My Choice of Words

by Peter James Russell

A beautiful collection of thoughts, views and biographical notes from a completely unkown man you'd wish to meet.

228 pages, Paperback

Published May 14, 2021

About the author

I was born in Edinburgh and live in Brussels. I am the author of The Drawing Board, My Choice of Words and Clearing My Throat. Selected Poems.

As Peter Russell, I am the co-editor (with Senta Slingerland) of Game Changers. The Evolution of Advertising.

Reviews

[Patti Sallemeyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost as good as sharing a pintje with him in full flood at Martine on a Thursday night ...

[Will Awdry · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Peter Russell's writing, the choices he makes in life and in his sentences are sewn together in concise, elegant and lucid prose. Following his fascinating footsteps has planted seeds in my imagination that will not stop growing. Nakedly honest and warmly generous, this book is the definition of benign companionship - a conversation that will warm you in the best sense.

[Sergio GRANDE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here’s the analogy: You meet a guy at a dinner party. No one you’ve particularly heard of but when he tells a story about the day his mother died, he seems honest, intelligent and interesting. He appears disarmingly vulnerable in his simplicity –you will soon find out he is an advertising man who made a living out of convincing you to buy things you didn’t need but he seems sincere and the conversation is personal.

So he tells another story, and yet another one. And you hang to his every word. You want him to hog the conversation all night long. He also wants to. You both relish it.

In jumping from topic to topic, you find out that he’s written a very memorable piece of advertising or two and a Hall of Fame payoff line for a newspaper. He tells you in the most unaffected, insouciant way that has three daughters, one gay, one with Down Syndrome, not 100% white any of them, pass me the salad, please.

The stranger then rambles on about this and that –sometimes very interesting thoughts, others strange. His views on Healing and Entitlement are worthy of framing (so are his differentiations between true and truth and between identity and personality); his rants against the European Union or Parliament or Commission (I don’t know which is which, I don’t care either) are proof that no one is perfect. I strike him down one star for writing that chapter. But I award him an extra star for not giving us a whole chapter about Elvis Costello.

Give it a good try; it’s a quick read -best I think if you consume 5 or 6 short chapters a day.

[Andrej Arsenijevic · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Choice of Words is an honest story about life with many fantastic points of view. If you want to learn, be provoked, and inspired, this book is for you. Give it a few pages, and it gets thought-provoking and hooks you in.

It’s well written (despite doubters from early in Peter’s career) and accurate, which I can vouch personally, having played a small part in a few of these stories. This book features a well-articulated perspective on family, politics, advertising, and music, among other topics.

Did I mention that it’s funny too?
You’ll love it.

[Nathalie Paulger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It makes you laugh and it makes you think.