Biographies

[themack89]

Recently read Romeo Dallaire's Shake Hands with the Devil (thoroughly recommend it, but not if you're already depressed), though you're better off reading it very slowly because of the vast number of individuals mentioned and exacty who they are. I ended up flipping back and forth to the Glossary quite a bit.

He got me fascinated by the great people of our time and I am trying to choose a biography to read (the first of many I guess).

Right now I'm looking at Margaret Thatcher but it seems like theres so many versions out there, so wondering if anyone has read any of them and could provide some recommendation.

Anybody have any other suggestions for great bio's they've read? Doesn't really matter what type of person in what category, just the great people of our known history will suffice.

Also, the burning question... Autobiography or not?

[Tik-Tok]

Haven't read too many biographies, but I thoroughly enjoyed Scar Tissue (Anthony Kiedis).

[D'z Nutz]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
Haven't read too many biographies, but I thoroughly enjoyed Scar Tissue (Anthony Kiedis).

I enjoyed that book too. I read that and wondered how it's even possible the human body can even handle that much substance abuse.

Other biographies I enjoyed reading:

"Clapton: The Autobiography" by Eric Clapton
"Ron Jeremy: The Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz" by Ron Jeremy
"Slash" by Slash

"Live From New York: An Uncensored History Of Saturday Night Live" by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller is a good read too even though it covers up until the early 2000's. Lorne Michaels commissioned the book and told them not to hold anything back. They interviewed just about everyone that had any sort of significance with the show starting from the very beginning so even though there's some conflicting stories between a few people, the authors present the information as it was given to them by the people who were telling it. Only person that opted out was Eddie Murphy. The talk about drugs on the show in the 70's was pretty entertaining, like how Dan Aykroyd came up with the idea for The Coneheads because he was watching tv while baked out of his mind and he thought it'd be funny having someone's forehead stretch to the top of the screen or when two of the writers spent all their savings on cocaine and after Jim Belushi snorted it all they were so shocked they didn't know if they should've been mad or amazed. The episode of Seinfeld where George quits his job and shows up for work the next day pretending nothing was wrong actually happened to Larry David while working on SNL.

I definitely prefer the biographies where the person has some sort of input, even if I'm reading their interpretation of the truth.

[CanmoreOrLess]

Scar Tissue was good read as well.

Two quick recommends, I'm not a real fan of Motley Crue and only a passing interest in the drug trade as a business model. Read both cover to cover over two days, they were that good:

Mr. Nice

"During the mid 1980s Howard Marks had forty three aliases, eighty nine phone lines and owned twenty five companies throughout the world.

At the height of his career he was smuggling consignments of up to thirty tons of marijuanna, and had contact with organisations as diverse as MI6, the CIA, the IRA and the Mafia. Following a worldwide operation by the Drug Enforcement Agency, he was busted and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison at the Terre Haute Penitentiary, Indiana. He was released in April 1995 after serving seven years of his sentence. Told with humour, charm and candour, Mr Nice is his own extraordinary story."


The MC book was written in a very unique manner as the incidents are told from various views of those who were there and some were so off the mark, I guess we see and hear what we really want to see and hear. Of course the drugs helped. At one point Vince Neil needed something like 40K a month just to make his nut. Also goes into the business end of touring successfully and has a cool diagram of the pathway of a band, explaining why so many performers cannot count on anything beyond one great album.

Motley Crue: The Dirt - Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band

"Celebrate thirty years of the worldÕs most notorious rockband with the deluxe collectorsÕ edition of The DirtÑthe outrageous, legendary,no-holds-barred autobiography of Mštley CrŸe. Fans have gotten glimpses into the bandÕs crazy worldof backstage scandals, celebrity love affairs, rollercoaster drug addictions,and immortal music in Mštley CrŸebooks like Tommyland and TheHeroin Diaries, but now the full spectrum of sin and success by Tommy Lee,Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, and Mick Mars is an open bookin The Dirt. Even fans alreadyfamiliar with earlier editions of the bestselling exposŽ will treasure this gorgeous deluxe edition. Joe Levy at Rolling Stone calls The DirtÒ without a doubt . . . the most detailed account of the awesome pleasures and perils of rock & roll stardom I have ever read. It is completely compelling and utterly revolting.Ó