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The World is What it Is is the authorized biography of V. S. Naipaul by Patrick French, which has been extensively reviewed, including Naipaul's former acolyte, Paul Theroux. Summary of the Book The World is What it Is is the autobiography of the Nobel Prize-winning writer and one of the most important literary figures of the last fifty years, V. S. Naipaul. With great feeling for his formidable body of work, and special access to his private papers and personal memories, Patrick French has chronicled an astounding account of a genius. The book depicts how Naipaul looks delicately and unflinchingly at his relationships, his growth as a writer and as an individual, his frankness, his unmatched ingenuity, and his amazing and enduring position both outside and at the very centre of literary culture. This biography was selected as one of the Times’ 10 Best Books of 2008 by the editors of the New York Times Book Review, and had won the National Book Critics Award in Biography in 2008. About Patrick French Patrick French is a British writer and historian. He studied English and American literature at the University of Edinburgh. Based in London, French has also authored the biography of Francis Younghusband called Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer, and India: A Portrait – An Intimate Biography of 1.2 Billion People. French was a Green Party candidate for parliament during the 1992 general election. He has sat on the executive committee of the Tibet Support Group UK. He was also a founding member of the inter-governmental India-UK Round Table. Some of his other works are: Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History of a Lost Land, and Liberty or Death: India’s Journey to Independence and Division.