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Editorial Review Product Description
Hey! Hey! Its the untold story of The Monkees "Wool-hat" Michael Nesmith with the behind the scenes scoop about touring with Jimi Hendrix, filmmaking with Jack Nicholson and so much more. Also detailed is his invention of MTV and his mother Bette who invented Liquid Paper. This 2005 Revised edition features two updated chapters and additional photos (176 total photos). 300 pages.
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not well written
This book is written by someone with basic understanding of jr high english!We'd be better off reading the old Tiger Beats and 16 Magazines for more indepth information on Nez....
A Fan Writes a Subpar Book from Old Clippings
This is a fan's tribute to the former Monkee, poorly written and assembled by piecing together clippings and other people's interviews. It's a bare-bones overview of Nesmith's history, trying to make a louse look good. But most of the stories she tells point to the fact that the guy was a mess psychologically and single-handedly destroyed the singing group.
The text I read (the 1997 edition) is filled with grammatical & typing errors. There are also factual mistakes and she misleads by claiming the Monkees TV ratings were strong in the second season when in reality the program didn't win its time slot. The author credits where she got some quotes and doesn't credit many others. It's very amateur.Other than her hunting down some legal paperwork, there is little here worth recommending because she skips many major portions of his life that she obviously couldn't find material for.
Since she is an admitted fan, don't expect objectivity. The author inserts her opinion or makes conjecture when she doesn't have facts. She does criticize some aspects of the subject but there's little to back up her opinions. There is no analysis of how many lives Michael destroyed, the impact of being an only child or having a mother who suddenly became rich, and the fact that just about all of his decisions about his career were wrong.
Glad I read it, but the book could use a lot of improvements overall
This book has a lot of interesting facts about Michael Nesmith, and outlines his life from childhood until 2005. It's also chock full of photos I had never seen of MN. It does provide some insight into his character and personal life via interviews with friends, associates, ex-wives, and other Monkees as well as segments of interviews with Nez himself. It was indeed a totally engaging read.However, for the most part, this publication still needs a lot of work.Firstly, the cover and back of the book are really cheesy and the layout looks like it was just thrown together by some hack.It doesn't look very professional or credible. The book at first glance presents itself as a joke, imo. It looks like a kid's book. I think some other people may have mentioned grammatical or puncuation errors, but I didn't really notice, or it wasn't so frequently that it jumped right out at you (and I'm a court reporter). I feel like this book could be miles better if turned over to the right editors and publishers.
how is this woman an author?!?
I really do like the Monkees music and TV show. I recently bought Micky Dolenz's autobiography and thought this could offer a bit of a different perspective. So far (about 1/2 way through now) the book does have interesting bits BUT this so called author is horrible! I can go and read magazine articles and reprint them, but I DO NOT call myself an author.
The real Nez isn't in this book
I first read this book back when I first became a Monkees/Michael Nesmith fan and didn't really know a lot about the man. Naturally, I liked the book. Now, years later, I picked up the book with much more knowledge and it's staggering how terribly it's written and how disrespectful it is to Michael. Also, this woman needs to hire a fact checker. There are a few extremely obvious glitches in timelines that she overlooks, and she barely glosses over other important events in Nez's life. Rumor has it that Massingill contacted Nez and wanted his input and initially he was going to help her out, but he asked her to wait because he wanted to finish a few other projects first. And she ignored his wishes and just charged on. In addition, she used some materials (photos, etc.) that Michael expressly did NOT want included. Obviously, he's not too fond of this project.
Basically, I think it says enough when Michael Nesmith himself doesn't even approve of this book or its author. Don't waste your money!
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