The book begins with the sentence, “I was born with an eccentric heart.” Through his storytelling you learn that to be a true statement, but for diehard fans of U2, you probably already felt it through his lyrics. But one aspect about his heart that was not so widely known, you’ll read about in the book.

Each chapter is titled after one of the many U2 songs that we have all grown up listening to but they are not strictly about the songs, per say. Bono weaves tales from his childhood and upbringing in a split Protestant/Catholic family, living through unrest and car bombs in an around Dublin, dating, meeting his bandmates, rehearsing, touring, and longing for his mother Iris who passed when he was just a boy.

His earliest musical inspiration, The Ramones got him to play and write his own music. One of the most significant days that he can recall was on his 18th birthday in 1978 he would write what would turn out to be the track Out Of Control, and from there, as we say, was history.

“I was born with melodies in my head, and I was looking for a way to hear them in the world.“

For Bono, “Growing up in Ireland, it felt as if the future was always somewhere else.” He is a dreamer. He has a deep understanding and appreciation for life and when he thinks, it’s on the grandest of scales. “Everything we do, think, feel, imagine, discuss, is framed by the notion of whether our death is the end, or the beginning of something else.“ Bono has contemplated many things in life, but the one thing that he knew for sure was that “songs are my prayers”.

He’s been called by his given name Paul David Hewson, and by made up nicknames like Steinvich von Heischen, given to him by his best friend since childhood, Guggi. But the name, person, singer and humanitarian that we are all familiar with continues to walk this earth as Bono.