In December last year, I read Matt Haig’s ‘The Midnight Library’ and wrote a review calling it the best book I’d read in 2020. I wanted everyone to read it. I’ve been meaning to buy a few copies and gift it to some of my friends and relatives. Thinking about it still makes me warm and giddy.

Since then, I’ve followed Matt Haig on Twitter and searched for his books everywhere I went. He is a writer who creates highly imaginative worlds and I want more. Haig has written a few non-fiction books and lots of children’s stories. Sadly, his books aren’t widely available here in Nepal and I want physical copies rather than digital editions. So, I haven’t been able to read any of his fascinating sounding children’s books, like ‘The Truth Pixie’, ‘To Be a Cat’ and ‘The Girl Who Saved Christmas’.

I did, however, find ‘Notes on a Nervous Planet’ and though it’s non-fiction, I bought it straight away because it was Haig. The Midnight Library had me convinced that you couldn’t go wrong with him. I wasn’t disappointed.

His writing style in Notes on a Nervous Planet is very conversational. It’s almost as if a friend is talking to you. Haig doesn’t beat around the bush and puts things quite bluntly. Thus, the chapters are short and you don’t feel like you are hearing/reading the same thing for 500 words when a 100 would have sufficed.

Many of the things he talks about in the book—the role of social media in our lives, how news makes us more anxious, and why humans always want more—are issues we are well aware of. But Haig doesn’t only talk about the problems. He offers solutions to those problems as well. It gets you thinking. There are also lists of things you’d do well to remember. These are the bits that have had me dipping in and out of the book time and again.

I know there are many self-help books out there that offer similar advice and that Haig’s book isn’t unique or important. But the fact that Haig has been through many of the problems himself makes his advice meaningful. You want to take Haig’s advice because you know they are tried and tested. His words feel honest and he is really witty too. In a way, reading Notes on a Nervous Planet makes you feel a little less lonely.

On Twitter, Haig is vocal about mental health issues, mainly anxiety and depression. When he was 24, Haig wanted to kill himself and he stopped just a step away from jumping off a cliff. How he got from there to where he is today is a lesson in itself and we can learn a lot of that from Notes on a Nervous Planet.

Non-fiction

Notes on a Nervous Planet

Matt Haig

Published: 2018

Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd

Language: English

Pages: 310, Paperback