How to Ruin Everything: Essays

Great musician, great poet, and a great writer too. George Watsky is a true artist!

Now I must start off by admitting that I’ve been a big George Watsky fan for a long time, and as soon as he announced his new book, I quickly preordered it from Amazon. When it arrived, I got some sour gummy worms and a Dr. Pepper and settled down to read it as soon as I could. And I must say, it only took until the second line of the introduction for the book to relate to me: “How come if people keep telling me I’m so smart, I keep doing such stupid things?” So much truth resonated to me in that one line. As a fan of George Watsky, I can say that I enjoyed this sporadic glimpse into his life—something that makes a famous person more grounded and real to a fan. Hey, he screws up sometimes just like I do. Hey, he’s got insecurities just like me. I also enjoyed the Watsky brand of humor and wordplay I’ve long appreciated since I was a senior in high school (I stumbled across his YouTube channel after seeing him as Shakespeare in “Epic Rap Battles of History” and I’ve been hooked since.) My fan-like feelings aside, I did find this book very relatable in many ways. For me in particular, a few chapters stood out that related to me. The first relevant moment for me was reading about Watsky’s relationship with his dad and baseball. My dad has always been a big baseball fan—sorry Watsky, but he’s for the Braves, not the Giants! And while I’m not the biggest baseball fan out there, I’ve been to a few baseball games with him, and I’ve enjoyed the time together—he keeps up the s***-talking though, I watch the score. Next relatable moment was Watsky’s dealings with epilepsy. Now I’m not an epileptic myself, but in my senior year of high school we had a girl pass away who had been seizure free for years until one snuck up on her while she was home alone on a treadmill. She had been so well-liked by all that it hit our whole graduating class really hard, especially since it was less than a month before graduation. From the experience, I learned a lot about epilepsy, and even though I haven’t experienced a seizure, I found myself questioning What if one randomly happened right now? What would happen? and a myriad of other questions that any over thinker would have about such a topic. Other relatable moments existed in his book as well, such as dealing with jerk roommates (not speaking of you, Shelby) and awkward pre-teen and teenage things—I even dated someone in high school who put a mortar in upside down and it exploded around us. (I'm referring to fireworks, for people like dear innocent Shelby who didn’t understand what a mortar was when editing this.) My overall point is that this book relates to everyone in some way. For me, these were the points I resonated with. Other people who read it may find different points to relate to. They may be international ivory smugglers or distraught people who didn’t get nachos with jalapeños in them on nacho day in high school. Moral of the review: Watsky’s offbeat book is just a story about some of his experiences along the way. They hit you with a range of stories that can be goofy or slightly sad, but in a way they’re all pretty relatable—some more than others. To fans of Watsky, it’s not a disappointing read, and I highly recommend it. To people who aren’t fans or haven’t heard of him: Read it. It’s an enjoyable read that’ll give you a wide variety of thoughts and feelings. I give Watsky’s How to Ruin Everything 5 out of 5 stars.

Its a great book, the first book I've read in a while. I bought it because Watsky's lyrics stole my heart and blew my mind. The essays show a different but comforting side of him, I enjoyed getting to see someone beyond this insanely confident, sometimes dark and cynical, sometimes chill and reassuring, but always mind-blowing and fiery artist. His anecdotes, much like his music, helped me get out of my own head and feel comfortable and like I was a part of these awkward and beautifully human misadventures that all played a part in the complex structure of his being. Thanks a billion, Watsky for bringing so much of yourself to this entertaining book.

George Watsky has an amazing talent for writing. His wit, humor, and smart-assedness heard in his raps is injected into this book as well. It's great to actually read all the tiny little stories he raps about. If you like Watsky, and you like his music, you'll probably like his book too.

I blew through this book in just a day because it was such a good read. Watsky is a genius and he's relatable to a white educated suburban guy like me (unlike most hip-hop). I definitely recommend. It's a very humanizing portrait of a very intelligent, complex individual. There are quite a few laughs mixed in with the more-serious human experience stuff. Dude is a master of his craft, no matter what the medium it would seem... If you do decide to pick up this (you should!), I definitely suggest the Kindle version because it has "bonus" photos/videos that relate to many of the stories. Unless you have a paper fetish, spring the couple extra bucks for the digital version...

I stumbled on Watson's music which led to watching his web series show thing, and his YouTube videos...hes talented and highly amusing. So when Amazon suggested this to me based on my interests I pre ordered the book right away. Excellent read. Amusing, well written...you connect with him and his decisions, mistakes and amusing stories. Great book. If you like Watsky and his quirky lyrics I think you will enjoy this book. I know I did...now can we get Watsky over to Hawaii to play or read please?! Lol ;-p

Amazing compilation of essays written about George Watskys experiences and how he got to be where he is today as a well known rap and spoken word artist. Watskys sentences possess a structure that stands in a class of it's own. The book clearly shows how much potential he has and where he could delve into after his rap career finishes. Good: The book delivers harshly true lines with no sugar coating really proclaiming to us his past encounters with life. He keeps audience's on the edge of their seat through witty sentences that want you wanting more and more and to really understand him. The book changes subject so rapidly that there really is no time to be bored of anystory but instead you get lost into the book as a whole wishing each story didn't end as quickly. Bad: On the contrary, you sometimes wish the stories somehow connected and you weren't reading a bunch of short stories but one whole complete novel with all the same characters who you could come accustomed to. All in all the book is unbelievably good and proves that his success in arranging words is valid.

I love Watsky and I love reading this book so much. The audiobook is also good, he narrates it himself

I had this in numerical form (ebook), but I just had to buy it paper form, because it feels a lot better. This book is a must if you like Watsky. The way he describes his experiences are that of an acrobat ; whilst moving fluidly, uses the exact amount of precision to storytelling. Even if you're an "outsider", I'm sure you will relate at least once to George Watksy's crazy life. No wonder this guy is a genius. Read it.

amazing book, like it interesting read and i helps give context to earlier watsky tracks and his home life it also tells you things that you didn't know about him and that narwal story was amazing to read would recommend but it's up to you to read, like i think if you can't/ don't read then i think there is an audiobook(if there isn't there should be) so listen to it or you could do both, but i think if you like watsky's music then go for it. if you don't like watsky's music then give reading it a shot (also listen to a song called wounded healer by watsky, that was the track that got me into listening to him. it a slow track with a nice guitar back and it quite emotional. I think its from Nothig like the first time, another song on that which is good is IDGAF (it's a good i don't care about stuff song and the music video is great also) and tell me it's not a good listen) so yeah go for it.

Wonderful read

Watsky presenta una firma satírica de su propia vida y aunque no les gusten estos tipos de libros o no escuchen a watsky leer este libro es de los mejores y hace reflexionar sobre tu vida

O livro é sensacional! Já era fã do trabalho do Watsky como rapper e poeta, e nesse livro pude ver a inspiração para algumas de suas músicas (que por sinal são todas incríveis).