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It Takes Will

Hear the music that made him

Will Smith shares the songs that shaped his decades-long music career, along with commentary from the audiobook edition of WILL, for his Music+Talk show on Spotify.

Listen to It Takes Will.

Will by Will Smith, Mark Manson
Will by Will Smith, Mark Manson


WILL

AVAILABLE NOW

W i l l S m i t h
with Mark Manson

.

“The best memoir I’ve ever read”
— Oprah

One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the worlds of music and film that anyone has ever had.

Will Smith’s transformation from a fearful child in a tense West Philadelphia home to one of the biggest rap stars of his era and then one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood history, with a string of box office successes that will likely never be broken, is an epic tale of inner transformation and outer triumph, and Will tells it astonishingly well. But it's only half the story. 

Will Smith thought, with good reason, that he had won at life: not only was his own success unparalleled, his whole family was at the pinnacle of the entertainment world. Only they didn't see it that way: they felt more like star performers in his circus, a seven-days-a-week job they hadn't signed up for. It turned out Will Smith's education wasn't nearly over. 

This memoir is the product of a profound journey of self-knowledge, a reckoning with all that your will can get you and all that it can leave behind. Written with the help of Mark Manson, author of the multi-million-copy bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ckWill is the story of how one person mastered his own emotions, written in a way that can help everyone else do the same. Few of us will know the pressure of performing on the world's biggest stages for the highest of stakes, but we can all understand that the fuel that works for one stage of our journey might have to be changed if we want to make it all the way home. The combination of genuine wisdom of universal value and a life story that is preposterously entertaining, even astonishing, puts Will the book, like its author, in a category by itself.

Listen to Will read from the audiobook

Available for purchase at these retailers

Black artists and bookstores bring will to life

Penguin Press and Will Smith commissioned window displays from Black artists, based on chapters from Will, to be displayed at Black-owned bookstores around the world.

Fulton Street Books & Coffee in Tulsa, OK

Artist: Alexander Tamahn

Chapter 1: Fear

Fulton Street Books & Coffee in Tulsa, OK

Rofhiwa Book Cafe in Durham, NC

Artist: Wutang McDougal

Chapter 3: Performance

Rofhiwa Book Café in Durham, NC

Uncle Bobbie's Coffee & Books in Philadelphia, PA

Artist: Sonia Galiber

Chapter 5: Hope

Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books in Philadelphia, PA

The Lit. Bar in Bronx, NY

Artist: Alex Rivera

Chapter 7: Adventure

The Lit. Bar in Bronx, NY

Eso Won Bookstore in Los Angeles, CA

Artist: Kisasi Ramsess

Chapter 10: Alchemy

EsoWon Bookstore in Los Angeles, CA

44th & 3rd Bookseller in Atlanta, GA

Artist: Maurice Evans

Chapter 12: Desire

44th& 3rd Bookseller in Atlanta, GA

Source Booksellers in Detroit, MI

Artist: Rachelle Baker

Chapter 14: Boom

Source Booksellers in Detroit, MI

MahoganyBooks in Washington, DC

Artist: Paradise Vibing

Chapter 16: Purpose

MahoganyBooks in Washington, DC

Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery in Chicago, IL

Artist: David Ellis

Chapter 17: Perfection

Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery in Chicago, IL

Sevenoaks Bookshop in Kent, UK

Artist: Jade Pearl

Chapter 21: Love

Sevenoaks Bookshop in Kent, UK

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Watch artist B-Mike create the cover

Video courtesy of B-Mike.

For media requests, please contact - WS@ledecompany.com

Penguin Random House is proud to partner with these international publishers for the worldwide publication of Will.

Dar Altanweer Arabic Dobrovsky Czech Nieuw Amsterdam Dutch Editions Michel Lafon French Heyne Verlag German Patakis Greek LIBRI Hungarian Longanesi Italian Random House Korea Korean Insignis Polish Editora Best Seller LTDA Portuguese - Brazil Porto Portuguese - World excluding Brazil Lifestyle Romanian Bombora Russian Planeta Spanish Chi Ming Complex Chinese/Taiwanese Book Chef Ukranian

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