Leonardo DiCaprio Books

"Leonardo DiCaprio" by Douglas Thompson is a hard-core Leo Biography. Mr. Thompson uses humor and creative writing to capture that captivating spirit that only Leo posesses; I found the book to be attention-grabbing.

I like some,not all of it. The pictures were pretty good. The only movie, that I recall, that wasn't reviewed or talked about was "Critter's 3". Leo is my favorite actor.

I have followed leonardo's career for a while now. I feel that he is an amazing person with incredible talent towards the movie industry and enviromental issues that have plagued humans for years. This book was very useful in understanding more about the actor I encourage you to at least take a browse through the book, trust me you'll enjoy it.

this book is full of quotes, pictures and info... it's just what a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio wants' to own... i really enjoyed reading it! chek it out!

I was pleased with the general biographic content; some of which incorporated quotes from his Mom and Dad. I was a bit displeased at the four-letter words interspersed thruout. If in fact all written is true, I am pleased at Mr. DiCaprio's attempt to keep a clean and sober image. I certainly hope the media hype doesn't ruin a good boy.

The pictures where of professional quality and worthy of coffee-table-display (just for a short while).

The kid is cute; what more can a motherly-type adult say?

This is not the sort of book I would typically read. I had never heard of Dana Giacchetto and could care less about his world of decadent wealth and "A-list" people. But I do know the author and her husband and some of the people mentioned in the story, so for that reason it interested me and I ended up reading the whole thing in a weekend. (It also resonated with my own family history; my grandfather was a charming, lovable sociopath who went to prison for fraud.)

One reviewer here criticizes the book for not being objective, but the author's direct personal involvement is precisely what pulled me into the story and held me there. White's first-hand experience guides the reader into a world that most of us will never know, making both the excitement and the anxiety palpable. She was at once friend and victim of her subject, and the tension between those two poles - her efforts to reconcile her positive feelings for him against her negative experience - kept me engaged. I found her ability to tell the story with both compassion and anger remarkable, the thing that takes this beyond being just another true crime exposé or scathing portrait of a greedy sociopath. There is genuine feeling behind the facts, and for me this is far more compelling than (supposedly) "objective" reportage.

Another reviewer complained that the book paints a negative portrait of Medford and of Giacchetto's family. As someone outside of that community, I did not feel the town was portrayed in a particularly bad light, and in fact some of the neighborhood "fun" of suburbia in the 60s comes through. But as David Lynch has shown us, the 'burbs have their dark side and White was right to acknowledge that. She clearly cares about the family and appreciates their eccentricities without denying their problems. Some of their essentially harmless quirks - the father's grandiosity and embellishment of reality, the mother's love of gambling and deal-making, their occasional reckless spending in order to impress others - resurface in their son in a more sinister form. And I was fascinated by the good boy/bad boy contrast between the golden boy Dana and his petty criminal brother that is woven throughout the book. It's a reminder that people are far more complex and multi-layered than we realize, that outward appearances tell only a small part of their story.

It's easy to look back on such scenarios or to read about them second-hand and see all the red flags, to wonder how these otherwise intelligent people were taken in by someone so obviously not trustworthy. But real life isn't that simple. There are all kinds of factors that color our perception of any given situation or person, and plenty of delusion to go around. It takes a certain amount of guts to not only admit you were taken in, but to also make all of the gory details public, and to do so with a fair amount of sympathy and humor. I admire White's courage in telling her/Giacchetto's story without demonizing her subject or spinning it as a simplistic tale of Bad Person/Poor Victims.

The author (who lost what was a substantial sum of money relative to her not-so-large net worth) of this book is too close to the subject for it to be considered even remotely objective. Throughout the book, there were continual reminders that this book was written with too much passion and not enough solid research. The book demonstrated only the most elementary understanding of investments, risks, and returns - and, while focusing on one player (Giacchetto) who was probably a bad apple, did not explore the supporting cast of advisors, lawyers, and banks that enabled him to be successful. Instead, the author chose an extended exploration of the flaws of Giacchetto's family - certainly somewhat relevant in explaining his actions but not deserving of the degree of focus and emotion it received.

This book talks about a Medford, MA that I never knew. Dana's house was not a depressing place in a depressing city. It was fun for a kid. A pool, a pond and lots of fun chasing "Ceasar" and the other geese around the back yard and fishing in the pond. Drugs were not everywhere. Dana found them because he was looking for them. He had a 3 man band that played some good music. Over 20 years later I remember two songs they played a lot...Edge of a Cliff and Right Angle. Seems like Dana was dancing on a cliff and looking for the right angle in life. Medford was/is a great place. Dana always was eccentric and it was best for him to get out of the quiet family based community that was Medford. Like many of my friends and neighbors I also graduated from Medford High School and went on to college despite how terrible a place it seemed to be from Emily's description. I know you had to sell books but much like Dana...it is pretty laughable. His parents were always kind and generous and his younger brother Russell, my friend, was a good kid with a lot of energy...I would have liked to have read more of the truth about Medford and what a welcoming place 39 Winford Way was for me and Russell's other friends...I wish the entire family well.

I always wondered what happened when the dudes at subpop started rolling in cash after Nirvana broke. When you are so NOT ABOUT THE MONEY, and suddenly you are wallowing in it. I had no idea that the indie execs were sucked into a larger scam by a fame-obsessed scammer to the stars. Great storytelling and great stripped down prose. Keeps you from getting too nostalgic.

White's story is about Dana Giacchetto, con man to the stars. What is particularly startling about this book is that the author's husband lost $80,000 (out of $100,000) to Dana, yet she began work on the book in collaboration with Dana. (Eventually Dana stopped cooperating.)

Dana began targeting the arts community (he had tried his hand in the area) after first working in a bank, reading Warren Buffett,and starting a band. Supposedly (per the SEC) about $20 million disappeared through Dana's activities. These were simply writing checks on Account A to deposit into Account DG (Dana Giacchetto's).

Investments were made - eg. Blue Chips such as Coca-Cola (ala Buffett), Texas water companies, and Motorola's Iridium (a satellite phone communications venture that went nowhere). Overall, however, they did not earn the returns Dan promised, nor cover the costs of his lifestyle.

Bottom Line: You won't learn any salacious (or otherwise) gossip about the stars in this book, not even any specifics about how Dana ran his con game.

I think Leo is cute and all that, but to actually devote an entire picture book to this higly arrogant and pretentious star is sinful. More importantly, its boring.

This book is rather comprehensive, of course, except that its pre-'The Beach'. So we get to see lots of Leo in his Titanic hey-day, looking as swollen as a goose. Thankfully, there are no nude shots of this actor. Anyone whos seen 'The Beach' knows the body that Leo has and not many people are interested in it, I understand. I for one, am not.

In any case, if Leo is your cup of tea, visit a bookstore and flick through this, but for heaven's sake don't buy it! Not at all recommended.

I am not a heart-throb teen-ager, in fact it has been many years since I was a teen-ager. I speak for a lot of us who watched this young man as a child actor and somehow always knew in the back of our minds that the potential was there for one great actor. I think this book certainly reflects some of the roles that he played which I believe he feels were not his best but it was all a learning experience which has set the precedent for the great actor that he is today. The book gives a great review from the beginning of his career to the present. The only negative comment that I possible may have is the fact I would have liked to read a little more about his latest movie which of course was The Beach. Otherwise, it was a great book with a lot of coverage. I will look forward in the future to other books about this young man,s career.

I bought this book hoping it might give a somewhat intelligentor insightful look into this talented young star, since it seems to methat DiCaprio is an actor whose skill makes him worth a serious book or two. Alas, I was mistaken. The book is written more in the vein of a teeny bopper fan magazine, with an extremely superficial "history" supposedly of his life (but actually more about his films). It says nothing penetrating or original, and its most controversial statements are some asides about minor idiosyncracies or mischief which have an "ain't he cute" attitude and come straight from the publicity department. A more intelligent and revealing look at this young actor is long overdue.

I bought this book hoping it might give a somewhat intelligent or insightful look into this talented young star, since it seems to me that DiCaprio is an actor whose skill makes him worth a serious book or two. Alas, I was mistaken. The book is written more in the vein of a teeny bopper fan magazine, with an extremely superficial "history" supposedly of his life (but actually more about his films). It says nothing penetrating or original, and its most controversial statements are some asides about minor idiosyncracies or mischief which have an "ain't he cute" attitude and come straight from the publicity department. A more intelligent and revealing look at this young actor is long overdue.

Nancy Krulik obviously has way too much time on her hands! Not only did her first book (or, as I like to say, her first attempt at exploiting Leo and quickly cashing in on his success) leave us stunned by the numerous and excessive amount of mistake in fact, she had to write another one! This one is just as awful, giving us "pop quiz" (hence the title) questions to test our Dicaprio knowledge. Personally, I think that her knowledge should be tested, because, true to form, she makes numerous mistakes about his life.