| Title | : | Who Is Bob Dylan? |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0448464616 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780448464619 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 112 |
| Publication | : | First published June 27, 2013 |
Who Is Bob Dylan? Reviews
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7 out of 10
I love Bob Dylan's music, and I really wanted to learn more about the person behind his songs. I know the "Who Was/Is" series are books targetted towards children, but Bob Dylan's Chronicles hadn't had a released audiobook yet, so I decided I might as well try this one. I definitely learned a lot about Bob Dylan with this book. I found it informative, but I did wonder why the author seemed to have something against Bob Dylan. Bob is depicted as a big jerk in this book most of the time, (which may be true, but I wouldn't know). He is depicted as always seeing other women in his relationships, stealing people's songs and vinyl records, being a jerk to people, etc. I don't know if it is all true or not, but it sure seems that the author has something against him.
For the most part, though, I found the book to be very informative. I learned about how he became a performer, his personal life, and the circumstances behind his album releases. It is also a good thing that Bob was pro-civil rights, during a time when African Americans were being greatly oppressed. I did catch a slight mistake in the audiobook where the narrator said, "Highway 51" instead of, "Highway 61", but for the most part, I found the book to be pretty good. Can't wait to learn more about Bob Dylan.
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This book should have been called "Who Was Bob Dylan a Dick To?" The author seems to have a giant vendetta against Dylan, and did not want this assignment. The 'Who Was/Is..." series of books never shies away from the darker side of its subjects, but this book just seemed to be a long series of people Dylan has wronged. Sure, he's not exactly known as the nicest guy on the planet, but no kid is going to come away from this book wanting to know anything about the subject. Plus, the last 40+ years of Dylan's career are given a very quick few page gloss over. Usually this series focuses on why a person is considered historically or culturally important, even going as far as claiming Elvis Presley invented rock and roll. "Who Was Bob Dylan?" is more focused on why people who don't like Dylan are important.
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i love bob dylan
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An apt alternative title for this book could be Bob Dylan: Kind of a Jerk; I often felt the need to point out to my son while we read together that it was a good thing Bob was so talented since he didn't always treat others in the best manner possible. The book is fine and fairly informative, and we both learned quite a bit about Dylan; I am definitely curious now to see the eclectic portrayal of him in I'm Not There. However, I didn't enjoy this one as much as the ones we've previously read, and the illustrations don't feel up to par.
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“Who Is Bob Dylan?” (Who Was/Is...? series) by Jim O'Connor, Nancy Harrison
Interesting take. Seems to focus on his breached relationships and who he ripped off!
I guess it fills in the gaps that hagiography omits, assuming it’s true and not conjecture, which most biographies probably are anyway.
“Bob put away his acoustic guitar and switched to a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar.” (p68) -
The answer my friend is blowing in the wind
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""There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music," the president (Barack Obama) said." (4)
"At times in my life the only place I have been happy is when I am onstage." (96)
Edition Read - Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, New York, 2013. -
AudioBook
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Interesting intro to Dylan for kids
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Rated 5 stars
Ages 12+
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This guy interests me. He is now on my list of people that I have to meet before they die :) -
Not a bad starter bio of Dylan's life, though it entirely skips over the best album of all-time.
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A disorganized sprint through Dylan’s life.
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This is a well researched and educational short biography of Bob Dylan. It reviews his youth and accomplishments. It also reviews his public image.
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I learned a little about Bob Dylan, but the book left me with more questions to research. :)
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lol this was funny whoever wrote this hated bob dylan
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Fascinating creature.
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I've got nothing at all against Bob Dylan, but it's hard to say if the same can be said for the author of this book.
We got off on the wrong foot right away with Chapter 1, Hibbing:
"Hibbing was a small town in a part of northern Minnesota called the Iron Range. ..When Bob Zimmerman was growing up in Hibbing, there were only sixteen thousand people living there."
It seems likely the author must be from a large urban area. Having spent my entire life in Northern Minnesota, I've never lived in a town of more than about 500, to this day a pretty typical size for a northern Minnesota "small town." At 16,000 people, Hibbing was one of the largest towns in northern Minnesota in the 40's and 50's when Dylan was growing up.
"Everyone knew everyone else. No one wanted to stand out or be different."
Hibbing was known for it's diverse background.
Fact: "During the early twentieth century, the population of the Iron Range was among the most ethnically diverse in Minnesota." (MNOpedia)
"The Zimmermans were among the few Jewish families."
Fact: "Forty-three different nationality groups populated the Iron Range. The earliest immigrants were Finnish, Swedish, Slovenian, Canadian, Norwegian, Cornish, or German. After 1900, the origins of the population expanded, with Italian, Croatian, Polish, Montenegrin, Serbian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Slovak, Hungarian, and Greek immigrants filling mining jobs. *A sizeable Jewish population started main street businesses. Chinese immigrant men ran restaurants and laundries." (MNOpedia)
"In the 1950's, few teenagers in Hibbing listened to a new kind of music called rock and roll. The local radio station in Hibbing was, like the town itself, conservative and dull."
Ouch. Fact or opinion? I'm pretty over outsiders dissing MN already.
I grew up listening to boisterous stories about Hibbing from an Italian teacher who was born there in the 30's. Mining towns always sounded far more rowdy than dull to me.
Now that I've got that out of my system, moving on to Bob Dylan!
By page 8, the author establishes that Dylan was a liar. He establishes Bob was fairly privileged. His family owned one of Hibbing's first TV sets. As a teen, he bought a really expensive guitar. In high school, he talked his dad into buying him a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. "He had a cute girlfriend who rode on the back of it while he roared around Hibbing." (considering school age boys and girls readers, this made me cringe. There are more noteworthy qualities than being cute as a girl! But not as cringe-worthy as the later reference to a playboy bunny.) He starts seeing other girls while she's his girlfriend. His senior year he talked his dad into buying him a Ford.
The author goes on to label Dylan as a copycat, not an original.. Upon listening to Woody Guthrie, "Within a few weeks, Bob was singing just like Woody." He writes that Dylan was a thief.. "he stole records from his friend's apartment.. It wasn't right, but that didn't stop him."
"He became competitive with his friend Spider John." He moved to New York and continued to tell lies. He copied another friend.. "word for word and note for note," put it on his first album, betraying the friend.. "Bob never said he was sorry."
Then the author paints him as a sellout and explains what a sellout is. He benefits from his relationship with young Suze until he moves on to Joan Baez, who's generosity he uses but does not reciprocate, and later treats her with disrespect. He's disrespectful to fans, "Bob Dylan simply didn't care." Then he's in a documentary film. "Bob Dylan comes across as cocky. He looks eager to poke fun at people who strike him as stupid." He writes a song, Just Like a Woman, which is criticized for making women look "greedy, whining, and hysterical."
Next, enters Sara, the "Playboy bunny".. completely unnecessary info having nothing to do with Dylan, and inappropriate to mention in a book made for classrooms and children's libraries. What next, a breakout page answering the question "What is a Playboy bunny?" Sheesh.
A couple of marriages. One known, one secret. Kids from both. Divorce from both.
My question is - if this is the summary of Bob Dylan's life, why the heck was he chosen to be the subject of a biography in this wonderful children's series, which usually focuses on people who've overcome obstacles (no, being from Hibbing doesn't count) made positive differences in the world, people who are role models and inspiration?
I'm stumped.
As noted in a couple of other books in the series, I don't care for O'Brien's cartoon illustrations. I prefer more life like illustrations to go with these real life bios.
To be fair, the book does point out that Bob Dylan did some good by writing protest songs for the Civil Rights movement. Before pointing out that he abandoned it. -
https://revingsblog.blogspot.com/2018... -
1.80 min
2. penguin reader
3. singer, mother's day, radio, record, rockabilly, New York, electric guitar
4.'Bob put away his acoustic guitar and switched to a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar.' This is his turning point for him. Before that, he was known as a singer who sings with a acoustic one but changed it. I think this is because of The Beatles,when he listened their songs first time, he thoughts this is the right way of music. Their songs was like a revolution of music scene I think.
5.Recently, I've searching many kind of music because I love music and I wanna listen a new world of music. Some music can change my mind and also my though. I've gotten a lot of teachings like how to live and how to though. So I chose this book so as to meet a new world and it came true. During reading this book I was listening his song, and I never listened foreign folk songs. This experience was impressive. I'd like to keep listening his songs! -
1. GROSSET&DUNLAP
2.12/09=120min
3.grandmother, piano, Medal of freedom, rock and roll, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, stand up style
4a. When he started playing piano, Bob copied Little Richard's stand-up style of playing.
4b. He started to play the piano ten years old, it seems that he did't interested in jazz or classic and so on. But when he watched TV, he saw Rock and roll pianist called Little Richard, then he was inspired Little Richard. As the result he started rock and roll.
5. Actually, I didn't almost know about him. I just knew his name and he is a musician. But this book is written about him story in detail. And I could know about history of rock and roll. So I thought I want to listen to to rock and roll music and Bob Dylan! -
1, GROSSET&DUNLAP level ?
2, 11/2 10 min 11/3 20 min 11/4 60 min
3, singer, private, albums, genre, divorce, awards, rock'n'roll
4 a Bob Dylan was interested in different kinds of instruments and genre of the musical. B I realized it is important to have interests for many things. because I could have many great experience in a life. from his career I learned, it is meaningful to try new things.
5 I learned many about Bob Dylan's career. it was really interesting to know. I'm studying about the 1960's music in the class, so I learned little about Bob Dylan. I'm really glad that I could know about Bob Dylan's personal history. -
Decent read
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It's amazing book really it's
