A review by ashcomb
The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong by Raymond Hull, Laurence J. Peter

I can't rate this book. The concept of the Peter Principle is brilliant. The idea that we all rise to our level of incompetence in hierarchies has merit. It might explain a lot about our failures in politics, schools, bureaus, and businesses, and international relations. Laurence J. Peter shows how this happens with anecdotes and through caricature employees. And I think he is right to some extent. But when it comes to the explanation and the research. It is weak; only observations of things that prove his concept and not beyond that. Also, there was one thing, which made me want to throw the book out, the outdated views about humans and how we should be and want to be. Okay, this is a humorous book and should be taken as such. Still, I truly couldn't tell if he meant seriously that a housewife had risen to her level of incompetence when she was making herself busy outside the house with hobbies and other tasks and ignoring her primary job, which is to take care of her husband and children. First, he ignores the impact environment, situations, and our personal sense of meaning has on our behavior, needs, and wants (of the housewife and of the others he had used as examples.) Secondly, that is just plain wrong to think of a housewife and her dynamic relationship with her family and life through a level of incompetence as if there could be some objective level of competence here. I might be mistaken and didn't understand that the writer was taking a jab at the situation and customs of old hierarchies. And okay, I have to understand that this book was written in the sixties, so the roles he was accustomed were different to some extent. So here I am, confused about the book. It has a point, and considering our public affairs through people rising to their level of incompetence is great exercise, but to consider all human interactions and situations even in hierarchies through the Peter principle is like using a hammer when you actually need to screw something. That said, you should read this book.