Rainn Wilson

Rainn Wilson, best known for playing the uptight curmudgeon Dwight on The Office, is a very spiritual guy at his core. He started a company called Soul Pancake that produced feel good, spiritually focused content that Wilson couldn't sell to Hollywood. Soul Boom, his new book, makes the argument that we need a spiritual revolution in the world, one that pulls the foundational, shared lessons from all religions (ie, the Golden Rule and take care of the poor) and use them to craft something that gets beyond your god versus my god. I enjoyed it: Wilson has a freewheeling style of storytelling that makes his message more compelling. He himself is a lifelong Bahá'í, a relatively new religion that basically preaches what he writes about in this book. He demonstrates a wide ranging knowledge of the world's religions and their connections. It will be interesting to see if interest in Bahá'í grows as a result.

I have a copy of his memoir, The Bassoon King, on my shelf and am adding SoulPancake to my TBR. It was refreshing to read something upbeat and inclusive about religion and spirituality.… (mais)

With Rainn Wilson as the reader, this was a great one to do on audio. There were even a few guest appearances by Dwight Schrute.
It's not your typical Hollywood bio- Wilson talks a lot about faith and his unconventional childhood. I was surprised by the level of vulnerability in his writing, whether he was talking about the highs and lows of his acting career, or something personal, like his parents' divorce.
It's clear he has a deep love for acting and takes his work very much to heart. Listening to his stories made me like him more than I already did.

… (mais)