Mike Doughty first came to prominence as the leader of the band Soul Coughing then did an abrupt sonic left turn; much to the surprise of his audience; transforming into a solo performer of stark; dusky; but strangely hopeful tunes. He battled addiction; gave up fame when his old band was at the height of its popularity; drove thousands of miles; alone; across America; with just an acoustic guitar. His candid; hilarious; self-lacerating memoir; The Book of Drugsmdash;featuring cameos by Redman; Ani DiFranco; the late Jeff Buckley; and othersmdash;is the story of his bands rise and bitter collapse; the haunted and darkly comical life of addiction; and the perhaps even weirder world of recovery.
#419868 in eBooks 2012-01-26 2012-01-26File Name: B006JHRY5C
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. The content in this very short introduction is top-notched. ...By Fan BurumaThe content in this very short introduction is top-notched. However. it may be difficult for the readers to go through the book because the structure of the book is not clearly outlined. For example. the Table of Content only lists three chapters: 1. Moving picture. 2. Trusting the image. and 3. The color of money. And thats all. When you turn to each chapter. there are subtitles that are self-explanatory. such as Film and photography. Moviegoers. Directors cut.I also find that the appendix section. which contains the References. Further reading. and Around the world in 80 movies. helpful. In particular. the Index will help you locate what subjects you are interested in. For example. on Japanese director Ozus movies (p.70-1) the authors observations are very sharp. I quote the beginning of this section as follows and you can read the rest. But because this is a very short introduction. there are subjects that are not touched upon. for example. film noir. or pre-code movies are not discussed at all in the book."Many film-makers create worlds we think we could inhabit. and some of them specialize in this effect. set up whole colonies of the imagination for us. But we cant inhabit the films of Ozu. because he so scrupulously and adamantly situates us as spectators. watchers on the edge of a world we cant enter and cant replicate."4 of 20 people found the following review helpful. A very technical introduction.By JCCAMI have read a number of these "A Very Short Introduction" books.and this is the worst of them.Too technical and heavy duty. Written by an academic. who cant write for a broad range of readers.A book by a mainstream knowledgeable film reviewer maybe more useful.
