© Rudolf Schuba/Flickr Creative Commons License

Imagine for a moment that you are 65, working for one of the biggest marketing agencies in the world, engaging in an extra-marital affair, and living the Big Apple high-life. Yet suddenly, in the blink of an eye, you find yourself without a job, shunned by your family and ex-colleagues, and diagnosed with a brain tumour–all at the same time. This may sound like an absurd movie script, yet it is in fact the true story of Michael Gates Gill, author of How Starbucks Saved My Life.

The son of a prominent literary figure, Brendan Gill, Michael’s privileged background led him through Yale and subsequently to JWT, frequenting circles that included the likes of Jackie Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Robert Frost and Ernest Hemingway since his childhood. Handling multi-million dollar accounts, flying across the world and barely enjoying his family had become fixed elements of his seemingly satisfied existence. Yet in the blink of an eye, he suddenly finds himself donning a green Starbucks apron and serving lattes on 93rd Street in his inspiring bid to overcome the impossible.

As you practically devour the pages of his book, enthralled by his light yet contemporaneously deep writing style, Michael reveals to us how whether we realise it or not, our lives are an expression of perpetual growth. Not merely in the physical sense, of course, but also in the intellectual, cultural and spirital sense of the word. It doesn’t matter whether you are 5 or 85; whether you live in the middle of a bustling metropolis and catch more planes than busses, or whether you are dispersed amongst nature–each day is a tiny awakening.

With the book having been optioned by Tom Hanks for an upcoming film, How Starbucks Saved My Life will have you thinking outside the box and questioning the true essence of happiness. So love it or hate it, it seems that Starbucks does have a purpose beyond coffee (and Dsquared fashion) after all.