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Learn how Eric Metaxas became the thought leader he is today. Now in paperback!

What Happens When One of America’s Most Admired Biographers Writes His Own Biography?

For Eric Metaxas, the answer is Fish Out of Water: A Search for the Meaning of Life—a poetic and sometimes hilarious memoir of his early years, in which the Queens-born son of Greek and German immigrants struggles to make sense of a world in which he never quite seems to fit.

Renowned for his biographies of William Wilberforce, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Martin Luther, Metaxas is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, the witty host of the acclaimed Socrates in the City conversation series, and a nationally syndicated radio personality. But here he reveals a personal story few have heard, taking us from his mostly happy childhood—and riotous triumphs at Yale—to the nightmare of drifting toward a dark abyss of meaninglessness from which he barely escapes.

Along the way he introduces us to an unforgettable troupe of picaresque characters who join this quintessentially first-generation American boy in what is both bildungsroman and odyssey—and which underscores just how funny, serious, happy, sad, and ultimately meaningful life can be.

About the Author

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Eric Metaxas is an author whose books have been translated into twenty-five languages. The host of a nationally syndicated radio show and the acclaimed conversation series Socrates in the City, he is a prominent cultural commentator whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, The Atlantic, and the Wall Street Journal. He lives with his family in New York City.

Praise For…

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“At once an absorbing confessional memoir, a work of faith, a comedy and a literary achievement, Fish Out of Water by Eric Metaxas is one of the best books I’ve read [this year]. Gorgeously written, fun and spiritually enriching, deeply literate and hugely entertaining…” — Mark Judge, Stream.org

 

“How do brave men advance through adversity with courage and then summon courage from the rest of us?  Read Eric Metaxas’s artfully scrappy memoir to cultivate courage and meet the public intellectual behind the books that we love.  This memoir stands as a beacon to a world lost to us, and casts a tractor beam to a future which demands virtue, bravery, courage, and personal sacrifice…” — Rosaria Butterfield, author of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert

“According to Dostoevsky, when Russian boys meet, they talk about God. Reading the book by Eric Metaxas, I felt the author and myself as such Russian boys. His youth was spent in the USA, mine in the USSR – countries, to put it mildly, very different. Despite this, we are remarkably similar. This concerns our first literary impressions (special thanks to “Werther”!), our first own discoveries, and most importantly – what is commonly called universal values. Only good books create unity between author and reader – wherever each of them may live.  Fish Out of Water is such a book. It sparkles with wonderful humor. This only happens with the most serious books.”
— Eugene Vodolazkin, author of Laurus

“The story rolls along and carries us with it, hilarious and heart-breaking by turns, vivid and contemplative, and regularly touched with poetry. Eric Metaxas is a brilliant communicator.”
— Frederica Mathewes-Green, “Author of At the Corner of East and Now and The Illumined Heart”?

“A wonderful story wonderfully told. Eric Metaxas knows how to tell complex things simply, and serious things with lively wit. He is that rare and delightful being: a terrific writer with something important to say.”
— Andrew Klavan, international bestselling author, two-time Edgar Award winner

“This memoir of one of our best writer’s coming of age is a beautiful thing: deeply intelligent, spiritually acute, and laugh-out-loud funny.” — Bret Lott, bestselling author of fourteen books including Jewel, an Oprah Book Club selection

“…Fish Out of Water masterfully mixes a coming-of-age story with deeply introspective questions.…This is what the world needs right now.”
— Western Journal

“Writing is an art form in its own right, every bit as admirable as painting, sculpture, theater and music, as Eric Metaxas … so ably demonstrates [in Fish Out of Water], a memoir of his life that meticulously details ordinary and extraordinary personal events with charismatic finesse… deep insight and laugh-out-loud humor. [A] thoroughly delightful read, a top candidate for anyone’s summer (or even spring) reading list.”
— The Washington Times

“A profoundly moving memoir.”
— Booklist (Starred Review)

“…a narrative reminiscent of Saint Augustine’s Confessions, Metaxas delivers a warts-and-all exploration of his youth” — Kirkus