What Should I Do with My Life?: The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question

Bronson is a gifted intuitive writer, the bestselling author of The Nudist on the Late Shift, whose thoughtful, vulnerable voice emerges as the book's greatest strength and challenge. He describes his subject's lives along with the ways they annoy, puzzle, and worry him. He frets about meddling with his questions, yet once, memorably and appropriately, he offers a talented man a top post in his publishing company. While this creates the juiciness of his portraits, it also can make Bronson the book's most memorable character and the only one whose story is not resolved. Even so, this remarkable career chronicle sets the gold standard for the worth of the examined life. --Barbara Mackoff

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In What Should I Do with My Life? Po Bronson tells the inspirational true stories of people who have found the most meaningful answers to that great question. With humor, empathy, and insight, Bronson writes of remarkable individuals—from young to old, from those just starting out to those in a second career—who have overcome fear and confusion to find a larger truth about their lives and, in doing so, have been transformed by the experience. What Should I Do with My Life? struck a powerful, resonant chord on publication, causing a multitude of people to rethink their vocations and priorities and start on the path to finding their true place in the world. For this edition, Bronson has added nine new profiles, to further reflect the range and diversity of those who broke away from the chorus to learn the sound of their own voice.

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What should I do with my life?

It's a question many of us have pondered with frequency. Author Po Bronson was asking himself that very question when he decided to write this book -- an inspiring exploration of how people transform their lives and a template for how we can answer this question for ourselves.

Bronson traveled the country in search of individuals who have struggled to find their calling, their true nature -- people who made mistakes before getting it right. He encountered people of all ages and all professions -- a total of fifty-five fascinating individuals trying to answer questions such as: Is a career supposed to feel like a destiny? How do I tell the difference between a curiosity and a passion? Should I make money first, to fund my dream? If I have a child, will my frustration over my work go away? Should I accept my lot, make peace with my ambition, and stop stressing out? Why do I feel guilty for thinking about this?

From their efforts to answer these questions, the universal truths in this book emerge. Each story in these pages informs the next, and the result is a journey that unfolds with cumulative power. Here are the stories of people who found meaningful answers by daring to be honest with themselves. Among them:

• The Pittsburgh lawyer who decided to become a trucker so he could savor the moment and be closer to his son.
• The toner-cartridge queen of Chicago, who realized that her relationships with men kept sabotaging her career choices.
• The Cuban immigrant who overcame the strong disapproval of her parents and quit her high-paying job to pursue social-service work in Miami.
• The chemistry professor who realized, quite late in life, that he would rather practice law.
• The mother torn between an Olympic career and her adolescent daughter.
• The seventeen-year-old boy who received a letter from the Dalai Lama and was called to a life of spiritual leadership.
• The creator of St. Elmo's Fire, who wasn't sure he could quit his successful Hollywood life for the deeper artistic life he had always wanted to pursue.
• The author himself. Po Bronson has worked as a bus-boy, cook, janitor,sports-medicine intern, bus-lift assembly-line technician, aerobics instructor, litigation consultant, greeting-card designer, bond salesman, political-newsletter editor, high school teacher, author, and book publisher.

Reading this book is like listening in on an intimate conversation among people you care about and admire. Even if you know what you should do with your life, you will find wisdom and guidance in these stories.

"Brimming with stories of sacrifice, courage, commitment and, sometimes, failure, the book will support anyone pondering a major life choice or risk without force-feeding them pat solutions."
   PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

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