Misfit: A Survival Guide - Hardcover

Mortimer, Sean; Hawk, Tony

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593726677 ISBN 13: 9780593726679

Publisher: Random House Inc, 2026

Synopsis

"You're weird." "Sorry." "No, that was a compliment." —Donnie Darko

When the whole world appears designed to make you just fit in, Misfit urges you to listen to your oddball self and seek out an original path.

Will it be easy? Predictable? Understood and supported by the masses? No.

But will it be dynamic, full of wild expression, and fill you with a joyful sense of discovery? Yes.

Sean Mortimer—a celebrated writer who started as a skateboarder alongside Tony Hawk—collaborates with internationally acclaimed misfits whose unconventional heat has warped how the world perceives music, sports and art. These iconic nonconformists did not start out as the celebrated renegades we see today. Each pushed through the initial pain and isolation of social rejection, overcoming self-doubt with erratic experimentation to reach a destination overflowing with conviction, gratitude, and their own version of success.

Steering readers through the subcultures of alternative music and sports, Dungeons & Dragons, “illegal” art and other disenfranchised movements, Misfit shows how deep drive, relentless innovation and unregulated creativity are the survival skills of misfit life. Detailing stories of awkward childhoods, teenage angst and unconventional adulthood from game changing outcasts, Mortimer demonstrates how the will to break rules, fight blind obedience, and reject “normal” ultimately sparks a curiosity that leads to a new form of confidence and a thriving, open-minded approach to life.

About this title

About the Author

Sean Mortimer books include HAWK: Occupation: Skateboarder (coauthored with Tony Hawk), and The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself (coauthored with Rodney Mullen). In a previous life, he was a sponsored skateboarder and editor of SkateBoarder magazine, and he has written about outcast lifestyles for the LA Times. He lives in Southern California with his wife and sons.

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House Inc
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593726677
• ISBN 13: 9780593726679
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320