Maybe it was just my first time reading a sort of "biography of a corporation," but I was fascinated by this book. Procter & Gamble is a huge company with a ton of products, and a unique sort of corporate culture, and Swasy does an excellent job of telling the story of P&G in an entertaining, though often critical, way. There was a lot of history here -- I'm not old enough to have known about the Rely tampon / toxic-shock debacle, for instance -- so I learned things I hadn't known before. There's also a fair amount of info on modern product design and advertising -- again, I found it fascinating, or maybe it was Swasy that made it all seem so compelling. ( )

I had the misfortune to work at P&G "back in the day" for a little over 2 years before I made my escape.

I find this book to be, if anything, milder in tone than working there actually was. I, a female, was told to cut my long hair because my temporary boss "couldn't see my face" from the side when I was working. Fool that I was, I did.

After marriage, I was pressured relentlessly to have children. Fool that I wasn't, I didn't.

Paranoia in security, sheer mind numbing BOREDOM with the job, miserably inhibition of any creative ideas whatsoever that were slightly outside the established norm (good or not).

If I had stayed, I'd be much richer what with all the stock, etc.

But I'd have been immeasurably poorer in the soul, mind and spirit. If I had survived at all.