"It's a Wonderful Life" isn't the only classic people will be enjoying this holiday season. Many folks — tens of thousands, if sales figures are to be trusted — will find a classic career-planning book under the tree. Some will receive this gift from parents or grandparents who used it; others will read a new version of a book they've already come to rely on.

"What Color is Your Parachute?" (Ten Speed Press), now in its 37th edition, has been around so long that we forget that the author, Richard Bolles, helped define not only an industry but also a national perspective.

DAN ROSENSTRAUCH/Contra Costa Times (ENLARGE)

Richard Bolles, author of 'What Color is Your Parachute?,' often describes the influential, time-honored book as 'a book of hope, masquerading as a job-search manual.'

Bolles' influence hasn't been confined to the United States. "Parachute" is printed in 20 languages and distributed in 26 countries. In a previous interview with the author, I learned that about 20,000 copies of his book are sold per month, making it the biggest-selling career book in the world. It has spent the equivalent of more than four years on The New York Times best-seller list and was named by the Library of Congress as one of 25 books that have shaped readers' lives.

What accounts for this book's appeal to generations of readers? Something as simple as tradition or habit may lead people to buy it. More likely, it has something to do with Bolles' oft-quoted summary of his work: "This is a book of hope, masquerading as a job-search manual."

In developing this lexicon of hope, Bolles also crafted his own career change, from Episcopalian minister (the job he lost to a budget crunch in the late '60s) to writer, trainer and overall career guru. Besides contributing to or writing books and workbooks (11 so far), Bolles keeps a busy schedule of training career counselors, leading workshops for job-seekers and giving keynote addresses. He also lends his support to an information-packed Web site, www.JobHuntersBible.com.

As a leader in his field, Bolles is an easy target for others who want to make comparisons and even take swipes at his work. Many people, including me, have complained that "Parachute" is dense, intricate and complicated. Indeed, I created a series of micro-books partly in response to the complexity of Bolles' book.

What other critics and I may fail to consider, however, is that the very ground we stand on while making our comments was first plowed by Bolles. Without his book, we would have to create the language of the industry before launching our work.

That said, this book is dense, intricate and complicated. It's easy for a reader to get lost in the illustrations and the ideas that build on one another from one chapter to the next. If you plan to take this journey, here are a few tips before you embark.

1. Stick with the edition you have. If you own a 2008 edition, great. If you're still working on a copy you received in a Christmas past, that's good, too. Bolles does a comprehensive rewrite of "Parachute" every year; he rebuilds entire sections, adds new information and sometimes even questions the book format itself. And yet Bolles never throws out the heart of his material.

Stick with a copy from the last five or six years, just to stay fresh with things such as electronic job searches, and you should be fine.

2. Skip around a little. Although the chapters build on one another, you can read them out of sequence or skip some altogether.

3. Read slowly, with a notebook at your side. This is a workbook, not a novel. Although the writing can be entertaining, remember that your real goal is to resolve whatever question(s) brought you to this book in the first place.

4. Supplement your reading with actions. Reading is one step in a career process, and writing may be another, but the actual change will come from doing. To get the most from this effort, challenge yourself to act as you move through the book.

5. Consider adding a support group or counselor to the mix. One way to ensure progress will be to seek accountability. Enlisting the help of others also will give you new insights and will make the networking and human contact that Bolles encourages easier.

- Amy Lindgren owns Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul, Minn. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecaree rservice.com or at 1071 W. Seventh St., St. Paul, MN 55102.