Rating: 
Summary: If you like Paul McCartney, you NEED to get this!
Review: While Barry Miles' biography of Paul McCartney has its shortcomings, it's overall a very enjoyable read. This could almost be called a half-autobiography, as Paul is thoroughly quoted rather often (the McCartney/Miles ratio is comparable to the Harrison/Taylor ratio of George's autobiography). In fact, take Miles' words away and you'd still have a pretty good, albeit shorter, book. That's not to say that Miles himself isn't entertaining. He's a great writer (though at times he may overintellectualize things) and, unlike some other Beatles "insiders," he doesn't play up the fact that he was a friend of Paul's during the sixties. Miles even discusses himself in the third person, making him appear no more important than anyone else. The outstanding thing about this biography that I noticed is that, unlike some other bios that I've read which are supposedly about a single member of the Beatles, Miles avoids talking about everything the BEATLES did during the sixties and focuses nearly exclusively on PAUL. Instead of saying, "the Beatles did such-and-such," it's more like, "when such-and-such happened, Paul did or said this..." However, as more people come into Paul's life throughout the book, it occasionally veers off into a short biography of nearly each of them. This can be slightly annoying, depending on the individual.
The first chapter cover's Paul's childhood and is surprisingly entertaining, with plenty of funny (and occasionally gross) stories. The next few discuss the Beatles' rise to fame, though the focus stays on Paul, telling of the places where he was living and what he did in his spare time away from the other Beatles. The chapter "Avant-Garde London" isn't as bad as everyone says it is, but I'll agree that it's probably the weakest section of the book. Importantly, however, Miles finally supports the fact that Paul was involved in the avant-garde long before John, back when John reportedly said that "avant-garde" is french for "cr*p." The subsequent chapters, covering probably the most interesting period of the Beatles' career, are so unique, as told from Paul's point of view. There is lots of indispensible information in these chapters, discussed nowhere else in such detail, ranging from the making of the famous album covers to Paul's meeting Linda to the breakup of the band and the following court cases to his relationship with John after the breakup and, ultimately, John's murder. The section where Paul talks about the day after John's death moved me to tears, just imagining how Paul must have felt that day.
I would have given this book 5 stars, but the fact that there is hardly any mention of Wings or the rest of Paul's pop career is unfortunate (there's just one paragraph), as Miles could have written the definitive Paul McCartney biography if he'd paid less attention to the minorest of details and devoted the space he'd have saved to Paul's post-Beatles music. Instead, all there is is a 20-page Afterword, cramming together Paul's family life, Wings, world tours, relationships with old friends, painting, his classical albums, and knighthood. However, despite this vast omission, "Many Years From Now" is still one of the most worthwhile Beatle-related books I've read. If you REALLY want to know Paul McCartney, this book is it.
Rating: 
Summary: Many Years from Never
Review: I was not happy with this book. I bought this to find out about Paul's memories in the Beatles myth and I truly was going into it with an open mind, but the entire book is Paul building himself up at the expense of Lennon. And not only that, I just don't believe him. It's all so petty. It seems completely born out of jealousy and most likely a dislike of his business relationship with Ono for over 20 years.Paul doesn't realize some things. John Lennon is not applauded for creating tape loops or strange sounds. Neither Paul nor John created that. Lennon is applauded for saying, "Hey, let's put this on my song." And that's something McCartney never had the courage or vision to do to his own. He says he agrees with what Lennon has said about each other's contributions to the songs, but if you look at it closely, he continuously tries to nick major contributions of John's songs out of them and onto himself. He really helped write Ticket to Tide and Help! and a lot of others. Yet I notice he never seems to divulge that Lennon helped his songs more than anyone thought. Since Lennon is dead, I feel the only way to look at it is that whoever sang it, wrote it, or most of it. I know Lennon fans will be more than content with that. It's shameful the way Paul has these huge blocks of quotes while the "writer" bashes Lennon as a [chemical substance]addicted, lazy songwriter who was jealous of Paul and his hits. Paul should look at the facts. "Imagine" is on almost every "greatest songs of all time" list. Where are Paul's solo songs on the list? Nowhere. How is that John Lennon's fault? He's certainly not voting. Paul and John were both genius songwriters, there is no doubt. But Lennon's stand on social issues places his respect greater in many people's minds. Paul implies he doesn't get the respect he deserves, but he does, but this book seems like an effort to get more, and it just comes across as "sour grapes."
Rating: 
Summary: McCartney loses his integrity
Review: This book is a major disappointment.
McCartney apparently is determined, in this book, to "spin" and reinvent Beatles history to suit an "image" makeover that annoints himself as "the avant garde" Beatle and the John "square" one. Of course, their respective songs that they each wrote ( as well as Lennon's whole outlook and personality ) fails to support McCartney's premise. Furthermore, amongst the many dubious claims ( read: untruths) is the assertion that the guitar feedback for "I Feel Fine" was all just a big accident; an effect that John Lennon, of course, generated intentionally both in live performance and in the studio (and thus deserves the credit for as his own innovation) and McCartney taking 100% credit for the buildup of "A Day In The Life" which is in clear conflict with producer George Martin's account from "All You Need Is Ears" where he described writing the score for the buildup based specifically around Lennon's ideas of "an expanding sound". This book essentially seems to be an exercise in extracting the various musicial innovations and experimental creativity that appear in Beatles songs written primarily by John Lennon ( or entirely by Lennon ?) and then shifting "the credit" for them onto McCartney himself. One can just imagine John Lennon rolling over in his grave and saying "How Do You Sleep At Night"? Paul McCartney was, of course, a writer of wonderful songs himself and an irreplaceable contributor to the Beatles, but this book simply goes way too far in a brazen attempt to skew and slant Beatles history in a way that horrifyingly marginalizes John Lennon's own Beatles acheivments and attempts to recast McCartney as the art-obsessed, "avant-garde" songwriter. Sadly, McCartney never wrote material like "I Am The Walrus", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", etc. to support such "spin" and the book amounts to nothing but a cold and calculated piracy of Lennon's own Beatles material in an effort by McCartney to recast himself as the real Beatles kingpin. Suddenly, it becomes clear why Ringo Starr once stated: "Paul wants to be known as the one who did it all which I think is not true." Simply put, this book is not the source to turn to for accurate information about the band - it is an "agenda book" by a man apparenty preoccupied with his own "legacy". One simpy cannot see McCartney making these claims if John Lennon were still alive. Unfortunately, the book is largely self-serving revisionism and not recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much about Paul's involvement in avant-garde
Review: Poor, stupid Barry Miles; he could have gotten two good books out of his material--a solid biography of Paul McCartney, and a book about Paul's involvement in the avant-garde movements of 1960s London. Instead, it's all jumbled together. I never did finish it. I also didn't like Paul's celebration of his drug use. Whether he (or we) want to admit it or not, the Beatles did contribute to illegal drug use in our culture. And like another reviewer noted, the endless foul language was a turn-off. On the good side, there's much insight into famous Beatles moments. You just have to know where to look.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting book- Paul according to Paul!
Review: I had a hard time slogging through this book when it was orginally published. The book has its moments of insight and fascination, but I was always keenly aware that this was Paul's version of events (through the pen of Barry Miles). This book could be called Paul's 700-page pat on the back. ...
Rating:
Summary: It was pretty good but. . .
Review: It was interesting, and well written. I thought the use of quotes was just the right amount. Sometimes, however, it got sidetracked with people from Paul's life, and it goes off the storyline a little bit. The major problem I had with this book was that it pretty much ended when John died which doesn't really seem fair because paul was still alive then.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great, If Bias McCartney Book
Review: Barry Miles is Paul's old friend..
Lot's of good stories and inside info.
One of my top five favorite Beatle/McCartney books.
Rating:
Summary: Al Gore claims he invented the Beatles
Review: Thanks, Paul and Barry, for setting the record straight. I always knew that John was the cute Beatle.
Rating:
Summary: Best Paul McCartney book!
Review: I've read this book three times now, and each time I learn something new about the Beatles I never knew before. The book took me to a different world as if Paul was sitting there talking to me! Great story of Paul's life with the Beatles up to his breakup with the greatest band in the world.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Incredible
Review: The most amazing thing about this book is the objectivity Paul is able to give. He openly admits when he handled things poorly with George during 'The Beatles' and 'Let It Be'. There are also many quotes from previous interviews with John and others, and it is continually stated that John and Paul have only disagreed on two of their songs on the writing of it (who's idea, middle-eight, etc), with Miles quoting others to support Paul's claim to only one of these disagreements. It is wonderful that the true love that was between them all shows through. This is great for Paul and Beatle enthusiasts, but die-hard John fans may find it hard to stomach; not only for sections discussing Yoko, drug use and other intimate insights, but even where, through past interview quoted, John himself gives more credit to Paul for songs that have been widely known as "John's songs" than they may like.
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