"I think, therefore I am."—René Descartes

"I am out with lanterns, looking for myself."—Emily Dickinson

"It is as hard to see one's self as to look backwards without turning round."—Henry David Thoreau

"I am I because my little dog knows me."—Gertrude Stein

"I'm glad I'm not me."—Bob Dylan

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."—Kurt Vonnegut

Are there many selves? Is there a true self? Are you the one you choose? Or are you the one that chooses you?

These and other age-old questions are answered by this collection of pithy sayings and witty rejoinders from the likes of William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Peter Sellers, Jean Paul-Sartre, Gertrude Stein, Carl Jung, Marilyn Monroe, and many more of history's most introspective—and, perhaps, narcissistic—writers, poets, philosophers, musicians, comedians, actors, and politicians. Conceived and edited by Joan Konner, the national bestselling author of The Atheist's Bible, this compendium reaches back across centuries of self-consciousness, self-doubt, and self-love to explore every facet of the idea of the self. The Book of I reminds us that we're not alone if we look in the mirror and wonder, "Who am I?"