Bono on Bono [Hardcover]

Michka Assayas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 6, 2005

Bono is one of the most influential musicians at work today. Over the past twenty-five years his band, U2, have sold a staggering 130 million albums and collected 14 Grammys. Their success has made Bono one of the most recognisable faces in the world. Here, in a series of conversations with his friend, the music journalist, Michka Assayas, Bono reflects on his transformation from extrovert singer of a small, Irish, post-punk band into an international rock star. Along the way he speaks candidly about his childhood, about his mother's death, about his Christian faith and about his difficult relationship with his father, who died recently. Bono also speaks passionately about how he has used his fame as a platform to campaign fervently on a range of global issues, and why these issues - which include the IRA ceasefire, Third World debt and, most recently, the growing AIDS crisis in Africa - are so important to each of us. Intimate, humorous, and fiercely opinionated, "Bono on Bono" is Bono's story in his own words. It will fascinate and challenge fans of U2 and general readers alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

U2 vocalist, celebrity activist and one of the world's most outsized rock stars, Bono symbolically takes off his habitual shades to reveal the relatively normal guy behind the flashy (and occasionally bombastic) public persona in this series of wide-ranging conversations. Readers familiar with the Irish singer won't be surprised that he comes off as both earnest and quick minded, but the book's long-form q&a format also reveals an acerbic sense of humor and genuine humility. Topics shift and flow in a fairly nonlinear fashion; anecdotes jump around from 1979 to 1998, from Dublin to Africa, from music to father-son relationships. Presuming that most readers are intimate with U2's history and discography, interviewer Assayas gives little background information other than the dates and location of each discussion. The lack of context or clear chronology is at times frustrating, but Assayas, a French journalist and longtime friend of the group, compensates by steering the conversations into difficult territory: politics, religion and the personal dynamics of a successful rock band. This is sure to appeal to completists; more casual fans may snap it up after seeing one of U2's forthcoming concerts for their album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Agent, Ed Victor. (Apr. 21)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Review

'Witty and entertaining ... [Bono's] heart is warm, his mind is sharp, and his conversation a rich, unstoppable noise.' -- The Sunday Times

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Hodder Hb; First Edition ~1st Printing edition (June 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340832762
• ISBN-13: 978-0340832769
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #501,684 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating look into Bono's character, April 27, 2005

By 

A. Lile (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas (Hardcover)

A long-time fan of U2's music and impressed by Bono's activisim, I was anxious to read this new book. And I loved it! I couldn't put it down!

Written in a coversational style, I at first thought it may be difficult to follow. Instead, I pleasantly realized that it made me feel as if I was listening to Bono talk to a group of which I was part. Because we are actually reading his words, I think we really get a look into Bono's mind - or even his soul.

Every topic I could want to hear Bono talk about is covered - his music, the band, his family, his belief in God, and his activism. It had it all.

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about what makes Bono tick. It confirmed to me that he has a very big heart, a great intellect, and incredible talent.

Enjoy!

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Honesty, June 12, 2005

By 

Debora McDonnell "Me2" (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas (Hardcover)

Before I read this book I loved U2's music but considered Bono, although very hot, to be yet another uneducated pompous ass celebrity with a god complex. After reading the book I realize I was the judgemental pompous ass. Bono is a man of conviction that gets mistaken as arrogance. He believes in something bigger than himself and stands up for it in spite of pompous ass people like me who doubt his sincerity simply because he's a celebrity. Sorry Bono, keep up the good work.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Conversations Between Friends, May 24, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas (Hardcover)

If you wanted to ask Bono a question, what would it be?

Would it be about the music?

Would it be about his personal life? Perhaps the deaths of his parents?

Would you ask about the formation of the most successful band in history?

Perhaps you'd want to know more about his work in support of AIDS and hunger releif.

All of these questions, and many, many more are asked and answered in this book. In fact, almost the whole book is a series of questions that ramble from subject to subject with no pattern. These questions and answers are like a normal conversation flows between friends.

Because they are friends, a true respect exists between the two men and it comes out in the book. This means that there is great insight shown into how Bono thinks. And it comes out that he thinks very well indeed.

This is a fascinating book, not just because of the fascination with the singer, but because of the insight he brings to us about places like Africa and the Soviet Union.