Bob Dylan Book:

Bob Dylan--an Intimate Biography Reviews:
Best Dylan Biography Yet
2009-03-12 - I have read THREE very large books on Dylans life and music and this one is the best yet. The book is written by speaking to people like Suze Rotolo, Dave Van Ronk, Clancy Brothers, Joan Baez etc., who were with him at the time (from 1961 to 1971).
It is amazing to see that Dylan was really an ordinary insecure guy afraid of crowds initially and how he handled the Dylan Myth. Truly one of the BEST Dylan books out there.

excellent early bio
2007-02-07 - I read this when in high school, just after it came out. Amazingly, while reading Dylan's Chronicles, I found it on my shelf and re-opened it out of curiosity, devouring it in a single afternoon. This is the work of a conscientious and fascinated reporter, a little gem of a book.

The portriat he draws of Dylan is that of a man who sculpted his own identity, very conscious that he was building a career, attuned to what others thought of him like a master actor or politician. While it makes him out to be an unbelievably ambitious professional, it does not trivialise his accomplishment in any way. Also, it is no whitewash, but a very full portrait that is never naive, worts and all, yet admiring. In many ways, no matter his skill at projecting an image, Dylan does not appear to be all that good at relationships. (His romance with the young lady on the cover of Freewheeling BD is quite pathetic.) Of course, this stop in 1971, barely a decade into his career and just before his divorce, but you really feel like you get to know something of this complex man. And, it shows what showbiz life was like at the time, at the end of the 1960s.

I enjoyed this as much as I did on the first reading, and it gave me a wonderful perspective while reading Dylan's perceptive, indeed brilliant, autobio. Warmly recommended.