Customer Reviews

Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This book covers it all from the humble beginnings to bob's rise as third world poet and prophet and then to the controversies that occured after his death. White takes much time to tell about the politics and religious issues that help one to understand what is happening and to bridge the cultural gap. In many ways this biography does not paint a comlimentary picture of bob, in many ways it does. It is the truth based on verifiable facts. It's important in a study of this man's life to cut through the varnish of the legend and the myth to what really happened. Bob Marley deserves that much. White takes us right to trenchtown and attempts to paint a complete picture.

Life in the kingston ghetto that spawned reggae has a code of it's own. When there was an attempt on bob's life in 1976 it was trenchtown gangs who brought the accused to justice. This story reads like a great novel and never gets boring or stale and that's just one of hundreds of examples.

This work is a great study of jamaican life and culture as well as reggae and bob marley. A must read for real fans and the best biography by far of this great man.

One reviewer suggested that the book doesn't pay enough attention to bob's rasta faith. Not true, marley's religious faith is the motivation for most of what he does, how he viewed the world. White never misses this point. As bob's world got bigger his perspective on his faith changed.

A must read.

....................socks

I recently read "Catch a Fire" while on vacation in Jamaica, and found it the best reading choice I could possibly have made. I was awed by Timothy White's success in describing and documenting the cultural, economic, historical, musical, racial, religious and political contexts which spawned Bob Marley. The book is not just an account of one musician's rise to fame, but of the land and society which inspired, sustained, and betrayed him, and which continues to learn and grow from him. Though I lived in Jamaica for many years, I learned much from the book about the culture and history which I never knew before.

The book made Bob Marley at once more human and more astounding. It documents the human perils, uncertainties and challenges he encountered and how he dealt with them, sometimes better than others. At the same time, it does not attempt to explain away his genius, inspiration or transcendent powers - those inexplainable qualities which made him extraordinary and which resulted in the ongoing legend which may never stop.

The experience of reading the book whilst involved in activities such as touring the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston, listening to his recordings, and discussing Marley with people across the island made it impossible for me not to make mental comparisons between the birth and growth of the legend of Jesus of Nazareth and that of Robert Nesta Marley of Nine Miles.

Timothy White has done a superb job of documenting the birth of a legend. As Bob sang and White concluded, "Time Will Tell."

This is the first biography of Bob marley that I have read. But I have read (and written) numerous biographies of people in popular culture, social history, military history etc. This book is written in a way that is hard to describe - it uses the jamaican patois so cleverly and appropriately that you realise there is no other way the events in Bob's life could have been described. So detailed are the descriptions that it is obvious the author writes from a personal knowledge of Bob, his family, his friends and his musical associates. Absolutely rivetting, and impossible to put down, it stays with you. I listen to the music now with a quite different appreciation of what is going on in the songs.

After being a fan of Bob Marley's music for years, I decided that I wanted to learn more about the legend. I thought Catch a Fire was an amazing book. Not only does it tell everything about the life and times of Bob Marley, from childhood through his "rockstar" days, but it tells of the origins of reggae and Rastafari. Learning more about Marley really made me appreciate his music on a whole new level, and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about the man behind the name.

The man, the myth, the legend, it's all here and some. I read this book several years back and consider it one of my favorite biographies. The author goes into great detail concerning the Honorable Robert Nesta Marley life. He also does a superb job explaining the roots of reggae and all the social and political ramifications surrounding Bob Marley's life. This is a must read for any fan of Bob Marley. The man was much more than the music and in order to understand the full picture an understanding of Jamaica and Rastafarianism is essential. The book recounts all aspects of Jamaican life and how the ambassador of reggae became a super star. A good companion book to this is Songs of Freedom by Adrian Boot. Thanks to fine biographies like this and the plethora of music left behind by Bob Marley it is easy to see why he was so great then and now. His legacy continues to grow as each new generation discovers the Hon. Robert Nesta Marley, the Lion lives on forever!

After buying some Marley records, the book was a later buy. Instead I should have bought both at once because the match is very good, in fact. They travel well with each other.

This was a purchase after reading the same writer's book on the Beach Boys, which I enjoyed for its many facts and all the historical insight. But it was not a regular bio at all which made it refreshing The same aspects arise here but in an even more intense way. Without the knowledge given on the country, its sociology, politics, religions and superstitions, and so forth, it would get stuck in the category of the generic music biographies, which are getting to be a major bore. Marley and his people live! This book certifies it with lots of interesting layers. So it's cool.

This book is not only an excellent book on such a great man but it also gives an in depth history and ideology of rastafarianism. It is unlike any other biography and has an incredible amount of information on the rasta culture.

This is a great book to fully understand bob marley's music, ideas and life. It may lacks a more profound look on his works, but still is THE BOOK if you want to understand the jamaican culture, specially the music. You'll feel like travelling through time and space. You almost can see, feel or smell places and people. Mr.White has done a labour of love and takes you to a incredible journey. It also includes the best Marley's discography so far. Essential.

This book on Marley is much more thorough than others out there. It gives historical and musical insights besides giving you a really inside sense of Marley the person. You learn about his childhood, his time as a teenager and adult, the family, the politics and lifestyles of the Jamaicans, and also cool info on how all the Wailers songs got created. The part on Peter Tosh's death is SCARY. And in the back is stuff on court cases, CIA documents, and a king-size disc history that helps to find usual records. This book has loads in it. It definitely requires concentration but it stays with you afterward.