Seven Things About Paul

Takeaways from Paul Newman's memoir, The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man:

1. It doesn't matter how handsome, successful, or happy you are as an adult, it's incredibly difficult to overcome the lack of self-confidence and self-esteem that bad parenting produces.

2. People who seem to have it made actually struggle just like the rest of us.  

3. Actors are very competitive. 

4. Joanne Woodward is a hell of a fine person.

5. Even really high-quality, high effort practical jokes are stupid.    

6. Childhood photographs are golden.

7. Having your friends talk about you or give their versions of what you're describing takes a lot of courage, and is a really effective technique in a memoir.

Excerpt:

You work what you consider pretty hard at your craft and develop in a slow and painful way, and you're getting to the point where you're just starting to feel kind of good about yourself -- and not just the way you look -- and then somebody says, "Oh, God, take off your sunglasses so I can see your baby blue eyes!" All the self-esteem you've managed to build up goes right out the window.