Rating: 
Summary: Well worth it
Review: This book took me a whole month to read, but was one of the most enjoyable books I have read in a long time. Some people have complained that the book is a "rose colored version of the truth". Well, I wasn't looking for a tell-all expose in the first place, but I think the book is about as up-front and honest as it can be, being that the subjects wrote the book about themselves.The book is very well written, and Lennon's quote's fit in very well with the conversational tone. The pictures are excellent as well. It fits well with the rest of the Anthology series. Dave Gruska
Rating:
Summary: A magical trip
Review: If a trip to the dentist was able to take George and John on their first "trip" into a more cosmic world, then, I say this book took me on a trip that Jules Verne coulnd't possibly "imagine". I found that I coulnd't put the book down, for it enabled me to go back to a time when all I had to deal with was where I was going to get the money for the next Beatle's album....and hey, with Anthology, it is right in front of me!
Rating:
Summary: JUST CAN'T PUT IT DOWN
Review: I hate to read anything that is not real or true. This book I can't stop reading. I have several books on the Beatles and this one is great. What is so good about this is they all talk about the same topic. You feel you get the whole story with no edits from music critics or the such. Just the Fab Four reliving what took place with them. It also has great pictures to keep you up to speed. Easy to understand what was in their minds. If you only get one book on the Beatles THIS IS THE ONE.
Rating:
Summary: Anthology: Extraordinary Book
Review: What can I say about this book? What can't I say about this book, I am 17 years old, and not many people in my school are as big Beatles fans as me and my friend Rich are. But I brought this book to school with me everyday and read it. People would say they didnt like the Beatles, but if I play a song for them, chances are they have heard it, and like it. So I have let a couple friends who weren't Beatles fans borrow my book. And every one of them loved it. I will read this book again and again, for a long time. If you like the Beatles now, or have ever liked them, you will want to get this book. It's loaded with stories behind the music, and lyrics, and tales of their childhood. Along with many many pictures, this huge book covers the entire career of the Beatles rise to the top from Liverpool.
Rating:
Summary: Great Stuff. Really Great Stuff....
Review: Exactly one month ago, I couldn't name all four Beatles. I was born a bit more than fifteen years after they split up, and I certianly wasn't around when John Lennon kicked the bucket. My belated Christmas gift was Beatles 1, and the first time I played it, I fell madly in love with their music. This book was my early birthday gift. As everyone knows, the pictures are great. Wonderful color and quality. (I wish they had had captions, though. It took me a while to figure out who was who.) You can spend hours just flipping through the pages, looking at the pictures. The words aren't to be shrugged off. They're small, and packed with infromation. It's great reading because it doesn't assume you know things, but it doesn't stop and explain too much either. It was also intresting to get one event in four or five different perspectives. The best thing about the text is that it isn't like really like reading at all. It's much more like listening to people talk. My overall rating of this book, this anthology, is excellent.I'd give it a 6 if I could. Whether you've been a Beatles fan for a decade or a day, this will help you get to know the men behind the music. Buy it. It's priceless.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Photos but needs an objective author
Review: Wait, now and think about it for a second. This book has great photos-perhaps the most exhaustive amount ever-and has candid dialogue from the Beatles themselves and that's o.k., but...1. It gets a bit tedious hearing them repeat themselves to a "T" after bombarding the public already on the ABC-T.V.'s Thanksgiving promo in 96' and then again on video the following year. 2. Most of this candid dialogue is the same but slightly altered and less of it in many previous books about the Beatles. 3. There's also an annoying tendency on the part of McCartney to re-write history. He's been trying to do this since Lennon's death. John(and Yoko) I guess went too far in attacking McCartney with the 1980 Playboy interviews. Well, why can't McCartney just "Let It BE..."(Most of his real fans have). 4. Why does Harrison ramble on about the awful crazed fans and "Beatlemania" he experienced? He laughed all the way to the bank didn't he? You get plenty of that here, to the book's discredit. It's this kind of open public talk buy the Beatles that encourages the truly crazed fans to attack them(for examples see Chapman and the guy that stabbed Harrison!)! For all these reasons the book cries out for a seasoned objective viewpoint from someone who's been associated with the Beatles over the years and is not afraid to lose their power base friendship with them, or perhaps a respected rock journalist...to intercede-and not on behalf of the Beatles, in spite of them-at various points of the book. This method was rightly used by Peter Brown in his book "The Love You Make." While Brown's book specifically was a straight-out attack on the Beatles, at the very least it wasn't a constant diarrhea of "We were the wholsome lovable Beatles...Love us without shame!" dialogue you get here in the "Anthology." An objective, if somewhat biased account is far better or at least preferable. In fact it would make the "Anthology" an all around a great book. Otherwise, strictly from a beautiful coffee table perspective the pictures are a plenty and magnificent too, worth the price of purchase on that alone. And some of the stories are kinda warm and cute as only the Beatles can be. But c'mon, all that one-sided dialogue that the Beatles force you to read not only is insulting to one's intelligence it is also plain out BORING! Only the bittersweet dark chocolate of the beautiful photos remain.
Rating: 
Summary: Art Direction/Photos: 5+ Stars; Text: 3
Review: This book should (will?) win some awards for graphic design. It is simply beautiful to hold, and behold; the paper stock, layout and choice of photos, memos & letters make it a must-have for all "Beatle people." Just be sure and read the text critically, because it gives a somewhat sanitized version of their career, especially before l963 and after l967. What you get is a mostly sentimentalised 90's view of the band from the Threetles, while John (of course) gives his perspective from a number of interviews over the years. Lennon comes out sounding best because of this. And were Lennon still around, I hope he would have had guts enough to allow Pete Best a say in this bio of the band. Yes Ringo is a better drummer, but Pete was an integral part of the group for nearly two years. 40 years on, Paul and George are still finding ways to slag the poor guy off. (He really must have been the most popular one to deserve such treatment!) Bottom line: it is nice to "hear" the band in their own words, but don't trust them to give the most honest account of their career. You will need other viewpoints as well. (I recommend any of the books by Mark Lewisohn, Ian MacDonald, Philip Norman, George Martin, and Pete Best.)
Rating:
Summary: Good
Review: I think this is a great book for any Beatles fan. But I would like to address the LSD bit in the book. In the book the Beatles, especially George, make LSD sound really attractive to take. So I would just like to quote from John Lennon's own primal scream therapist, Dr. Janov (as quoted in the Winter 2000 issue of MOJO): "LSD is the most devastating thing for mental health that ever existed. To this day, we see people who've had LSD, and they have a different brain-wave pattern, as if their defenses are totally broken down. It stays. I think Timothy Leary destroyed so many people by touting LSD. It's a very, very dangerous drug." After reading the Beatles ANTHOLOGY I thought taking LSD might be a good idea. So I'm sure others have, too. So I wanted to put Janov's--John Lennon's own therapist--opinion about the drug to discourage any other impressionable readers out there.
Rating:
Summary: really better then just saying they are gear
Review: How many people have tried to explain how good these musicians and people are and were, well now its time for the men that were involved with this great book, i think it is more then a story it is a very human experience, i mean can you imagine living through Beatlemania and beyond, in their shoes. I wish that they would be recognized as people sharing their type of music with us instead of just being Beatles. I remember when i was 4 years old The Beatles came to our Radio station when we lived in Longview Tx, it was KLUE, i love the Beatles as people then musicians, i only wish they knew it-Mark Williams
Rating:
Summary: Great gift -- great book!
Review: I gave this book as a Christmas gift and it is superb. The quality of the book, as well as the pictures and text is excellent. She was delighted with the book (and I was delighted with the price too). Very interesting -- with lots of facts that I hadn't heard before.
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