Anyone else buy this HUGE ass book? I didn't realize it was so big. I was actually looking for Alex Hahn's book, but came across this one at Barnes & Noble in the directory instead. It was on sale for $24.95, so I picked it up.

Who owns it? Thoughts? I've not looked through it just yet.

I randomly picked it up at Barnes & Noble, in the bargain section and thought I'd give it a try. I haven't read Possessed (or any other unofficial P. book) but I really liked this one. In my opinion, I liked that the author tried to keep speculation to a minimum, and relied a lot on more factual stuff. Also, there's a lot of day-by-day happenings in Prince's life in there, too, which was cool. Overall, for the relatively cheap price, I really, really liked it


my .02

I like it a lot.

http://prince.org/msg/7/284555

Yeah, this is a pretty cool book. Not the most complete work on Prince ever done, but for sure worth the money. This is definitely the perfect starter book for a brand new Prince fan.

As a side note, if you do read Possessed, please remember that there is a LOT of really negative stuff in there, much of which is purely the opinion of the very biased author. Alex Haan (The Author) had already been on the opposite side of a courtroom from Prince before he wrote a single word of Possessed. Lots of good interviews, but a lot of jumping to conclusions and portraying Prince in a bad light whenever possible.
[Edited 6/20/09 16:23pm]

ernestsewell said:

I don't get you, you make a lot of negative comments why people do not use the search function, and now you are doing the same thing yourself!
This has been discussed about 6 months ago already

xenophobia2002 said:

I think maybe he just wanted to start a discussion about the book again. The old threads get locked automatically after a brief time, so they can't be started up again.

xenophobia2002 said:

You don't need to GET me. Before you start slobbing on my jock, REREAD what I typed. I'm discussing it NOW. I JUST picked it up today. I asked who has since picked it up since it came out, and what anyone's thoughts were on it. Mmkay? Clear now? Good. kthanxbai.

squirrelgrease said:

Yeah Right !!!

No offense...but I don't like the cover...I just artistically cannot get past..."Life&Times," of Prince...and Prince is without a guitar in his hand for the cover. It really bugz me.

Tame said:

So you really are judging a book by its cover.

Best Prince book ever is Dez Dickerson's. It isnt the entire PRince story but I think it is the most accurate one. It is the only first hand account from someone who was there.

Hideous cover, but quite in keeping with Prince's own tastes.

It's a nice looking book inside, good quality. There's nothing in there we aren't privy too already in other good books, but it covers the protege albums more than any other similar (non-Uptown related) book I've seen.

Yes I do! My friend told me they had it, she goes there a lot. You really can't miss it. It's right by my mirror, it really is a big ass book. I like the look and feel of the cover. I read some sections in it, MJ mostly. The author seemed a bit negative.. But other than that I LOVED the book, good pictures and I like how it's set up.

The only thing I dont like is that it is so big, which kept it off the main shelf in their music section. I always hate it when I go to BnN and there are NO books on Prince...

peterv said:

Look UP then. The bigger books are always on the top shelf in the music section. However THIS book was on the top shelf in the bargain section up front.

peterv said:

I never found a Michael Jackson book there. I found Prince's book by Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Beatles, cause they also had BIG books

Cool book. I just ordered Possessed last week, even though I've heard it's biased, I'll just read it anyway.

it's better than prince's own huge ass book which adds nothing ..damn if i would have known better i would have just waited 4 the website 2 display the same damn pics i already would have had with indigo nites ..so that being said ..i like this book life and times better cause at least it gives a fan what they want in terms of a book

Wildboy said:

Whatever. It's all truthful.

I purchased this book around Christmas and it was already on sale. In think I got it for $12.50 at the time, 50% off.

Good looking book. Great pictures and fold-out sections. Nothing that new or revealing in terms of content. Nothing "shocking" or controversial. Some nice sidebars dedicated to associated artists, proteges, etc.

I will say, it is horribly edited. Some typos, misspellings, etc. that a third grader could catch.

Worth the bargain price if you want an easy read and lots of pics.

I like the book a lot. I received this as a gift for father's day this past weekend and have read almost half of it. I can see why some people feel the way they do about Prince. I don't know how much of the events in the book are true but being that this is my first read on Prince's life and career it's a shock to the system. The way he allegedly treated his bands, The Time and his protege's leaves a bad taste in your mouth. It's also intersting to find out that Dirty Mind and Controversy were not as well accepted/successful as I thought and that Prince and his band allegedly had bags of rotten chicken, empty bottles and fruit thrown at them by audiences that weren't feeling the music/presentation back then. I never really cared about Prince's personal life, just the music. This book almost taints the way I look at Prince. Since you don't know whats true and whats not, it's almost better not to know. I think I'll continue to read it though.

cheesecakequeen said:

Yeah, the 21 Nights book, but only for a month or two...

I'm talkin' about a regular stock item. Prince books come and go,,, and sometimes not even that. I mean no respect for one the most talented musicians ever... IMO