Greenlights

By: Matthew McConaughey

Narrated by: Matthew McConaughey

From the Academy Award®-winning actor, an unconventional memoir filled with raucous stories, outlaw wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction.

I've been in this life for 50 years, been trying to work out its riddle for 42, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last 35. 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 realising that the yellows and reds eventually turn green too.

Good luck.

The audiobook now includes an exclusive interview with Matthew McConaughey which was recorded during his book tour in 2021.

©2020 Matthew McConaughey (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Unflinchingly honest and remarkably candid, Matthew 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)

"McConaughey is a talented actor and a fine writer, but a total genius at living. He attacks life with an exhilarating ferocity. This is a wildly unexpected and delightful book you can't just read, you have to experience." (Lawrence Wright, author of The End of October)

"It shouldn't surprise you that this book is good, but it will surprise you just how good it is. Wise and entertaining, this is an inspiring memoir and how-to from one of the great outlaw philosophers and artists of our time." (Ryan Holiday, author of The Daily Stoic)

BRILLIANT !!!!

HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended - listening to this audio book felt like a friend sitting next to me telling me their story! I laughed, cried and felt utterly humbled ... now of course, I’m noticing green lights everywhere!

Epic

What a life and an inspiration for those living on the fence to get up and start taking some adventures and making some memories that we too can copyright one day.

Brilliant

What an amazing privilege to listen to this book “GREEN LIGHT”
All right All right All right!!!!

Great, memorable book!!!

Loved every second of this book. It was engaging and captivating. Matthew is not only a great actor, but author as well. Highly recommend this one and will gladly listen to it again.

Keep notes

I love quotes, and this book is full of extremely clever and useful quotes. Easy to listen to, like talking to a friend. Highly recommend if you looking for a fresh perspective. We'll done Matthew

A must listen or read

I laughed, cried and learned. What else can you expect. The man is a genius. I'd let him run my state anytime.

Plenty of food for thought

A very interesting and enjoyable read especially as it was narrated by the writer himself.

Matthew is a natural storyteller

I loved every minute on this audible. I laughed, I cried and I wrote down all the gems and bumper stickers that Matthew shares in this books.

Inspiring

McConaughey. Your alliteration, way with words, storytelling ability and all round charm has a magical lustre about it. Thank you for this fascinating deep dive, thoroughly enjoyed.

Loved it!

An entertaining listen with some awesome down to earth nuggets of advice. Loved how he made life decisions and took chances based on wet dreams, too funny.