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So writes Bob Dylan in Chronicles: Volume One, his remarkable book exploring critical junctures in his life and career. Through Dylan's eyes and open mind, we see Greenwich Village, circa 1961, when he first arrives in Manhattan. Dylan's New York is a magical city of possibilities -- smoky, nightlong parties; literary awakenings; transient loves and unbreakable friendships. Elegiac observations are punctuated by jabs of memories, penetrating and tough. With the book's side trips to New Orleans, Woodstock, Minnesota and points west, Chronicles: Volume One is an intimate and intensely personal recollection of extraordinary times.

By turns revealing, poetical, passionate and witty, Chronicles: Volume One is a mesmerizing window on Bob Dylan's thoughts and influences. Dylan's voice is distinctively American: generous of spirit, engaged, fanciful and rhythmic. Utilizing his unparalleled gifts of storytelling and the exquisite expressiveness that are the hallmarks of his music, Bob Dylan turns Chronicles: Volume One into a poignant reflection on life, and the people and places that helped shape the man and the art.

Average Customer Rating:

Inspiring	Customer Rating:
One of the most inspiring books I have ever read. I hope he comes out with "Book Two"

Basically a bogus look backward

Customer Rating:

Around every 20 pages, there's a phrase that's faintly reminiscent of the early years, the intellect that penned "it's allright, ma" etc. But so much of what he claims happened is just not reality. For instance, if you went by his words, from the late 60s onward he'd take off years at a time to play with his kids on the living room floor, go camping, rafting, etc a big stay at home family man, presumably married to the same woman, etc. That's all false; so how much else is false? Basically, he's lived in a cocoon for 4 decades surrounded by yes people, and it's had the result you'd predict. It's actually more a work of fiction, or one of those invented autobiographies of a historical figure by a current author where everyone knows it's bogus.

the truth...but what is truth?

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`Chronicles' covers the notional formative years of the Bob Dylan from birth through the string of incredible albums that re-defined folk and protest music. He has been called everything from Judas to Jesus. An intensely private person about himself and his family, he is as little known as a person as anyone of whom I can think. His interviews - take the one with the journalist in `Don't Look Back' as a case in point - seem to be more of an act of deliberate dis-information. He also exhibits consummately contrarian reactions to what his fan base want and expect him to do. So, when I received a copy of this book, I was curious as to what I would be reading. This sense of trepidation was not helped by what seemed to be - for me, at least, a rough beginning. The writing style seemed disjointed, at time almost somnambulant; at other times a textual muttering from the sort of person you didn't wanted seated next to you on mass transit. After a while, I realized how wrong I was. If you choose to believe the story is factual - and I do - then it is the ultimate detailed, technical and brutally candid description of how Bob Zimmerman engineered - with deliberate planning - the invention of Bob Dylan. And this is not to say that talent was not there. It was, and in great abundance. What was not there was naivety. If you choose to believe the story is fictional, then it is brilliant writing, again the result of talent and a lack of naivety.

I Was Wrong

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From his autobiography, it appears that I was really wrong about my conception of Bob Dylan. He wasn't a "protest singer" or "leader of progressive causes and disaffected youth", but rather a father, husband, well-read intellectual and musician. It's interesting to get Dylan's take on such golden oldies as Ricky Nelson and Roy Orbison. His book is also peppered with references to many people with whom I'm unfamiliar, but this didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of this candid autobiography

Not like Writing Lyrics

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This is a very enjoyable and most importantly, readable book. Who would have thought Dylan could write so well, be such a good story teller in straight forward language? After spending years listening to his lyrics I have to admit that I was surprised by how well this is written. Surely songwriting and penning an autobiography are very different arts, but Dylan does it. Apparently sans the ghost writer. This book is full of the early years in NY, sleeping in other peoples places, working his way into the in-crowd, meeting his hero, Woody Guthrie. Be sure to pick up this gem as well! Bound for Glory (Penguin Modern Classics) Great stuff. He does get a little off-track with the making of a particular LP, "Oh Mercy" but works his way back round to the before time. Was he really asked to join Peter, Paul and Mary? We got a look at girlfriend Suzy that appeared on an album cover, very interesting. And between the lines you can sense the pressure of being the spokesman for a generation.