Rating: 
Summary: Not a self-help book, but good.
Review: The book is a good read if you enjoy travel books with a literary sense to them. However, what Ghost Rider is to me is a pouring out of information from someone's personality while on a "big tour". It's a good read to see someone who so desperately wanted to find themself after all the years in the public "eye", and the trajedies, yet ever so self-confined. Neil's got a wonderful mind and interesting views about nature and the world, etc. However, his mind definitely does not "jive" with everyone else in the public arena. His main view is that most people screw it up for some of "us" - a viewpoint probably shared by everyone else who has to deal with the world. The "us" is as he seems to say "the ones who deserve to have a good time". The fatties out there in public-land don't do him any good and are a scourge.The writing in both Ghost Rider and Masked Rider remind me of my room mate in college. Very intelligent, somewhat reserved, caring yet distant, selective. But a good person with many pre-conceived notions. What I'd of wished Neil to do on his trip was not so much rely on personal letters to Brutus (his jailed friend for most of the journey) but maybe meeting and getting to know people in all the wonderful cities across the country. He rarely talks about socializing with anyone while on the road, just the many ways of avoiding them. He gets extremely nervous and leaves when someone notices "him". His life-partner is his pad and pen writing to people who are not there with him. His main enemy is himself and I think he may know this. As someone wanting to know Neil, this is a good book to do it by. Judging from it, he has lead a life of solitude, personal interest and small circles of friends - it's too bad because this world has so much to offer. I will say a heartfelt thanks to Neil for being in my favorite musical group, Rush.
Rating: 
Summary: Inspiring
Review: This was an inspiring book with a strong message about life. The author takes you as a passenger on his journey along the "healing road" of life. I could not put it down and spread out my reading over several days so I had something to look forward to at the end of the day. I look forward to reading the author's other book. TD
Rating:
Summary: One little victory on a vapor trail
Review: Book is great. Good outcome to a bad situation. We have all experienced loss. But few get to share it the way Neil does through a book. And fewer still can afford to "take off work" for a significant amount of time to grieve loss and find themselves again. I shared the book with a 'non Rushian' and they loved Neil's style.
Rush is still on the Vapor Trails tour and will be through October(The 5th in Mexico City- A first for Rush).
At 50 years old, Neil is better than ever- drumming is fluid.
Rating:
Summary: Thanks, Neil
Review: Great book. Fan or otherwise would do well to listen and hear what this guy has to say--rather than vilify his every move. Buy it. Or don't. Pressure your library to buy it and check it out! Either way, read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful, Disappointing, Marvelous
Review: Let me start by saying that I absolutely love this book. It also frustrates me. You can probably tell from all the other reviews what the book is about. Neil Peart takes the reader on a fascinating journey through North America and through his own trials and experiences. Over the years, Peart has clearly refined and perfected his talent for writing. He wields his pen with the force of a battleaxe and the precision of a scalpel. That is why tagging along on his journey is such a spectacular experience. That is also why it's so difficult to forgive Peart some of the book's shortcomings. Let me explain. In the mid-seventies, Rush had just released their third studio album, "Caress of Steel". That album was marked by a number of arrangements that were long, epic songs that told stories. Their record company was less than impressed with the sales, apparently, and gave the band an ultimatum. They were to avoid that format in the future, and make more of the shorter, catchy stuff that audiences lap up, or they would be dropped from the label. Well, the band got together and decided they wanted to make their music their way, and the executives could shove it. The next record they made was "2112", the title track of which was a side-long uber-epic about the individual's struggle against authority and the value of artistic integrity. It was a great big "screw you" to the marketing guys. But it must have been really frightening to the young band, who were risking their entire future making that rash move. And the new record sold. Well. The marketing guys were wrong. Fast foreward twenty years. Now, after reading this book, I have come to suspect that Neil got "comfortable" with his success. He was not the same man when he lost his wife and daughter that he was in 1976. It appears that he has been among the elite for a long time, and even a man of his integrity cannot help but absorb some of that. He seems to have lost the intellectual clarity that marked his younger, more idealistic years. And at the same time, his skills as a writer have grown to an expert level. He was always a retiring sort of guy, and this book conveys almost an open hostility toward his fellow man. I suppose that's understandable given the circumstances, but he comes across as so RUDE. I cannot really forgive him that, because he has the skill to convey whatever tone he wishes. Therefore, he must have chosen his rudeness deliberately. I had glimpses of the old Neil's strength of character here and there in "Ghost Rider", but I wanted more. Too much of the old philosophical and intellectual clarity was missing. All in all, however, I highly recommend the book for it's own merits. After this is Neil Peart! He and Rush could go on a steady decline for the next three hundred years, and they would still be the best there is. I will close this review with the lines that kept running through my head while reading the book. "Sadder still
To watch it die
Than never to have known it-
For you, the blind
Who once could see-
The bell tolls for thee"
--Rush, "Losing It"
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: After losing his daughter and wife,Neil Peart completely loses his self. No longer wanting to be that other guy(Neil) he takes on the Identity of John Elwood Taylor,hops on his motorcycle and rides off.
Neil takes on a well documented journey from canada to Mexico,and all points in between. He paints-in words-beautiful landscapes, treacherous roads,undaunting weather,in journal entries and letters to friends and families.
He also tells us of numerous breakdowns of crying when something reminds him of the "other guys" life. Or never wanting to play the drums again. Having no desire to be creative.
Well we all know how it ends with the Rush release "Vapor Trails" and tour. But what it took to get there is a fantastic story.
Rating:
Summary: Very Interesting Book
Review: If you are a Rush fan this is worth checking out.If you are looking for tips on the grieving process then look elsewhere.Not many of us can afford to find answers in the manner that Neil does.By being the most exciting,talented drummer on the planet Neil has afforded himself his own way of dealing with death.He traveled,a lot!Some [people] seem to be disturbed and offended that he could just ride to wherever he wanted.Go figure.On a few occasions the book gets boring but overall is entertaining and I am glad I bought it.Unless you have been through what this guy has been through,you really have no right to even try to say you understand or how you would look at the world.I'm cynical now and my family is in tact... A nod to the fans would have been nice.After all,the combination of his immense talent coupled with our enthusiasm for it is what has made his lifestyle possible.
Rating:
Summary: Near Perfect after 100 Pages
Review: Amazing, tear jerking at times, incredible writing. Thanks Neil. One of your many mad fans.
Rating: 
Summary: Voyeurism and narcissism
Review: In a word: empty. By the time I finished reading it was quite ready for it to be over and I found myself thinking 'Well, so what? Big deal.' I never found any point to this book. Is it supposed to be a travel book, regaling the reader with stories of visits to places of interest? Or is it supposed to be some sort of story of the author's grief and how he coped, etc.? It never really succeeds at either, though the former comes much closer than the latter. It's almost as if it suffers from a split personality disorder: half the time it's foreground episodic journeys to various cities and secluded towns, and the other half is the backdrop of coping with and grieving over the loss of loved ones. Or maybe it's the other way around. As a travel book, it should undoubtedly spark some longing or yearning in the wanderer or explorer in all of us who loves to roam and discover. Readers are certainly treated to several good bits of rich and wonderfully described sights and smells of far away, unfamiliar North American destinations. But as some kind of grief experience catharsis, I found the book to be a failure. To begin with, it's very hard to find any real sympathy for Mr. Peart because he never gives the reader a reason to care about him or his loss. We're supposed to accept the both the goodness of the author and the enormity of his losses prima face. Well, why? Certainly his losses are tragic (the deaths of his wife and daughter -- certainly not a fate to be wished upon anybody), but don't many people in the world suffer just as much in some way or another? Hasn't most everybody had to deal with some kind of loss in some way, both now and throughout history? Doesn't Mr. Peart read the papers lately? Why are we supposed to think that this is so much more of an injustice and of sufficiently greater import and significance to all that it warrants this retelling? Just because it happened to Mr. Peart? It is this type of bald narcissism that weighs the book down far too much, and ultimately seems to be his point. It's just all about him. Maybe if there were lessons to be learned or some kind of comment on some slice of the human condition or revelations of self-discovery (if that even happened along his journeys, and it really didn't seem to, but who knows?) there would be some reason for reading this book. But we never get any of that. A few tiny crumbs, at most. Much of the book is simply one page after another of narrative (though told with good wit and style) of how Mr. Peart tries to escape from his life's pain either through booze or taking to the road and leaving town for a good couple of months. How he has changed as a person? What can readers learn from his experience? Is there any larger context in which the experience can be placed? There's a journey of the body here, but not of the mind. Mr. Peart and his life are the clear the center of the universe: an angry man, unhappy with the hand he has been dealt, and doing his best to try to convince the readers his suffering is (or at least was) the greatest of all, yet insulating himself from the world. And maybe this is how he felt at the time, and one would certainly think he's entitled, but presumably at the time of authoring the book a little balance could have been included to temper some of the ranting. The happy ending to the story seems to happen merely by chance, and not as the result of hard work or growth or change. Is that the point? Don't do anything and maybe by blind luck something good will drop into your life to make it all better? Seems like a lousy lesson. It's certainly not a horrible book, but I suspect the only readers who might enjoy this are those looking to take a naughty voyeuristic peek into the life of the rock star author and find out some intimate details. And these readers will get what they want because, once again, Mr Peart's book seems pretty much to be only about himself. It's an easy relationship with this book: narcissism consumed by voyeurism.
Rating:
Summary: A man half full
Review: Any fan of RUSH or the lyrics of Neil Peart should read this book. I have always been fascinated with Mr. Peart's lyrics and have always wondered what he was like as a person. Now I know.
The beginning of this book is a real tear-jerker. Neil handles the details with a nice dash of "Hemingway-like" writing that had me in tears and riveted. His sense of humour was refreshing and unexpected. Some have said the book is redundant and tedious because of the letters included whithin, but I dare say, that it is a good example of the way a tragic occurance keeps popping back into your mind over and over; until you heal, or die.
Feel like you have been getting a raw deal in life? Read Ghost Rider and you may reconsider. Thanks Neil
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