Greenlights

By: Matthew McConaughey

Narrated by: Matthew McConaughey

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 6 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE! Now with exclusive new content from the paperback edition, the life-changing memoir that has inspired millions of listeners through the Academy Award-winning actor’s unflinching honesty, unconventional wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction.

“The No. 1 celebrity memoir of the past 10 years.”—USA Today

“McConaughey’s book invites us 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.

©2020 Matthew McConaughey (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Matthew McConaughey’s book is exactly what we needed after the frenzy of Campaign 2020. . . . [A] much-needed breather . . . [and] a recuperative journey . . . it is both calming and laugh, laugh, laugh-out-loud funny.”—Hugh Hewitt, The Washington Post

“A delightful surprise, full of stories that [haven’t] been shared on late night talk shows or made headlines over the years. It’s a wild ride to be sure, but if you enjoy McConaughey and all of the eccentricities and contradictions that come with him, it’s one you won’t want to miss.”—Texas Monthly

“McConaughey’s approach to memoir is the opposite of careful, instead opting for pure candor. . . . Taken together, the stories in Greenlights paint the picture of someone who could not care less of what the world thinks of him, which has—not coincidentally—resulted in lots of people in the world liking the actor and his work.”—John Warner, Chicago Tribune

Smooth

Matthew McConaughey is a fabulous story teller. I could listen to his voice and his stories for days on end. He is a very talented, witty and intelligent man. I love his positive outlook and I enjoyed learning about his life.

Enjoyable read if taken for what it's meant to be

At the beginning the author states the book is a story of his life and that's what it is. Some of the negative reviews commented that the author seemed self absorbed. It is a story of his life. so naturally he's going to talk about himself. And if you think some of his stories of growing up were far fetched then you aren't over 50 and you didn't grow up in East Texas. Take it for what it is and enjoy.

Best Ever!!

This is my first audio book and I absolutely loved it. It felt like he was just having a conversation with me. His reaction sometimes at was he was saying, the giggles and laughing. I was so sad when it ended. I have been telling my employees how much I have been loving it when I go to work. Now they can hear how I feel that its over. Would recommend this book to anyone I know. Absolutely Amazing.

Wonderful

Great listen from a great person who tells lessons of how he made it to where he is and where he wants to go still

What a ride!

Matthew McConaughey was in his element! What an amazing life he's led in his 50 years. Humility, adventure, life lessons, truth and passion. It was an amazing ride, a day in the life of an extraordinary actor, philanthropist, teacher and human. We'll done, sir! Keep living!

To all the Greenlights I never understood.

Absolutely love this book and the way it has made me understand all the Greenlights I have come into my life that I didn't understand at the time were Greenlights. To appreciating all in my life always. Thank you.

It's a 5 Stars for me!

Extremely insightful on life as a whole, on love, courage and strength. I love listening to stories and this man can defiantly tell them! I am 30 years old and have been asking very similar questions he talks about, some he leaves the answers and some he leaves only with words of wisdom. This book is his life story. The good & happy times, the bad and painful times and the joyous moments of his 50 years of life. He lets the reader in, showing a tremendous amount of vulnerability. It's a 5 Stars for me!

The wet dream... lol

Best book I've read in a while. the stories are funny and engaging. I loved every minute of this book. I listened and listened again to some chapters. this is a great book to veg out to, you get lost in it. I still think the True Detective (season one) is the greatest show of all time. I was kind of worried that this book might not live up to my expectations much like the other 2 seasons of true detective. This book shines through. Great work!

Raw Real Relevant and Worthwhile

This book, (rather he) is real, raw, right a lot, wrong some, a fellow Texan who has found the art of the more he loves his home, the more he broadens his inclusion of others outside of his home (rare, especially for us Texans)...he is non-religious, yet relevant in a righteous way...oh and he (rather this book) is *definitely* worth the read... Thanks for sharing MM.

A great story as told by a master storyteller

There aren’t many among us that can spin a tale like McConaughey. It’s raw and fresh and exactly what I needed to hear as we wind down 2020. Sit back, take a listen, and enjoy the ride. Who knows, you might pick up a thing or two along the way. I did.