Bookclub: Le prime quindici vite di Harry August

These notes are for me, to keep track and remember and fix a moment in my timeline life to reflect about BOOKS. This is not a review of the book, an analysis of what the author shared with us. It is just what the book give to me, my ideas about it.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, not easy to forget

In july 2026 I’ve read this book in the italian version, written by C. North that it brings me in the middle of the story from the first page. It starts with the narrator saying to you that he spoke with a children in his eight life. This is how the author kicks out any doubt about the story that already the title suggested to you. Harry August born, live and died as everybody. The difference is that after the death he is reborning again, in the same house, with the same parents in the same historical moment. You discover it almost immediately as I was saying and the curiosity about this incredible fate brings you and seal your mind in the pages of the book. The story it’s all about him, living a life after the other, discovering is not the only person in the world with this “syndrom”, they are the huroboans and they try to help each other, especially in the childhood when at 6 yo they bring back all their memories, to start the new life, without having to do all the common steps for a child; this organization it’s called teh Chronus Club. After few pages we discover that Harry is not like the others, it’s a niche in the niche, since he’s a mnemonic and differently from the others he’s able to memorize all the years he’s living. So the story continue till his nine life, when something start to change and here the narrative book begins more a thriller, till the clear end (visible since the title) of his 15th life.

My Opinion

I really found the book incredible good, deep in the narrative with a clear idea of the scope and a strong influence a connection with the story, lefting me each

What it triggers in my mind

And then, in August 2025, they made it official. “Omega approved you. You will be an Official timekeeper at the Milano-Cortina Olympic Games.”

February 2026 arrived. Writing that sentence still feels strange. The Games were at home, in Italy, and I got to be part of the machine that makes them run: one tiny, punctual gear in an enormous clockwork. The level is different in every way: the athletes, the crowd, the broadcast, the equipment for the volunteers, the judges. The pressure on them is pretty high, with the awareness that a clock error isn’t a quiet mistake but one with the whole world watching. Omega repeated it many times: you are on TV, and the clock is on the world feed. I did the timers for very important matches, I was there for the gold medal mixed double match and trust me, see with your eyes people won the most important medal in their sport, it’s an unbelievable experience!

The job itself is beautifully humble. Nobody notices the timekeeper when everything goes right, and that’s precisely the point. Fun fact: I got the first click wrong, adding five seconds to the home team. After that, the whole Olympics went fantastically. I worked a little bit too much in my real job, and I could have been more present. They gave me a house a little far away, so I had to use the public bus a lot, but I felt great and still cannot believe I was able to join the Olympic Games. I did the whole tournament. The transport and my arrival were also very funny, but I have already talked too much about it.

I also did the Paralympics: only five days, but full of emotion. We stayed in the Olympic Village and, trust me, they are superheroes. I saw them doing the impossible, and they really inspired me.

What AI said about it

From a science festival in Genoa to a driving simulator for a hospital to the Olympic ice: apparently, my career strategy is saying yes to interesting rooms and figuring out the rest once I’m inside.

A presto — and good curling. 🥌