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I was unable to put this painful, marvelous book down until I had finished it. Starry-eyed twirlers should beware their illusions: Jerry Garcia was a powerful, wealthy (in the end), troubled genius who broke a lot of hearts. But his contribution to his friends and the millions who adored his art stands as one of the most enduring of the last half of this century. He once said, "Anybody who thinks I'm God ought to talk to my kids." Truer words were never spoken, and this book illustrates the folly in putting people on pedestals. Garcia is still my favorite artist, bar none, and this book is priceless for it's clear view into his life and work. It also provides a lot of depth and counterpoint to Rock Scully's "Living With the Dead", correcting some of the wilder tales with conflicting eye-witness accounts. The only negative comment is that the interviews are printed verbatim, and the often broken and incorrect English makes the statements unintelligible. I remember reading several of them 4 or 5 times and still being unable to decifer the intent. But they are the minority. Buy it, read it.

This is really a good book, though it left me a little depressed after I finished it. The book begins with a haunting, faded picture of a young Jerry Garcia concentrating intently on his banjo and then proceeds to words by Garcia's brother, Tiff, on how Jerry lost part of one of his fingers and the death of their father. Greenfield lets the people who lived around or with Garcia tell the tale...and what a powerful story it is. The sorry part of it is that it seems like the last 10 years of Garcia's life was like a slow suicide. The center of Garcia's life was music and people who adored him, though it seems he had a great deal of trouble making lasting, emotional bonds to those who loved him. The ones he did make are just sweet. The highlight of the book, for me, is the tale of Garcia's recovery from his mid-80s coma and how instrumental Merl Saunders was in helping Jerry back to life and back to music.

Garcia was a human singularity and this is an interesting portrait of this interesting, adored, and creative person.

Of all the books about Garcia that you want, this is the one you want the most.

This book is an absolute must read for any Grateful Dead fan. The beauty of the book is that you have accounts and opinions from (what seems to be) everyone in Jerry's inner circle. Not only does the book allow you to take a deep look inside Jerry's life but it allows you to take deep study of the scene and the characters that were an enormous part of his life.

This book was damn near impossible to put down and will certainly be re-read very soon - just to make sure I did not miss anything the first time around.

...and anyone who wants to know about Jerry Garcia, actually. Like the title says, it's an oral biography: Jerry's friends, bandmates, ex-lovers, and siblings talking about their memories of him. Their words portray Jerry as half musical genius demigod, half womanizing drug addict. It's one of the most interesting biographies I've ever read, and I go through a lot of rock bios so that is saying something. It isn't exactly intellectual reading, since lots of the talk is mainly dishing dirt and gossiping, but it's straightforward. If you're interested in Jerry's life and want to find out both facts and opinions from the people he associated with, this is the perfect book for it.

Even though I knew about Garcia's drug and alcohol problems, I still thought he was one of the most wonderful people on the planet. Until I read this book. His treatment of the women in his life - including his neglect of his daughters - made me realize that he was just another human being, and possibly someone I might not even have wanted to meet. I still think that he really did want and try to be a good person at times, and and I still love his music, but reading this book was quite a shock for me. It was hard to deal with my feelings of disillusionment afterwards.

This book is told as a collection of anecdotes and quotes from a variety of people who shared Jerry's personal and business life. It leaves a lot of frustrating gaps, and includes a number of errors in chronology (if not in fact) - but chalk me up as another picky deadhead.

While worth reading, the focus is on Jerry's interpersonal relationships with his women and drugs. Too little is devoted to his relationship with the band members and his most important collaborist, Robert Hunter. And there is a large emphasis on his later, destructive use of opiates - with little attention paid to the positive influence of psychedelics in his younger years.

What I missed most from this biography is any significant content about Jerry's music - how he approached the creative process of composing and performing spontaneous improvisation. There's quite a bit of detail about the music that influenced him - particularly jug band music and bluegrass. But these details are all anecodotal and incomplete, with inadequate description or analysis of his own music.

I did learn a lot about his love life and drug-induced health problems that were kept relatively private while he was alive. Though legitimate sujects for a biography, the emphasis on the lurid elements of his life gives the book an aura of tabloid journalism. There are so many more facets of Garcia that made him a compelling giant of a musician and philosopher-by-example that I will need to wait until the complete story is told. I haven't had a chance to read Blair Jackson's book yet, though based on his past writings I have high expectations that his will get more inside Jerry's head - and deliver a more satisfyingly balanced and enlightening read.

I have just done a Grateful Dead "unit" (read 6 books, listened to all my old tapes and albums, etc) and I found this book be the most balanced; neither semi-sanitized like McNally or possibly exagerated like Scully. No one book will give you the best view, but I thought this the best single book overall, told in the voices, and with the imperfections, of the GD "family".

I really learned a lot, not only about Jerry, but about the people he surrounded himself with. I feel it is a well rounded account largely because of the form of the book--with stories from different individuals, including Jerry himself. I bought it when it first came out in harcover and savored every word. It's a must read!

This book travels the entire lifespan of the big brother in The Grateful Dead. There is very little discussion of individual G.D. albums so for that I would steer you to other books. This book focuses more on Jerry's life and relationships while imparting his skill as a musician.
The revelation concluded as the pages turn is how such a free-loving, fun-loving, good natured, ambitious, talented, sweet guy would turn around to walk down a lonely, isolated path where no living, breathing thing should go. This paradox is explained a number of times and by books end, we are very familiar with how a divine talent would be unable to stop his own dissolve.
One quote I want to include:
"I introduced myself to Deborah(Jerry's widow)at the funeral but she was pretty dismissive because behind me at that particular moment, Dylan was paying his respects to Jerry and she was really fixing on him. He was really trying to get out of there and she stopped him when he walked by. He had his head bent down. His eyes were really red and when she came to a little momentary pause in what she was saying, he looked at her with those incredibly steely ice blue eyes and said, "He was there for me when nobody was." And he walked around her and split out of there as fast as he could." -sandy rothman
The image of how he was found at the time of death is very strong. And beautiful.
After I read this I rented the DVD "The Grateful Dead Movie", a document of the bands shows filmed at the Winterland ballroom in 1974. This is what I would recommend all readers of this book to do upon completion. For this is how to remember Jerry. In his prime. All smiles and relaxed on stage. Leading his brothers, and sister, across, inside-out, and back and all around, the sound......of the Grateful Dead.

Reading this book opened my mind to the darker side of the man who had captivated countless thousands with tranquil, serene and loving music. The author's portrayal of Jerry sheds some light on the questions this head had been carrying for some time. It's a good read, it will hold you from start to finish!