Mr Nice: An Autobiography [Paperback]

Howard Marks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2003

During the mid 1980s Howard Marks had 43 aliases, 89 phone lines, and owned 25 companies throughout the world. Whether bars, recording studios, or offshore banks, all were money laundering vehicles serving the core activity: dope dealing. Marks began to deal small amounts of hashish while doing a postgraduate philosophy course at Oxford, but soon he was moving much larger quantities. At the height of his career he was smuggling consignments of up to 50 tons from Pakistan and Thailand to America and Canada and had contact with organizations as diverse as MI6, the CIA, the IRA, and the Mafia. This is his extraordinary story.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Marks weaves a fascinating story spiced with brilliant detail, far stronger than fiction."  —FHM Magazine

"Frequently hilarious, occasionally sad, and often surreal."  —GQ

"A man who makes Peter Pan look like a geriatric with sleeping sickness."  —Loaded

"A folk legend—Howard Marks has huge charisma. He sounds like Richard Burton and looks like a Rolling Stone."  —Daily Mail

About the Author

Howard Marks is an acclaimed travel and sports writer, TV personality and DJ. For the last ten years he has had a series of successful one man shows. He lives in Europe and continues to campaign for the legalisation of marijuana. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Canongate UK (August 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841953199
• ISBN-13: 978-1841953199
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #524,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars looking for a good read?, January 3, 2005

By 

DJB (AUS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mr Nice: An Autobiography (Paperback)

howard marks takes you into the life of a genius, giving you the opportunity to experience a new way of living. he is able to establish a unique understanding and perception of life through his eyes. this includes the various prisions, smoking rooms, universities, countries, threatening situations, immigration search rooms he has seen as well as the lives of those around and close to him. his skills and use of logic to develop understanding are second to none, allowing the reader to further understand his perspective and way of life. if your not a smoker now, you will be! or atleast you will understand why!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great travel book which just happens to involve drugs, October 30, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Mr Nice: An Autobiography (Paperback)

This was not your average drug dealer. Howard Marks details his travels and adventures to exotic locations world wide. After each chapter I would find myself adding another location to my list of destinations I wanted to see. Mix in the travel, adventure and the vivid characters and you have a good read that was hard to put down.

Very timley right now in the US considering what great lengths the DEA went to to destroy Howard's and his family's life back then and how they are extending the same techniques to terminal Medical Marijuana patients in CA right now. Highlights how things have changed very little in almost 20 years and where this backlash against the Drug War is coming from. People are just fed up (no pun intended) with their tax dollars being used to ruin lives over such a harmless substance.

Warning: After reading this book, in addition to wanting to pack up and travel the world you may also want to revisit your youth and take up smoking again (if you ever stopped). Be careful before you head over to 1 Percent ;-)

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal, March 22, 2004

By 

"greyelmy" (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mr Nice: An Autobiography (Paperback)

This book is captivating. I could not put it down. Yes, it is about a criminal (marijuana smuggler), but he is also a great writer, mets some fascinating people and has some absolutely phenomenal experiences. One of the best parts of this book is his vivid, subtle descriptions of the varied people he encounters throughout the world. If you like spy novels, crime novels or autobiographies you will enjoy this true story about a fascinating guy with some unbelievable experiences.