The Author (Billy Baker)

Author and narrator Billy Baker is an American journalist working for the Boston Globe newspaper. As his narrative begins he is in his early forties married and the father of two young sons. Throughout the book, he portrays himself in various ways that are couched in humorous terms, but which suggest somewhat difficult self-perceptions – as a loser, as old, and as someone in danger of both lacking friends and experiencing the consequent negative impacts of loneliness.

At the beginning of the book, Baker outlines a set of circumstances that, as he describes them, brings him face-to-face with all these uncomfortable aspects of himself. The point at which his editor / boss assigns him to write a research-based article about the physical consequences of loneliness marks the beginning of Baker’s journey of both self-discovery and recognition of some important, and arguably universal, truths. Those truths...