Customer Reviews

To Air is Human: One Man's Quest to Become the World's Greatest Air Guitarist

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I really loved this book. I fully expected it to be silly and funny, and it did not disappoint in that regard (I mean, c'mon, AIR GUITAR!!??). However, I didn't expect it to be such a well written, in depth, truly epic journey into the strange world of competitive air guitar; a story that drags the reader along shaking with laughter and olfactory horror (poop in a pizza box, anyone?) into an understanding of and sympathy for the crazed, beer addled, "ersatz" philosopher Bjorn Turoque. Why on earth would anyone give so much for air guitar greatness? Why air guitar? What the...? Mr. Crane answers all these questions with substance and humor, and dare I say humanity. He's a Holden Caulfield (!!) for the jaded, 30-something, unhappy hipsters searching for something more in life...who finds air guitar and a mission! Make air not war. He makes you believe.

Bjorn Turoque has only won an air guitar competition once (and I was there to witness it), but with To Air Is Human, he proves that he is the #1 ambassador of air, at least in the U.S. Mr. Turoque/Crane/Retard masterfully and humorously takes us into the magical world of competitive air guitar--what it's like to have to explain to your girlfriend why an imaginary instrument must dominate your life, what it's like to compete in 10 competitions and come in second five times, what it's like to live out your rock-star fantasies, and best of all, what it's like to score with an "air groupie."

Turoque explores the "beautiful" dynamic of air guitar in Finland, home to the Air Guitar World Championships, in which he has competed twice. The scenes in Finland focus on the unity of the human spirit--from the inspiring words of two-time former world champ Zac "The Magnet" Monro to the air guitar competitions for the "differently abled." Turoque's quest in life and with this book is to introduce America, which should be the leader of air guitar rock-stardom, to this concept. Turoque, a true Nietzche buff, analyzes air guitar with philosophy, pop-culture references, laugh-out-loud humor, and writing skills that have gotten his works published in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

This book might not inspire you to air guitar competitively, but you will laugh. And you will embrace the rock star that resides within. Two thumbs up--or better yet, double devil-horns way up with a C-Diddy-sized tongue sticking way out.

I was in a hurry to pick up some books for a transatlantic flight and I picked this book up, without much expectations. After all, how good could a book be about one man's quest to become the world champion in "air guitar" play? Then I started turning the pages...

In "To Air Is Human: One Man's Quest To Become The World's Greatest Air Guitarist" (304 pages), author Dan Crane brings the improbable tale of how he decided on a whim to enter the 2003 NY regionals and subsequently the world championships, and what happened next. The book is "co-authored" by Crane's alter-ego, the air guitarist Bjorn Turoque (get it?). With tongue firmly planted in cheek, Crane tells of his encounters with (semi)celebraties like Carson Daly and others along his way to try and become the world champ. Most of the tales are quite funny, which is what kept me turning the pages. Some of his observations are so off-kilter (such as "Air guitar, I had learned, is about commitment. It's not unlike love, really") that I just couldn't stop smiling as I was reading. Many of the better moments in the book are about the many side-characters that pop up.

In the end, this book was much better than I expected it. Of course, I had low expectations to begin with. But this book is funny and irreverent from begin to end. If you are in the mood for that, this book is for you.

Bjorn Turoque and "To Air is Human" have done with air guitar what Al Gore and "An inconvenient Truth" have done with climate change.

This book is quite difficult to put down, as it drills you to your seat: leaving you to wonder why you're not the one rocking on an invisible instrument.

Bjorn Turoque has given his audience a Roque solid, chAIRsmatic, and hilarious tale of his determination and perseverance to not only become the "World's Greatest Air Guitarist", but to also emulate the true spirit and message of Air Guitar - World Peace.

I'm eager to see Air Guitar and it's competitive circuit sweep the nation and hope that America will embrace it as the Finns have!

Having already seen Air Guitar Nation at the TriBeCa film festival and attended the US Air Guitar Finals this year, I was already well versed in all things "Air" and the life and times of Bjorn Turoque.

However, I still made the purchase of "To Air is Human" and didn't regret it as I spent a weekend chuckling to myself again and again reading the book that can definitely be defined as "hard to put down".

I won't put my description of the content as you can read that elsewhere, but it really is a good read, enjoyable and different and even my wife had now read it - and she is a book snob!

Buy a copy and learn about a little part of everyone that is "Air".

You don't need to be a bedroom axe smasher to enjoy this blast of literary ampage.

This volume speaks a primitive language that we all can plug into. Young or old. Heavy or metal. Let Mr. Crane turn it up to eleven and run his nimble fingers across the fretboard of your mind.

When reading this book lovers of music will appreciate the passion that Bjorn and his fellow air guitarists have for all things music. Lovers of peace will respect the greater message that air guitar promotes - that if every person in the world were to hold an air guitar then they would not be able to carry a gun. Bjorn Turoque's air guitar journey which started innocently enough but then quickly escalated to odd proportions is both riveting and hilarious.

I thought I had no interest in Air Guitar. I just didn't get it. (I'm
referring to the rise of public air guitar competitions, not unselfconscious, instinctive standing-on-the-bed performances). I couldn't believe it wasn't an ironic, nostalgia-addict-generation trend that would flare up, then die out. I thought it sprang from the same impulse that drives people to watch endless episodes of their seventies childhood tv shows.

After Crane's hilarious page turner I am schooled. I won't say what the impulses are that leads one, or at least the subject of this book, to perform in front of an audience with nothing but their bare hands, because that would spoil the author's eventual revelations, and the adventure of coming to those revelations with him is part of the fun of this read. And it is a pretty much non-stop fun read.

But not entirely airy; like any good book it taps into the human condition, as the title promises.

Crane had me hooked from the first competition; I read the book practically in one sitting. He's got perfect comic timing, an addictive voice, and an immensely likable persona --even if you're not drawn to any iteration of [...], narcissistic rock n' roll endeavors, air or otherwise, you'll find it hard not to identify with Crane's struggle to find some place in life that isn't freighted with self-seriousness, corporate-banality, or deadening adult legitimacy. It's a little bit like Bridget Jones in that it makes you feel better about your own [...] dissapointments.

Fellow female [is that an oxymoron? ed.] readers: there's a great scene at a strip club that lifts the veil over what really goes on in there (and in the male brains) that will have you horrified but hanging on every word. Scandalous! Even, maybe, sad.

Another added bonus: for anyone who's been feeling kindof out of it (suddenly finding oneself with children, or locked at work, or locked into a disturbingly lasting depressive stupor) To Air also serves as a crash course in what the kids are up to these days. With quick, deft, lol sketches, Crane captures a demographic ethos in an inclusive way that leaves you feeling cheerfully in the know.

My only complaint: I wish he'd given more than just tiny peeks into his failing relationship. The book returns repeatedly with little butterfly-wing brushes to interpersonal juicyness issues -- is Bjorn stealing away from commitment and Air Guitar is just the getaway car, or there another reason the romance ends? -- but never fully explains what happens.

But maybe this was enough generous self-exposure for one book. If so, I look forward to the next.

THIS WAS A GREAT READ. I LEARNED SO MUCH ABOUT THE LIFE OF THIS COLORFUL AND INTERESTING CHARACTER. IT WAS VERY WELL WRITTEN WITH A GREAT SENSE OF HUMOR AND STYLE. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE .