The World According to Tom Hanks, Gavin Edwards
The World According to Tom Hanks, Gavin Edwards
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The World According to Tom Hanks
The Life, the Obsessions, the Good Deeds of America's Most Decent Guy

Author: Gavin Edwards

Narrator: Gavin Edwards

Unabridged: 8 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/23/2018


Synopsis

An entertaining and insightful homage to Tom Hanks, America's favorite movie star, from the New York Times bestselling author of the cult sensation The Tao of Bill Murray.

Niceness gets a bad rap these days. Our culture rewards those who troll the hardest and who snark the most. At times it seems like there's no place anymore for optimism, integrity, and good old-fashioned respect. Enter "America's Dad": Tom Hanks. Whether he's buying espresso machines for the White House Press Corps, rewarding a jovial cab driver with a night out on Broadway, or extolling the virtues of using a typewriter, Hanks lives a passionate, joyful life and pays it forward to others. Gavin Edwards, the New York Times bestselling author of The Tao of Bill Murray, takes readers on a tour behind the scenes of Hanks's life: from his less-than-idyllic childhood, rocky first marriage, and career wipeouts to the pinnacle of his acting career and domestic bliss with the love of his life, Rita Wilson.

As he did for Bill Murray, Edwards distills Hanks's life story into ten "commandments" that beautifully encapsulate his All-American philosophy. Contemplating the life, the achievements, and the obsessions of Mr. Tom Hanks may or may not give you the road map you need to find your way. But at the very least, it'll show you how niceness can be a worthy destination.

About Gavin Edwards

Gavin Edwards is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone who has written five articles for the magazine about Blink-182 for the magazine since 1999. He is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife and their two sons.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Tristan on February 04, 2022

Divided into thirds, this book is 2/3 good. The first third is a biography of Hanks' life, with anecdotes, quotes from Hanks, and a good portrayal of the subject. Makes you wanna meet the guy, and he might wanna meet you, too. The second segment consists of "The Ten Commandments of Tom Hanks," which......more

Goodreads review by Patb on September 24, 2024

Expand Your Horizons 2024 - Read a book or watch a movie featuring or written by Tom Hanks.......more

Goodreads review by Tom on March 20, 2025

A good bio on Tom Hanks that is basically split into three parts. The first is about a 70-page section that describes how he grew up in the Bay Area, how he got into theater and then a quick cliff notes of his film career. The second part is about 110 pages of what makes him tick. What 10 rules does......more

Goodreads review by Trevor on December 23, 2020

Having read and loved Gavin Edwards book about Bill Murray ("The Tao of Bill Murray"), I went into this one with high expectations that weren't really met. A look at the way in which Tom Hanks has become a standard for decency in cinematic terms, this is a pretty good but not exciting look at his li......more

Goodreads review by Jim on September 04, 2019

A nice overview of the career of a nice actor. I'm sure there could have been more criticism, but that is okay. I have loved Tom Hanks movies, and it was nice catching a few tidbits about his life. He seems to have one of those marriages most of us wish for, and of course he's done okay for himself......more


Quotes

"If there is a new Mr. Rogers in our culture, it's got to be Tom Hanks: honest, decent, trustworthy. Gavin Edwards's book taps into what makes Hanks someone we love and someone we should emulate."—Morgan Neville, director of Won't You Be My Neighbor?

"There have been greater, weightier testaments to the art of cinema published in 2016 . . . but for sheer dopamine release, [The Tao of Bill Murray is] hard to beat."—The New York Times Book Review