''Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me'' is a 2017 memoir by

Janet Mock Janet Mock (born March 10, 1983) is an American writer, television producer, and transgender rights activist. Her debut book, the memoir '' Redefining Realness'', became a ''New York Times'' bestseller. She is a contributing editor for ''Marie ...

. Following on her 2014 memoir, ''Redefining Realness'', which described Mock's childhood and adolescence, ''Surpassing Certainty'' deals with her early adulthood. It received favorable reviews.

Publication

Published June 13, 2017 by the

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imprint of

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

, ''Surpassing Certainty'' is Mock's second memoir, following her 2014 ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' bestseller '' Redefining Realness''. The book's title is an allusion to

Audre Lorde Audre Lorde ( ; born Audrey Geraldine Lorde; February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992) was an American writer, professor, philosopher, Intersectional feminism, intersectional feminist, poet and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "Bl ...

, who wrote, "And at last you'll know with surpassing certainty that only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking."

Content

Following on the discussion of her childhood and adolescence in ''Redefining Realness'', in ''Surpassing Certainty'', Mock describes life in her twenties. The story, begins sometime before she struck the ''twenty'' mark. She was at an age when, as a youth, she had a lot to try and a lot of ' obsolete rules ' to break as depicted in a briefing on Amazon.

Reception

Writing in ''The New York Times'',

Jennifer Finney Boylan Jennifer Finney Boylan (born June 22, 1958) is an American author, transgender activist, professor at Barnard College, and a former contributing opinion writer for the ''New York Times''. In December 2023, she became the president of PEN America ...

described ''Surpassing Certainty'' as "position ngits story within a larger history of a struggle for human rights. But Mock’s book is also a work of the heart, much of it focusing on the dissolution of her first marriage, and her journey from a

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strip club to an editor at ''People'' magazine." ''

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'' said the book "should be required reading for your 20s." ''

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'' named to a list of three "must-read" books for June 2017.

References

{{authority control 2017 non-fiction books Transgender autobiographies American memoirs 2010s LGBTQ literature LGBTQ literature in the United States Literature by African-American women African-American autobiographies Atria Publishing Group books 2017 LGBTQ-related literary works