Gumption is a book written by the hilarious Nick Offerman of Parks and Rec fame. It is comprised of short chapters dedicated to various famous and relatively famous Americans who Offeerman believes have Gumption (basically individuals who took risks to pursue their art or their politics). Naturally, a list like this is highly subjective and Offerman's is. But still, I found many of these short biographies and interviews fascinating and often quite humorous. Offerman also realizes that America and American history is complex and complicated and often is concerned about the shape of democracy in this country and rightfully so.

If I had to pick a list of Americans that inspire me, my list would feature a few folks Offerman mentioned: Wendell Berry, Yoko Ono, Willie Nelson, and Frederick Douglas but I'd also include: Johnny Cash, Flannery O'Connor, Marilynn Robinson, Bruce Springsteen, Barack Obama, The Coen Brothers, Charlie Chaplin, Charles Portis, Kelly Reichardt, Kehinde Wiley, & Pete Seeger. ( )

This was the first audiobook I've tried. It was lovely to be read an entire book by Nick Offerman himself, but I learned audio books aren't for me.

So many times I wanted to share nuggets of Offerman's wit or wisdom, but with an audiobook, that's harder to do. Also, the sheer number of books he references in his own--that reading list alone could keep me occupied for a year. But I'll have to get a physical copy and hope there's a bibliography of some sort...

It does have a few racier parts, but I really enjoyed his overall theme that tied each mini-biography together: work. Work hard. It's a message lost all too often these days. Reading Outliers last month and this one now was a good 1-2 combo punch of "get your ass in gear, Rowse."

As I said, I listened to this one, courtesy of my public library, but I'll be buying a copy to reference and mark up for myself. ( )

Eight-hour road trip to pick up a new puppy! I have the hardcover out from the library, but decided to check out the audiobook instead, crank the playback speed up to 1.25x on the way there and 1.5x on the way back to see if I could get most of the way through this book in one day. (I finished the last half hour on a walk the next day.)

So this book will be forever associated with driving with my left hand while scratching behind the ears of a Golden Retriever pup with my right.

And hey, it's fine in its own right also. Offerman amuses with brief bios of Americans he admires, historical and contemporary. I was surprised by the entries for Yoko Ono and Laurie Anderson, but found myself agreeing with their inclusion. He uses some of them as jumping off points to make little digressions into areas about which he has opinions, and we agree more often than not, so that's nice.

I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it as much without Offerman's voice, or with his voice at the original playback speed. (1.25x was best.) ( )

Nick Offerman is always a delight to read, fantastic voice that comes through very clearly, and the humor is wonderful! ( )

"Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." Teddy R.
I enjoyed listening to Nick Offerman narrate his 21 chapter tribute to the people he designates as having gumption.
GEORGE WASHINGTON 2 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 3 JAMES MADISON 4 FREDERICK DOUGLASS PART 2 IDEALISTS 5 THEODORE ROOSEVELT 6 FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED 7 ELEANOR ROOSEVELT 8 TOM LAUGHLIN 9 WENDELL BERRY 10 BARNEY FRANK 11 YOKO ONO 12 MICHAEL POLLAN PART 3 MAKERS 13 THOMAS LIE-NIELSEN 14 NAT BENJAMIN 15 GEORGE NAKASHIMA 16 CAROL BURNETT 17 JEFF TWEEDY 18 GEORGE SAUNDERS 19 LAURIE ANDERSON 20 WILLIE NELSON 21 CONAN O’BRIEN.
I learned a bit about each of these folks and a lot more about the author whose opinions are delivered with a nice blend of common sense and wit. ( )