For more than a quarter century, Philip Norman s internationally bestselling Shout! has been unchallenged as the definitive biography of the Beatles. Now, at last, Norman turns his formidable talent to the Beatle for whom belonging to the world s most beloved pop group was never enough. Drawing on previously untapped sources, and with unprecedented access to all the major characters, here is the comprehensive and most revealing portrait of John Lennon that is ever likely to be published. This masterly biography takes a fresh and penetrating look at every aspect of Lennon s much-chronicled life, including the songs that have turned him, posthumously, into a near-secular saint. In three years of research, Norman has turned up an extraordinary amount of new information about even the best-known episodes of Lennon folklore—his upbringing by his strict Aunt Mimi, his allegedly wasted school and student days, the evolution of his peerless creative partnership with Paul McCartney, his Beatl...

#Lots about Lennon (2008-11-23) This is an impressively fact-filled book that details practically everything you d ever want to know about John Lennon s life. Admittedly, I knew very little about Lennon prior to reading it, and what attracted me to the book in the first place was a newspaper review that talked about Lennon s not-so-admirable qualities, which shocked me because I always thought he was a peace-loving gentleman who had few enemies in his time. So based on the review of the book, I plunged into Lennon s story with the new viewpoint that he was a spoiled and heartless guy...

#Don t bother with this biography (2008-11-19) According to the author of this horrible biography, after Yoko read it she said she couldn t endorse it because the book was mean to John. I agree. Phillip Norman recounts every detail in Lennon s life, but he misses the magic, the inspiration, the humor, and everything wonderful about Lennon. The author doesn t get John s music, and his descriptions and understanding of Lennon s songs is pathetic. Don t waste your time with this one. It s a bore.

#Life of a Beatle (2008-11-17) Most beloved public figures have many facets -- some of them nasty, some of them pleasant and admirable. Most biographies either focus on the good, or the bad. But fortunately, Philip Norman is making a valiant effort to show, if not all of John Lennon s facets, then as many of them as possible. Having explored the Beatles and their impact on a generation, Norman narrows his focus down to John Lennon: The Life -- and he does a superb job unearthing the many details, relationships and differing faces of this much-lamented rock star. We ll never get a Joh...

#Nearly the definitive biography of Lennon (2008-11-08) Do we need another biography on John Lennon? Yes. Why? Because the two most popular ones are the hatchet job that Albert Grossman did and Ray Coleman s fine biography that didn t quite capture the essence of who Lennon was and was hamstrung by trying to undo the damage of Grossman s book. The other question we need to ask is if there are any new facts about Lennon s life that make this worthwhile (and considering that Norman covered part of Lennon s life in his Beatles book SHOUT!). Yes--Norman digs up new facts both good and b...

#Less about the myth, more about the man (2008-10-29) Forever romanticized by his tragic and puzzling murder, John Lennon has ascended to almost god-like status in pop culture. Remembered as the visionary and dreamer who soundtracked a generation, Lennon s legacy has largely been sculpted by those who loved and admired him, as his strengths, accomplishments and inspirations shine for all to see, while his flaws and failures have been forgotten. Philip Norman believes twenty-eight years of mourning-inspired deification seems about right, and with this book, he attempts to paint a more ...

In this moving memoir, Robert J. Wagner opens his heart to share the romances, the drama, and the humor of an incredible life He grew up in Bel Air next door to a golf course that changed his life. As a young boy, he saw a foursome playing one morning featuring none other than Fred Astaire, Clark Gable, Randolph Scott, and Cary Grant. Seeing these giants of the silver screen awed him and fueled his dreams of becoming a movie star. Battling a revolving door of boarding schools and a father who wanted him to forget Hollywood and join the family business, sixteen-year-old Wagner started like any naïve kid would—walking along Sunset Boulevard, hoping that a producer or director would notice him. Under the mentorship of stars like Spencer Tracy, he would become a salaried actor in Hollywood s studio system among other hot actors of the moment such as his friends Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis. Working with studio mogul Darryl Zanuck, Wagner began to appear in a number of films alongside t...

#One great read! (2008-11-23) I have been a fan of Robert Wagner for quite some time. I read his book in about 3 or 4 days because once I started I just couldn t put it down. He talked about how he got into the movies, the TV shows he was in and the frinds he made along the way. He opened up about how Natalie Wood died and about how truly devastated he was and about all the people that helped him through that terrible period in his life. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it.

#Pieces of My Heart: A life (2008-11-23) I have always been very fond of Robert Wagner, when heard this book was out, i simply had to read it, and have it in my collections. I read this book in a matter of days, the stories in it were extremely interesting and i couldn t put it down. i loved how Mr. Wagner got into show business and wasn t he the lucky one to meet all these wonderful famous icons. Not only meet them, but get to be good friends and all the great advice he was given. He made these actors sound like real people like you and me. There were funny segments a...

#Like a personal conversation with RJ (2008-11-22) Reading the book I felt like I was having a personal conversation with Robert Wagner - a very entertaining read. Added reflective details on difficult situations - such as Natalie s death and his relationships with his parents, Natalie, Natalie s family and the lawsuits with Aaron Spelling. What a life and what a guy - would highly recommend it!

#Enjoyable relaxing read (2008-11-22) Always liked Robert Wagner, and after seeing him on a few talk shows discussing the book, thought it would be an interesting read. It was. Quite an amazing life, from the time he was a child and watched the early movie actors golfing, up to his days of actually working and becoming friends with many of them. No big startling confessions or bombshells dropped in the book, but a good book to read on a quiet night when one just wants to relax.

#An entertaining and revealing autobiography (2008-11-21) Whether you ve followed Robert Wagner s career or not, I think you will find plenty to enjoy in his forthright description of how he made it in Hollywood. It was fascinating to learn how he befriended big stars, like Gable, Astaire, and Tracy. And he conveys genuine feelings about his relationships with twice-wife Natalie Wood and current wife Jill St. John.

Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion. It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat.  But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of our brain than language does—humans are a musical species.Oliver Sacks’s compassionate, compelling tales of people struggling to adapt to different neurological conditions have fundamentally changed the way we think of our own brains, and of the human experience. In Musicophilia, he examines the powers of music through the individual experiences of patients, musicians, and everyday people—from a man who is struck by lightning and suddenly inspired to become a pianist at the age of forty-two, to an entire group of children with Williams syndrome, who are hypermusical from birth, from people with “amusia,” to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans, to a man who...

#understanding brain musicality (2008-11-23) Mr. Stack has made an important contribution to the fascinating world of brain working , it helps to understand the enormous possibilities inside us

#Considering the part music plays in the recovery of extremely mentality disabled patients (2008-11-18) Considering the part music plays in the recovery of extremely mentality disabled patients, which is not a new phenomenon, it has recently been explored once again by Oliver Sacks, physician and author, in his new book Musicophilia Tales of Music and the Brain. There are remarkable examples of patients who were considered feeble, unable to care for themselves, unable to walk or do anything other than sit, and yet these same people when exposed to music were able to astonish those who c...

#Symphonic! (2008-11-14) Is this guy saying there are people who want to bone innocent music? That d be pretty hard, e. g. , no friction.

#Very informative (2008-10-27) As a musician and a teacher, I found this book to be a fascinating read. It s accessible without a lot of twenty-five dollar words found in some medical texts.

#Disturbances (2008-10-24) Ulysses Grant knew two songs: one was the Yankee Doodle, the other was not. That s my kind of pun. I keep telling my Chinese friends that I do not believe in their tones. Tones are just a trick to fool dumb foreigners like me into thinking that the language is unlearnable. Nabokov, one of my main heroes, tells us in his memoirs that music, for him, was just an arbitrary succession of more or less irritating sounds. In other words, I am not left alone with my amusia. I am happy that my affliction is not quite as bad as Nabokov s (whose son became an opera s...

Marcia! Marcia! Marcia! Marcia Brady, eldest daughter on television s The Brady Bunch, had it all—style, looks, boys, brains, and talent. No wonder her younger sister Jan was jealous! For countless adolescents across America who came of age in the early 1970s, Marcia was the ideal American teenager. Girls wanted to be her. Boys wanted to date her. But what viewers didn t know about the always-sunny, perfect Marcia was that offscreen, her real-life counterpart, Maureen McCormick, the young actress who portrayed her, was living a very different—and not-so-wonderful—life. Now, for the very first time, Maureen tells the shocking and inspirational true story of the beloved teen generations have invited into their living rooms—and the woman she became. In Here s the Story, Maureen takes us behind the scenes of America s favorite television family, the Bradys. With poignancy and candor, she reveals the lifelong friendships, the hurtful jealousies, the offscreen romance, the loving s...

#The most annoying person (2008-11-23) She sounds like she was (and still is) the most melodramatic, emotionally unstable, immature needy person I ve ever heard about. I felt compelled to finish reading it since I bought it and started it, but it was tough to get through when she tells stories like the one where in week two of her relationship, she got into the most enormous fight, where she immediately went from intimately sharing stories to screaming, crying, and not speaking for days. I think even at 50 years old, she d be a draining person to be around!

#Brady Bunch Fans must read! (2008-11-23) Enjoyed this book thoroughly, as a Brady Bunch fan, I loved the inside stories of the show and how it came to be. Then Maureen s life was crazy - who would have thought?!I can t believe her husband stuck it out - but her story has a happy ending - I couldn t put it down!

#Here s the Story by Maureen McCormick (2008-11-21) I just finished this book a few minutes ago. Let it be known that I am NOT a Reader . . . but finished this book in 2 sittings! Maureen, if you ever read this review. . . I commend you!! And yes your Mother would ve approved this book! This is a book that everyone who has ever known Marcia Brady needs to read. . . . ESPECIALLY if they are a Baby-Boomer! My age is 56 and I identified with Maureen throughout the whole book!!Bravo!! (and not Johnny either! :)Darlene E. Wisconsin

#Here s the Story:surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice (2008-11-19) I read this book in just a few days, because I like reading books about real people. I had grown up with the Brady family, and I thought it would be a very interesting book, which it was. BUT, however, it had so much profanity and vulgar words in it, that it took away from the story line. I don t use any kind of bad language, and these words in the book truly offended me. I don t think that they would have been necessary, whether Maureen had actually said them or not in her life s situations. I have r...

#Great Reading!! (2008-11-19) Great Reading!! So much about her I never knew. I grew up with the Brady Bunch and it was so interesting to know what happened behind the scenes. She really overcame alot of tough times.

The musical adventure of a lifetime. The most exciting book on music in years. A book of treasure, a book of discovery, a book to open your ears to new worlds of pleasure. Doing for music what Patricia Schultz—author of the phenomenal 1,000 Places to See Before You Die—does for travel, Tom Moon recommends 1,000 recordings guaranteed to give listeners the joy, the mystery, the revelation, the sheer fun of great music. This is a book both broad and deep, drawing from the diverse worlds of classical, jazz, rock, pop, blues, country, folk, musicals, hip-hop, world, opera, soundtracks, and more. It s arranged alphabetically by artist to create the kind of unexpected juxtapositions that break down genre bias and broaden listeners’ horizons— it makes every listener a seeker, actively pursuing new artists and new sounds, and reconfirming the greatness of the classics. Flanking J. S. Bach and his six entries, for example, are the little-known R&B singer Baby Huey and the 80s Rastafaria...

#Overwhelming (2008-11-20) To really enjoy this book you must love all kinds of music. This book runs the gamut of musical genres. If you re looking to broaden your musical horizons this book will point you in the right direction. I found that I did not care for the suggestions outside the genres I already like. However, I did discover some new albums and artists to check out in those few genres I like. 1000 recording gives a brief overview of every album it recommends as well as a few other albums that are similar in some way. I didn t like that it listed multiple albums fr...

#Great resource for new music (2008-11-16) Very insightful book. While some obvious choices are included, this book points the way to many unexpected or unfamiliar music. A great resource for any music lover.

#Only 1000? (2008-11-14) The author makes some good recommendations, but it seems even he was at odds with himself in picking just 1000 recordings. (it s more like 5000 with all the what to listen to next rubbish, which clutters the book with too much, complete overload. It really takes away from the integrity of the real classics & it makes it seems as though he was not that sure of his main choices. ) And I m sorry, I like pop music but I do not think Brittany Spears is essential to listen to, even after I die. Really, whose going to be pulling out a Brittany Spears CD 20 years ...

#How did we do without it? (2008-11-14) Now that this book is here, I can t imagine not having it. My copy will be worn out before long. It s a fascinating, quirky, compelling reference piece for lovers of all kinds of music.

#weak multi-cultural mish-mash (2008-11-07) It would not be possible to please everyone with this kind of list, no matter how hard one tried, but the compiler of this list has tried so hard to include everything that he has left out too many of the really good things. For example, the problems in the rock-music area alone are enough to sink the book. Here Mr. Moon leaves out The Association, the Doobie Brothers, the Electric Light Orchestra, Peter Frampton, and many, many others--and includes such Hall-of-Fame luminaries (?) as Alejandro Escovedo, the Fugees, and the 13th-Floor El...