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  • The Bassoon King

  • My Life in Art, Faith, and Idiocy
  • Written by: Rainn Wilson
  • Narrated by: Rainn Wilson
  • Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (124 ratings)

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The Bassoon King cover art

The Bassoon King

Written by: Rainn Wilson
Narrated by: Rainn Wilson
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Publisher's Summary

Rainn Wilson’s memoir about growing up geeky and finally finding his place in comedy, faith, and life.

For nine seasons Rainn Wilson played Dwight Schrute, everyone's favorite work nemesis and beet farmer. Viewers of The Office fell in love with the character and grew to love the actor who played him even more. Rainn founded a website and media company, SoulPancake, that eventually became a best-selling book of the same name. He also started a hilarious Twitter feed (sample tweet: “I'm not on Facebook” is the new “I don't even own a TV”) that now has more than four million followers.

Now, he's ready to tell his own story and explain how he came up with his incredibly unique sense of humor and perspective on life. He explains how he grew up “bone-numbingly nerdy before there was even a modicum of cool attached to the word”. The Bassoon King chronicles his journey from nerd to drama geek (“the highest rung on the vast, pimply ladder of high school losers”), his years of mild debauchery and struggles as a young actor in New York, his many adventures and insights about The Office, and finally, Wilson's achievement of success and satisfaction, both in his career and spiritually, reconnecting with the artistic and creative values of the Bahá’í faith he grew up in.

©2015 Rainn Wilson (P)2015 Penguin Audio

What the critics say

"Rainn Wilson narrates his own story with such perfection that the only disappointment is the fact that it ends. The memoir is smart, inspirational, and funny, so the addition of Wilson's performance adds delectable icing to a tasty cake." (AudioFile)

"Quirky, witty, literate." (Washington Post)

"Rainn Wilson's memoir captures essence of his offbeat humor." (Chicago Sun-Times)

What listeners say about The Bassoon King

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating book

Rainn both writes and reads in the most entertaining way!
Endlessly enjoyable.
I recommend it.
Rainn is a surprising person.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Best book I have listened to in a long time.

An exceptionally written book that takes you through the ups and down of Rainn's life that is both entertaining and new but oddly familiar in the way we see our own lives. Beautifully crafted 5 stars!!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great bio told very well

Rainn is a great storyteller and has lived a very interesting life. It was nice to hear about the office (I’m a big office fan) but also about rainns life and journey, his other projects and the baha faith. I never really knew what baha was before and kind of stayed away from churches for obvious reasons but I’m very interested in the faith and will continue to do research. Great read... or listen in this case

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent book

I very much enjoyed hearing about his quirky upbringing, pet sloth and getting knocked around while figuring out his path.

The whole narrative on his faith got to be too much for me, but that’s why you have the option to skip ahead.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • JP
  • 2020-07-31

What a beautiful soul

Some people are complaining that he talks about his faith too much, but that’s a big part of his life that he can’t just cut out. After listening to his journey, I think his view on life is lovely and he’s got a genuinely beautiful soul.

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  • RD
  • 2021-04-03

A fascinating read

Rainn Wilson has had an incredible life so far. his performance is engaging & entertaining.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Art, faith, idiocy add up to a great listen!

Rainn reads wonderfully, and having Dwight Schrute make some appearances is great fun. Always interested to hear about actors' lives and how they get where they are, and land in the roles which "change their lives" as he says. If you expect a tell all about the office, Rainn even tells you which parts to skip to get there. This is more about him, and a really wonderful section about how he used the resources, financial, and his training, along with his wife, Holiday, to make big differences for good and positive action in the world. Huge respect for them for that.
It's a very enjoyable book. With lots of insight from his faith and how he turns those teachings in to action. Also very interesting, without coming on as preaching. Lots to learn from him.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

What a trip

I deeply enjoyed this audiobook. Narration is excellent. Story is very interesting. Only negative is the choice of Dwight Kurt Schrute III for the preface of the book. Question : why has he been picked despite being condescending ? Question: how much was he paid ? I cannot believe Rainn would get along with this character... Alláh-u-Abhá!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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What a life... and it's not over yet

What a journey. I very much enjoyed listening to Rain reading the story of his life so far. An honest human story.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Insane Story

As an Office fan I’ve always loved Rainn Wilson, but I love him even more after hearing his book. His performance is excellent and hilarious, and the stories he tells of his life border on the unbelievable. We get to hear Dwight a few times in the book as well, which was fun. Wilson’s spirituality and altruism is so incredibly inspiring. This book isn’t just for fans of The Office, or even Rain Wilson. This book is for everybody.

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