As far as I know, this is the first ever career guide in manga format, and just for that conceit alone it is kind of brilliant. It’s targeted at teenagers and young adults just starting out or about to start out in the workforce, and takes the attitude that a lot of what other people will tell you about what to do to get ahead (have a backup plan; you must be especially talented to make it in such-andsuch a field; etc.) is basically bullshit. But it also has a comprehensible storyline (which is more than I can say about most mangas): young accountant Johnny Bunko, dreadfully unhappy in the direction his professional life is taking, opens a pair of magic chopsticks and meets a sort of Career Fairy, who appears and counsels him on the Six Rules of finding, keeping, and flourishing in satisfying work. The artwork by Rob Ten Pas is above-par, the story is interesting and even pretty funny, and the advice actually seems to make a lot of sense. The whole thing is really a bit meta, because it seems like what’s happened is that Daniel H. Pink asked himself, (Richard Rosenbaum)
by Daniel H. Pink art by Rob Ten Pas,$15 169 pgs, Riverhead Books, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY, 10014, USA