Beatles in Their Own Words

This magazine-sized book contains many large photos of the Beatles and great quotes from each member of the band on their lives, song lyrics, extra curricular activities, and politics. It is an interesting read for any fan. The only thing I didn't like is that the quotes are not always dated, and information is not well-sourced. Despite that, I enjoyed the book.

This was the first of the many books I've read about the Beatles. It is as much the way the previous reviewers below describe it - - but for me when reading it the first time really touched my imagination. I was a young Beatle freak in the early 1980's, hungry for Beatles info. I got the book as a gift from my family, after they saw that I was listening to same Beatles albums over and over again. So when I got the book I read through it with obsessive fascination. The book had the affect on me that I began thinking about the world around me as the Beatles did. The different ideas, events or songs talked about by the Beatles in this book were described in such a way that - - along with the wonderful music - - as I got older always would be a part of my personal development. The stuff Lennon, McCartney and Harrison come up with here is endlessly fun, particularly in the song-by-song and events sections. Also, Lennon's commentary on the Beatles' films is quite devastating - - he didn't have a good thing to say about any of them except perhaps AHDN (and really, it sounds like he's holding back on that one). Anyway, this is the book that started me off on the long and winding road, as McCartney would say. After all these years, looking at my old tattered copy of it, I'd have to say "Beatles In Their Words" is still amongst the top ten Beatles' books of all time. Top three in terms of nostalgia. I would recommend it for new Beatles fans, along with books written by Hunter Davies, Nicholas Shafner, Peter Brown and Mark Lewisohn. Philip Norman's "Shout! The Beatles In Their Generation" is, however, the greatest Beatles book of all time.

Wonderful book that totally captures the true spirit of the Beatles.