Lose Well

While Gethard is known for The Chris Gethard Show and the Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People podcast, I’m only familiar with him as musical-guest-Jeff-Rosenstock-host and author of the consistently funny A Bad Thing I’m About To Do. My stomach dipped a little upon quick realization that Lose Well would not be following the humorous essay format, but was a “self-help narrative.” I had just read Failing Up, which shared the same crux and I found a little lackluster – in short, I was burnt out on the theme of learning from your failures. At times more self-help than narrative, and other times vice versa, overall Gethard maintains a palatable mix of the two (especially to a reader who was only interested the narrative). Gethard knows his audience well (at one point suggesting the reader might be thinking, “I’m going to skip to the funny parts”). The encouragement is a bit on the . . . not jaded side, but tempered? Gethard is no Pollyanna, but recognizes the extent that attitude and motivation (and learning from failure) play in moving ahead. This is no “Keep trying and you’ll eventually get there!” This is “It’s statistically unlikely that you’ll, but even if you don’t, wouldn’t you rather faceplant in a blaze of glory?” For those who feel out of place in their small town / backwards community / dead end job, Gethard intersperses plenty of inspiring non-Gethard example figures into the text. From the Shaggs to street artists to friends who launched their dream careers late in life, Gethard gives plenty of counterexamples to the self-limiting ideas that you’re too old / too weird / too x to make a creative change in your life. While the book is as funny as A Bad Idea…, the stories are (unsurprisingly) spread out a bit and used to support the self-help advice. Gethard’s anecdotes are great – which can make it a little maddening when you have to read an extra two or three pages to get to them (…again, coming from someone not really receptive or interested in advice at the moment). Gethard’s fluid writing style makes it easy to find oneself immersed in the tales, whether it’s a long, winding journey to a great twist, or just a few simple paragraphs. (High points include Gethard’s early foray into theatre via Bye, Bye, Birdie; his investigations while employed by Weird New Jersey; and a family road trip interrupted by a nose-diving falcon.) Even though you already know that Gethard has found himself a degree of success, you still find yourself rooting for his character. He underscores the importance of hard work (as told through one of the funniest turns in the book, his pre-Y2k line job amid factory workers cum survivalists). TLDR: Gethard’s humorous stories give an enjoyable arc to a self-help book that speaks to reluctant creatives and the atypical.

Chris Gerhard is all the things I love about comedy, art, punk and weirdos in general. Authentic, funny, honest. The book is great so far. It's a little self-help-y, which is fine. It's what I wanted out of it. It's not a book of humorous essays but it is funny. If you want a more at ease version of the The War of Art then this is worth checking out. Chris doesn't go on with mantras or tips or advice really even. It's the book version of the pep-talk you need when you're not sure what you're doing or why you're there anymore. It's a book to negate your irrational fears and tells you to embrace them. Lose Well is about being a proud failure. If you're gonna tank you better make sure you're failing by doing something you believe in.

Failure can be a good thing. That’s the message in Chris Gethard’s self-help book titled, Lose Well. It’s a funny book, as one would expect from Gethard, but also contains a serious message about the value of resilience, and all that we can learn when our dreams are thwarted. All of us have suffered rejection of one form or another throughout our lives. Gethard encourages us to embrace the rejection and use it for what we do next. We’re told to stop worrying about failure, believe in ourselves, get up and try again. Candor about his own setbacks allows his voice to be heard, whether a reader finds it funny or not. Read the book and give your dream another shot. Rating: Four-star (I like it)

From the book: "The book you are holding-I hope you laugh many times while reading certain parts of it. But what I hope is clear is that I also want it to be encouraging, full of tough love, empathetic, and hopeful." MISSION. ACCOMPLISHED. This book is the non-self help inspiration I was hoping for. Empathetic and funny and everything you’d expect from Chris Gethard. Honest but hopeful and sincere in a way that makes you feel like you’ve got a friend walking with you as you work towards your dream.

This is a fantastic book for anyone who works in a creative field or aspires too. I’m a professional creative, and I’ve read a lot of books about creativity. This is one of my favorites, because it isn’t a “how to manual”. It’s a very funny, very useful philosophy for people who want to make things. If you want to laugh while you learn a useful way to stay sane while doing great work, definitely pick this up. It’s also the only book in creativity I’ve read where the author is nearly murdered by a giant in the backwoods of New Jersey.

I've been on a self-help kick lately and was pleased to hear that Chris Gethard was putting out such a book. I enjoyed him on The Chris Gethard Show and Beautiful Anonymous and figured this would be a great read. It was! It's very inspiring in a "why not, what do you have to lose?" sort of way and gave me a bit of the kick I needed to get back on track with my art and some of my more goal oriented hobbies. I own both the hard cover book which is great, I brought it along to get signed by Geth at a reading. But, the audio book is also wonderful! Chris does a great job at narrating and you can really hear the passion in his voice (pssssst, the audiobook has some bonus interviews at the end that aren't in the printed version. So if you want some secret exclusive interviews be sure to check out the audiobook as well)

I LOVED this book and keep going back to it for moments when I need some motivation and a few laughs along the way. Chris does an excellent job of combining humor, personal stories, and honesty all while being very open and inspiring. I would highly recommend this book to any reader!

Many laughs.