Autobiography by Paul Shepheard uses the genre's conventions to ask a genuinely disorienting question: if there is no past and no future, only an ever-present now, what exactly does a life story record?
About This Book
Shepheard begins with a deceptively simple premise — that the present moment is all that exists — and uses it to reframe what autobiography can be. Rather than a chronological account of events, this book treats a life as a single sustained present, held together by memory and physical evidence. It is a work that sits at the intersection of philosophy, personal narrative, and architectural thinking, asking how long a moment can be: the blink of an eye, the length of a pop song, or an entire human life. For readers interested in memory, time, and the construction of selfhood, this is a rare book that uses the personal form to reach genuinely conceptual territory.
Key Features
- 224 pages of philosophical autobiography and personal narrative
- Features Ruby Warrington, daughter of Paul Shepheard and author of Sober Curious
- Published by Canalside Press, 2018
What You'll Discover
- A sustained argument that the present moment — not the past — is the true subject of any autobiography
- An interrogation of how memory and physical evidence construct what we believe we know about our own lives
- The question of temporal scale: whether a moment lasts a twentieth of a second or an entire lifetime
- How the autobiographical form can carry philosophical weight without sacrificing personal specificity
About the Author
Paul Shepheard lives in London and has taught at international and UK universities, including the Architectural Association School of Architecture. His previous publications include Slogans and Battlecries (Canalside Press, 2020), Artificial Love (2003), and What is Architecture? (MIT Press, 1994).
Specifications
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 224
- Dimensions: 19 x 14.5 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781399998499
- Publisher: Canalside Press
- Publication Date: 2018
Perfect For: Architects, designers, and thinkers drawn to writing that moves between the personal and the philosophical — and readers who want autobiography to do more than recount events.