One thing about a daily commute is you get a lot of time to kill. When I first moved to Austin there was a 24/7 comedy station, but that ended a few months into my time here. Next up was me listening to NPR, but when they completely bailed out of a segment in 2014 about Back to the Future 2 (which I was super excited about) I gave up on it too. Then there was podcasts, especially an Android one I have written about before. Then when mobile devices got boring I shifted to books, namely "classic" books to make myself more cultured. But I got caught by the length of Don Quixote (and its endless references to books of its era that mean nothing to a modern person) and that phase ended. Then I went to music for a bit, silence for a bit, back to podcasts, and music again.
Then early in 2024 someone who I met on Twitter gave me a free book credit on Audible. I used it to listen to a book just released I was very curious about- the autobiography of Patrick Stewart. That got me into Audible the first time (my classic book phase was because classic books are free online) and got me into a new phase for my commute. Even though Patrick Stewart's book was kinda disappointing (I learned from it that he is basically the reason we didn't get more of my favorite 1990s show), it did give me some insights for me own life: namely that he didn't get the role he was famous for until he was older than me. And he only even got in line for that role because as a youth some guy sent him around the world on a touring act to keep Stewart away from his daughter lol. It made me think: if this person has had such a large influence on me and I didn't know these things what else can I learn from people who have had influences on my life?
From there I listened to Mel Brooks' book, which was funny but also insightful. His recollections of WW2 and his life as a child in New York really stood out to me. It inspired me to do a marathon of his movies earlier this year. Next I went to Spare, which was really well written and is a cool insight into the royal family even though it obviously defending the person it was written about. Next was Pamala Anderson's book, which has been maybe my favorite so far. The way it was written was not done by years like the rest, but instead what orbit of what man shit was in at any point in her life. From her dad, to Hefner, to Tommy Lee, to Kid Rock, to her sons, to Assange, to eventually herself. That book had a real plot arch, and I really like the part where it shared an average day in her life when her boys were young.
From there I went to Leah Remini, whose story I know well from her documentary on the scientology side but it was interesting to hear about her life on tv as well. From there I went to Elton John's book, which was basically a description of one 70s coke party after another, to Seth Rogens. Seth tried to make his funny which I didn't really like- I prefer the books with more personal information- but it was at least entertaining. From there I went to Mary Louise Kelly who was on NPR those years it was my primary commute friend, and the book hooked me on the premise: that she realized that he son was about to graduate high school and she never got to see him at any of his soccer games so she took six weeks off work to try to to catch some before the window closed. That book was actually pretty depressing, as it was clear that the people at NPR only really let her have that time because she was writing a book about it (she was on book leave not soccer leave) and because of that she missed one of the six weeks to put on paper the story I was listening to. I couldn't finish the book because he lack of self awareness about that shocked me, and made me glad my career had not cornered me like that.
The book after her was also depressing, it was the second half of Michael J Fox's life. In it he talked about his favorite tv channels and how limited his lived experience was. It made me happy for my health, but also kinda forced me into then listening to the book about the first part of his life when all the exciting stuff like Back to the Future was happening. From there I went to Arnold Schwarzenegger's book which was inspirational on purpose, to Norm McDonald's book which was frankly just batshit crazy. Then I picked up Dave Grohl's book which was VERY well written, he is a good story teller. In particular the stories of his early days touring before Nirvana or the early punk scene really elevated a time in rock and roll that has long since passed, but I also enjoyed his later chapters on being a dad. Unfortunately within a week of me finishing the book it was announced he was having another child outside of his marriage, which meant I couldn't tell anyone how amazing his book was! What timing. Made Finn listen to Nirvana songs for two weeks after that.
Next up was one of the most famous biographies of my life- the one of Steve Jobs. From it I learned a lot, I am nothing like him but the author phrased things in ways that I could relate to my life. Also it was so cool hearing about early personal computers and what went into those, some of that was lived experience for me. Out of all the books this was Finn's favorite too. He was very sad at the end, asking "did Steve Jobs die?" The final big book for the year was from Matthew McConaughey, which was fun and weird and eventually I learned a great way to get Finn to go to sleep.
Overall I enjoyed my year of the people's stories, in 2025 I look forward to adding to mine.
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