Out on 15 July 2027
Synopsis
After watching a classical music concert where the crowd were enraptured by a virtuosic pianist, a swathe of long side hair attempting to cover his balding head, Pierre looked up this musical genius online to discover to his horror that he was two months younger than himself.
He stopped dead in the street and looked at the sky. How has this person mastered his craft at such an age? In choosing stand-up comedy, has Pierre gone down the right path or could he have similarly been a musical genius if he put his mind to it? Could he have done something else? Should he have? Now in his mid-thirties, it provoked the question: have I wasted my life?
In the follow-up to Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things?, Pierre uses this moment as a launchpad to dig deeper into the question of what makes a fulfilling life: the mastery of one skill or being OK at lots different things? To answer this question, Pierre speaks to his family, friends and teachers to look at the decisions in his life and where he went right or wrong. He'll gain first-hand experience in some of the careers he wanted to pursue at various points in his life to truly examine whether he chose the right path: be it fencing, poetry or trying his hand at being a chef or a blacksmith.
Aside from trying out these roles that have appealed to him personally, he'll speak to others from a wide range of professions and ask if they're happy or worry that they've wasted their lives too. Have I Wasted My Life? entertainingly uncovers what it means to live a good life and what it means to waste it, whilst liberating us from the fear that we've made the wrong choice in life.
He stopped dead in the street and looked at the sky. How has this person mastered his craft at such an age? In choosing stand-up comedy, has Pierre gone down the right path or could he have similarly been a musical genius if he put his mind to it? Could he have done something else? Should he have? Now in his mid-thirties, it provoked the question: have I wasted my life?
In the follow-up to Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things?, Pierre uses this moment as a launchpad to dig deeper into the question of what makes a fulfilling life: the mastery of one skill or being OK at lots different things? To answer this question, Pierre speaks to his family, friends and teachers to look at the decisions in his life and where he went right or wrong. He'll gain first-hand experience in some of the careers he wanted to pursue at various points in his life to truly examine whether he chose the right path: be it fencing, poetry or trying his hand at being a chef or a blacksmith.
Aside from trying out these roles that have appealed to him personally, he'll speak to others from a wide range of professions and ask if they're happy or worry that they've wasted their lives too. Have I Wasted My Life? entertainingly uncovers what it means to live a good life and what it means to waste it, whilst liberating us from the fear that we've made the wrong choice in life.
Details
15 July 2027
320 pages
9781806173693
Imprint: Young Picador
