Customer Reviews

Total Control : The Michael Nesmith Story

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I read the entire book in one day. Its pretty brisk reading; like one of the reviewers said, it reads like an extended encyclopedia article. Plenty of facts but all on the surface; doesn't delve too much into the man himself.

I was also struck by the negative tone of the book. It seemed to present more unsavory quotes and stories about Nez than positive ones. Perhaps this is because of the author's sources; magazines probably consider "dirt" to be good copy. Hey, I've done and said stuff in my worst moments which I now regret; I'm sure we all have. If someone collected all those incidents into one book, along with quotes from people who've had a personality conflict with me, the book would probably make me look like a rotten person. But it would be one-sided and inaccurate. That's the impression I get from this book.

The author also comes to some conclusions about Nez's actions which I think are unwarranted. She obviously doesn't know the man personally; all her sources are second- and third-hand. So her assessment of him seems rather unfair.

Why two stars? Because it does contain info about Nez's early life, and gives a chronological account of his career. That much is informative, as are the Appendices in the back. One Appendix contains and imaginary interview with Nez's old wool hat, which is a real hoot!

So there are a few good things in this book, but if you decide to read it, I recommend you maintain a healthy skepticism about all the negative stuff, and her conclusions.

Yipes. Nearly all of the information collected in this book is available in the booklets of the CD and VHS box sets.
What bothered me most, however, was the lack of professionalism on the part of the author. A paraphrased passage: "Mike showed up in disguise at a Monkees show in the '80s, but us die-hard fans knew it was him." Additionally, the appendix article written by the author's boyfriend starts off as a discussion of Monkees web resources, but ends by talking about how the web board sparked his relationship with the author.
The additional appendices are total filler: Monkees disc-and-video-graphies (again, multiple Rhino sources have published the same lists), a painful "interview" with Nesmith's hat, and a multiple-page listing of EVERY video/tv show Nesmith produced. There are HUNDREDS. At the very least, some sort of firsthand or primary source would have helped.

I am not a fan of this book. I am a Nez fan and have been for some time, and I was appalled by the way he was presented in this book. Granted, he is not perfect, none of us are, but a person who claims to be his fan writes a book like this about him?? I wouldn't write a book like this about my worst enemy. It had a few clever anecdotes, some interesting information, etc. but I do not feel it gave an accurate portrayal of Mike/Nez. I wouldn't reccomend reading it if you're a fan.

I have been a Mike Nesmith fan for 13 years (im 26 but ended up in the kids section so ignore the age field!!) and was really looking forward to finding out about his life, him as a person, and exciting Monkees related stories. This book was full of boring business stuff and gave me little emotional insight. I appreciate that some things are personal but thats the point of this sort of book. I felt like it was written by piecing together newspaper articles or something. There was a shortage of photographs too (possibly just as well considering the hideous beard. Generally it was sadly lacking. There must be more to a strong character like Mike Nesmith than this? Maybe its an English thing but this just didnt satisfy my curiosity!!

Total Control reads more like a college research paper than it does a biography. Lots of facts, summarized and outlined, it would make a good reference book for Trivial Pursuit. As a biography it leaves a lot to be desired. Made up mainly of sound bites from various articles, the book feels manufactured and sterile. The author's effort to round out the biography by interviewing friends and family falls short due to the mostly negative portrayal painted of Michael Nesmith. I recommend Total Control to anyone who is interested in the history of 60's Rock Icons. I do not recommend Total Control for anyone looking for insight into the man who is Michael Nesmith. I was left wondering if the image presented by the book was truly factual, and if it is why would anyone want to be his "number one fan"?

I have always been a bit of a Michael Nesmith fan. Therefore, I really enjoyed the facts and information that this book has to offer. Unfortunately, the book and poorly written. Worst of all, it contains the most typos and errors that I have ever seen in a book. The book is interesting, but the mistakes are very distracting.

I was fascinated by the details of his various lawsuits (divorce and corporate) and the inner-workings of the Pacific Arts Corp. But everything written portrayed Nez in a negative light. I would have preferred a more unbiased account of his life. There were obvious holes in various parts of the "ographies", and none of Nez's bandmates (Monkees, 1st National Band, concert musicians) were interviewed....which I believe would be essential. Proofreading would have been helpful, and the writer's skills are subpar at best. Only devoted Nez/Monkee fans would find interest....

Although a lot of people have panned this book for its lack of dirt and first-hand interviews, I think it was pretty good. It doesn't have very much "Monkee" gab, but there are a lot of interesting stories about Michael, his wives, and his children. The early chapters discussing Michael pre-Monkees, and the photos in those chapters, are very insightful. All in all, great for a Nez fan.. :)

This book is fairly well researched. However, it is poorly written and poorly edited -- "pour" substituted for "pore," "to" substituted for "too," and so on. On whole, it comes off as an amateurish job; it looks to be self-published. It would have been good to have known this before I ordered it. I expect more for my money.

I guess Randi herself has coined the description, "the foremost expert on Michael Nesmith." In truth, all she is is someone who did a great deal of research and found out about dates, facts and figures from the multitude of sources we all can (and have) access. She is no more an "expert" on him than any fan with a lot of info. I found this book to be rather droll. It reads more like an encyclopaedia essay than a biography. If she knows Michael so well, then where are her *first-hand* interviews with him, his family, his friends and colleagues? All of her sources are second- and third-hand, or court records. So what? Personally, I think she turned a personal information hunt into something she could 1) make money on, 2) make herself feel as though she actually knows Michael, and 3) give herself an inflated identity as the "foremost expert" on him. Truly, Michael is the only expert on Michael and we only have his works and actions to! speak to us. Still, that doesn't tell us WHO he is. At best, we get a glimpse into the inner person, but really only glimpses. We are all complicated creatures: having many facets to our personalities and many "layers" covering our true, essential selves. Randi has neither the insight, understanding, nor ability to discern beyond the "cold, hard facts." Give it up, girl. You do not know the man.