One of Esquire’ s best books of spring 2022 An extended meditation on late style and last works from “one of our greatest living critics” (Kathryn Schulz, New York ). How and when do artists and athletes know that their careers are coming to an end? What if the end comes early in a writer’s life? How to keep going even as the ability to do so diminishes? In this ingeniously structured investigation, Geoff Dyer sets his own encounter with late middle age against the last days and last works of writers, painters, musicians, and sports stars who’ve mattered to him throughout his life. With playful charm and penetrating intelligence, he considers Friedrich Nietzsche’s breakdown in Turin, Bob Dylan’s reinventions of old songs, J.M.W. Turner’s proto-abstract paintings of blazing light, Jean Rhys’s late-life resurgence, and John Coltrane’s final works. Ranging from Burning Man to Beethoven, from Eve Babitz to William Basinski, and from Annie Dillard to Giorgio de Chirico, Dyer’s study of last things is also a book about how to go on living with art and beauty―and the sudden rejuvenation offered by books, films, and music discovered late in life. Praised by Kathryn Schulz as “one of our greatest living critics, not of the arts but of life itself,” and by Tom Bissell as “perhaps the most bafflingly great writer at work in the English language today,” Dyer has now blended criticism, memoir, and badinage of the most serious kind into something entirely new. The Last Days of Roger Federer is a summation of Dyer’s passions and the perfect introduction to his sly and joyous work. "A masterful, beautiful, reluctantly moving book―that is, moving despite its subject being naturally moving, courting no pathos, shrewd and frank―and Dyer’s best in some time. Indeed, one of his best, period . . . [ The Last Days of Roger Federer ], if it heralds a late style, promises [this]: a powerful and funny mind, ranging across the canons of both art and experience, cutting closer toward deep truths, telling us what things are like when time is shortening." ―Charles Finch, Los Angeles Times "The capaciousness of Dyer’s themes allow him to roam widely . . . [Dyer] has a joyous appreciation of the transcendent and the triumphant . . . Like Federer, it is a reserve of flair, touch, timing and a keen eye that keeps him in the game." ―Nicholas Wroe, The Guardian "Affirming and moving . . . [Dyer's] wit, a distinctive and delicious blend of salty, sweet and snarky, is on frequent display in his wonderful book ." ―Troy Jollimore, The Washington Post "Dyer, having set out to write a book about endings, is drawn to endlessness, to the way that one thing leads to another . . . There are some gorgeous passages in The Last Days of Roger Federer , some marvelous bits of criticism, some enthralling descriptions of psychedelics." ―Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times "Calling a book a 'tour de force' almost certainly means it isn’t, but this book…is a tour de force." ―Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution " The Last Days of Roger Federer speaks from within the finitude that holds sway over every human attempt to defy the odds and make a success of one’s life or art . . . Memorable." ―Robert Pogue Harrison, The New York Review of Books "[Dyer is] a writer who loves to frolic in the field of ideas as freely as Federer deploys his unsurpassed array of shots . . . Reading this book is a joyful experience . . . Dyer’s exploration into mortality is often propelled into the sunlight." ―Joel Drucker, Racquet "Dyer’s mix of sparkling prose, rich insight, and mordant wit suggests that a well-lived life is worth even the bitterest of endings. It makes for a smart, memorable take." ― Publishers Weekly “Tennis, jazz, Dylan, movies, drugs, Nietzsche, Beethoven. So why am I laughing? Because Geoff Dyer once again melds commentary and observation with intellect and wit. Bouncing between criticism and memoir, Dyer is one of the few writers whose paragraphs I can immediately reread and get more from. The twists, turns, and delights abound, and when you finally put the book down you think, 'Oh, yes, I’ve always been this smart, haven’t I?'” ―Steve Martin "More than its title would suggest, The Last Days of Roger Federer is an engaging series of meditations on mental and physical sunsets in the lives of painters, musicians, philosophers, poets, boxers, and of course tennis players. Dyer the stylist is at the top of his game here, serving up conundrums, paradoxes, logical binds, and other cerebral delights. Even his syntax is witty. This generous offering of Dyer’s insightful, often hilarious, take on art, life, and sports is a feast for his readers." ―Billy Collins, former United States Poet Laureate "Just like Roger Federer's backhand Geoff Dyer's swing is a thing of beauty, complete with his signature follow through. He captures so much, touches so much and amuses the while. This form-blending book is extremely smart, wise, an