Rating: 
Summary: Interesting book on loss and a rock stars dealings
Review: First off, I've been a Rush fan for years and especially like Peart's lyrics due to his obvious intelligence. If you are expecting a Rush book, don't bother. This is about how a rich star deals with his losses of family. I feel it is a very well written book, especially for someone who went through all the pain he did. I've seen other reviewers complain that he seems to be down on "fat" Americans, etc. If you read what he actually writes, during these times he puts in that this is due to his depressed mood and he pretty much hates everyone. You have to remember what a person is going through after this type of loss. Don't expect a perfectly thought out narrative with all flowery feelings for how great other people are. At a time like this, you hate anyone who is alive (at least strangers). I went through similar times where Neil's having to always be on the move made perfect sense. I was never at home for 3 years except to pick up my mountain bikes, my road bikes, or my snowboard. That's how you deal with these things, you try to forget as best you can and keep busy. It works after a while and hopefully you move on. Another reviewer thought it bad that he "forgot" his family and found another woman. Well, I moved on and found a wife and have 2 great kids. Would you deride someone for finally finding happiness? I also hated a lot of people who were happy. It's not that I thought everyone was a fat idiot but you don't have good thoughts when you are depressed. As a former poetry writer, I can see how this book helped him and if you can't see that, then don't bother with the book. It isn't about Rush or even Neil Peart the drummer. It's about a plain guy trying to deal with pain. Yes, it might be easier to say if you are rich, you can go off and take a long trip. However, I wasn't rich and I did the same thing. You don't have to have money to take a long trip or in my case, many short trips over several years. One thing I know is money doesn't equate to happiness. So, I feel this is a very informative and entertaining book.
Rating: 
Summary: Self-discovery/-uncovery?
Review: I'll cut straight to point in this review! The book is very good up until the half-way point and then goes straight downhill.
The first half of the book is very introspective and you can really feel the void that Neil Peart had within himself. The trek across Canada was very detailed and meaningful to me. I loved it. His solitary adventures really struck home with me, since I am a naturally solitary person!
Here's where things get disappointing. He starts to include letters to all of his various friends from different locales. At first they were of a serious nature, then they get very goofy or even ridiculous, as if he's taking meds. This may be an isolated observation, but I feel like he has a deep-seated disdain for Americans, due to his unflattering portrayals and obvious jabs toward them. He keeps referring to his old self as a "jerk" or someone he doesn't recognize (He goes on about how he has found his real self through the tragedies he's experienced). The remaining half of the book seems to be more or less randomized and feels like he has actually forgotten his passed loved ones, being preoccupied with the silliness/fantasyworld he seems to be going through. This curious state of mind he was in became understandable after reading the final mini-chapter, where Neil reveals he has fallen deeply in love with this new woman and then reveals they married already! My interpretation of his silliness/fantasyworld mentality was that he was actually love-drunk when writing the second half of the book! He also reveals later that without his new love, he could have never written the book (What happened to his loved ones?) nor could he have written the material for his new album! He even exchanges his trusty and enduring motorcycle for another model at the very end of the book (Sound familiar?)He barely makes reference to his wife and daughter at the end! As it turns out, a woman friend that was seriously close to Neil and his passed family has distanced herself from him and wants nothing to do with him, as of recent times. It seems he has lost himself once more. Of course he was lonely and distraught--but to seemingly bury the past with seemingly no remorse? He has even moved to Santa Barbara,CA for his new "All-American" woman! What happened to his love for Canada?
I love Rush (and always will), but Neil has seriously undermined his previous intellectuality obvious in his past writings. Its a decent read, but be ready for the hasty change in mood, halfway.
Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: How a narcissist millionaire deals with loss
Review: Neil Peart suffered a tremendous loss, a double-whammy of daughter (car accident) and wife (cancer) in the space of a year. Being an amazingly fortunate, well-to-do fellow, he retreated to his house by the lake for a bit before deciding, in the depths of his despair, to climb aboard his... BMW motorcycle and spend handsome sums of time and money tooling around Canada, the United States and Mexico trying to let time do its healing. Mr. Peart doesn't seem to grasp at any point that his resources allow him many more options than almost anyone alive, although a friend points out in a letter to him that suffering that kind of loss and being poor would be a real bummer. Instead of being a nomadic self-therapist, he would take a week's unpaid bereavement leave and then trudge back to work on Monday morning. That's how the fat, uncultured Americans Neil despises have to deal with their own personal losses. Or maybe how they're going to buy a one hundred dollar Rush ticket to see their favorite band in concert when they can't pay the rent, car payment and power bill all in the same month.I also am surprised at Mr. Peart's mental relationship with his fans. At one point in the book, he sits at a bar, drinking a scotch that the money of his fans put into his hand, hoping not to be recognized by one of them. No mention at all is made of the outpouring of sympathy that Rush fans expressed for Neil's twin losses. If he heard about it at all, he must have felt that it was insignificant, dismissing the voluminous, one-sided correspondence from them with barely a thought. There seems to be no glimmer in him of the changes wrought in the world due to the career he has abandoned during the time period covered by this book. Mr Peart has changed lives for the better and had a profound influence on the toughts and lives of many a person, but instead of pride, he only wishes to hide from it. This cannot be chalked up to his grief, as it seems to be an attitude carried over from his happier days. Puzzling. While I enjoyed reading about the travels themselves, often referring to an atlas to trace the route of the self-proclaimed Ghost Rider, I found myself unable to empathize continuously with the man doing the riding. On one page I would identify with his observations or dry humor utterly, then on the next be baffled by this headstrong, self-absorbed fellow. Rush, while an outstanding band, have never been the type to "give back" to their fans, and after reading this book, one can gain insight into at least 1/3 of that attitude. Yet, why was this book written in the first place, if not for anonymous people to share in the experience? Is the author interested only in sending out a message in a bottle? A baffling conundrum that ultimately is more interesting than the book itself. Having said all that, I was unprepared for the emotional reaction I had to the last few pages. I cried tears of joy that this bitter, fragile creature had allowed himself to rejoin the mainstream of human experience as symbolized by his relationship with his new wife, Carrie. I wish this complex, frustrating man the best, although he wouldn't care even if he knew I said that.
Rating: 
Summary: ...tempted GOD!
Review: Neil, what did you really expect in Life? As In your own lyrics, you have tempted GOD!
Rating:
Summary: An inspirational, insightful adventure
Review: This is a truly inspirational book. As an avid Rush fan, and a motorcycle enthusiast, this book appealed to me on many levels. Truly an incredible journey, to see Neil triumph over so much tragedy (tragedy that would have finished me). It is truly an awesome adventure. I highly recommend this book, even if you are just curious to see what goes on when truly great thinkers meet great tragedy...
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry Neil...
Review: Here is another travel book I had high hopes for. I am sorry that Neil Peart lost his daughter & wife. However this tale is one big pity-party until the bitter end of the book. Sorry Neil, most of us can't just pick up and ride off into the sunset to get away from painful experiences in life. We have to tough it out. For any Rush fans, if you are expecting to learn much about Peart and the band, forget it. Rush is mainly mentioned in passing. You may be interested in knowing that Neil doesn't care much for touring and even less of his so-called fans these days. He also isn't too fond of fat people either! Those were the only revelations I came away with in the LONG boring book.
Rating:
Summary: Ghost Rider
Review: A powerful if not thought inspiring read! From a personal point of view I found it interesting to ride with Neil down many familiar highways and travel over the new ones I have yet to see. With no set travel agenda the reader can only wait and see where they will end up. This appealed to the wanderlust in my own soul and left me wishing that I could afford to run away from home.... just for a while. (under better circumstances of course) I find I can appreciate the pain of tragedy so often brought to the page, seeping in at random moments either with all consuming force or at times hovering at the edges waiting quietly. What I saw was a man questioning his own existance of self while waiting for something, anything to make sense of the loss that had landed him here and an answer to that forever question of why? Why me? What have I done to deserve this? No doubt the obvious dislike Neil extends towards the trailer trash, the fat, and the obnoxius can seem somewhat brutal if not arrogant at first. I was initially offended by Mr. Pearts cruel views. However after actually thinking, I wondered why should he,upon writing, have sugar coated the essence of his existance at that time? Dark words from a dark time, to write anything else would have removed the honesty from the healing road. Somehow Neil managed to spare his friends and family from this black, bitter blanket he had cast over the rest of the world. I guess when you need to hate the world it is much easier when you don't know the people that you hate? Maybe it requires no personal involvement or commitment from the wisher of ill will? In the end the reader is left to wonder if Neil has any renewed faith in humankind (present day) as I did not get an answer to this from his book. Over all I found I had many unanswered questions as the book ended rather abruptly. One second we are cruising the endless road still tormented, pouring out our soul to our friend Brutus in the slammer and next thing in walks Carrie....the sun shines, the birds sing, Brutus makes bail, the end. All in all I consider this well worth the read.
But what about DEB? What about her wounded little baby soul?
Rating:
Summary: Made Me Clean Out My Garage
Review: I don't know how you'd rate a book about something as personal as this. I think all Rush fans are eager to have a clue how Neil Peart thinks. It motivated me to clean out my garage which is where I keep my memories.
Despite what Neil Peart thinks, he does write "love songs," Cold Fire and Open Secrets are analytical songs about the dark sides of love. Panacea from The Fountain...is lovey dovey. Otherwise, it is an insight as to how he thinks and deals with such a traumatic situation.
I got what I expected and a little motivational kick, too.
Rating:
Summary: Ghost Book, Too
Review: Knowing Neil Peart's skill with lyrics and wanting to experience his wordsmithery unencumbered by rhyme and meter, I bought this book eagerly. Reading it, I was astounded... astounded at its utter lack of depth. The book has neither storyline nor point. This is not, as the title might suggest, a sharing of insights received through enduring hardship, from which others may benefit. Half the book is an iteration of Mr. Peart's meanderings, the other half a collection of letters to his friends, mostly about matters of importance only to those friends. The Limelight can be deceiving, but Mr. Peart does reveal a lot about himself here--not flatteringly. Bigotry rears its ugly head; he seems incapable of saying "American" without "fat", and jokes that the main thing wrong with Mexico is its proximity to the USA. [...] 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, by his description of himself, teeters on the brink of alcoholism while scoffing condescendingly at those in recovery. Accepting personal responsibility is not a strong point, either. His pristine driving record is marred by a ticket due to the... highway patrolman who wrote it; Peart's speeding apparently had nothing to do with it. Throughout the book, the author routinely reveals 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. Nowhere is this more evident than in his treatment of the reader. He attempts to relate an early venture into the dating game, but never fleshes out the woman 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 doesn't explain why; and we haven't seen enough of her to guess; so we're left to watch him from a distance, unable to relate and wondering, "Why's he doing that?". At length it comes time to end the book so it can get out on the store shelves; and in a final quickie chapter the loose ends of the non-story are tidied up movie-style: "Brutus got probation. I met a nice girl and got married. Deb couldn't handle it. Oh, well..." To judge from his lyrics, Mr. Peart seems to have insight and a solid grasp of what's important in life; yet here he comes off as startlingly shallow and in serious need of some personal work. This book gives nothing to the reader. If there is any reason for reading it, it is that those who know Mr. Peart only from his musical career may get this closer, clearer look at the human behind that figure in the Limelight. On reflection, it hardly seems worth the effort. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition
Rating:
Summary: Sorry Neil, I didn't care for it
Review: I just completed reading Neil Peart's autobiography "Ghost Rider - Travels On The Healing Road". Weighing in at 460 pages, it's surprisingly, a quick read. However, I found myself wishing it was only 2 or 3 hundred pages instead. Being a 20+year fan of Rush, I was very intrigued when this book came out. After all, the band has never really been over exposed, like a lot of bands from the seventies. Like most fans, I wanted to gain insight to persons whose talents are so incredibly awesome. I sat down and started reading Ghost Rider and was glued to it for the first hour or so. For the first 30-50 pages, I was riveted by his openness in divulging such loss. However, after a while, I began to get uncomfortable. Just when you think he's going to "make it", he crashes back down. Over and over. I found it depressing. Sure, this is not a pick-me-up book, and I knew that from reading the jacket. But the detail in which he described his loss, months and years after the fact, had me screaming "therapy"! I enjoyed very much, Neil's description of his motorcycle journeys and his journal-like entries of each town and each highway he toured. Descriptions of weather and wildlife and food and people opened up my imagination to parts of the continent I have yet to see. I thoroughly enjoyed it! I felt he was very judgmental of some of the people he saw along the way, however. Generalizing fat people, fat Americans in Reno. At one point saying to himself "die die die". I can cut him some slack on that because he is in mourning and not feeling very much like being a part of the human race. Did he need to print that, though? No. I also found it ironic that while he clearly looks down his nose at various people at various times in the book, he maintains this close relationship with a friend who is a twice-convicted felon and is in jail on his third arrest throughout the whole book. He makes light of the fact that his friend is dealing in not so legal herbs. Apparently for Neil, it's okay to be a 3-time loser, but not overweight. This is where Neil clearly shows his human imperfection. No one is immune. Another mention of reducing the number of pages in the book has to come from Neil printing letter after letter to various friends along his travels. He writes to his friend in the slammer about a particular ride that day, and then writes a very similar one to someone else. After doing this in the book several times, it gets to be too repetitious for the reader. And with much surprise, the book ends very quickly. It has a certain heart-wrenching pace to it and then in the last SIX pages, his whole life gets turned around! Then it's over! It left me befuddled. Finally, I kept asking myself during the reading of this book, why did Neil write this? I understand writing to friends and family along the way and also keeping a journal of travels. But why open up hundreds of pages of sorrow for the whole world to read. This is the same world that he so clearly wants to be protected from in the book. Traveling under an assumed name. Socializing very little for over a year. Mocking people along the way. Why now do you want to open up to us? I still can't answer that. I would have appreciated this book much more had he either kept the personal pain down to within a few chapters, or left it out altogether. Tell me about the road unknown to me; about Mexico and Canada and the Northwest. I know pain and I know loss - there isn't an animal alive that doesn't know this. If you are a long time Rush fan, you might feel obligated to read it. Go ahead, but don't get your hopes up.
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