Four years after the death of Neil Peart, the Rush drummer’s final book is set for publication.
Silver Surfers, subtitled Sports Cars of the Sixties, documents Peart’s auto obsession. “For Neil Peart, cars were a lifelong passion, and in his final literary creation, he writes about his beloved Silver Surfers collection; the joy of collecting these exquisite, rare, and important sports cars, and the myriad ways that they brought him great joy,” the book’s synopsis states. “Silver Surfers is an homage to these cars that meant so much to him, and to the passion of the road that fueled his life.”
Silver Surfers, due out May 7 via Insight Editions, is available to preorder now through the Rush website. The 96-page coffee table book also contains a foreword written by his widow Carrie Nuttall-Peart.
In a statement prior to his death, Peart said of what would ultimately be his final book, “The title Silver Surfers for my collection of cars occurred to me while driving my DB5 up and down the Pacific Coast Highway. Because it felt right to me, I guess – the idea that I was just one of the wave riders…”
He continued, “In search of natural peace, I often drove out that way and up in to the Santa Monica Mountains. Out past Malibu to Ventura County, I’d weave along barren ridges of rock and vegetation, the ocean always on one big side… The waves were slow and gentle, or churned out a powerful, rolling rhythm…”
In addition to being a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted musician and the fourth-greatest drummer of all time, Peart as writer also amassed an extensive bibliography with books both fiction and non-fiction. Peart penned a handful of travel memoirs detailing a bicycle trip in West Africa and a journey through Big Bend National Park, as well as collaborated with sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson; their final book together, Clockwork Destiny, was released in 2022.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Silver Surfers will go toward the Neil Peart Memorial at Lakeside Park and the American Brain Tumor Association from The Estate of Neil Peart.