who-i-am-book-reviewHe is one of UK´s biggest rock stars and icons. And that alone is saying something, as the United Kingdom has produced some of the biggest names in music, ranging from the Rolling Stones and The Beatles, to U2 and Blur and Oasis. Among that royalty is The Who, a band that not only featured some of the most celebrated albums ever, and also produced some pieces like rock operas as Tommy, and managed to become the voice of a generation. And, if that was not enough, Pete Townshend is the epytome of the rock guitar player, both criticized and celebrated for his on stage antics and tricks that ultimately made every guitarist after him take at least one page out of his book.

Now, as Pete Townshend is a mature man, he puts his own life in perspective and writes his own biography in a 500 pages book called Who I Am that rather than tell a lot of Who anecdotes, goes on to talk about how things affected him.

It starts with an in depth review of his childhood, albeit some parts of it he has blocked them, even hinting that traumas he suffered by being abused as a child made him wipe out the memories of those years.

He speaks candidly about himself and others, without minding how he would end up looking like, and even not caring about some passages that make him look a bit douchy. In all fairness he says so himself. He was sometimes a bit douchy.

Editing for the book trimmed it from 1,000 pages to 500 and I would´ve liked to read maybe a 600 pages book, because there are certain big chunks of his story that are missing.

Some things I didn´t know about him made him more human, and while reading the book sometimes I liked him better than before, and sometimes a lot less. But that´s how an interesting read the book actually is, because it shows us how little we really know about the history of one of the biggest bands ever, and of the ultimate stage guitar star.

I would recommend this book in a heartbeat to any Who fan, any music fan, and any biography reader, as it is quite a good one.

Good thing is, before the end of the book Townshend reviews what every major character mentioned on the book is up to now, giving us readers some closure on the book and the stories told in there.

Book Info

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd (June 6, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0007479166
ISBN-13: 978-0007479160
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1.6 inches

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