No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality, by Michael J. Fox

As a longtime Michael J. Fox fan and enjoyer of his two previous books, I naturally wanted to read — or in this case, listen to, in audiobook form read by the author — his latest book, in which Fox reflects on where is in his late 50s (he’s now almost 62, but the book was written a couple of years ago and published in the fall of 2020). The Parkinson’s Disease that he’s been living with for 30 years has continued to impact his ability to work as an actor, even as it’s led him into a new career as an activist raising awareness and money for Parkinson’s research. In recent years he’s also had to deal with spinal surgery for a benign tumour, as well as a series of falls and broken bones. All of these experiences, along with worsening speech difficulties and memory loss due to Parkinson’s, led to Fox fully retiring from acting in 2021.

The subtitle of this memoir is telling, because ever since he went public with his diagnosis three decades ago, Fox’s public persona has been all about optimism. Yes, his promising career was cut short and his life made far more difficult by a degenerative disease when he was still a very young man, but he’s made his brand all about positivity, gratitude for his wife and family, and the good he’s been able to do in the world as a high-profile person bringing attention to Parkinson’s Disease.

All those things are still there in No Time Like the Future, but so is a lot of raw and sometimes painful honesty about how difficult it’s been for him to navigate these past few years. There’s still a lot of gratitude and optimism, but it feels more hard-won, even though the author’s voice (both metaphorically, on the page, and literally in the audiobook) is still fairly light with plenty of humour.