Eric Dane Memoir "My Book of Days" Is Out, Read by Jacob Elordi

Eric Dane's memoir, My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments, went on sale on Tuesday, November 3, eight months after the actor died at 53. The book is out in hardcover, ebook and audiobook editions from The Open Field, the Penguin Random House imprint run by Maria Shriver.

Dane played Dr. Mark Sloan on Grey's Anatomy and Cal Jacobs on HBO's Euphoria. He announced in April 2025 that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as ALS. He died on February 19, 2026, of respiratory failure related to the disease.

A career that kept going

Dane first appeared on Grey's Anatomy in 2006 and stayed with the show until 2012, returning for a guest appearance in 2021. He later led the TNT drama The Last Ship for five seasons and played Cal Jacobs across all three seasons of Euphoria, including the third season released after his death. USA Today reported that he worked on the memoir during the last year of his life, and that he kept acting after the diagnosis, with appearances that included the NBC series Brilliant Minds.

A misdiagnosis came first

In the memoir, Dane writes that his symptoms began with weakness in his right hand. He saw a hand specialist, then a second specialist, then a neurologist, according to Page Six, which reported details from the book on Tuesday. Doctors first settled on multifocal motor neuropathy, a rare autoimmune disorder that weakens muscles and has a treatment described as 90 percent effective. The treatment did not work for Dane. Nine months later, in 2024, doctors confirmed ALS, a diagnosis he called a death sentence in the book.

Jacob Elordi reads the audiobook

The audiobook runs five hours and 53 minutes. Jacob Elordi narrates most of it. Elordi played Nate Jacobs, the son of Dane's character Cal Jacobs, in all three seasons of Euphoria. Shriver also lends her voice, reading the introduction she wrote for the book.

Letters to his daughters

The memoir is built from days that shaped Dane's life: his early years in Hollywood, getting sober, meeting his wife, and the day he was diagnosed. Between those chapters sit passages written straight to his daughters, Billie and Georgia. In one passage quoted by USA Today, he tells them that time is precious and should never be wasted, and he names his biggest regret as not spending enough time with them.

His wife, Rebecca Gayheart, told USA Today ahead of the release that she hopes readers see Dane beyond McSteamy, the nickname of his Grey's Anatomy character, and meet the more complicated person behind the role. An excerpt published by People recounts the moment Dane told Gayheart about his diagnosis.