Ball Books

I just re-read Night to Remember for the first time in many years, and was reminded why it got me hooked on Titanic lore. It is truly the definitive book on Titanic and one of the best works of narrative history ever written. Its pacing, style, and most importantly its factual underpinning make it a timeless classic,

I enjoyed the book. Now it's obvious where lots of information came from that appears in later Titanic books.

Walter Lord did his homework on the Titanic's fateful night in this unforgettable and memorable book. He did not need to create fiction or suggest anything to the contrary. In fact, he writes about it from the survivor's perspectives. Despite the horrors, what shocked me was the situation in the lifeboats in the aftermath of shell-shocked people who have watched their loved ones, mostly their husbands, go down with the ship. I don't know why California didn't seek to assist them or inquire about the distress signals. We'll never know what makes people ignore others in time of great distress. When the Carpathia arrived to pick up the survivors, they are shocked by the news that Titanic is gone and they are the only ones to tell a shocking story of so many people's last moments on earth. Forget James Cameron's movie, this book is real and faithful to those fifteen hundred men, women, and children who perished as it is to the survivors who never recovered fully. Because of the Titanic disaster, every ship since was required by international shipping law to have enough lifeboats for everybody on ship and supplies during the worst of disasters. The last pages of the book are the names of those who died and survived. Where they embarked for their final destination to New York City but most of them would never make it there. I remember survivor Eva Hart who lost her father in the disaster that it was all about arrogance. The ship had to be fast, unsinkable, and yet the disaster was unthinkable. She said her mother, Miriam Hart, lashed back with a comment that has stuck with me for years that when saying the ship is unsinkable is like tempting fate to occur. Mrs. Hart, Eva's Mother, spent her nights awak and days asleep as if a premonition of this ship never making New York City. This story was not included in this book but Walter Lord does his best and it's remarkable that he prefers facts to rumors or gossip. It has taken me years to read this book maybe because of all those who perished still resonate with the Titanic's ultimate fate. The Titanic was the ultimate ship and none has ever come close in the ship's genius, magnificience, style, and sophistication. The third class passengers never enjoyed it. The second and first class passengers must have felt like they were in heaven with first class service catered to their needs and fancies. Rest in Peace, Titanic, and all those who have sailed with you on that fateful trip. You will always be in my heart as the ship of dreams and destiny.

At 11:40 p.m. on the night of April 14, 1912, the White Star liner Titanic, on its maiden voyage to New York, struck an iceberg in the north Atlantic. Less than three hours later, the ship known to the world as "unsinkable" was on her way to the bottom of the sea.

The unexpectedness of the event, along with the shocking number of lives lost (more than 1500 by most estimates) and the many stories of carelessness and incompetence contributing to the disaster, cemented the Titanic into the collective consciousness of Western culture. Countless articles, exhibits, books, and movies (the most famous, released in 1997, grossed over $1.8 billion in worldwide revenue) have documented and fictionalized various aspects of the tragedy. Even nearly a hundred years later, it would be difficult to find someone who had never heard of the Titanic.

In 1955, while many of the survivors of the Titanic's first and only voyage were still alive--and before the journalistic novel became fashionable as a genre--Walter Lord researched and wrote a minute-by-minute account of what happened during the ship's final night. Called A Night to Remember, Lord's account provides an interesting blend of minute details and broad sweeping overviews in its description of what happened onboard the ship.

The book is easy to read and goes very quickly. Lord gives his prose a very journalistic feel, with short sentences and easy language. Entertaining is hardly the right word to use for a description of an event that claimed so many lives, but compelling describes the account pretty well. Lord puts readers right on the deck of the doomed ship, and then right into the lifeboats and, later, into the courtrooms and newspaper editors' offices during the aftermath of the sinking.

Chapters are entitled with snippets of the dialog that occurs within each. Examples include "There's Talk of an Iceberg, Ma'am," "God Himself Could Not Sink This Ship," "There Is Your Beautiful Nightdress Gone," and, perhaps most poignant, "Go Away--We Have Just Seen Our Husbands Drown."

The book's primary weakness is that in trying to include glimpses of so many people's experiences, Lord was mostly unable to go into much depth with any of the individual characters. Unlike later books in this genre--such as Blackhawk Down or The Perfect Storm, both of which describe in detail the experiences of a relatively small number of people during catastrophic events--A Night to Remember has to catalogue the experiences of over 2,000 individuals. Lord manages to include a lot of names, but without any background or detail, they quickly become meaningless.

Though the scope of the book (probably necessarily) minimizes the amount of emotion connected with the tragedy, there are a few emotive moments when the reader realizes along with a child or a wife that a beloved husband or father will not be coming on a lifeboat. Depictions of the wireless operator sleeping onboard the nearby Californian, panicky passengers in lifeboats violently refusing to assist drowning swimmers, and determined high-society men donning formal evening dress to "go down like gentlemen" evoke flashes of emotion as well.

Overall, the book is worth reading for its historically accurate picture of what actually happened on that cold April night. Though it's no literary masterpiece, it is informative and interesting, particularly for anyone who has seen James Cameron's movie or read Clive Cussler's book and would like to know the real story. The book contains nothing objectionable (except for the event itself), and is suitable for any reader. I recommend it without reservation.

Two things set A Night to Remember apart from every other book and film on the subject of the Titanic:

First, with the exception of the ship breaking up as it sank (and the official record, with its conflicting testimony, shows it could have been written either way in 1955) and the use of the first SOS (which Lord corrected in later editions), there is not a single fact in the book that has ever been proven wrong. And, oh, how supporters of Capt. Lord of the Californian have tried.

Second, this is not a book about the sinking of the Titanic so much as it is a book about the PEOPLE involved in the event of the sinking. Take just the first sentence of the first chapter: "High in the crow's-nest of the new White Star Liner Titanic, Lookout Frederick Fleet peered into the dazzling night." Remember back to your English grammar classes and you will note that the subject of this sentence is a person, not a ship. So it is throughout the rest of the book. As readers, are we not more compelled by people rather than objects? Of course we are.

And as Walter Lord reminds us from the first that this is a story about people, so does he employ the expertise of a reporter and the flair of a novelist. The reporter . . . Who? Frederick Fleet. What? He peered. When? Night. Where? The Titanic's crow's-nest. Why? He was a Lookout. But by dressing up these facts with a few choice words and phrases ("High up", "new", "dazzling"), Lord draws us in dramatically.

Over the years, science and technology have given us greater insight into the building, operation, and physical break-up of the Titanic. But no one has ever come close to Walter Lord in recreating and relating the events of the night of April 14 - 15, 1912.

As a senior with arthritis, I have pain in neck, back and hips. It is amazing the relief I get after only a few minutes relaxing on the balls. I have given them as gifts to friends with similar issues.

Use these small balls to give you a little boost under your lower back or bottom while doing Pilates, yoga or just stretching. It will TOTALLY take the pressure off your lower back and allow you to reach and stretch further. Of course you can also use the accompanying booklet and follow the recommended exercises but I've also incorporated the ball into my other exercise regiment. No more using your hands to lift and raise your hips- the little ball does the trick! It's especially good for any exercise that requires laying on the floor and having your legs straight up in the air (place ball under your lower back) or forward seated stretches (place ball under your sacrum bone).

I thought I was ordering pilates exercise balls, but these are mainly used for back pain relief. They are virtually useless to me.

This product was recommended by a person who was very pleased with it.
Decided to give it a try. Found it not available at stores locations suggested so tried Amazon.com. It was available and also 5.00 cheaper.
Had never heard of this concept before. For the price it was worth the money but as far as really helping with sciatic for someone over 63 I think the instruction book was way too detailed and the exercises seemed to be not doable on a regular basis. The balls do seem to make the bottom of feet feel nice when rollilng the foot over the ball from a sitting position. But as far all the other performance exercises directed were a little more than a sr. or someone less able would be inclined to do for a sustained period of time. Perhaps someone who is agile and driven to exercising would find the whole concept very doable and probably quite helpful. If I had read the book before hand I would not have purchased this item for my use. That is not to say they are not a good quality product for the money.

These two little balls can give big relief for tight back and hip muscles. I use them in the morning to get the kinks out, and they are great before my pilates class.

This was a provocative book when it was first published. Jim Bouton, who had been a star pitcher for the New York Yankees, was trying to mount a comeback by working on a knuckleball in the bullpen of the expansion team Seattle Pilots less than five years later. He was a world away from pitching in two World Series in two successive seasons with players like Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris as team mates.

His fastball could no longer shatter a pane of glass, but his astute observations about professional sports broke many barriers that had existed between the owners, players and the fans. Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn publicly condemned the book.

Bouton was traded to Houston before the season ended. The last place Seattle Pilots faded and died. The team was sold and transferred to Milwaukee after only one year. As such, it is something of a historic artifact of the failed Pilots team as well as a humorous look at the National Pastime.

even now, the contents of "ball four" are as equally as contrary to what you think about the order of things as say the first time you hear that hawaiians aren't happy about being american. what this book has to say about institutions make it as valuable an american document as "on the road".
the only real debate i think that could be made over this assertion is who took more speed; kerouac or bouton?
the answer is kerouac.
leaving only one other question:
who took more speed; kerouac or doc ellis?
i can't answer that question but i can say that beaning batters successively until you get thrown out of a major league baseball game is much cooler than anything kerouac ever did.

Ball Four is a journal of Jim Bouton's days in baseball. It is light hearted and pokes fun at himself and tells it like it was in the 1960's. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the behind the scenes and what happens in the locker room.

Hubby had knee surgery and was laid up for 3 months.. did alot of reading when he wasn't in physical therapy.... GREAT BOOK

Jim Bouton is a very bright man who probably could have been a scientist if he didn't go into baseball. In the 1960s when he played nobody wrote colorful exposes of the behind the scenes and road trip life of major league ball players. Bouton was the first with this book. It ended many friendships with teammates and probably broke up his marriage. The book might seem tame by todays standard. Alcohol was the players drug in those days and no one was shooting up steroids back then. But the book was racy, groundbreaking and controversial in its time much like Canseco's books are today.

You will also see that it led to several other books by Jim Bouton and even one by his ex wife (another analogy to Canseco whose ex wife also wrote a book). Bouton was a great pitcher but alas for only the period from 1961-1964. 1963 was his best season but even though he pitched well in that world series the Yankees got steamrolled by the Dodger staff with Drysdale and Koufax leading the way. After retirementhe came back to pitch for the Seattle Pilots expansion team in their first year. He had developed a knuckle ball and that allowed him some limited success. Bulldog Jim wrote a book about that experience too. He had a trick when he pitched for the Yankees. He wouldd deliberately wear a very loose fitting cap that would usually fall off his head as he delivered the pitch. This was distracting for the hitters. But in his day Bouton had a good fastball and a deceptive changeup and he was part of a great pitching rotation in 1963 that included Ford, Downing and Terry.

I ordered this cookbook becuse I wanted to add some southern food to my collection, after receiving this cookbook I read it from cover to cover. and recepies are simple and delicious! Paula Dean has been through rough times but she keeps on cooking! What an inspiring personality! and her recepies are fantastic too. Order this book and you wont be disapointed!The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook

This is a great little book with some very good Southern Recipes. If you like Paula Deen you will like this book. My only dissapointment was no pictures. Am a very visual person and would have enjoyed seeing end results on paper. Most recipes are just plain ole' down home which I enjoyed.

The only reason I don't give this five stars is for lack of pictures (I know, I know, but what can I say? I like a visual and there's not a single photo in the whole book). I made a dutch oven dish that was wonderful. Absolutely one of the best dishes I've had. Paula Deen isn't for everyone though. She's very country, which means she uses a lot of cream, butter, etc, etc. She's not afraid of going over the top, so discretion is advised. However, she is accurate in saying that butter makes everything better and these recipes are no exception! Also, this isn't 'thirty minute meals' by any stretch of the imagination, so if you're looking for something quick you might check elsewhere, but if you have a little bit of time these are some good old fashioned recipes.

I am a big fan of Paula Deen's show and decided to get this book after trying some of her recipes. The recipes in the book are easy to follow, and are full of wonderful flavors and textures. A word of warning, the recipes are not for those who are on any type of strict diet. She even mentions in the forward that these are recipes that are not meant to be made with a bunch of "low cal" or "diet" substitutions. They are just good, easy comfort foods meant to be enjoyed and remembered. This is not the type of cookbook that I would use every night of the week, just because the recipes do tend to be a bit more heavy in fats and sugars, etc. I think to enjoy this book you need to have the attitude that this type of food is great once in a while, and when you cook a recipe from it, make it the way she tells you! Just decide to have some good ol' comfort food and do it in moderation. So far there has not been one recipe that my family has not enjoyed- they are all good. A nice addition to my cookbook collection. Enjoy!

How does one take skill such as Paula's and put it in a book? Oh, shucks, I'm starting to sound like our reporters who cannot report a story without asking a question. Forgive me. Paula has done it again. Her cookbooks have become a family favorite set of the absolute best and quite easy recipes. Being from the south is not a requisite. It is only a place where some of the best foods come from.

A great little book on a woman we never heard much about. I've always wondered about her personal life - WOW - more painful than I imagined. Wish she got her Hollywood Star before she died. She worked really hard only to be a second banana, but we loved her, and boy - was she good!!!

I loved this book. I've read several books on Lucille Ball and this was a very cool opportunity to read about her famous sidekick. I have to say, I have a whole new view on Ethel now!

Book was in very good shape. I would buy another book from this vendor. The only thing I had trouble with was that it took a little longer then I expected to receive in mail.

When I ran across a softback edition of this book, I was floored. I had no idea a book had been written about Vivian Vance. Where had I been? I bought it thinking ,well, it'll be superficial at best. Boy, was I wrong. This is an excellent, in depth and very revealing life story of one of television's best loved ladies. Alvin Walker and Frank Castelluccio have written one of the best biographies on a legend I've ever read. And Vivian Vance is a legend, if an often overlooked one. From her humble showbiz beginnings, to a Broadway career, to her fateful reading with Lucille Ball for the part of Ethel Mertz---I could not put this book down. Vivian Vance came to life on those pages and I learned that there's a lot more to a "second banana" than just the character they play. Vance never escaped her role as Ethel, but she lived a full and complete life worthy of this book and was a more accomplished actress than given credit for. Her years of baffling mental problems, the estrangement with her mother, her extensive stage work, her often rocky relationship with Lucille Ball (not to overlook William Frawley) are all here as well as the huge amount of humanitarian work she did for mental health later in life. This is a highly recommended read for anyone who loved watching Ethel as well as Lucy. It reveals the fascinating woman behind the "mask" of Ethel Mertz, a landmark television icon and an American showbiz legend known as Vivian Vance.

Glad I got a chance to check this book out...it was very interesting as I'd heard about some of the tiffs between them but never really got into it. While I am sure a few different takes on her life/their lives could also fill in the missing pieces..its a good read and provides the rest of the story to the generally heroic and sweentened up picture often given about Ms. Ball and the whole show in general. They were all each and as a group irreplacable and perhaps may have never really understood their "fate" or "destiny" in the place of American life at the time. What a wonderfully talented, funny, and brillant pair and team of actress/actors they were. While all was not well on the show or in that era as with any...to this day they can make you laugh your head off without the crudeness so many comdieans and shows resort to today. The effort and work put into such show outdoes shows today by far. They were great at what they did for the time that they did it. It was also very sobering to read a human real or truer side to them as the pollyannaness of television lives can sometimes rub off on the viewers. Reading it though I could not help feel a sort of sadness ; Ms. Vance..never really being happy. Perhaps its just the way it was told or written. I would like to read other books about her/them to get a more indepth idea. In any case..I recommend taking a spin with this book.

I loved reading the screenplay just as much as I enjoyed watching the film. I'm interested in screenwriting myself and bought the screenplay as a guide to my own screenwriting -- what to do and what not to do, and especially how to format shots of a person videotaping as is done throughout this piece. Excellent teaching tool!

I loved the film, American Beauty. It is, quite simply, my favorite movie of all time! This screenplay is just as captivating as the movie... Because, in many ways, it is the movie! Alan Ball's script is really what made American Beauty the film that made jaded American moviegoers stand up and say "Thank you!" We can only hope that future filmmakers are taking note... Simply put, it is destined to become a treasured piece of modern Americana. :-)

If you didn't like the movie as you watched it, then you'll gonna love it after you read this script!

If you have seen the movie, and were deeply touched by it, as seems inevitable, owning this screenplay is definitely worthwhile. Without having to put on the DVD, you can relive particular moments by just leafing through the pages. Alan Ball's script won multiple awards, and rightly so: it is a masterpiece of dramatic writing, merging the comical, the tragic and the spiritual in ways rarely seen in present day (American) film.
Yet this book isn't all it could, and in my view should, have been. It really offers very little besides the literal text of the final movie version (including some of Annette Bening's and Kevin Spacey's improvisations). Other film scripts I own include in-depth information about genesis, casting, production etc., loads of good still and behind-the-scenes photography, as well as discarded scenes and earlier versions of scenes. None of that here, even though several parts of the film were drastically altered during the filming. There is a 2-page intro by Mendes that adds nothing to the information contained on the DVD, if you own that; and the same goes for the even shorter afterword by Ball (who, on the DVD commentary track, isn't able to get a word in edgewise with Mendes, and so remains something of an enigma). Then there are a few grainy black and white stills that are an insult to the brilliant cinematography of the movie - and that's it. For makers of a film so ostentatiously concerned with the relativity of material things, it does seem like a rather cheap way to squeeze some extra bucks from it...

Today is the first day of the rest of your life?

Yes.The amazing capability that we have to surprise ourselves and the surrounding life makes you to take control of every moment that you live. Live larger.

Lester has this capability. He never died . He just smiled. before taking a pause.

AMAZING BEAUTY. That's what I can write about this movie and the writer.

At first I found the dialogue relatably irreverent, then the constant ridicule of everything got repetitive and I would have liked to see a bit of positivity, then the ending reveals the main character's sense of humour as a defensive front.
So I guess the writing starts out like a more clued-in Kevin Smith, then pushes into nihilism, and ends up conservatively pop-psychological. There's a strong sense of creativity in there and an unusually informed outside perspective on counter-culture but the serious side of the writing seems to undermine it.

Clowes has managed to perfectly portrait the development of a teenage friendship and how it is affected by the transition of the main characters into adulthood. In this boom era of comics I seldom find works that touch upon a subject that most of us can relate to. It also has in my opinion a perfect and realistic ending. I would definitely recommend it.

This is the affectedly vulgar tale of two young women who need some discipline. Those who feel they have the credentials to declare other human beings "ugly" will probably see themselves in the main characters and find them hilarious. For those who have grown up, the shtick will wear thin quickly. The art is beautiful and the writing definitely has its moments, but I guess I just can remember actually being a stupid jerk when I was younger and don't look back on those days with much fondness.

I found "Ghost World" mentioned in an article listing
"top 10 books" for various people. Being no stranger to
graphic art books (aka "comics" :), I thought I'd try it.
I regret that the person recommending it apparently hadn't
read many books. The story failed to capture my interest, and the art didn't redeem it. I'd recommend anything by Will Eisner instead (e.g., A Contract With God).

I skipped the movie version of Ghost World when it came out because I could tell from the previews that it wasn't my cup of tea; stories of suburban angst make my skin crawl (ie: I hated American Beauty), suburban teenage angst even more so. But, I convinced myself a while back, there's no way I could NOT read the critically acclaimed graphic novel it was based on, right?

Best friends Enid and Rebecca are two unappealingly self-absorbed teenagers who project their own self-loathing onto everyone around them, stumbling through their final year of high school while slowly drifting apart from each other. Daniel Clowes chooses to tell their story almost too-subtly, offering discordant slice of life vignettes that attempt to illustrate their "growth" but mainly serve to remind the reader how annoying and shallow they are. It falls into the same trap many autobiographical efforts do, in every medium, of believing one's life is more interesting than it actually is, and I came close to putting it down, unfinished, several times.

Clowes' artwork is the main highlight here -- clean and, at times, unexpectedly emotive -- but it's neither enough to inject life into his dull, plodding story nor make his lead characters the least bit interesting. Charles Burns' Black Hole covers similar ground in a much more intriguing fashion, with a compelling story that is equal to his impressive artwork.

Ghost World: Don't believe the hype.

I have a passionate interest in History and have read innumerable books on the History of different regions and Ages. I think this is one of the best books on Historical Fiction I have read so far. Everything about the book...the story,the writing style is interesting to say the least. I felt I lived with the characters in the story. Eagerly waiting for your next book Mr. Ball.

David Ball's book is excellent and I only wish I could find more of his writing. I did a search and this is the only book I found.

The tale of the two boys in France is told with aplomb and delight as they explore the area outside Paris before the Prussian invasion. Mr. Ball's development of the characters is first rate and his vivid descriptions of life in the time period are first rate. I especially enjoyed his descriptions of the desert in North Africa and the system of honor and caste amongst the tribes.

I can only wonder how good more work from Mr. Ball would be. Any one know anything else about his writing?

Tyler S Ferguson Author of Apocrypha

I felt obligated to read this book because David Ball is my neighbor and I sometimes babysit for his daughter, Li. However, I have absolutely no regrets, and will openly state that I enjoyed Empires of Sand more than The Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons.

Please do not think that I am unknowing or naive about how good this novel was just because I am only 14. I skipped the first grade because when I was in Kindergarten, my reading level was that of a fourth grader. I have recently read Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night and Anna Karenina. Empires of Sand was my favorite of all of them.

The book is a fast-paced, adventurous mystery with history all rolled in. It begins in France with two cousins, Paul and Moussa, being attacked by a wild boar. The event is shown through the eyes of a bishop, a mother, the boar, each of the boys and others as well. The entire novel switches back and forth between perspectives, giving the reader a more general understanding. From Paris in 1860-70 to the Sahara in 1880, Empires of Sand explores the personal events of Paul and Moussa deVries during the war between Prussia and France. It also takes a very detailed view of battles between Saharan tribes like the Shamba and Tuareg and troops of France.

Overall, Empires of Sand is a terrific book for anyone interested about France in the mid to late 1800's, or about the Sahara Desert. Even if you are not into history, the book is so in depth and personal that readers of every kind will enjoy it!

I cannot say much more that other reviewers haven't said already. I was surprised about how good this book was. Hard to believe it was Ball's first novel. An interesting mix of historical fiction and rip-roaring adventure; informative and very well researched and written.

Once you get into it you will not put it down.

David Ball has been one of my favorite historical fiction writer after I read his novel: The Sword and the Scimitar / Ironfire (same novel, different titles written after Empires of Sand).

In Empires of Sand, David Ball also exploited his research and previous personal experiences passing through the Sahara. Frankly speaking, I was somewhat disappointed in the initial part of this novel since it had many resemblances on his later novel. The way characters were aligned and plotted looked familiar. But this effect only lingered awhile for the remaining 95% of this novel is superbly written with two main backgrounds, one being in Paris and the other in the Saharan desert in the late 1800s at the height of the Prussian superpower in Europe.

A profound job in the writer's researches were evident from the way he described the way people lived in France and Sahara during those pre World War I periods. Their customs, the way horses, camels and balloons were handled were superbly written. FYI: the French invented the hot air balloon.

A must read five-star historical novel. Waiting for David Ball to write another historical novel...

I was directed to use "A Writer's Reference" beginning with the second addition. When I could choose texts for my classes, I voluntarily chose this very text, which I use for pre-freshman composition, freshman critical thinking/composition, literature/advanced composition, and critical thinking/advanced composition. The sixth edition is better than ever. Furthermore, it is the one book I tell my students to never sell back as I firmly believe it will take care of students' writing needs through their bachelors and beyond.
Lin Fraser, Sacramento City College

This book and the disc that come with it are an excellent resource for the high school and college student. The book covers several documenting (source citation) methods (MLA, APA and CMS) for writing essays and papers. This book has all the basics from writing a thesis to grammer. There is also a website that provides more help and practice problems. It comes with tabbed sections to make content very easy to locate quickly. Excellent, excellent book!

Book did arrive on time and in good condition. I was very satisfied and will deal with this sellar again.

this is a must have in todays fast paced world of education and doing it right the first time.

I regularly use this book in my work and have bought several copies for others -- it's easy to use (will lay flat due to spiral binding), well-organized and an easy read.

Other than Sting & Sir Pauley, you're the greatest to ever touch the instrument!
XXXJer

I truly enjoyed this account of Phil's life and his experience with the Grateful Dead. The audio ,which was read by the author, was beautifully written and entertaining!

I like Phil's book. I like it a whale of a lot more than I do Dennis McNally's egotistical cop-out from writing the "authorized biography" of the GD. Phil writes in a nice style, with not a touch of the supposed "arrogance" attributed to him in his younger years evident. In fact one could assume that, due to the changes he needed to make in his lifestyle just to survive in the past decade or so, that also included eating a few large pieces of crow-pie, washed down with genuine humility and probably at times some real tears.
Phil goes into the story of the band, and it's nice to her him speak of it in his own words and terms, as much as it is to read Jerry's account in "signpost to New Space." I'd rather listen to either one of them for what they have to tell than Weir's ideas of it, but that will be for another day in the far future, if indeed he ever gets round to it, as he is threatening to. He talks a bit about the pre-Grateful Dead years when the band were becoming acquainted socially and somewhat "extra musically" which as we all know, eventually led to the Warlocks and history. But it's nice to hear the things he has to say about those early years and times in Berkeley, Palo Alto, las Vegas and SF as though that pre-1966 magic- whatever real gem of magic existed in the Haight scene before the over-hyped "summer of Love" cast its fell shadow upon the city, and also the adventures or misadventures they had leading up to the formation of the band propre.
He also writes about the band as a musical experiment, or an experiment in more than music, as a psychedelic adventurer, and this actually to me is its real value as a book. That he obviously survived acid (some would argue "nobody could take that many trips and remain sane!" but you find the proof of it in his lucid writing, and his great memory.
I have always had something of an issue though with some of the premise he puts forward as one of the band's rasions d'etre, that at times, the audience reacts to the music and vibes of the hall as would a school of fish, in the "one-mind" or "group-mind" mode, and as if this is always to be viewed as a positive thing. Lemmings also react in a group-mind mode, and where does it ever usually get them?
Still, it is good to hear the words of one of the original participants in this "noble experiment" make his arguments and his judgements upon social idioms, and he really CAN write well about music itself, and about the actual mechanics of many of their great songs.
It's a shame we haven't got Jerry here to give his own thoughts about this book, but then, there's the possibility that with him here, Phil never would have felt the need to set it down like this.
I give it five stars- anyone who loves the Grateful Dead or San Francisco Rock & Roll and desires to know as much as possible about it's genuine sources and flavors owes it to themselves to pick it up. You might not put it down again until you're done.

As a bassist myself, I relate to Lesh's writing and train of thought. He documents being a part of Grateful Dead as more of an ironic string of occurances than a drugged out trip. His book is incredibly personal while he discusses such moments as learning an instrument overnight, attending classical concerts while on tour, loosing friends, and finding the inner peace in chaos. He is funny, sad, and everything in between. Although some of the technical parts get a bit too detailed for those unfamiliar with sound technology, one can understand how dedicated he was to his craft aside from the music and lyrics. I liked how Lesh pointed no fingers, rather pushed towards the positives in everyone. I would recommend reading this book with Rock Scully's Living With the Dead because they follow the same format and share similar situations. Lesh's however comes across more intimately humorous. I strong urge readers to dig into this book!

I've never been to a Dead concert, but once had a roommate in college who'd recorded about 100 of them, which he constantly played, so I've certainly heard my share of Live Dead. Everyone w/ a passing knowledge of the Dead knows that their best stuff was live, not studio. Just an observation that has nothing to do with the Lesh book. It's an interesting read and Lesh is an interesting character. Especially funny was how he got out of the army:
Army Doctor: "read the bottom line on the eye chart" Lesh: "I can't see anything" Army Doctor: "You can't see the bottom line of the chart?" Lesh: "What chart?" Army Doctor: "The chart on the wall" Lesh: "What wall?" Lesh certainly is thoughtful and observant. A good journey through the history of the Dead and sometimes quite moving.