Rating: 
Summary: An amazingly rational account of a very irrational time.
Review: "Sleeping Where I Fall" is actor Peter Coyote's personal memoirs of the San Francisco hippie/commune scene of the late 60s and early 70s. I found this to be a very interesting and well written book. It seems Coyote took advantage of being in the right place at the right time and became a cutting edge member of the emerging counterculture. His detailed account recreates the era; from the newness and exuberance of the concept of "free" - to the interminable chaos and outrageousness of trying to live it. I think it would be of great interest to people who are sympathetic to the ideals that blossomed during this era.
Rating:
Summary: An amazingly rational account of a very irrational time.
Review: "Sleeping Where I Fall" is actor Peter Coyote's personal memoirs of the San Francisco hippie/commune scene of the late 60s and early 70s. I found this to be a very interesting and well written book. It seems Coyote took advantage of being in the right place at the right time and became a cutting edge member of the emerging counterculture. His detailed account recreates the era; from the newness and exuberance of the concept of "free" - to the interminable chaos and outrageousness of trying to live it. I think it would be of great interest to people who are sympathetic to the ideals that blossomed during this era.
Rating: 
Summary: Sex, hard drugs, dad, artistes, death and one heck of a dude
Review: A much better book obout the Haight in the sixties is "We Are the People Our Parents Warned us Against," by Nicholas Von Hoffman. The last thing the sixties needs is another self congratulating celebrity putting himself at the center of the action. Having been an admirer of Emmet Grogan and the Diggers and enjoying 'Ringolevio' immensely, which Coyote has managed to get his name on the recent edition of, much to the chagrin of the dead I am sure, I was sorely disappointed in this book. I grew weary of Coyote's sex life--his lovers were all beautiful, intelligent, and there are pictures to prove it. Redundancy upon redundancy. How can people buy and enjoy this self-aggrandizement. He was the Wilt Chamberlin of the hard drug scene, he wants us to know. He pats himself on the back so many times in the last chapter, which I finally threw down in disgust, alone he is probably still in traction. Most of us back then knew to avoid the Angels, speed, smack, ripoff artists, guns. Coyote and his doomed clan reveled in them all. The survivors seemed to have grown up to become the people they used to revile and ridicule. Hollywood! Nothing very spiritual or mind-expanding about this. Lots of human baggage, a few active aware people, but at the time there was nothing very special about that. Thousands of remarkable people were doing remarkable things. The people who really contributed to the times and conciousness of the sixties are either unknown or have better things to do than blow their own trumpet and empty the spit valve on anyone who was close enough to hear it the first time. Hand it to Coyote though, he does turn a good phrase now and then but his real accomplishment is writing a book about the sixties that hardly mentions the War, the Draft, Psychedelia, mind-expansion, emergent spirituality. Everything is just a prop for Coyote whether it is the Hopi or the stage. He is and was on --the ultimate put down of those times--an ego trip! The book ends as it begins--dropping names. Whoopi Goldberg, Harry Hamlin, Robin Williams, I forget the rest just as I will soon forget most of what I read.
Rating: 
Summary: What A Long Strange Trip Its Been
Review: A wonderful poetic love song to the seekers of our generation. Heavy flashback potnetial.
Rating:
Summary: a nice piece of the puzzle
Review: I found Peter Coyote's memoir a bit too self-congratulatory, but I realize that his strong sense of self is what made him who he is. That he slips occasionally into egotism and self aggrandizement does not negate the fine writing and interesting take he has on a most interesting time. I would suggest as a companion work a wonderful book by Kent Nerburn called Road Angels: Searching for Home on America's Coast of Dreams. It gives a different take from a very different man with a more spiritual bent. May a thousand flowers bloom.
Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: I thought this book was a terrific read. It's funny, surprising and moving at times. I must say, i don't quite understand some of the criticisms - I think it's extremely well written. Sure, Coyote has a strong ego, but that's how he survived to tell his story. He doesn't embody all of the hippie new age qualities that one might expect of someone in his situation, but I think that is the reality of those times. There were a lot of mixed up people in impossible situations - and Coyote describes it beautifully.He is full of contradictions, but that's what makes him interesting. To criticise him for that is sour grapes. At times, he seems genuinely perplexed as what transpired in his life - there are incredibly funny things which obviously did not seem so when they happened. Overall, a winner.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good read. No bull. Points for honesty.
Review: I was born in 1968 so I can't comment on whether or not Coyote's take on the 60s jives. I can, however, say that it was pretty interesting to read his views on the S.F. Mime troupe and the Diggers. I admire Coyote for having been involved these groups. His recollections of them are insightful and refreshingly honest. I love the fact that Coyote talks about the ups and downs of 60s life. I like that he complains about people from time to time. This makes for a read that is not too "peace and love". So, I guess I like his honesty most. As for this book seeming too egotistical to some readers goes, I disagree. Peter Coyote is funny, handsome and interesting and I liked reading most of what he had to say. I like Coyote's ego just fine. What bored me was when he would go on and on about Olema ranch and mundane domestic stuff which really isn't that interesting to most people. Overall, I feel spent.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful In Spite of It All
Review: I've read other reviewers taking Peter Coyote to task for writing what they seem to think is just a self-congratulatory puff piece to satisfy his own ego. I disagree. Not once in the book did I ever see him claim that the existence he and his friends lived was the 'only' way or the 'best' way, nor did he try to make himself out to be some kind of faultless angel who never made a mistake. He simply told, in as straightforward and unembellished a way as possible, what happened in his own personal experience, good and bad, and described the process that took him from one stage of existence to another. That kind of honesty takes courage few of us can claim to have in any level of our lives. And anyone who was as heavily into drugs as he was to have survived at all, not to mention completely turning their life around and becoming successful in their own chosen field, should be congratulated. I've known enough people in my own experience who didn't, and I grieve for them to this day. I, for one, am very glad he wrote this book. In 1964 I was only twelve years old and have always felt a bit cheated that I was just too young to have been a part of what I felt even then to be a special and perhaps irreplaceable time. Reading "Sleeping Where I Fall" has given me a sense of almost having been there myself which I've never gotten from any other work on the era in quite the same way. Thank you for writing this memoir, Peter. I do sincerely appreciate it.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful In Spite of It All
Review: I've read other reviewers taking Peter Coyote to task for writing what they seem to think is just a self-congratulatory puff piece to satisfy his own ego. I disagree. Not once in the book did I ever see him claim that the existence he and his friends lived was the 'only' way or the 'best' way, nor did he try to make himself out to be some kind of faultless angel who never made a mistake. He simply told, in as straightforward and unembellished a way as possible, what happened in his own personal experience, good and bad, and described the process that took him from one stage of existence to another. That kind of honesty takes courage few of us can claim to have in any level of our lives. And anyone who was as heavily into drugs as he was to have survived at all, not to mention completely turning their life around and becoming successful in their own chosen field, should be congratulated. I've known enough people in my own experience who didn't, and I grieve for them to this day. I, for one, am very glad he wrote this book. In 1964 I was only twelve years old and have always felt a bit cheated that I was just too young to have been a part of what I felt even then to be a special and perhaps irreplaceable time. Reading "Sleeping Where I Fall" has given me a sense of almost having been there myself which I've never gotten from any other work on the era in quite the same way. Thank you for writing this memoir, Peter. I do sincerely appreciate it.
Rating:
Summary: Too self-absorbed and showoffy.
Review: If he had written more about the world outside his little group of friends and lovers, Coyote could have had an interesting book. As it is, it's mainly a chronicle of living dirt poor and having as much sex as possible, while being surprised that your gorgeous blonde deer-hide tanning girlfriend somehow always catches you cheating. He makes the common mistake that the rest of us care how many women he slept with and under what circumstances. Memoirists be warned: What was most important to you is not what is most important to your readers. He spends relatively little time on much more interesting events such as the prosecution of the San Francisco mime troupe, and the famous people who came to their aid. In fact, he spends very little time on anyone else at all, except to point out that he knew or met them or somehow locate himself there. Disappointing book.
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