Things My Son Needs to Know About the World

By: Fredrik Backman

Narrated by: Santino Fontana

Length: 3 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's Summary

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Things My Son Needs to Know About the World, by Fredrik Backman.   

'You can be whatever you want to be, but that's nowhere near as important as knowing that you can be exactly who you are'  

Things My Son Needs to Know About the World is a tender and funny series of letters from a father to his son about one of life's most daunting experiences: parenthood. 

In between the sleep-obsessed lows and oxytocin-fuelled highs, Backman takes a step back to share his own experience of fatherhood and how he navigates such unchartered territory. Part memoir, part manual, part love letter to his son, this book relays the big and the small lessons in life. As he watches his son take his first steps into the world, he teaches him how to navigate both love and IKEA and tries to explain why, sometimes, his dad might hold his hand just a little bit too tightly.  

This is an irresistible and insightful collection from one of the world's most beautiful storytellers.

©2019 Fredrik Backman (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Not like his novels

Whilst I have loved everything else I’ve read from him, this is much less subtle & I was disappointed.

Much of the parenting advice rings true

Some snort-out-your-drink moments, a lot of the parenting advice/stories rings true.

Backman really lays his own life bare here, a few secrets and anecdotes from his own family's vaults, as he speaks to his baby son in chapters that give him all the advice he'll need for when he's older.

The audiobook highlights the hilarity of the author's compositions, the narrator bringing his work to life with gusto. I laughed aloud while walking and driving at times.

From the joys of 'poop' (though I disagree with the author over the centrality of this to the life of the new parent - for me it was feeds that everything rested on), the book takes in various topics including finding a life partner and various milestones of parenthood, as well as more general life advice. Backman tells stories of his own marriage and life, making this part biography as he also makes this a future guide for his child.

I've already recommended this to friends with children or who are planning on having them. It's a joyous and lively listen, a lot of it rings true, and for parents it would be just as useful as any of the parenting books out there.

With thanks to Nudge Books for providing a sample Audible copy.

Frederic Backman does it again

if love can be described ,it is in this book. I laughed I cried. Frederic Backman has a way of speaking to the heart, unedited honesty. I was so sad when the book ended.