I’m a Beatles fan and have read a number of books about them.  At first glance this book looked pretty cheesy, and I thought to myself, does the world really need yet another Beatles book?  Yes, it does.  This book was a gold mine of fascinating stories, in little chapters that you can easily skip if you’ve heard the story before, or just find it uninteresting.  The book isn’t chronological, and some chapters are devoted to obscure events and even more obscure people that somehow are connected to the Beatles in some intriguing way.  There are some really crazy stories in here, like the woman who snipped a lock of hair right off of Ringo’s head, excerpts from bizarre fan letters, George’s refusal to clean up his own vomit, and many informative historical references.  Interesting stuff about Brian Epstein, more unusual stories about their trip to India, and lots of interesting insights into John’s family.  The book really humanizes the Beatles. I think even the most obsessive Beatles fanatic would learn a thing or two from this book.  As a huge Monty Python fan, my favorite tidbit revealed that the character “Spiny Norman” in the Piranha Brothers sketch was based on police constable Norman Pilchard, an officer to devoted himself to trying to busting the Beatles for drug possession.  It’s been almost 60 (!) years since the Beatles hit the music scene, and the books keep coming out, and you can still learn something new.  

“150 Glimpses of The Beatles” by Craig Brown

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