The Bassoon King
My Life in Art, Faith, and Idiocy
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The Bassoon King
Narrated by:
Rainn Wilson
Buy Now for ₹1,005.00
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Narrated by:
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Rainn Wilson
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Written by:
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Rainn Wilson
About this listen
For nine seasons Rainn Wilson played Dwight Schrute, everyone's favorite work nemesis and beet farmer. Viewers of The Office fell in love with the character and grew to love the actor who played him even more. Rainn founded a website and media company, SoulPancake, that eventually became a bestselling book of the same name. He also started a hilarious Twitter feed (sample tweet: “I'm not on Facebook” is the new “I don't even own a TV”) that now has more than four million followers.
Now, he's ready to tell his own story and explain how he came up with his incredibly unique sense of humor and perspective on life. He explains how he grew up “bone-numbingly nerdy before there was even a modicum of cool attached to the word.” The Bassoon King chronicles his journey from nerd to drama geek (“the highest rung on the vast, pimply ladder of high school losers”), his years of mild debauchery and struggles as a young actor in New York, his many adventures and insights about The Office, and finally, Wilson's achievement of success and satisfaction, both in his career and spiritually, reconnecting with the artistic and creative values of the Bahá’í faith he grew up in.
Critic Reviews
"Quirky, witty, literate."
—Washington Post
"Rainn Wilson's memoir captures essence of his offbeat humor."
—Chicago Sun-Times
“Wilson defies the typical tropes of celebrity memoir. At points, Bassoon King’s episodes read with the comparably startling, surreal and yet downright endearing outrageousness of an Augusten Burroughs or even David Sedaris essay… Wilson’s memoir details what it’s like for a regular human, a relatable human, a nerd to become famous after climbing the proverbial ladder of professional acting (whilst keeping your humanity and your grounded perspective intact).”
—Paste Magazine, a top 10 book of November
"Filled with genuinely fascinating stories about his unusual upbringing, his entrée into the comedy world and his thoughtfully developed views on life, Wilson’s book is an unsurprisingly funny and surprisingly poignant entry in the cavalcade of celebrity memoirs."
—BookPage
“A breath of fresh air in a genre desperately gasping for some...a deeply personal recollection of Wilson's journey from bassoon player to Emmy-nominated beet farmer…It's outlandish and unexpected, but it reads real.”
—Phoenix New Times
“You know Rainn Wilson as Dwight from NBC’s The Office, but I’m not sure many are fully prepared for how outrageous and often endearing his life story can be, captured in the pages of The Bassoon King.”
—Oakland Press
"Wilson's hilarious book is a brisk, delightful read for his devoted fans."
—American Way
"The Office star brings a value-added approach to his new book The Bassoon King: It's a coming-of-age story and a showbiz memoir and a funny read. Wilson also brings a values-added approach: The Bassoon King is a gentle introduction to the Bahá'i Faith, which Wilson re-embraced as an adult, after wrestling with both drugs and the question of meaning in his life."
—Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
“Wilson’s story is engaging…Readers will relish his experiences as Dwight Schrute (who contributes the book’s foreword) in The Office—snagging the part, the show’s debut, the actors and writers, and behind-the-scenes reminiscences.”
—Publishers Weekly
“[Wilson] shares the ups and downs of his journey to fame in this funny and frank memoir… of particular interest to aspiring actors and other creative types, as well as the many fans of the long-running NBC comedy.”
—Booklist
"Certainly for fans of The Office, but the amiable actor also offers thoughtful glimpses into the realities of the TV and film industry and an impassioned rationale for living an openly spiritual life."
—Kirkus Reviews
—Washington Post
"Rainn Wilson's memoir captures essence of his offbeat humor."
—Chicago Sun-Times
“Wilson defies the typical tropes of celebrity memoir. At points, Bassoon King’s episodes read with the comparably startling, surreal and yet downright endearing outrageousness of an Augusten Burroughs or even David Sedaris essay… Wilson’s memoir details what it’s like for a regular human, a relatable human, a nerd to become famous after climbing the proverbial ladder of professional acting (whilst keeping your humanity and your grounded perspective intact).”
—Paste Magazine, a top 10 book of November
"Filled with genuinely fascinating stories about his unusual upbringing, his entrée into the comedy world and his thoughtfully developed views on life, Wilson’s book is an unsurprisingly funny and surprisingly poignant entry in the cavalcade of celebrity memoirs."
—BookPage
“A breath of fresh air in a genre desperately gasping for some...a deeply personal recollection of Wilson's journey from bassoon player to Emmy-nominated beet farmer…It's outlandish and unexpected, but it reads real.”
—Phoenix New Times
“You know Rainn Wilson as Dwight from NBC’s The Office, but I’m not sure many are fully prepared for how outrageous and often endearing his life story can be, captured in the pages of The Bassoon King.”
—Oakland Press
"Wilson's hilarious book is a brisk, delightful read for his devoted fans."
—American Way
"The Office star brings a value-added approach to his new book The Bassoon King: It's a coming-of-age story and a showbiz memoir and a funny read. Wilson also brings a values-added approach: The Bassoon King is a gentle introduction to the Bahá'i Faith, which Wilson re-embraced as an adult, after wrestling with both drugs and the question of meaning in his life."
—Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
“Wilson’s story is engaging…Readers will relish his experiences as Dwight Schrute (who contributes the book’s foreword) in The Office—snagging the part, the show’s debut, the actors and writers, and behind-the-scenes reminiscences.”
—Publishers Weekly
“[Wilson] shares the ups and downs of his journey to fame in this funny and frank memoir… of particular interest to aspiring actors and other creative types, as well as the many fans of the long-running NBC comedy.”
—Booklist
"Certainly for fans of The Office, but the amiable actor also offers thoughtful glimpses into the realities of the TV and film industry and an impassioned rationale for living an openly spiritual life."
—Kirkus Reviews
If you are not into 'The Office' or not a follower of the 'Soulpancake', it is highly unlikely the that you would like to know about Rainn Wilson.
Rainn knows that many people will pick this book because of his Dwight character, and he makes sure that his book is filled with Dwight references. In fact he has completely dedicated couple of chapters to 'The Office', which I thoroughly enjoyed.
He did live a very interesting life, and he has narrated it well. Besides his struggles to become an actor, this book deals with spirituality in great length. Right from the first line to the last line of the book, Rainn takes you on a spiritual quest; often dealing with the dreaded question 'what really matters in life'. I was a bit apprehensive of 'almost' advertisement of his faith, Bahai religion, in some portions of the book. But to be fair, Rainn made it clear in the first page itself that he is devoted to his religion and it will be covered in good portion of the book. Also, Rainn is clearly well read about all the major religions of the world, so that adds to his credibility.
I was more interested in knowing about Rainn Wilson, the actor; and he does not disappoint. Pages are filled with his interesting episodes of his acting life, his approach to acting, his dedication to the art.
One thing that may put off some of the listeners of this book(with no actual fault of the book or the narrator/author), is the tons and tons of reference to American pop culture. A non american person , like me, who is totally unaware of the American cultural scene in the 70s, 80s and the 90s will find himself/herself lost at multiple times listening this book. Again, not a fault of the book. One other thing that may bother a bit is some odd back and forth timeline jumps in the story.
Overall, this book is definitely worth listening if you are aware of Rainn's works and want to know more about his life. If your are not aware of his work, you may still find this book interesting if you want to listen something related to an actor's life and some great thoughts of spirituality in the modern world.
My review might sound like this book is serious or boring, but believe me, it is anything but boring. Rainn had a not so ordinary life, and he narrates the same in his captivating and entertaining voice!
Interesting peek inside the man behind Dwight!
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fabulous performance
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