Elvis and You: Your Guide to the Pleasures of Being an Elvis Fan

I finally got my hands on a copy of this amazing book. It has lived up to everything I've heard about it from my fellow Elvis fans. First of all it's huge. It's 626 oversized pages of nothing but Elvis. It has over 500 photos ( I stopped counting at 500). Many of the photos were completly new to me. If you were from another planet and didn't know anything about Elvis this book would bring you up to speed. I predict this book will become "the bible" of Elvis fans all over the world. The book is divided into 33 chapters. Each chapter focuses on one aspect of Elvis and his fans. Some of the chapter titles: Elvis music, Elvis and family, Elvis and the Army, Elvis and romance, Elvis and the martial arts, Elvis and food, Elvis impersonators, Elvis and animals, Elvis in person, Collecting Elvis, Elvis in cyberspace - It's sort of a "how to" book on being an Elvis Fan. It's like a Peter Guralnick book with a sense of humor and a lot more photos.Not only does it tell you everything you want to know about Elvis himself, it tells you about what has emerged in the 25 years since he's been gone. At the end of every chapter is a section called " The Elvis and You Experience." This is where the author's suggest things to do to enhance your enjoyment of Elvis. The suggestions are a lot of fun. Some are really silly. Just like Elvis!My favorite chapter is "The Pilgrimage". It lists all the important places to see in Memphis during tribute week. A lot of stuff only Elvis insiders know. I'm studying up to get ready for Tribute week 2002. If you're going to the 25th anniversary Elvis week in Memphis this August. I have one thing to say about this book. Don't leave home without it!

Probably because the book is this massive it is printed on very thin paper. Especially because this guide will function as a reference book often, this is a pity. We bet there will be only a few in perfect condition after a couple of weeks. Also a lot of the pictures used in the book deserve more than the exposure they get now, also due to the poor paper-quality. On the other hand: this work on quality paper might hardly be affordable for a lot of people, so the choice is understandable. Let's see if the content is good enough to hope for a "deluxe version" someday.As we always do with new books, we thumbed through it looking for new pictures. On first sight it looked a little complex, with a lot of repeats, we thought. Well, we weren't completely wrong about that, but starting from the beginning we soon found out it has a reason, and a well considered one. All chapters are build in the same way: a more or less short essay about the subject, facts ("Essential Elvisology"), references ("Your Elvis Education") and tips how to enrich your own experiences regarding the subject ("The Elvis And You Experience"). This consistent design makes it pretty easy to find what you want, most of the time. Unfortunately there is no index to this guide, so when you are looking for something really specific... it can be a very hard job.During the acknowledgements it becomes clear that the book has "a heavy Internet base". The reader familiar with the Elvis-scene on the Internet will recognize a lot of the names. Of course this results in a lot of references to the Internet throughout the book.The book is split up in 33 chapters, starting with the man himself: a short biography, mainly a time-line of important dates, his death, his records, his movies, his TV-work, his shows and his personal interests. There are a couple of chapters that are devoted mainly to the fans: Collecting, The Pilgrimage, Your Elvis Shrine, Impersonators and such. As stated before, all chapters start with an essay. Those essays are very well written, and even though nothing new comes up, the point of view from the authors makes them very enjoyable. The guide part of these chapters is very good, directing the reader towards the more important available works. Because the Internet-addresses (the so-called URL's) are often very long and hardly readable, the references to the sites look pretty cluttered. A better solution would have been to list just the site-names, with an alphabetic overview including the URL's in the back of the book. Since this book has its own site (that is: they are constructing the site, so far it looks like they only registered the URL), it might be a nice idea to include all links used in the book on that site, if possible per chapter. Since the Internet is evolving constantly, this might be a good idea anyway. Before such a list returns from the printer it may be outdated already.In general we can say the Elvis part of the guide is reliable, there are some mistakes, bu

This book is by far the absolute best book that will ever be written about Elvis. The authors are sincere Elvis fans who have done their homework, and it truly shows in this masterpiece. Whether you are a lifelong Elvis fan, or an "outsider looking in", this book is a must read. If you are an Elvis skeptic, read this book and you will be smitten for good. Kudos to the authors!!!

At last, a book written with love and respect, like Elvis deserved. The authors know and love their subject and it shows... they're not trying to make us believe that Elvis was perfect but that he was a very human being with all the good and bad that come with it. Great suggestions of books, CD's, videos and web sites. You'll know Elvis more intimately after reading this book... and that's a very enjoyable way to know him, isn't it?

This book was right. Right by me, right by you, and most importantly it would have been right by Elvis