Bob Spitz is a great writer who goes deep in uncovering the truths of what happened and how the Beatles got big and reminds you they were humans, after all. this is a great spanned biography probably the best and the most unbiased I have read. it shoots down myths and theories like the Beatles are the new Freud. cuz, they lyke are duh. ( )

In The Beatles: The Biography, Bob Spitz shares the story behind the Beatles' successes and failures. It's a fairly comprehensive biography, exploring the music, the business, and the Fab Four's personal lives.

As a casual admirer of the Beatles, I learned a lot from this book, but I doubt that serious Beatles enthusiasts would find much new information here. Particularly fascinating to me were the insights into the music itself. Less interesting to me were the chapters on the Beatles' early years.

The gossipy bits about who the Beatles dated and when were only interesting to me when these relationships affected the music (as the introduction of Yoko Ono did). However, a biography of the band would be incomplete without this information, so I'm not sorry it was there---I was just mostly interested in the music.

See my complete review at my blog. ( )

This excellent book is comprehensive yet compulsively readable. Spitz is straightforward about his sources and provides probably the most authentic version possible of the Beatles' mythic rise to fame, the crazy years of Beatlemania, and their eventual disintegration. His discussions of the albums will make you want to get out your iPod and revisit forgotten gems. ( )

I'm still reading it (in fact, I began and stopped -- I can't find time to go on with it), but the first pages were very interesting.

Mr. Spitz has a great command of language and is able to weave a strong narrative. The book is well researched and avoids the temptation to use hyperbole. However, the book is reverent when it should be and doesn't cower at describing the magnitude of talent that the Beatles possess or the revolutionary effect they had on the world. As the book moves forward it begins to lose insight on the personalities and inner thoughts of the individual Beatles, but the obstacles to doing so are understandable. The individual Beatles are not covered equally and the book is especially light in reference to Ringo who, let's face it, had the most fun being a Beatle. The author gives John the most detailed portrait, with Brian Epstein coming in as a surprising second. Yoko is given the villain treatment, whether by truth or by legend is difficult to determine. The critical examination of the Beatles' work is strong, except for the dismissal by the author of a particular favorite of mine, "Blue Jay Way." ( )