This intensely detailed chronicle of the Beach Boys’ lives and times could have used an editor to tell author Timothy White that he did not need to include every fact he unearthed.

If the book can be said to make one valuable contribution to BB lore, it is in its early focus on the genealogies of the Wilson and Love families. White effectively shows how familial dysfunction spanned the generations and culminated in both great music and more maladjustment.

This book is worth a skim, but it contains so much extraneous material that a word-by-word reading would be a trial of patience. Recommended for fans only. ( )