Speaking Words of Wisdom--book review

Tonight's Wednesday Review is for a book titled Speaking Words of Wisdom, written by Mark Swearingen and Don Christian. 

This book is full of Beatles interviews from 1962-1970.  They are transcribed word-for-word in this book. Basically, any time the Beatles were interviewed, and it was recorded, then the transcription of the interview made the book. So you will read everything from radio interviews to press conferences to individual interviews. It really is a treat because you get to capture the Beatles at some of their funniest, zaniest moments. Some of those "off the cuff" comments that are so funny get lost when you listen to the audio of the interview, so it is great to have it in print.  

I love that the book has the interviews in chronological order. One thing I found interesting in reading through the interviews is that the Beatles get asked the same questions over and over again, and they will often make a joke in one interview and then carry the same joke over a few days later in the next interview when they are asked the same question.  It is an inside joke to them and they are laughing about it.  It is sort of neat to see the evolution of a Beatles inside joke take place. You also get a real feel for how un-informed and, at times, how stupid the reporters were that interviewed the Beatles.  Didn't they do their homework at all?   Apparently not.  

This book is a great reference book, and I know I will be going back to it as I continue to research the Beatles. I know a lot of these interviews are available to read online, and I appreciate that as well. But there is just something about having them all in book form that appeals to me. 

The only thing I disliked about this book was that at the very beginning, they gave a key directory of people associated with the Beatles. I think the small biographies they did were very crass. The way they went into some of the individuals' deaths just felt extremely wrong to me. My advice is to skip that part. My other small complaint is that on the cover, it says "includes pictures." Well, the pictures are extremely tiny, and some are blurry.  

But really it is a good book to have in your Beatles library because the interviews of the Beatles are such a big part of the story of the Fab 4.

The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon, where you can purchase this book.  I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link.  Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

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