Rating: 
Summary: Ohhh touchy stuff
Review: This man witnesses the death of his only child and then proceeds to watch his beloved wife deteriorate and die of cancer before his very eyes as a result of there daughters death, total meltdown for anybody. However this is not the point obviously because he criticised Americans so lets all just slam the book shut and shun it as arrogant rubbish. Shock horror, in the mists of undying grief he has exercised free speech about how he really feels and some people don't like it, ban it, burn it, it's the 2112 yet to come!!If Neil were here now looking back at his loses and reading some of these reviews about the one or two cynical remarks he made he's be inclined to say 'WELL EXCUUUUSSSEE ME'. Shows just how damn touchy some people are, go on press the 'no' button on my review touchy!!
Rating:
Summary: Beyond words
Review: I have had this book about 3 days and have been absolutely addicted to it reading it at every opportunity. In the short time I have owned it I think I understand Neil and this fascinating book. I'll start by saying there is a huge irony into the negative reviews, people want more, more emotion, more action more everything and this is exactly what Neil has perhaps rebelled against in his life as a rock star. Dare I say this is a somewhat Americanised viewpoint etched by the puppet master the media. This book is a very private insight into the grief and personality of a brilliant intellectual mind with an introverted personality, best expressing himself through music and the written word. I feel extremely privileged that Neil has made this publicly available and I thank him. He is obviously hugely gifted with words and manages to piece together this journey with a great natural flair with a rich descriptive flavour for nature, people and his surroundings. This is the major strength of the book as is the relaxed tempo which brings the book to life and makes you feel like your travelling with the ghost in real time, no easy feat. Another positive aspect that shines in this book is Neil's great sense of humour and irony, not the one liner jokes but just a creative mind and it's humorous observations. I find myself often laughing out loud in the early hours, presumptuous as it may sound I call it thinking mans humour. I fail to see how anybody can criticise this book, it's hugely insightful, funny, emotional and enjoyable. Those who expect more should stick to tabloid newspapers, soap operas and sensationalised celebrity magazines. Great job Neil, you continue to inspire, educate and entertain your fans with this absolute masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Why does Neil Peart think he's "better" than us?
Review: I'm not a Rush fan, and I'd never heard of Neil Peart before another motorcyclist cleared out his library and I got hold of Ghost Rider. I'm not impressed with celebrity motorcyclists, having met Malcolm Forbes, Peter Fonda, Jay Leno, et al. None of those guys think that they are "better" than us, on the contrary, they revel in the camaraderie and the egalitarianism of the 2-wheeled brotherhood. But Peart comes off as a parvenu
moto-snob, and he shuns Americans as being overweight and declasse. Who did he think was going to read his book on motorcycle touring, anyway, people who were working their way through their own grief? And he doesn't begin to understand his own personality type, and why he thinks that he loved his wife, while actually he was still a boy at heart, out having fun with his friends, while his wife sat at home. There was very little about his wife and daughter in the book, and lots about his attempts to run away from his own self, which he didn't like very much, and there was nothing of the guilt that he should have felt about not being there for his wife before the accident
where his daughter died. And, while he may have suffered from the loss of his immediate family, his other family and friends were still there for him and he didn't lose his career while he went off running away from responsibility. On the positive side, I did enjoy reading the travelogue parts and found his imagery of natural phenomena and scenery to be enchanting. Too bad he had to dwell so much on his grief. Oh, Peart did accomplish what
a writer needs to accomplish: he gained sufficient empathy with the reader (even though I though he was an a$$hole half the time)
to make me hope for a happy outcome for him. So I flipped to the back of the book to look at the denouement (a sure sign that the author is wearying the reader). I was amazed. He married a girl, instead of marrying Brutus, whom he loved more intimately than he could ever love another woman!
Rating:
Summary: Neil's obligations?
Review: Since when does Neil have to shake the hands, kiss the babies, sign the autographs to the fans who are demanding it? The only obligation Rush has is to play well. With the mentality that many have about Neil, why does not the same apply for Bill Gates, Wrigley's, Eli Lilly, et al? Ironically, all the other names I typed make a lot more money than Neil and are a lot more open than Neil, and we spend money for their products too. Sometimes a lot more. Yet they have no obligations to say hello my customers, patients or any of the obligations that Neil spoke about. The only obligation Neil as well as Rush has for us is to perform their best at the concert. If Neil wants to have a drink, then let him. If he wants to be left alone, then leave him alone. A fast food restaurant was introducing its' new Six Dollar burger. The announcer said, eat our six dollar burger without the all the hassle of a restaurant. A man was being harassed by a kid. So if Neil were to come up to You and say: Hi, I'm Neil, drummer from Rush, You want my autograph? You would tell him to stop bugging him. Or if a drummer from a no-named band comes up and bothers You during your meal, You too would not like it. Heck, if I came up and did the same, You would deck me. So in the spirit of respect, leave him alone. Stop talking about how HE owes You something, because You buy the band's albums. If you're that irritated about Rush and their comments, then don't buy anything from Rush. Leave them be. Simple? Yes, it is. So he calls us fat Americans. Remember, Canada is America too. So is Mexico, Central and South America too. The book was great too.
Rating:
Summary: A huge trip inside the mind of a broken soul. Sayin?
Review: After reading The Masked Rider for the second time, I was inspired to read his latest work. I have been a drummer since I was a twelve year old kid. Rush was my "most favorite band", Neil my "most favorite drummer." I then got out of the drumming scene in the early '90's and became interested in cycling and fitness. My brother bought me the first book of Neil's in 2000. I loved it. I had heard of his incredible loss and always wondered how someone recovers from such a terrible tragedy. I bought the book the day before my mother-in-law passed away from a long bout of cancer. The first two chapters had me sobbing myself deeper into the bottle of Shiraz that I happened to be sipping at the time. I took it nice and slow. I would read a chapter and then go back to it later. The ultimate compliment for a writer is for the reader to make the comment that they don't want the book to end, sayin?. The incredible emotional "stuff" was simply riveting, but the detail in which he describes the daily travels and the array of terrain, plants, various birds and raptors was also something that I found gripping and wanting more. The last chapter was quite a fast summary of the course of events that has changed his life. I guess this was something he wanted to keep to himself. NICE. 'At a boy Neil. Good for you and good luck.
Rating:
Summary: Welcome back to the land of the living!
Review: I took a long time reading this, not by design, but because I wanted to know what was going on inside of Neil. Boy did he let me know. This book was about how to deal with the death of your world and then trying to figure out if you want to be a part of the living or to just join the lost. How hard it was for him to explore the scenery inside and outside of himself. I could sense the changes taking place, but the longing to hold onto what was familiar and made him happy kept creeping back in. I cried when he cried and and laughed at him as he made fun of himself.
It took a lot to write down the feelings from your soul and then let people read it. I enjoyed this book, because it made me feel good that at the end there is something after all that keeps us going. Whether to find what is around the next corner or to see how situations end or just being afraid of being alone and you don't actually want to leave this world.
I received this book after I saw Rush in concert in October. My favorite band of all time has not disappointed yet. It took a long time to read this book and I finished it just two weeks after the loss of my father. What I learned from this man, hopefully he learned from himself. Yes, you can hurt for the lost, but also must live for the living. Unfortunately death is part of life whether planned or not, expected or not and you have to be able to get through the bad to see the good.
All I want to say to Neil is:
Welcome back to the Land of the Living. The best drummer ever has kept the beat of his life, his love and his music. Congratulations.
Rating: 
Summary: Fair travel log
Review: It seems the main point of releasing this book was so that Neil Peart wouldn't have to answer every pesky Rush fan's questions about what happened to him since the loss of his wife and child; not that he cared much for the fans anyway. After all, how can you be friendly with strangers? It's better to avoid your fans than appear to be mean to them. I actually agree with this policy given the fact that some fans can't tell the difference between Neil Peart's public and personal life. This book is overall raw and unedited, but it gives a fair quality, real life account of motor bike travel in North America. Skipping the nonsense letters to Neil's drug dealing friend and it would have been a better travel book. Peart's contempt for ugly, fat, drunken Americans is disappointing. Americans are no more ugly, fat, and drunk than Canadians or even Mexicans for that matter. I've seen them too! How can the creator of Rush lyrics seem so petty? It's simple. I think Peart uses the deaths of his wife and child as a permission slip to put down others; if making fun of others makes one fell good, that's childish. Being a great fan of Rush and prog rock in general, I think Peart's philosophical lessons were lost on himself. One theme is to have righteous determination with reserved judgment on others. Peart should have held on to this, but he did not in the face of adversity. The real healing of his life is when he got remarried. His new wife is was what brought Neil Peart (and Rush, thankfully) back. Given the very short number of pages dealing with this private recovery, one could just read the last few pages and skip nearly all the book if that's all you wanted to know; that's ironic given the title. The book leaves me with mixed feelings. It's sad to see an enlightened libertarian thinker act more like a hate-filled, mean-spirited, left-wing liberal elitist at times. I would only buy this book for the fair travel narratives, but nothing else. As I don't care personally for celebrities, the feelings I have for Neil Peart, I'm sure are mutual.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Being a Rush fan for a long time, I purchased this book because I really thought it would be interesting to read a little of the personal life of one of rock's greatest drummers, especially in light of the tragedies he had personally suffered. The book started off great with his accounts of his transcontinental motorcycle journey. These were well written and engaging. However, as the book progresses, two things ruined it for me. First was Mr. Peart's arrogance, which begins to raise its ugly head more and more as the story continues. Second, I got tired and more than a little bored with reading letter after letter after letter after letter .... (get the idea yet). Most of the correspondance was incredibly mundane, and even inane. A lot of it was addressed to his buddy, "Brutus", serving time in prison for a drug conviction. I particularly hated reading these letters, and was I supposed to feel sympathy for this loser? Drug users/dealers are the scum of the earth, and should be treated as such. If everyone did so, maybe it would make a difference. But I digress. It just struck me strange that Neil was more comfortable hanging out with a convicted drug felon than with overweight Americans (whom he seems to despise) or a Christian biker group. I don't know what his problem with christians is, but maybe Neil should be more open minded on spiritual matters. Finally, I didn't expect Neil to write a book about Rush. But the strange thing is, he almost seems to go out of his way to avoid speaking about the band, which to me is strange if you consider how big a part of his life Rush has been. I get the impression that Neil is a bit of a self-centered individual, and has very little empathy for others. Parts of the book were fascinating, and I truly feel for Neil in his losses, but he seems to be a man without a true direction of life beyond his own solipsistic tendencies.
Rating: 
Summary: A Worthwhile Travelogue
Review: A Worthwhile Travelogue I must say I was rather surprised by Neil Peart's Ghost Rider. As the drummer and lyricist for Rush, Neil has always remained a somewhat elusive figure. While his lyrics are, at times, thought provoking, rarely do they offer a glimpse of their author's personality, as does this book. At the start of Ghost Rider, Mr. Peart recounts the horrific experience of losing both his young daughter, and later his wife, within a very short period of time. These earth shattering events lead him to 'take to the woods,' on a journey of constant motion that helps him to contend with his loss. As he travels on his BMW bike through the hinterlands of Canada and the United States, down to Mexico, and finally Belize, his life further unravels, as his family dog dies, and his best friend, 'Brutus,' is arrested on serious drug trafficking charges. Mr. Peart has a gift for communicating even mundane events, such as minor scrapes on his motorcycle, or searching for gas in remote communities, in a manner that is very entertaining. One minor criticism of this work is that it could have been better edited. The text includes many letters to friends and acquaintances that do not help in framing the narrative of his healing cycle. While some of these letters are quite compelling, and help paint the overall picture, many more are mundane, and simply fill pages. In more ways than one, the book concludes with a "Hollywood" ending. Overall, this work shows a very lively mind at work, and an author discovering his voice. I look forward to Neil Peart's future books.
Rating: 
Summary: Ghost Book, Too
Review: Don't be misled. This book is not, as one might reasonably assume from the title, a sharing of insights obtained through hardship and endurance, from which others may gain hope, strength and/or guidance. There is nothing at all here for the reader. Half of the book is a dry, literal iteration of the author's motorcycle meanderings, which quickly begin to seem like someone reading aloud from a Mapsco; the other half is a collection of rambling letters specifically addressed to and dealing with matters of interest only to the author's beloved drug-dealer/best friend, who is facing life in prison after being busted for the third time. The author reveals a lot about himself here. One gets the feeling that, in writing this, he didn't intend to expose so much of himself. Bigotry rears its ugly head; he seems incapable of using the word "American" without "fat" as a modifier. He jokes that the main thing wrong with Mexico is its proximity to the USA (apparently missing the significance of the ever-widening stream of humanity stealing north across the Mexico/Texas border). It was eye-opening to learn that the author of the words... "He's got a problem with his poisons /
But you know he'll find a cure /
He's cleaning up his systems /
To keep his nature pure" ...considers two cartons of cigarettes a necessity for a bike trip, and teeters on the brink of alcoholism while scoffing condescendingly at those in recovery. Nor is accepting personal responsibility a strong suit. When his pristine driving record is marred by a ticket due to his going 15 miles over the speed limit, it is the fault of the "[illigitimate child]" highway patrolman, rather than his own speeding, that brought it about. Throughout the book, the author repeatedly shows by illustration or discussion how little regard he has for the rest of humanity. The reader's initial assumption that this springs from his loss and suffering is dispelled by a deadpan declaration, toward the end of the book and well on the way down his "healing road", of his steadily diminishing respect for humans individually and as a whole. He tries to tell us about an early venture into the dating game, but never fleshes out his date well enough for us to get to know her. When things don't go smoothly between them, he takes to referring to her in his writings as "that woman"; but he never explains why, and we haven't gotten to know her well enough to guess; so we're left to watch him from a distance, wondering, "Why is he doing that?". It's eye-opening to discover that one who seems, from his lyrics, to have a solid grasp of what's important in life, reveals himself here to be startlingly shallow and in serious need of some personal work. The author offers nothing whatsoever to the reader. His assessment of the worth of his fellow man, truthfully given throughout this book, is as accurate for the reader as it is for those he encounters on his road-trip of projected self-loathing.
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