 'triadic'. That is they exhibit a combination of the personality traits of the psychopath, the narcissist and the Machiavel. These are the ones that will happily trample on you to further themselves and not care one jot. And they can be pretty clever with it and difficult to spot, particularly if you are a non-Machieval sort yourself. The second part is a more general explanation of how office politics works in general and what you can do to make sure you are not a victim of it. A key part of this is being astute which appears to mean being able to read between the lines and determining what the intentions and motivations of others really are. You can be astute via two psychological processes one automatic and the other more deliberate. The first is fundamental and learned at an early age. The second is more complex and relies on you making a sequence of inferences to know what's what. Other skills include ingratiation, virtuosity and even 'dirty tricks'. The latter he gives as more a way of warning that it could happen to you rather than recommendation. These dirty tricks include blackmail, defamation, sabotage and deception. Much of the book explains the various methods of politicking via examples / case studies. In summary the book provides a good overview of office politics. It is not a simple thing to engage it as there are dangers with doing so, not least to your own mental health. Also, the author is quick to point out that there are many nuances to be aware of to be successful at it. This is not so much a 'how to' guide but more a 'how to survive and not be left behind' guide and it does this rather well. ( )