Customer Reviews

Bowie: Loving The Alien

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I bought this book, I figured I knew just about everything I needed to know about David Bowie. I knew all of his albums, his wives, favorite albums, all about his fellow musical friends (Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, etc.), the movie he has starred in, and so on. As a matter of fact, I came close to not buying the book at all. But boy am I glad I did. Loving The Alien is the by far the most down to the earth, well explained, and best researched Bowie biography out there today. I'm surprised that the author, Christopher Sanford was able to convince William Burroughs to talk to him. What sets this biography apart from the rest is that it presents the information in a factual matter but also with a twist of Sanford's opinion mixed in. I found the reading very interesting and I finally realized that I knew hardly anything about the exciting and unique David Bowie.

Christopher Sandford has done an admirable job of writing a biography on one of rock's more elusive icons, David Bowie. Having read most of the other biographies on Bowie in and out of print, I'd have to rank this one second best next to Peter Gillman's "Alias David Bowie." Gillman's biography has better photos and a superior in-depth account of Bowie's youth, but Sandford's is more up-to-date.

In "Loving the Alien," Sandford discusses Bowie's rumored schizophrenia, a trait he apparently inherited from his mother's side. (Previous biographers have argued that if this is a fact, it serves to explain the many stage-personas Bowie adopted during the '70's: Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, Thin White Duke, etc. Curiously enough, Sandford seems uninterested in this theory.) Bowie's half-brother, Terry Burns, clearly suffered from the mental illness, which led him to take his own life in 1985. The song "Width of a Circle" is supposed to be about Bowie's own battles with schizophrenia (or possibly Burns', depending on which biography you read). Whether or not it ever seriously affected him, Bowie seems to have conquered it by his mid-30's.

Bowie also befriended many other rock stars and celebrities during the '70's. At one time, he was even friends with Elizabeth Taylor and Oona Chaplin (the latter's family even falsely predicted that Bowie would marry her).

Sandford's biography is probably the most well-written one yet on Bowie, as well as the most current. Strongly recommended for Bowie fans wishing to know more about the man.

I have read a lot about David Bowie, because I'm a huge fan, and I believe that this is the best biography written about him. It goes into such detail, you can't believe that it's all true. I actually ended up highlighting parts that were so interesting, I would reffer to in conversations. I highly recommend this book. It will change anyone's life.

Decidedly myopic and one-sided, the author's primary interest seems to be debasing the subject entirely using unsubstantiated rumors and dubious source material. There are far better, even-handed treatments available - look for the excellent "David Bowie: An Illustrated Record" by Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray. Crudely sensationalist at its best, and outright slanderous at its worst, Sanford's book would be at more at home amongst the supermarket tabloids than any thinking person's library. Absolutely terrible.

Yes, there's lots of info here, but the way the author explains Bowie's career is confusing. He starts talking about an album, then he goes back in time, then he presses the fast forward button, only to return to that specific album... And very rarely he explains the year he's talking about. I had to keep looking on wikipedia for the release dates.

When writing about specific songs, he seems to enjoy what I consider the weakest tracks of each album.

The kind of language he uses makes it also not fun to read, with lots of strange, pedantic words. I CONSTANTLY read Rock & Roll books, and I don't think I ever had such a feeling.

And to make things worse, I got the Spanish version of the book, with a different (totally uncool) cover.

I had never bothered to purchase biographies on my idols before, and the reason was simple: being true spawn of the MySpace generation, I naively thought that all the information you could possibly want was out on the web someplace, so buying books would be just a foolish waste of money. My opinion changed, however, when I discovered this book.

I was browsing Amazon for Bowie-related merch and found this. The online excerpt was what grabbed me--its narration of the turmoil Bowie expressed around the last 'Ziggy' concert very much shocked and interested me. Someone was selling a used copy for two dollars--an offer even an utter cheapskate such as myself couldn't resist--and I ordered it.

Being a rabid David Bowie fanatic, I relished the author's inclusion of fact after fascinating fact. It must have taken at least several years to compile the information. Eye-opening anecdotes about virtually every phase in Bowie's life, including often-neglected ones such as his youth and beginning stabs at releasing music, make this a highly informative read. Sandford goes into great detail on Bowie's cocaine-induced mental breakdown in the mid-seventies, which included behaviors as bizarre as repeatedly tracing swastikas on a fog-covered window, and repeatedly acting out the plot of "Rosemary's Baby."

I'd recommend this to just about anyone interested in learning about the man behind the phenomenal Bowie albums; however, the book tends to go back and forth between time periods, and the author generously applies the 'miscellaneous facts' element, which may bore readers who are more interested in a cohesive, story-like outline of Bowie's history.

Oh, yeah--there are several pages' worth of photographs included, several of which were taken when he was a boy, which readers might find interesting. All in all, a very well-constructed biography that deserves an honored place on any rabid Bowie fanatic's bookshelf.

An insightful look at a rather strained life. The author brings insight into how a such a brilliant performer can lead such a showy / shallow life. Mr Sandford shows gives the two sides of a very showy performer

A very good book. Although some parts tended to be a bit confusing. A tough read but very informational and enjoyable. If you are a Bowie Psycho Fan!!!!