Self-Inflicted Wounds

Heartwarming Tales of Epic Humiliation

By: Aisha Tyler

Narrated by: Aisha Tyler

Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

self-inflicted wound (n): a spectacularly humiliating, and often hilarious, incident entirely of one's own making. see also: you did it to yourself.

Have you ever made a decision you instantly regretted? Humiliated yourself in a room of your peers, or shamed yourself in front of your massive crush? Ever blown a job interview, frozen during a presentation, acted like a total idiot on a date? Ever said the wrong thing at the wrong time, unable to keep your tongue from flapping out the stupidest words you've ever said in your life, ever? If you are a human being, the answer, of course, is yes. Take heart. You're not alone. This is known as the self-inflicted wound, and every one of us bears a scar. Or several.

Here, Aisha Tyler, comedian, actress, cohost of CBS's The Talk, star of Archer, and creator of the top-ranked podcast Girl on Guy, serves up a spectacular collection of her own self-inflicted wounds. From almost setting herself on fire, to vomiting on a boy she liked, to getting drunk and sleeping through the SATs, to going into crushing debt to pay for college and then throwing away her degree to become a comedian, Aisha's life has been a series of spectacularly epic fails. And she's got the scars to prove it. Literally.

Through it all, Aisha's triumphs haven't come in spite of the failures, but because of them. Because with every failure comes a lesson learned, a strength revealed, a fear overcome, or an adventure braved. Self-Inflicted Wounds isn't just about surviving failure. It's about embracing failure - pursuing it, even - on the winding path to success. And after you've failed a time or three, hopefully you'll have learned something. Or at the very least have a really killer story. Because to err is human, but to fail epically is hilarious.

©2013 Aisha Tyler (P)2013 HarperCollinsPublishers

I LOVE Aisha Tyler

If I could give this more stars I would. I love Aisha Tyler. She is funny, witty, smart as can be, and really brings you into any story she tells. This was such a great listen!

Highly recommended!

Highly recommended. Aisha is delightful, and hearing her stories in her own words is well worth it.

Great story teller. Unique, inspiring & hilarious.

What did you love best about Self-Inflicted Wounds?

Aisha Tylers story is unique. She has had an interesting journey and has a great outlook on life.

What about Aisha Tyler’s performance did you like?

Her tone and enthusiasm urged me to keep listening.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. I completed this book in 2 days.

Eh.

Do you remember in high school when you had to write a research paper but the paper had to meet the requirement of a certain number of pages? So you write your heart out and say everything you have to say on the subject but your paper is only 3 pages and the minimum requirement is 10. So you go back and belabor your points until you can’t anymore and add as many adjectives as possible to every single sentence just to stretch your content to meet the required length. Yup. That was this book.

WTY (What The Yeah)

As a warning Aisha is very witty, and her memoir is overly saturated with witty sentence structure. This is both good and bad; however, most definitely what makes it stand out as a hidden gem. The memoir's construction is the second most noteworthy aspect. She starts each chapter with a philosophical quote, her interjection to the philosophical quote, and the two serve as a theme to the chapter. Also, in each chapter, you can expect to hear about one of her life's humiliations, and she pretty much does this chronologically throughout the book, a third wonder of the book.

Her delivery of her memoir is perfect--- GREAT rhythm and cadence. It's kind of hard to read the actual book, due to her saturated sentences, but her audiobook is digestable.

I love her all encompassing theme at the end, as well. She truly showcases her wit, charm, and shame in this work. Oh, and it's pretty funny, if I didn't mention that. I enjoyed listening, I am a satisfied customer.

Pretty Good

I really like Aisha Tyler. I love her stand up and her podcast.
However, I didn't find her book that funny for some reason.
It just wasn't poignant enough in book form. It just felt too much like musings on a blog.
Despite this I would still recommend her book because it was enjoyable.

Funny and inspiring

It’s a trip through the crazy awkward and yet relatable life of the author. Along the way her mistakes, ambitions and self inflicted wounds make the reader laugh, cringe and remember their own trials in life. Still she makes failing, falling and self humiliation achievements and in the end you’ll feel inspired and amused.

Humiliation was never so funny and insightful.

While you'll never have to twist my arm to get me to watch or listen to anything Aisha Tyler is a part of, I admittedly put off reading this book for far too long. mostly because I never have time to read and I just wasn't sold on listening to book. That was until this gem of a piece. I don't think anybody but Aisha could do this book justice as far as the performance goes. The stories she shares with the reader are sometimes cringe inducing while still being relatable. I saw myself in some of these stories and am so glad I finally listened to this book. I feel like everyone should be so luckily.

Aisha Tyler is my Spirit Animal

What did you love best about Self-Inflicted Wounds?

"Never ever prepare fried foods in chiffon" has to be one of the best quotes of all time.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Aisha Tyler is the best friend I needed as an awkward adolescent, whose self-styled appearance was akin to Stephen Q. Urkel (hence why I was nicknamed "Urkel" all throughout Family Matter's on-air run).

What does Aisha Tyler bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

To hear her voice her experiences made the story that much more palatable and unique.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

If you play with fire, you'll be grounded.

Any additional comments?

Excellent story! I'm definitely going to need the paperback version of this. Well done, Aisha Tyler!

Long hard road to ISIS (the fun one)

It was enjoyable. Not as fall-over funny as I hoped it would be, but I still find Tyler delightful, and a strong story teller. Carries an overall message of not letting fear restrict you from opportunities, even if the cost is failure and embarrassment. Really interesting lady. Found the chapter on her Dartmouth glee club experience quite interesting, and makes me wonder if her groups' experience informed some of the "Pitch Perfect" script.