My Own Devices: True Stories from the Road on Music, Science, and Senseless Love
4.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Dessa defies category—she is an intellectual with an international rap career and an inhaler in her backpack; a creative writer fascinated by philosophy and behavioral science; and a funny, charismatic performer dogged by blue moods and heartache. She's ferocious on stage and endearingly neurotic in the tour van. Her stunning literary debut memoir stitches together poignant insights on love, science, and language—a demonstration of just how far the mind can travel while the body is on a six-hour ride to the next gig.
In "The Fool That Bets Against Me," Dessa writes to Geico to request a commercial insurance policy for the broken heart that's helped her write so many sad songs. "A Ringing in the Ears" tells the story of her father building a wooden airplane in their backyard garage. In "Congratulations," she describes the challenge of recording a song for The Hamilton Mixtape in a Minneapolis basement, straining for a high note and hoping for a break. "Call off Your Ghost" chronicles the fascinating project she undertook with a team of neuroscientists to try and clinically excise romantic feelings for an old flame. Her writing is infused with scientific research, dry wit, a philosophical perspective, and an abiding tenderness for the people she tours with and the people she leaves behind to be on the road.
My Own Devices is an uncompromising and candid account of a life in motion, in music, and in love. Dessa is as compelling on the page as she is onstage, making My Own Devices the debut of a unique and deft literary voice.
Related to My Own Devices
Related audiobooks
The Wild Edge of The Heart: Women Poets Raise Their Voices Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMay Tomorrow Be Awake: On Poetry, Autism, and Our Neurodiverse Future Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5B. J. Harrison Reads Head and Shoulders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDown from Troy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Exile Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear of Flying Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Art of Youth: Crane, Carrington, Gershwin, and the Nature of First Acts Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Life Interrupted: The Unfinished Monologue Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Interference: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lot Six: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5So Many Roads: The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Low Down: Junk, Jazz, and Other Fairy Tales from Childhood Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ruffhouse: From the Streets of Philly to the Top of the '90s Hip-Hop Charts Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Encore: A Memoir in Three Acts Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America with a Typewriter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Falling Between Us Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5AfriCANthology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thunder Song: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kindred Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cello Still Sings: A Generational Story of the Holocaust and of the Transformative Power of Music Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHome Before Daylight: My Life on the Road with the Grateful Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5B. J. Harrison Reads Classic Scary Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLethal Melodies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNot For You: Pearl Jam and the Present Tense Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Empire of Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hallucinations from Hell: Confessions of an Angry Samoan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlexa, what is there to know about love? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummer Snow: New Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Blue Flower Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Artists and Musicians For You
Killing the Legends: The Lethal Danger of Celebrity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Scar Tissue Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary: Greenlights: by Matthew McConaughey: Key Takeaways, Summary & Analysis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I Would Leave Me If I Could.: A Collection of Poetry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Adversity for Sale: Ya Gotta Believe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leonardo da Vinci Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Van Gogh: The Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chita: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Marathon Don't Stop: The Life and Times of Nipsey Hussle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Storyteller: Expanded: ...Because There's More to the Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Perfect Union of Contrary Things Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Robin Williams: When the Laughter Stops 1951 - 2014 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo's Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5More Myself: A Journey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Faith, Hope and Carnage Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dolly Parton: The Life of a Legendary American Singer, Actor, and Businesswoman Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Karma: My Autobiography Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jimmy Buffett: A Good Life All the Way Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Me: Elton John Official Autobiography Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Autobiography of Gucci Mane Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Effin' Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Heart: Frida Kahlo in Paris Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for My Own Devices
18 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unsurprisingly, Dessa is a beautiful writer, with small shockingly insightful observations all over. Much of the book is various descriptions of her attempts to fall out of love with her ex, including with biofeedback training, because they loved each other but couldn’t be good for each other. As she says, polyamory wasn’t for her, and perhaps separately she didn’t want to explain it to her family: “although I admire the zero-fucks-given attitude of my radical friends, I give plenty of fucks. I hand them out like perfume samples at the mall, in fact.”
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is an excellent book. The writing is thoughtful, and intriguing. She presents a very honest and unvarnished account of her life without being self absorbed.
I know next to nothing about rap and had never heard of Dessa. I have no idea where I heard about this book, but I'm glad I did.