In Greenlights actor Matthew McConaughey has concocted a hot pot of stories, memories, and lessons learned from his life. Both successes and failures bring flavor to the mix and the book is presented as a love letter to life.
It's surprisingly well-written. And for the audiobook lovers out there: it's read by the author which gives it a more intimate and personal touch.
📝 A family of hustlers: In his teens, Matthew and his dad sued a face cream company for causing him severe acne. Unfortunately Matthew won the title 'Most Handsome' in the school that year. This was used as evidence in court — they lost the case.
📝 He got into films by serendipity, outside the box thinking, and audacity.
📝 Structure!
"Conservative early, liberal late." Create structure so you can have freedom. "Choreograph, then dance."
📝 Solitude! Being alone in solitude is important for finding yourself.
"As the noise decreases the signal becomes clearer."
📝 Eliminate! He had five things on his plate: family, a foundation, acting, a production company, and a music label. Spreading himself thin led to mediocrity in each endeavor. By eliminating the production company and music label he was able to take his acting career to a whole new level.
"Be less impressed and more involved."
In the end it's not a book that progresses any of my reading aims — which is to study human nature and the human predicament — BUT it was a well-needed palate cleanser book and I enjoyed the honest, hopeful, and non-judgemental style. But that's about it.