Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey (Summary)

Raucous stories and outlaw wisdom from the Academy Award-winning actor
Note: I usually like MM’s rants of bumper sticker wisdom and homilies of life so it’s a good thing that he does them only in the first and last few short chapters. The book is filled with notes to self, life lessons and green lights.

We cannot truly appreciate the light without shadows

Summary:
His parents were the type to fight till blood comes out and then suddenly make love.

His dad was strict and liked stealing things with his older brother while his mom taught him how to copy someone else’s poem and put his name to it to win the competition. Her thinking was that ‘if you understand it then it’s yours’.

Battle with acne and his dad seeing an opportunity to sue because of the product used. Unfortunately he wont most handsome at the same time.

Becomes an ambassador of Texas as and exchange student and goes off to Australia. He’s taken somewhere different to where he thought he was going. School didn’t workout so he did workshops. The family he stayed with was pro-Australian and didn’t like him talking about how American burgers are the best or watching Stripes. He called them ‘cultural differences’. He became vegetarian but didn’t know how so ate heads of lettuce with ketchup. They’d try make him kiss the girl in the house and he refused and told them that it’s not fair on her or him. They tried to make him call them mom and pop. He tried to leave but ‘pop’ wont let him until he threatened violence. Turns out it was an Australian prank that he was made to stay with them because the others knew they weren’t right.

He came across the 10 Scroll’s The Greatest Salesman in the World and gives a lot of credit to it.

Confronting pretentious film students hating on big movies when they didn’t even see them. Waiting tables. And his famous ‘alright alright alright’ line.

Green lights that get him good jobs, free motorbike rides across Europe, a spare bike when he totals one.

His love for gambling on football.

Visiting the monastery to get advise turned out to be he just needed someone to tell him ‘me too’ and let him know he’s not alone.

His mom’s love for his fame and stealing his vapours.

Getting a wet dream about the Amazon was his sign to go there. But he was looking for it in the map of Africa. His visit there and basically a ‘walkabout’ experience. He wanted answers and the put himself in the right place to receive the truth.

Then he got a trailer, called it Cosmo and hit the road which his dog Ms. Hud as a ‘full-timer’. His experience with the full-timers and the trailer lifestyle.

His connection to conga, bongo and djembe drums. Police end up breaking into his trailer for playing too loudly but he was let go because they didn’t have permission and charged $50 for the noise.

Hair loss, shaving his head, getting threats from an investor about shaved head, his retaliation and the investor changing his mind.

He failed at the hardcore list of activities he made to play the part of Van Zan in Reign of Fire.

Having the same wet dream and this time going to Mali, Africa. Arguing about young prostitutes, having wrestling matches and winning against a local champ.

Hillarious story of the time he lied to a golf resort place about the dog being a seeing eye dog because they wont allow the dog in.

He became the romantic comedy and topless beach guy and started losing a sense of fulfilment.

A different wet dream to find the woman of his life. He finds Camila, has a baby, has another baby, tells his team he wants to close the music studio and other things down to focus on family and self. Since he didn’t want to do rom-coms any more so his message service phone was disconnected for 2 years and got upset when he found that out because he lost so many opportunities to make money.

Has a daughter.

He still kept getting rom-com offers that kept increasing their pay-out but didn’t do them. The calls stopped coming and he was starting to get itchy. Then he got some opportunities (Greenlights).

He touched on pandemic issues and the George Floyd situation.

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Contents
About Matthew McConaughey
Praise for Matthew McConaughey
About the Book
Dedication

part one: outlaw logic
part two: find your frequency
part three: dirt roads and autobahns
part four: the art of running downhill
part five: turn the page
part six: the arrow doesn’t seek the target, the target draws the arrow
part seven: be brave take the hill
part eight: live your legacy now

Pictures sections
Acknowledgements