Rating: 
Summary: Extremely insightful perspective on Maestro Garcia
Review: Reading this book opened my mind to the darker side of the man who had captivated countless thousands with tranquil, serene and loving music. The author's portrayal of Jerry sheds some light on the questions this head had been carrying for some time. It's a good read, it will hold you from start to finish!
Rating: 
Summary: The Truth About Jerry Helped Me Realize...
Review: The truth about Jerry Garcia helped me realize that I was taking life for granted since I have alot more then he did as a child. This book also helped me realize more about the man behind the Grateful Dead, some of reasons he lived the way he did, and some of the reasons he died the way he did. Jerry Garcia is truly a teen idle that will last hundreds of years to come. No one will be able to forget the man singing "Sugar Magnolia" and "Casey Jones".
Rating:
Summary: The Truth About Jerry Helped Me Realize...
Review: The truth about Jerry Garcia helped me realize that I was taking life for granted since I have alot more then he did as a child. This book also helped me realize more about the man behind the Grateful Dead, some of reasons he lived the way he did, and some of the reasons he died the way he did. Jerry Garcia is truly a teen idle that will last hundreds of years to come. No one will be able to forget the man singing "Sugar Magnolia" and "Casey Jones".
Rating:
Summary: An incredible read....
Review: This book is an absolute must read for any Grateful Dead fan. The beauty of the book is that you have accounts and opinions from (what seems to be) everyone in Jerry's inner circle. Not only does the book allow you to take a deep look inside Jerry's life but it allows you to take deep study of the scene and the characters that were an enormous part of his life.This book was damn near impossible to put down and will certainly be re-read very soon - just to make sure I did not miss anything the first time around.
Rating: 
Summary: Lurid and unsatisfying
Review: This book is told as a collection of anecdotes and quotes from a variety of people who shared Jerry's personal and business life. It leaves a lot of frustrating gaps, and includes a number of errors in chronology (if not in fact) - but chalk me up as another picky deadhead. While worth reading, the focus is on Jerry's interpersonal relationships with his women and drugs. Too little is devoted to his relationship with the band members and his most important collaborist, Robert Hunter. And there is a large emphasis on his later, destructive use of opiates - with little attention paid to the positive influence of psychedelics in his younger years. What I missed most from this biography is any significant content about Jerry's music - how he approached the creative process of composing and performing spontaneous improvisation. There's quite a bit of detail about the music that influenced him - particularly jug band music and bluegrass. But these details are all anecodotal and incomplete, with inadequate description or analysis of his own music. I did learn a lot about his love life and drug-induced health problems that were kept relatively private while he was alive. Though legitimate sujects for a biography, the emphasis on the lurid elements of his life gives the book an aura of tabloid journalism. There are so many more facets of Garcia that made him a compelling giant of a musician and philosopher-by-example that I will need to wait until the complete story is told. I haven't had a chance to read Blair Jackson's book yet, though based on his past writings I have high expectations that his will get more inside Jerry's head - and deliver a more satisfyingly balanced and enlightening read.
Rating:
Summary: An appropriate way to do a biography of Garcia
Review: This is really a good book, though it left me a little depressed after I finished it. The book begins with a haunting, faded picture of a young Jerry Garcia concentrating intently on his banjo and then proceeds to words by Garcia's brother, Tiff, on how Jerry lost part of one of his fingers and the death of their father. Greenfield lets the people who lived around or with Garcia tell the tale...and what a powerful story it is. The sorry part of it is that it seems like the last 10 years of Garcia's life was like a slow suicide. The center of Garcia's life was music and people who adored him, though it seems he had a great deal of trouble making lasting, emotional bonds to those who loved him. The ones he did make are just sweet. The highlight of the book, for me, is the tale of Garcia's recovery from his mid-80s coma and how instrumental Merl Saunders was in helping Jerry back to life and back to music. Garcia was a human singularity and this is an interesting portrait of this interesting, adored, and creative person. Of all the books about Garcia that you want, this is the one you want the most.
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