#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Discover the life-changing memoir that has inspired millions of readers through the Academy Award®–winning actor’s unflinching honesty, unconventional wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction.NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN “McConaughey’s book invites us to grapple with the lessons of his life as he … to grapple with the lessons of his life as he did—and to see that the point was never to win, but to understand.”—Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
I’ve been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.
Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. I found a reliable theme, an approach to living that gave me more satisfaction, at the time, and still: If you know how, and when, to deal with life’s challenges—how to get relative with the inevitable—you can enjoy a state of success I call “catching greenlights.”
So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far. This is fifty years of my sights and seens, felts and figured-outs, cools and shamefuls. Graces, truths, and beauties of brutality. Getting away withs, getting caughts, and getting wets while trying to dance between the raindrops.
Hopefully, it’s medicine that tastes good, a couple of aspirin instead of the infirmary, a spaceship to Mars without needing your pilot’s license, going to church without having to be born again, and laughing through the tears.
It’s a love letter. To life.
It’s also a guide to catching more greenlights—and to realizing that the yellows and reds eventually turn green too.
Good luck.
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I listened to Matthew McConaughey’s Greenlights on a rainy Saturday, with a glass of pinot gris and the coziness of a fire. It was inspiring, enlightening, laugh out loud funny, and even a little surprising at times. This candid and entertaining telling of a life experienced with an open mind and heart is not one to miss. Greenlights is a life lesson in perseverance, sacrifice, accountability, and generosity. This memoir is wonderfully narrated with nuggets of inspiration that will have you mulling things over for some time to come.
GREENLIGHTSMATTHEW McCONAUGHEY
Redlight, Greenlight, Readlight, Snoozelight, Greenlight WTF STOP!!!
RedLight
The 1st paragraph of this book starts out saying; This is not a traditional memoir. Yes, I tell stories from the past, but I have no interest in nostalgia, sentimentality,
or the retirement most memoirs require…
Nonsensical, a very silly thing to write & off putting. Every autobiography whether written at 20, 50 or 80 years old is a trip down memory lane! It’s your life story, its full of nostalgia and sentimentality whether it you like it or not, whether it be a story that’s touched you deeply & hold dear, treasured memories, or a life lesson that’s impacted on your life for negative reasons, its all steeped in the nostalgia and sentimentality or otherwise you wouldn’t reminisce chewing the fat thinking it over, wouldn’t write about it would pass it on!
Reg light!
But in saying that, I was hooked after listening to the small snippet of audio available on Audible, & bought it on the spot.
Greenlight!
During Page 99 the paperback & audio go off on different tangents.
Matthew’s last paragraph ½ way down the page is:
After that day I was comfortable being both in the fraternity and film student.
I tucked my shirt back in.
Then there’s the lower ½ of the page starting with:
Fascinated with the differences between people and cultures….
None of this ½ is read, and the audio does not follow on with the book!
Took me a while to realise you need to turn the page, listen to a whole page b4 turning back to continue on, then turn the page back over and continue on 2 pages later. It bizarre & weird!
Redlight!
But the paperback & audio differs in multiple places, sometimes a word or two, others a sentence or two & others a whole page or two goes of on these weird targets here & there some completely un-narrated & all but impossible to read in his signature hand scribed monologues.
I recently read Mariah’s The Meaning of Mariah Carey and although I not comparing author against author, nor narrator against narrator, I’m finding I’m tuning in & out of this book & audio whereas with her’s I did not!
The strange thing being, I’m no Mariah fan, but simply adore this skinny surfer looking Southern boy from Texas.
I love bits, then bored outta my mind. At times it’s engrossing, stimulating and enlightening while others it’s just monotonous & he drones on about nothing in particular, its his story.
I read & listen to about a 1/3 of the book, been humming & haring all the way thru, up & down like a yoyo, I truly wanna love it, like I love me some Matthew McConaughey!
I haven’t been keen to pick it back up after not reading for 2 days & still not a 3rd through it. My head hasn’t been stuck in the book while not reading it. Which to me is the mark of an incredible book!
Now I decide, I’m gonna read only for a bit, is it the audio I’m not enjoying? Let’s see? Bizarre, I know because for me Matthew has always had that X-factor, that super star quality. Its not just in his All-Americian-boy-from–next-door-causal good-looks-with-a-side-of-cheeky-trouble-maker-thrown-in-for-good-meausure, but its in his smooth & soothing dulcet tones, you know the one with that drawl, that Texas Twang! Alright, Alright Alright!
It’s like taking a sip from three fingers of a smooth, well blended, aged shot of whiskey or pleasure of delight of your own choosing.
All warm & toasty with the sound of Matthew still lingering in my ears & mind,
I start reading only & immediately fell asleep, had to rewind!
RED LIGHT!!!
I pick it up again read some more, but its just blah & bland, I’ve lost that warm & comfortable place that makes you feel safe, like home, that’s what his voice is like to me, but I’m not from Texas if that what your thinking. I’m an Australian, & let me correct something here the ‘Dooley’s’: they are a rare & unique breed unto themselves, one I’ve never come across in a family like that in Australia! Matthew did say they were from England originally, maybe that explains it, maybe not! No Aussie would treat a guest like that, we’re too down to Earth!
Yes, You my friend were stitched up, that is not a typical 80’s Australian family! And most of us live within an 1/2 – 1 hour drive to the beach congregating around our beautiful coastline! You poor bugger! At least their son had the time of his life in the exchange program.
Greelights has its good bits, its got its great bits, its got bad bits & boring bits, but it just can’t hold my attention for an full afternoon’s read, I’ve picked it up 4 or 5 times, but should’ve knocked it over in a day!
I love to write, love to tell stories & love to write poetry, even written my own bumpersticker in sympathy for cancer suffers (to rude to include, plus don’t want it stolen) but even this wasn’t enough to hold me.
Still love you Mathew & your voice makes me feel as though I’m wrapped in a warm embrace by someone I love, just don’t get my response to this book!
Maybe I just need to stick with your flicks & series.
1st book of the year I won’t finish.
I rate Greenlights book & audio
2.5 out of 5
The narration performance, its outstanding,
4 Stars out of 5
I recommend it to anyone who likes Matthew McConaughey, you might enjoy more of it than I did.
A great insight into Matthew’s personal life but more importantly his outlook on life and his ability to see the “greenlights”to know all is how it should be.
The book was a good read. I liked the way the author was honest and open about his life. His honesty made the book much more enjoyable.
This is definitely one of my top 3 for 2020!!! Matthew is a born story teller. Witty & intelligent at the same time – bringing the raw truths to you and able to make you laugh and cry all at the same time! I have already read it twice, and know I will read it again!
It is deep
I have read several memoirs, and this is probably the most real and honest one I’ve read. Matthew McConaughey leaves nothing out and does not hide the parts of himself that others might find questionable or embarrassing. He freely shows that everything a person experiences in life truly makes them who they are. We can choose to bury the bad parts or we can realize they build the path our life takes. We don’t need to judge ourself or others – just look for the “green light” to move forward.
I found this book interesting because so often we create a persona in our minds of actors seeing only the characters they portray. This book was a peek behind the characters into the real human. There were also many golden nuggets of wisdom shared – it was challenging to think about life from different perspectives. All I can say to Matthew McConaughey is thanks for sharing.
I like memoirs and biographies so this was right up my alley. It was inspirational in that his adventures were all spirited by his thirst for life.
He was my favorite actor before reading the book. I now like him even more. A beautifully written, honest, and funny autobiography.
Reading it on kindle wasn’t enough. I had to get a hard copy. Sent it to my daughters to! Fabulous book
When I saw that this was coming out I knew I wanted it. I got the audiobook because I love to hear him talk.
This is not a story, it is snippets of his life from notes and writings from the last 30+ years put into book form to chronology his life and things he has been through. Things he saw and did. It started with parts of his childhood, how growing up in east Texas with his parents and brothers made him the man he is today. How he decided that acting was what he wanted to do with his life instead of going to college. Losing his father and not speaking to his mother for years. Traveling the U.S. with his dog in an Airstream. He tells about his life and how he got to where he is today. Finding the woman he would eventually marry and become a father.
There is foul language, talk about drugs, sex, and other stuff. This story is not for everyone and not for the younger crowd. But the teens nowadays have probably heard this stuff already but they can wait a few years to read this story.
I have watched most of Matthew’s movies and loved them, if he writes another book I will be reading it too. The audiobook is great, hearing his story in his own words makes it even better.
Just as good at writing as acting.
just keep on livin’