I hate my boss: how to survive and get ahead when your boss is a tyrant, control freak or just plain nuts.

Bob Weinstein McGraw-Hill, £12

Is your boss a dictator? A sadist? A paranoid schizophrenic? Or just plain bonkers? Do you live in fear of going to work and are you counting the days until you can leave? Well if this is your working life, then maybe Bob Weinstein can help.

"The average boss couldn't tell you whether Peter Drucker or Tom Peters are management gurus or serial killers. Nor do they care." This basically sums up the ethos of this entertaining book about getting on with your boss, the person with the most influence on your life outside of your mother.

He rightly points out that MBAs and their ilk are thin on the ground and most bosses (department heads right up to CEOs) have never attended a management course; most learn on the job and are often muddling through, equally in thrall to somebody higher up the food chain. He also makes the prescient point that promotion to managerial level often stems from performing well in one type of job but that does not necessarily mean the new role will be just as successful.

Weinstein breaks down bosses into various types from the megalomaniac to the worrier and suggests solutions to the problem. These range from understanding your boss and developing strategies to avoid potential conflict situations to confrontation and the ultimate solution: quitting.

One caveat in this informative if somewhat slight book is that there is no mention of unions or staff associations, except in an appendix which says that they are on the way back in the US. Otherwise, it's a good horror story.

comidheach@irish-times.ie