Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need by Daniel H. Pink, Rob Ten Pas

Synopsis

There's never been a career guide like THE ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY BUNKO: THE LAST CAREER GUIDE YOU'LL EVER NEED. Told in manga — the Japanese comic book format that's an international sensation — it's the fully illustrated story of a young Everyman just out of college who lands his first job.

Johnny Bunko is new to the Boggs Corp., and he stumbles through his early months as a working stiff until a crisis prompts him to rethink his approach. Step by step he builds a career, illustrating as he does the six core lessons of finding, keeping, and flourishing in satisfying work. A groundbreaking guide to surviving and flourishing in any career, THE ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY BUNKO is smart, engaging and insightful, and offers practical advice for anyone looking for a life of rewarding work.

Martha Cornog - Library Journal

"America's first business manga" introduces Johnny Bunko, chained up in cubicle city and crunching numbers for the Boggs Corporation (bogg-ed down-heh heh) when he'd rather be doing almost anything else. Then in an office all-nighter, he snaps a pair of disposable chopsticks and snaps into being-a genie?! Diana, complete with mangastyle elf ears, promises to return six times to teach him the key lessons for career success and satisfaction. And-poof!-she's gone. Naturally, Johnny isn't buying this and gets coworkers Yuko and Carlos to witness these charmed chopsticks. Snap!There's Diana again with lesson one: there's no fixed "plan" that guarantees step-by-step career success and happiness. Later comes snap two: think strengths, not weaknesses. After four more snaps, Johnny has all the lessons and a better worklife. In his highly regarded A Whole New Mind(2005), Pink identified six "senses" as crucial for 21st-century professional survival: design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning. His first shot at manga has all of these in an entertaining synergy that's perfect for students, recent grads, and cube dwellers of any age. Diana's timeless advice rings true, and the art is pleasant and effective, although the Japanese sound effects look strange in an American book. Recommended for high school, public, and academic libraries.

Biography

Daniel H. Pink is the New York Times bestselling author of A Whole New Mind and Free Agent Nation. He lectures to corporations, associations, and universities in the U.S. and abroad on economic transformation and the changing world of work. In 2007, he won a Japan Society Media Fellowship that took him to Tokyo to study the manga industry.

Rob Ten Pas is a manga artist and a recent winner of the Rising Stars of Manga competition awarded by TokyoPop.