Book-Pete Townshend-Who I Am-Harper-October 8, 2012

Concerning the legal issues: Though nothing has been openly stated as to why the book got cut down in length, common sense dictates that some of the stories Pete told likely started skirting some sensibilities of people or families who are still around and may raise some hackles. In some cases, there may be some genuine specific concerns. In others, which I suspect is in the majority of cases, it was a general conservative "Let's be on the safe side" kind of thing on the part of the publisher which covers Pete and themselves from anything happening down the line. If he is to surprise us with another book, he might consider re-phrasing what he put in the original manuscript and lessen the legalities. However, I would ask that some of you consider something. This man likely has had so many experiences and so many stories accumulated in him that he likely doesn't even have to revisit the ones that got cut out in order to make a great presentation out of a second book.

 

The editing down of the book length seems more like a typical scenario employed by publishers trying to produce a marketable book. I doubt a 1000 page Townshend biography was something the publisher wanted to work with.

 

Though I agree 500 is about right, it should pointed out that Bill Clinton's autobiography was about 1,000 pages and mass marketed to an audience bigger than PT's.

 

With all due respect to Pete, Bill Clinton was the president of the United States. Besides all the controversy at the end of his presidency, he is still an important poitical/world figure who is a pretty intelligent person. There's no way he was going to write a short autobiography and I think any company that wanted to publish his book realized they were going to have to let him cover a lot of ground in depth. I think the market for a Clinton autobiography is a bit bigger than one by Townsend.

 

I finished this last night - it really is a hell of a read. Pete's nothing if not completely neurotic. Some of his middle-aged romantic soap operas got a little samey after a while, but I suppose they were a means to an end.

I really, really enjoyed this. I wish he'd focused more on the musical end of things - especially in the '60s, namely regarding guitars, recording, etc. - but he's smart and honest enough to talk about pretty much anything and have it hold your interest.

 

I got the impression with this book that Pete didn't want to just repeat all the old Who stories in his own words. As was mentioned before, he's written some extensive liner notes (on Scoop in particular) that give a lot of insight into the technical side of his recordings.

 

I'm curious to read about his "research" on child porn.

 

Easy solution: Buy the book, read it, and let us all know if your pre-conceived views regarding his guilt are validated.

 

I really like Pete's book. It's a much more directly written tome than I'd expected. A really good read.

 

Buy the book. Oh, and grow up.

 

Am I remembering correctly that the audio book is unabridged?
how many CDs is the audio book - and how is the sound quality?

 

Did Jon Astley master the audiobook?

 

Post of the day.

I'm over 100 pages in it so far. Great read. Interesting about Allen Klein trying to muscle control of the band by courting Pete back in '66.

 

Source?

 

it is unabridged. I downloaded from Itunes and put it on the ipod to listen on the drive into work.. It's pretty good.

 

It was likely in Rolling Stone. I do recall reading a proper article where it stated that the book was cut down from 1,000 pages. People here at the forum have also been good about posting articles from other print media and online sources. I may have picked it up from there as well.

 

Pete's book is right next to Arnold Schwarzenegger's bio in the Barnes & Noble I went to. And you can immediately see that Arnold's book is thicker. But then again, it could be just the steriods.

 

No noise reduction was used. It must have been mastered by someone else

 

Well at least Pete's finally released his first solo recording of the last 20 years. Too bad there's no music on it.

 

Good job. Your response was as juvenile as the original post.

Quite frankly, I've had my doubts about Mr. Townshend until doing a bit more research. I can see why others might be leery and hope they would do the same.

 

legal reasons? you mean like people would of sued pete for slander n stuff if what he had to say was published?

 

That's probably a factor. Libel laws are much more stringent in the UK than in the US.

 

Was looking to order this before, was £11.50 on amazon.uk, then in the last hour it's had a sudden price drop

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pete-Townshe...6VWRSBQK6C3HKN

A bargain...the best I ever had lol

 

I picked mine up last night at his book and signing Q&A in Philadelphia. $35.00 but at least it was autographed

 

I think you're right, but he does do some of that anyway. Through no fault of its own, the book suffers from the fact that Townshend has been essentially writing and speaking his memoirs for 40-plus years via interviews, essays and other avenues. Who fans are going to come across a lot of stories that they've already heard in various places. Fortunately, there's plenty here that even the most hardcore fans won't have known.

Nevertheless, the book is enjoyable because it's written in Townshend's unmistakable voice: smart, funny, egotistical, self-lacerating, grandiose, massively insecure. The dude is one of a kind, plain and simple. And he really can write.

Re the rest of the supposed 1,000-page manuscript, I wonder if parts of it could be (or have been?) serialized online somehow. I think anyone who buys the book would welcome such a thing.