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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
I found his rants and philosophies to be hilarious and very entertaining, but the biographical component was a little drawn out at times.
Mr Offerman please help I thought this was a how-to book please Ive been on this lake for days im just going in circles ohgodpleasehelp
Except for the final chapter which I could have (and maybe should have) just skipped, this was entertaining to listen to on long walks and commutes to/from the office.
I loved this book. Through the whole thing, I could hear Ron Swanson, despite the fact that Offerman kept insisting that he and Ron were not one and the same. Offerman has a great writing voice, and he tells everything exactly as it is. Tons and tons of favourite quotes:
"The initial 'women's lib' movement brought the role of modern-day chivalry into question. 'If you ladies want to be treated as equals, then shouldn't you be able to open your own car door?' The answer to that is, quite simply, 'No, dude. You're an asshole.'" (46)
"Damn it all, you have been given a life on this beautiful planet! Get off your ass and do something! ... [Roosevelt] does suggest that quality can be found in a chap who lives 'up to his ideals insofar as he can.' This, to me, is another arena in which men and women can prove their worth. Loyalty. Honor. Have a set of rules, a code of ethics, that you will do your best to uphold and defend, whether you're on horseback in Cuba in 1898, or at a school board meeting next week, or merely at the water cooler with your coworkers. Pursue decency in all dealings with your fellow man and woman. Simply put? Don't be an asshole." (50-51)
"We humans contain within us instinctual signals, influencing us toward the perpetuation of our species, specifically our own tribes or family units, often to the detriment of others. That's just how nature works. What's amazing is that we have largely contained these urges to the point of successfully checking out of a crowded Whole Foods without decapitating that crunchy, granola-haired hustler dude trying to squeak fourteen items through the express lane WHEN THE SIGN CLEARLY STATES 'TWELVE ITEMS OR LESS.' YOU THINK WE AREN'T ALL GOING TO BE COUNTING YOUR FUCKING ITEMS, BRO?! But we don't strike. We take a deep breath and feel better for another day of carnage-free foraging at the grocery store." (65)
"If you engage in a discipline or do something with your hands instead of kill time on your phone device, then you have something to show for your time when you're done. Cook, play music, sew, carve. Shit, BeDazzle. Maybe not BeDazzle.
The arithmetic is quite simple. Instead of playing Draw Something, fucking draw something! Take the cleverness you apply to Words with Friends and utilize it to make some kick-ass corn bread. Corn Bread with Friends - try that game.
I'm here to tell you that we've been duped on a societal level. My favorite writer, Wendell Berry, writes on this topic with great eloquence. He posits that we've been sold a bill of goods, claiming that work is bad, that sweating and working, especially if soil or sawdust is involved, are beneath us. Our population, especially the urbanites, has largely forgotten that working at a labor that one loves is actually a privilege. To be on the receiving end of this gift of a life complete with human body, mind, and heart is to be indescribably blessed indeed, but all of our conveniences and comforts and amazing technological advances have made us completely soft and fully pusillanimous! If a person can simply discern what it is that he/she loves to do with an eight-to-ten-hour day, then a satisfying workday is easily attained." (79)
"Another way to address this idea is to fill one's life with the opportunity for seeing solid, real-life results as opposed to virtual. In my opinion, all of the 'living' that people do online, in social networks, elaborate multiplayer games, blogs, and so on, is often merely the facsimile of real life, and so it is ultimately unsatisfying." (82)
"Hard as it may be for you to believe, I didn't get to where I am today because I'm so cute. I'm sorry, gentle reader, I should have suggested you take a seat before I dropped that thermonuclear-shock nugget." (164)
"My favorite rule from Sensei was, 'Always maintain the attitude of a student.' When a person thinks they have finished learning, that is when bitterness and disappointment can set in, as that person will wake up every day wondering when someone is going to throw a parade in their honor for being so smart. As human beings, we, by the definition of our very natures, can never be perfect. This means that as long as we are alive and kicking, we can be improving ourselves. No matter our age, if we always have a project to which we can apply ourselves, then we will wake up every day with an objective, something productive to get done. This allows us to go to bed at night in the peaceful knowledge that we have done some good, gained some achievement, however small." (168)
"These developments are great, no question. I mean, I can ask my phone device to tell me where the barbecue joints are, as well as what people think of the brisket at each of them! NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT.
What does unnerve me, however, is the technique with which I employ this information. I often use the handy 'maps' function on my phone, but I still do it like my dad, meaning I suss out the route and situation before I go. What I cannot allow myself to do is acquiesce to being led by the nose to my destination by a computer. I'll decide where to turn, thanks. ... I just can't shake the feeling that the more we people depend, infantlike, upon such coddling, the weaker we grow in character." (218)
"Here's my trip: Our cool, new technologies provide us with a surplus of convenience, and it seems to me that an overabundance of convenience leaves us with a surplus of leisure time. Our technologies then provide us with a panoply of choices of ways in which to fill that time, like video games, social networking, vapid television and film content, etc. We thereby end up spending money and time upon 'their' diversions, when we could have been just performing all of the simple acts that our technologies are saving us from in the first place. Driving our vehicles. Looking at our maps. Fishing. Walking in the woods. Doing the dishes. Splitting fireword. That's living, plain and simple." (219)
"Cut to: Gay Paree! Holy shit, you guys, there is a city in France called Paris, directly south of Amiens; it's on the Seine, and you should totally go check it out. We were absolutely swept away by the romance and beauty and history of that magnificent burg.... I'm telling you, Paris is totally worth it; I don't know why nobody ever talks about it. It's in France, everybody." (261)
"(This is the most important [advice], and it goes for life as well as auditions): Make your life happy. Sounds pretty simple, right? As you already know, it can be anything but simple, but check out this sweet-ass John Lennon quote:
'When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy.' They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life.'" (311)
"The initial 'women's lib' movement brought the role of modern-day chivalry into question. 'If you ladies want to be treated as equals, then shouldn't you be able to open your own car door?' The answer to that is, quite simply, 'No, dude. You're an asshole.'" (46)
"Damn it all, you have been given a life on this beautiful planet! Get off your ass and do something! ... [Roosevelt] does suggest that quality can be found in a chap who lives 'up to his ideals insofar as he can.' This, to me, is another arena in which men and women can prove their worth. Loyalty. Honor. Have a set of rules, a code of ethics, that you will do your best to uphold and defend, whether you're on horseback in Cuba in 1898, or at a school board meeting next week, or merely at the water cooler with your coworkers. Pursue decency in all dealings with your fellow man and woman. Simply put? Don't be an asshole." (50-51)
"We humans contain within us instinctual signals, influencing us toward the perpetuation of our species, specifically our own tribes or family units, often to the detriment of others. That's just how nature works. What's amazing is that we have largely contained these urges to the point of successfully checking out of a crowded Whole Foods without decapitating that crunchy, granola-haired hustler dude trying to squeak fourteen items through the express lane WHEN THE SIGN CLEARLY STATES 'TWELVE ITEMS OR LESS.' YOU THINK WE AREN'T ALL GOING TO BE COUNTING YOUR FUCKING ITEMS, BRO?! But we don't strike. We take a deep breath and feel better for another day of carnage-free foraging at the grocery store." (65)
"If you engage in a discipline or do something with your hands instead of kill time on your phone device, then you have something to show for your time when you're done. Cook, play music, sew, carve. Shit, BeDazzle. Maybe not BeDazzle.
The arithmetic is quite simple. Instead of playing Draw Something, fucking draw something! Take the cleverness you apply to Words with Friends and utilize it to make some kick-ass corn bread. Corn Bread with Friends - try that game.
I'm here to tell you that we've been duped on a societal level. My favorite writer, Wendell Berry, writes on this topic with great eloquence. He posits that we've been sold a bill of goods, claiming that work is bad, that sweating and working, especially if soil or sawdust is involved, are beneath us. Our population, especially the urbanites, has largely forgotten that working at a labor that one loves is actually a privilege. To be on the receiving end of this gift of a life complete with human body, mind, and heart is to be indescribably blessed indeed, but all of our conveniences and comforts and amazing technological advances have made us completely soft and fully pusillanimous! If a person can simply discern what it is that he/she loves to do with an eight-to-ten-hour day, then a satisfying workday is easily attained." (79)
"Another way to address this idea is to fill one's life with the opportunity for seeing solid, real-life results as opposed to virtual. In my opinion, all of the 'living' that people do online, in social networks, elaborate multiplayer games, blogs, and so on, is often merely the facsimile of real life, and so it is ultimately unsatisfying." (82)
"Hard as it may be for you to believe, I didn't get to where I am today because I'm so cute. I'm sorry, gentle reader, I should have suggested you take a seat before I dropped that thermonuclear-shock nugget." (164)
"My favorite rule from Sensei was, 'Always maintain the attitude of a student.' When a person thinks they have finished learning, that is when bitterness and disappointment can set in, as that person will wake up every day wondering when someone is going to throw a parade in their honor for being so smart. As human beings, we, by the definition of our very natures, can never be perfect. This means that as long as we are alive and kicking, we can be improving ourselves. No matter our age, if we always have a project to which we can apply ourselves, then we will wake up every day with an objective, something productive to get done. This allows us to go to bed at night in the peaceful knowledge that we have done some good, gained some achievement, however small." (168)
"These developments are great, no question. I mean, I can ask my phone device to tell me where the barbecue joints are, as well as what people think of the brisket at each of them! NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT.
What does unnerve me, however, is the technique with which I employ this information. I often use the handy 'maps' function on my phone, but I still do it like my dad, meaning I suss out the route and situation before I go. What I cannot allow myself to do is acquiesce to being led by the nose to my destination by a computer. I'll decide where to turn, thanks. ... I just can't shake the feeling that the more we people depend, infantlike, upon such coddling, the weaker we grow in character." (218)
"Here's my trip: Our cool, new technologies provide us with a surplus of convenience, and it seems to me that an overabundance of convenience leaves us with a surplus of leisure time. Our technologies then provide us with a panoply of choices of ways in which to fill that time, like video games, social networking, vapid television and film content, etc. We thereby end up spending money and time upon 'their' diversions, when we could have been just performing all of the simple acts that our technologies are saving us from in the first place. Driving our vehicles. Looking at our maps. Fishing. Walking in the woods. Doing the dishes. Splitting fireword. That's living, plain and simple." (219)
"Cut to: Gay Paree! Holy shit, you guys, there is a city in France called Paris, directly south of Amiens; it's on the Seine, and you should totally go check it out. We were absolutely swept away by the romance and beauty and history of that magnificent burg.... I'm telling you, Paris is totally worth it; I don't know why nobody ever talks about it. It's in France, everybody." (261)
"(This is the most important [advice], and it goes for life as well as auditions): Make your life happy. Sounds pretty simple, right? As you already know, it can be anything but simple, but check out this sweet-ass John Lennon quote:
'When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy.' They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life.'" (311)
Listened to the audiobook and just couldn’t get into it. Made me dislike Ron Swanson so no thank you.
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
While I thought the anti-Christian speak bordered on bashing and we do not have much in common, I think I would thoroughly enjoy a drink or two with the so mentioned Mr. Offerman. He spins a witty tale and he gave me a glimpse of a world (acting/Hollywood) that I really want nothing to do with.
First of all - the narration? Superb! It was such a blast to listen to Nick's voice for so many hours. And his fundamentals? Very relatable. I appreciate his no-nonsense approach stressing the importance of family, hard work, self-reliance, community and outdoors. And oh, his thoughts about Christianity! Couldn't agree more! (Meaning: there are many great things about Christianity and as long as believers act according to them, don't preach to others and don't try to make them general laws, everything's just splendid. But separation of church and state, folks, separation of church and state!)
There were some parts I did not enjoy as much - especially the name dropping in chapters about theatre and film. Obviously he did not mention all those people for bragging purposes, but there were really many many names and I simply didn't know most of them.
All in all, this book was hilarious, uplifting and inspiring and I am happy I spent a few pleasant hours listening to it.
There were some parts I did not enjoy as much - especially the name dropping in chapters about theatre and film. Obviously he did not mention all those people for bragging purposes, but there were really many many names and I simply didn't know most of them.
All in all, this book was hilarious, uplifting and inspiring and I am happy I spent a few pleasant hours listening to it.
funny
slow-paced