I was a child in the eighties, so I grew up during the Monkees resurgence of that decade. While I considered myself a big fan of the band, Mike Nesmith was my least favorite Monkee. In my defense, I was under thirteen and he wasn't a lead singer.

If you are looking for a lot of details on the Monkees, you won't find it in this book. Instead, Nesmith tells of his path from Texas to Hollywood, and there's a lot here that I didn't know. His life has been interesting and led him in many directions within the entertainment industry - it would be a disservice to focus on two seasons in a television show that wasn't what many involved expected.

Nesmith tells of his role in the creation of the music video as we know it, his quest for a technology patent, and his desire to be part of a band for much of his life... except the word "band" as he uses it goes much further than a musical group.

This memoir is well-written and worth reading. I do wish it had covered his 2013 solo tour and his reunion with the Monkees after Davy Jones died, if only because I'm curious about his thoughts on music these days.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy.

An interview with Michael Nesmith about Infinite Tuesday, from Kirkus Reviews.

Michael Nesmith’s first big job in the music industry didn’t make much sense to him. He was hired—along with Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork—to be part of a rock and roll band on television called the Monkees. It would change his life in ways he couldn’t quite comprehend. He addresses this in his new memoir, Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff. In one story, Nesmith writes about driving to work shortly after the show began. He was recognized by a woman crossing the street when he was parked at a red light. The woman threw herself on the hood and started screaming his name. Then she composed herself, got up, and walked away as if nothing happened.

“It was a trampoline that I bounced down on and then went higher than a tall building,” says Nesmith of his pop fandom experience, speaking by phone from his home in Carmel Valley, California. “I thought, ‘How did I get up here?’ It’s like, ‘I don’t know.’ And I just left it at that. And I still kind of do. I look at it and think, Just describe what you see and hopefully that will mean something down the line.”

A lot of what Nesmith shares in the book is like that. There is no clear explanation for much of what has happened in his life, from the Monkees phenomenon to his solo career to his work in music videos and in producing films like Repo Man. The stories don’t have a neat beginning and ending or moral. And if they did, he questioned them to the point where he decided not to include them.

“Leave it kind of messy and like it really happened,” Nesmith says, explaining his thinking. “That’s one of the reasons I call them ‘riffs.’ Because they don’t button together. They just sit in the middle of the song and they provide an interlude. But if you put all of them together they’d actually build their own song.”

That’s what Infinite Tuesday is—an impressionistic collection of memories that, when viewed together, create a picture of what it has been like to be Michael Nesmith for the past fifty-plus years. “That’s one of the reasons I avoided the whole autobiography thing,” he says. “I didn’t want to write, ‘And then I did,’ ‘And then I did,’ ‘And then I learned,’ ‘Then I learned.’ I wanted to do something that was like taking a look at the here and there and seeing how they all stacked up if you put them in a pile in the yard.”

Nesmith describes the band’s chaotic early rehearsals when they couldn’t really play the songs as they were on the records, saying they were charming and “would have made a good television show.” “That occurred to me on more than one level,” he says, “is that what’s actually going on here is a more interesting show than the one we’re making.” The picture gets even more fuzzy when he talks about the screaming fans the band played for. “I don’t know what that was,” he says. “There was a kind of an adolescence and anxiety there that was…the picture I have in my mind is a sea of waving pink arms. The noise that that creature made was very high pitched and very loud.”

Nesmith writes mostly about his reactions and not about what his bandmates might have thought or did. One reason for that is that the job was the main thing they had in common. “The fact that there wasn’t a connection was no real surprise to any of us,” he says. They were hired to be a band on TV, he says, “So that’s what we did and we were happy with the job.” The other reason is that Nesmith wanted to preserve their privacy. “I tend to be more private than public,” he says.

4.20 Nesmith_coverThat does not mean the book is lacking in detail. It covers most of his life, from his days as a struggling folk singer at the Troubadour in Los Angeles to helping create the idea of a standalone music video just a bit too early to ride the wave that became MTV. And it’s packed with wonderful “riffs” about Nesmith’s friends and people who influenced his music and philosophy. Timothy Leary helps him put his self-image in perspective. Douglas Adams drives like a maniac and tells great stories. John Lennon got a little embarrassed when, playing an early cut of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band, Nesmith gushes about how amazing it was. And Nesmith is amazed to hear Jimi Hendrix mention he is thinking of taking singing lessons.

“I all of a sudden thought of Jimi sitting in a classroom on a wooden chair with a singing instructor at the blackboard with a baton and glasses on the end of their nose,” says Nesmith. “That’s what made me say, Are you nuts? Are you crazy? You’re the greatest rock and roll singer of all history right now. What could you possibly change that would make it better? And that didn’t sway him at all. He said, ‘Well, I feel like I sing a little flat. I want to get my pitch better.’ ”

There is great joy in the telling of these stories, and a sense that Nesmith has learned to embrace what is beyond his control. “I love the quote in Repo Man, ‘it’s all part of the collective unconscious,’ ” he says. “The whole idea of a collective unconscious just makes me laugh. I can riff on that, but I don’t want to discuss it philosophically. It does have a philosophical ring to it, but it’s funny on the face of it to me.”

Nick A. Zaino III is a freelance writer based in Boston covering the arts for Kirkus Reviews, the Boston Globe, BDCWire.com, TheSpitTake.com, and other publications.

I always watched The Monkees growing up in the sixties and seventies. In the late eighties, feeling nostalgic and having the funds to do so, I acquired the entire Monkees collection on LPs. In the nineties, I purchased a boxed set of Monkees CDs. After thoroughly listening to these recordings over the years, I was particularly drawn to the Michael Nesmith penned compositions. Inflected with a country western twang or with an unexpected tangent, Nesmith's tunes seemed like buried treasure among the more well known Monkees hits. Then I remembered that I was also drawn to Michael Nesmith the person when I was a little girl watching those Monkees episodes, not the more obvious choice of Davy Jones. I've read at least one book about The Monkees before this one and watched various documentaries about them, so I know that Michael was the "real musician" (along with Peter Tork) who fought to have his songs included on the Monkees albums and also to be allowed to play their own instruments on them. I also knew that his mother was the secretary who invented Liquid Paper and became a millionaire as a result. This was enough to whet my appetite to read Michael Nesmith's autobiography. And now that I have, I am even more of a Michael Nesmith fan than I was before!

First of all, you might want to keep a dictionary handy while reading this book. The man's vocabulary is phenomenal. Michael covers his life from youth to the present day, painstakingly describing his many thought processes on many things. The man is a very deep thinker and extremely intelligent. His mother was a member of the Christian Science religion and credited its teachings for her success in inventing Liquid Paper. She gently advised Michael to involve himself more with the religion over the years, and he eventually delved into it much deeper and found a lot of inspiration and meaning from it.

It's quite fascinating to "go with Michael" on various extensive journeys in this book like how he invented MTV. Michael gets the germ of an idea and it evolves into something much bigger after he takes chances, investigates, talks to other talented people, etc. I watched an interview with Michael recently and he referred to these entrepreneurial journeys as "connecting the dots." It's exciting and inspiring to read about someone willing to take chances, be creative, sometimes fail and lose money...yet continue having the call to discovery to push on. Michael even was awarded a patent for one of his inventions.

I was a little put off by the book cover initially, thinking that the normal thing for an autobiography would be to sport a photo of the author. One would think it would generate more sales and be more eye catching for Monkees or Nesmith fans. However, like his very cerebral vocabulary, a generic cover like that would be "too easy." Instead, he marries the word Infinite (culled from Christian Science teachings) with Tuesday (part of an old comic strip involving hippos that particularly touched him) and plops that on top of a psychedelic background wallpapered with monkeys. You gotta love it!

I was graciously provided an advance reader copy of this book via NetGalley in return for my honest review.

My Weekly Paycheck from the Monkees Was $480

INFINITE TUESDAY is a fun read—but also a bittersweet read. Growing up in the ‘60’s in Los Angeles, I loved listening to the Monkees’ fun tunes, as well as watching their show on TV. To us kids, it never occurred to us that someone else might actually be performing the songs. We just LIKED the Monkees.

Several chapters in INFINITE TUESDAY describe the author’s mixed experience with the band. The show was produced at the “corner of Sunset and Gower, on a soundstage built in the 1930s. Part of the time we were filming, Cary Grant was next door making one of his last films. Sally Field was doing The Flying Nun on another stage.”

Michael wanted the four to make a more genuine artistic contribution to the band and to the show. He was happy with his modest (by today’s standards) paycheck, but as an artist, he knew he could do more: “I started to think that maybe there would be some further progress in recording an album of us playing and singing our own songs.” He especially disliked being associated with a fake album, which “crossed a line somewhere.”

Michael’s urging that the team actually perform as real musicians did not go over well: “Making our own record was the only idea I ever had for the TV show, and it would prove to be fatal to the whole enterprise.” Headquarters was “the only album the four of us ever made as the Monkees.” Eventually, of course, the four would indeed learn to sing and perform well enough to go on tour. Michael is the first to admit they weren’t really that good—but the live tours were still a fun experience.

Besides the fun look behind the scenes at the TV show, INFINITE TUESDAY tells us some interesting tidbits about the life of Michael Nesmith apart from the Monkees. I had no idea, for example, that the author was really in the U.S. Air Force! (Until everyone figured out he should just leave. He exited with a “General Discharge.”)

Of course, after the Monkees, the author achieved success as both an artist as well as a video producer. The outcomes were mixed. I was sad, for example, to read about the bitter lawsuit with PBS in a dispute over video distribution: “They sued me personally, so I had to sue them back in defense, and we were off to court. It took five years to get there, and it was a fight.” The jury eventually a huge amount to Nesmith--$47.5 million in direct and punitive damages.

I found the latter part of the book to be mostly sad. The author tells of being devastated by his long-time girlfriend leaving him, as well as financial disasters. Furthermore, Michael struggled with severe medical problems—loss of vision from cataracts, as well as a mysterious condition that left him largely crippled.

The author explains the practice of Christian Science, and how he could use a doctor to treat his medical issues: “One rule that Christian Scientist practitioners are taught is not to treat a medical condition that a doctor is treating. . . In agreeing to take the medicine, I had to agree with myself to abandon my practice of the Science for healing and lean on the good intentions of the doctor and his immune-system reboot.”

Fortunately, the treatment worked, and he regained mobility. After he regained his health, Michael turned his focus to “More prayer and meditation. More mathematics, more research and development. More performing. More playing.”

The book ends on an upbeat note. Michael was awarded a patent “For the embedding of real time video into a virtual environment.” He was deliriously happy—“so happy that the strength of my reaction surprised me.” He donated the patent to charity: “It was a way to give the patent the wings of the infinite and a way to give the patent to the artists who used it as a performance medium. The whole process, I came to realize, had been a gift.”

The patent was granted on December 25, 2012. It was a Tuesday, or an “Infinite Tuesday.”


Advance Review Copy courtesy of the publisher.

Wow, this was an interesting book. I did not know a lot of things about Michael Nesmith, but I do now. I could amaze you with the trivia I learned, but you will just have to discover it for yourself.

Okay, okay, did you know that Davy Jones was on the Ed Sullivan show the same night as The Beatles were for the first time? He was starring in the play "Oliver" and was with some of his cast mates. Don't remember him being on the show? Seriously?

Michael Nesmith calls his book an autobiographical riff which is exactly how its written. I thought it was funny while reading the book that he sounded like an old musician. I don't really remember The Monkees being known for their musical abilities but apparently they had some. Well, at least Michael had some.

Thanks to Crown Publishing for approving my request to read this very interesting title and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

Michael Nesmith is a veteran of the entertainment industry, but his name is most recognizable as the wool-beanie-wearing member of The Monkees. Nesmith has a treasure trove of experience and insight, and he’s very articulate. I really enjoyed this memoir, and if American musical and cultural history interest you, I recommend you get a copy when it comes out April 18, 2017. Thanks go to Net Galley and Crown Archetype for the DRC, which I received free of charge in exchange for this honest review.

Nesmith came of age in Texas, the child of a single hardworking mother, and mentored by the profane elderly Uncle Chick, whose spoken cadence Nesmith would later find in his own sense of musical rhythm. Because Texas was the exclusive province, at the time, of country and gospel music, Michael and his pregnant girlfriend loaded themselves and Mike’s guitar into his mother’s car and took off for Los Angeles. It proved to be a good move.

Those that cannot remember the birth of rock and roll have no idea how polarizing it was. The cliché term “generation gap” was a genuine source of friction and alienation in a lot of families; some parents decided that it was not an art form but instead a type of devil worship. Some disowned their children over it and didn’t take them back later. I’m serious. And so when Nesmith credits his mother for her patience and forbearance—he actually didn’t ask if he could take her only car, for instance—he’s not just being gracious. Here, let him tell you:

It was unthinkable to everyone who had just fought World War II that the music…the whole
cultural imperative of the victorious warriors would be torn down by their kids as if it were
ugly curtains in the den.

Soon Nesmith would be chosen as a member of The Monkees, which catapulted four little-known young men to instant fame; Nesmith recalls that although seventeen to twenty-year-old Beatles fans were incensed by the TV imitation, the nine to twelve-year-old television kids—of which this reviewer was one—saw them as a fact.

What followed was what Nesmith calls “Celebrity Psychosis”, a sense of disproportion and entitlement caused by instant stardom, obsequious handlers, and bizarre social circumstances. He humorously recounts strange experiences, such as singing at a local school and being pursued by screaming adolescent girls, and being “sighted” shopping in a grocery store.

He recalls his experience as John Lennon’s house guest in London, and he cites Jimi Hendrix as the best rocker that ever lived. He also drops a rather nasty slam at Bob Dylan without any real explanation, and I confess that is part of the missing fifth star. What the hell?

Bette Nesmith, Michael’s late mother, invented Liquid Paper while he entered show business, and her fortune helped finance some of his creative products. Nesmith was a pioneer in the field of country rock as well as the music video. He produced movies and won a Grammy for Elephant Parts, an early music video. He is also an ardent feminist, and recounts having been one before it was cool. Thank you, Mr. Nesmith.

I have to admit that I find the first half of the memoir more interesting than the second half. The author goes on to speak at length about his spiritual experiences with Christian Science and the ways in which wealth distorts a person’s character, though he recognizes the latter doesn’t garner a lot of sympathy. “Never complain about the air-conditioning a private jet.” He also does a lot of brow-beating about having stolen a friend’s wife, and attributes the failure of that marriage—his second, or his third maybe—to guilt.

Despite the aspects that I didn’t enjoy, I do recommend this memoir, because it eloquently describes a wide, enormously dynamic period in American film, music, and television. Nesmith unspools the last half of the 19th century with the wisdom of his experience, and it’s a perspective completely unlike any other I have seen.

Recommended for those with an interest in contemporary American cultural history, as well as to fans of Nesmith and The Monkees.

If you know a little about Michael Nesmith, this book probably won't surprise you. If you're a Monkees fan, you know that he's a little different from the other three. If you know him from his work after the Monkees, you're his favorite kind of human being and a perfect audience for this book.

I was born years after the Monkees TV show had ended and grew up watching reruns on TV and I was a <i>fanatic</i>. Even as an adult, the Monkees bring me joy and take me back to a simpler time in my life when I first discovered them. I cried my eyes out in November, 2012 when the surviving Monkees played a tribute to Davy Jones and the entire Chicago Theatre sang Daydream Believer together. The Monkees have moved me in many ways throughout my life, but this book isn't about the Monkees, it's about Mike Nesmith, the most aloof of all Monkees.

I was thrilled when my request to review an advance copy of the uncorrected proof was granted. As a Monkees fan, I've always had mixed feelings about Mike. It's similar to having a family member who does things you don't really agree with, but you remind yourself "He's family," and love him anyway. I jumped at the chance to read his own words and reconcile my feelings about him. Except, instead of reconciling anything, I found myself laughing because even when he admits that he made mistakes or openly confesses that he acted like a jerk in a particular situation, he still sounds like classic Mike, which to my ear sounds a lot like self-importance. But much like I learned to do with my older brother, I just shook my head and laughed. He is who he is, and he's a pretty interesting guy.

If you're looking for a memoir about Mike's Monkees years, you'll probably enjoy the first half of the book, although I don't see any revalations or confessions, it's mostly about Mike's state of mind at the time. It's his memoir, and he obviously can't get away with leaving out the Monkees years altogether, but he doesn't get as in depth as most Monkees fans would like. If you're interested in Mike's work after the Monkees or his spiritual journey, you'll likely be delighted by the whole book. The book doesn't touch on much after 2007, which is a disappointment for me, as I was hoping to read more about his reunion with Mickey and Peter in 2012, but he does not touch on that chapter of his life. I guess I will just have to be satisfied with this photo that I took on 11/16/2012.

<img style="max-width: 625px" alt="Monkees (Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Michael Nesmith) at the Chicago Theatre on 11/16/2012" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/photos/1488930657p8/1863796.jpg">

It's very interesting learning more about Micheal Nesmith outside The Monkees. He has an honest look at his life.

I have fond memories of watching reruns of the Monkees as a little girl. I expected a light hearted, maybe slightly psychedelic faded celebrity memoir.
Infinite Tuesday had elements of what I expected, but it was more. I was surprised by the deep thoughtfulness and spiritual exploration that were the backbone of this book. I liked that he didn't gossip about his friendships, but spoke about them in the context of how they affected his life.
What I found difficult about this book was how long it took me to get into the rhythm of the language. Especially in the beginning, the sheer wordiness was a lot to wade through. Once I hooked into the heartbeat of his language, the book flowed beautifully. Unfortunately, I had to get through about two-thirds of it before that happened.
I am glad I read Infinite Tuesday. I think it may require more effort than many readers will want to give it.

"Anecdotes and riffs are true things, even though they seem loose and unscientific. In music, the definition of a riff is essentially broad. ... A riff by definition is not written or defined before it is played or sung or said. It is of the moment. ... It might even be a wisecrack, if it's insightful enough....

"A good riff can embody and express the essence of a song ... the same way a quick anecdote can frame an actual event, making its spirit clear even to those not present at the event."

These are the words of Michael Nesmith in his memoir, <em>Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff</em>.

If you don't know who Michael Nesmith is, then you should read the book to learn about him. If you are over forty, you probably know Michael as one of the members of the pop television music groups, <em>The Monkees,</em> and you should read this book to get to know more about him.

If you can read, you should read this book.

Infinite Tuesday is a memoir, not a biography. It is a collection of memoirs, which are sometimes written in time-sequential order, and sometimes not so much. Note that the sub-title of the book is "An Autobiographical Riff." Now note Nesmith's definition of a riff (which comes about near the end of the book). These memories are riffs. They embody the essence of moments of Nesmith's life, as he remembers them.

Like so many pre-teens of the era, I loved <em>The Monkees</em>. I watched them faithfully and bought all their records and played the albums until they were worn out. But I wasn't what you would call a fanatic fan. I knew their names. I knew what instruments they played (if they did), but that was about it. Oh...and I'd heard that Nesmith's mother made a fortune as the inventor of Liquid Paper. And so nearly everything in this book was a revelation to me.

But celebrity biographies/memoirs have rarely impressed me. So what makes this different? Why should you read Michael Nesmith's riff?

Because he's a tremendous writer with a unique insight, not only to the world around him, but into himself.

One of the things I don't like about celebrity biographies is the sense of name-dropping. There is a bit of that here. Nesmith almost too casually mentions hanging out with John Lennon and the support he got from Jimi Hendrix, and Ringo Starr, and what John Cleese said to him once. What doesn't come across as name-dropping is his close friendship with Douglas Adams.

It is understandable, of course. Nesmith isn't like you or me. He achieved fame through pop culture and music (even if that fame didn't serve him well for some time), and pop culture and music were the circles he moved within, so those are the people who met and worked with.

But the more interesting parts of the book following him when he was struggling. Whether it was early, before the Monkees, or afterward, when he struggled for recognition for his work. And the most interesting parts are when he is creating something new. Nesmith appears to have a gift for anticipating and creating new art forms - whether it's music videos, or the home video market, or virtual 3D reality, Nesmith is there to bring it forward.

I very much liked the tone of the book. Nesmith comes across as the guy I would hang out with. That guy I'd sit with in a diner all night and talk about art and existentialism and religion and business, and we'd appreciate what each other has to say. Do we all have friends like that? Mike Nesmith is that friend for all of us and this book is that night in the diner.

Thanks, Mike.

Looking for a good book? Michael Nesmith's<em> Infinite Tuesday</em> is a memoir of pop culture and human growth and required reading for anyone interested in a great non-fiction book.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Michael Nesmith’s autobiography is like a journey through his mind and his thoughts on the life he has lead. The Monkees were such a small part of his life. There is so much more and he gets into it but not with a lot of depth; more like a lot of thought. I enjoyed the book because I learned more about him that I hadn’t learned elsewhere. His struggle to make is won music that nobody wanted to promote or didn’t know how to. I knew his mother was the inventor of Liquid Paper and left him a fortune and a feeling of being lost when she passed away. I didn’t knew that she also had two charities that he was on the board of and he found some joy in those charities. His obsession with adding worlds or a story with music led him into making what could be the first real music video and what would eventually become MTV (although he stepped away from that). He foresaw the home video market and bought up rights that would eventually become a huge video catalog. Didn’t know of the lawsuit with PBS that would eventually bankrupt his company. He also was on the ground floor of virtual reality but it stalled when his third wife left him. The reader gets to see what the personal side of Nesmith but then I remember he mentions the lie he perpetrated during an interview about the Monkees selling more albums than the Beatles that it people think it was and still is fact. So what is fact and what is not?

I have always been a fan of the Monkees, a love I have always shared with my mother, as well as a fan of Mike Nesmith in particular. The story of the Monkees has been told many times before and is not given a lot of story time here. Which is good thing, because Mike has led a pretty remarkable life and has his own story to tell. He was a single child raised in Texas by a single mother, Bette, who could and should have a biography of her own. She invented Liquid Paper in her kitchen and grew it into a multi-million dollar company before finally selling it to Gillette. She was a pioneer for women’s rights and left a passion of the same for her son. She had a love of the arts and was a serious practitioner of Christian Science and this is the relationship that shaped Mike’s life and spiritual journey. This autobiography follows Mr. Nesmith through his personal and spiritual journey through life and tells of a man just slightly ahead of his time. Mike found a particular passion for pursing music and eventually formed a band and moved to Hollywood. It was there where he eventually fell into the audition for the Monkees. He has rubbed elbows with many celebrities and deep thinkers who left a particular imprint on him, particularly, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Jack Nicholson, Johnny Cash and Douglas Adams. He was a pioneer of the music video and indeed helped create the idea that eventually became MTV. He also foresaw the eventual rise of the VCR and home video and built up quite an extensive catalog of content to later be sold to the home video market. He also foresaw the eventual rise of the internet and got in the ground floor of virtual reality and indeed, even got a patent for his particular brand of embedding real time video into a virtual environment. A highly recommended read!

Michael Nesmith is a seemingly likable guy. He clearly led an interesting, memoir-worthy life, but I just can't finish his book. He is never vain, condescending, nor does he inflate his own ego. However, there is something about his tone, style, or maybe just his life that does come off that way. I have no doubt he lived the stories he includes, but the sheer volume of his famous friends, constant moments of the right place at the right time, and his extraordinary background make this memoir seem less than honest. It is never the raw recollection I was hoping for.

Infinite Tuesday is a deeply personal and introspective memoir by Michael Nesmith. If you are looking for a tell-all about the Monkees, this is not the book for you. Nesmith discusses his family, friendships, marriages, successes and failures, and an incredible spiritual journey. The biggest takeaway from this book for me was his absolute perseverance in life. His desire to find new "bands" to work with, both musical and in the business world, was truly inspiring as he found ways to be creative in the industry. From recording, to inventing music videos, to producing, Nesmith has been on the ground floor of many new forms of media. Nesmith discusses the ups and downs of "Celebrity Psychosis" and the "Hollywood Mind", giving insight into how you can start to believe your own hype, and how it can both help you and hurt you at the same time. This book felt very much like I had an opportunity to sit down with Nesmith and listen to his stories. His friendships and encounters with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Jack Nicholson, and Douglas Adams truly helped me understand a very important and creative time in pop culture. He really does tell a tale of a complete and interesting life.

This was way more fun then I'd thought it would be! I'm pretty fussy hen it comes to celeb autobiographies. Some are so poorly written (where are the editors?!?!), others come across as arrogant and pretentious.... Then there are the very few that are actually easy to read and down to earth, ad enjoyable (too few of THESE kind). I actually enjoy some of Nesmith's music and thought his life was interesting (he lived during interesting times...) so I thought, why not read his story? It actually proved to be a fun and enlightening read! Fans will enjoys it. One of the few autobiographies worth picking up!