Montaigne in Barn Boots

The beloved memoirist and bestselling author of Population: 485 reflects on the lessons he's learned from his unlikely alter ego, French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne.

"The journey began on a gurney," writes Michael Perry, describing the debilitating kidney stone that led him to discover the essays of Michel de Montaigne. Reading the philosopher in a manner he equates to chickens pecking at scraps-including those eye-blinking moments when the bird gobbles something too big to swallow-Perry attempts to learn what he can (good and bad) about himself as compared to a long-dead French nobleman who began speaking Latin at the age of two, went to college instead of kindergarten, worked for kings, and once had an audience with the Pope. Perry "matriculated as a barn-booted bumpkin who still marks a second-place finish in the sixth-grade spelling bee as an intellectual pinnacle . . . and once said hello to Merle Haggard on a golf cart."

Written in a spirit of exploration rather than declaration, Montaigne in Barn Boots is a down-to-earth (how do you pronounce that last name?) look into the ideas of a philosopher "ensconced in a castle tower overlooking his vineyard," channeled by a midwestern American writing "in a room above the garage overlooking a disused pig pen." Whether grabbing an electrified fence, fighting fires, failing to fix a truck, or feeding chickens, Perry draws on each experience to explore subjects as diverse as faith, race, sex, aromatherapy, and Prince. But he also champions academics and aesthetics, in a book that ultimately emerges as a sincere, unflinching look at the vital need to be a better person and citizen.

Part humorous memoir, part philosophical exploration, this is a book for anyone asking the big questions from the front seat of a pickup truck.

• Blue-Collar Philosophy: What happens when a French nobleman in a castle is channeled by a Wisconsin writer overlooking a pig pen? A hilarious and surprisingly profound exploration of life’s biggest questions.
• Humorous Memoir: From kidney stones and electrified fences to fighting fires and failing to fix a truck, Perry finds unexpected wisdom in the absurdity of everyday life.
• Personal Growth: A book not of answers, but of exploration. Follow one man’s sincere, unflinching, and often funny attempt to become a better person and citizen.
• Down-to-Earth Humor: With the signature self-deprecating wit that made him a bestseller, Perry proves that deep thoughts don’t require a stuffy library—just a pair of barn boots.