“I was born with an eccentric heart.” A unique book by a combative artist who finds he is at his best when he learns to surrender. In a relentless, introspective yet enlightening narrative taking the form of episodes, the life of Bono unfolds, organized – though not very neatly – around 40 songs from U2.

Growing up in Northside Dublin with a Catholic father and a Protestant mother during a time when dogmatic violence was peaking in Ireland, Bono faced the loss of his mother at the age of fourteen, which crystallized the sense of absence that shaped his search for family. He began his life feeling mediocre, but throughout his life, he has battled the notion that anyone is mediocre.

His creativity is chaotic but always present… in the studio, on stage, in protest, in the halls of Congress, and at the corner bar. We read about his outbursts of anger that color his writings around love and non-violence, and we hear him acknowledge an ego “much larger than my self-esteem.” Over four decades, U2 transformed from aspiring teenage rock stars into the biggest band in the world, while Bono evolved from a part-time activist into a full-time force in the fight for the debt relief of poor countries and for government action, especially from the U.S., on the global health crisis of AIDS.

We stand by him during the birth of PEPFAR, the Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which at that time was the largest intervention in medical history for addressing a single disease. He describes the One volunteer organization he co-founded as a “realist activist,” along with its sister organization, (RED), as an “antidote” to activism.

U2 fans will learn why Bono believes the band didn’t break up despite the personal struggles of its members and their fierce creative differences, as well as what the keys are that unlock the meaning of their most popular and influential songs. The doors to Bono’s inner life open. The waste of human potential is a recurring theme, as is faith, which he describes as discerning the signal from the noise, like a “quiet little voice” that he hears louder in his marriage, in his music, and in his fight against extreme poverty.

Above all, Surrender is a love story written to his wife, Ali, whom he asked to go out with him the week the band had its first rehearsal. Alison Stewart provides guidance in every significant scene of this drama, including the third act in which they now enter, with more questions than answers about what it is worth fighting for and when to surrender.