Much has been written about this book since it came out. One thing is for sure: a true biography it's not. It's equal parts fiction and myth blended seamlessly with actual events in Dylan's life and career. A lot of what he talks about in the book is embellished, made up, and written for effect. Having said that, it does provide many nuggets of insight viewed from his own perspective. Maybe the most fascinating thing is the way he describes his relationship with his own songs as he recorded them, and over the years. One wonders whether every songwriter has this type of relationship with their songs. He talks about the importance of privacy and family life. Privacy he still maintains to this day. Family life? Considering he's on the "never ending" tour, and spends several hundred days year after year on the road, there can't be much family life left. I've been a Dylan fan for most of my life, but reading this book made me go back and revisit gems like "Oh Mercy" and "Infidels" and appreciate them in a new light. One reviewer here said you get the impression he's just a "regular guy". There's nothing "regular" about this guy. He's nothing short of one of the greatest artists of all time, let alone alive today. We're all fortunate to be alive at the same time as him. Once he's gone, our grandkids will ask "so...did you ever get a chance to see Bob Dylan?"

...one of toil and blood." How different the world was in 1962. Mr. Dylan did not invent rock'n'roll hipness from talking too much, but from saying so little, and this impressionistic memoir is proof he's still not revealing much. Bobby Vee, Frank Sinatra Jr. and Tiny Tim are not necessarily the first characters Mr. Dylan's audience associate with the legend, which leads many disappointed readers to assume that this is an attempt to obscure rather than to clarify. But so what? At this late date Mr. Dylan has his biographers to set the story straight -- let's assume his own words still mean just what they say and that the created legend was a confusing mix of false starts and stops, confidence and insecurities, and extemporized recording sessions.

Why not? No one creates their own legend out of whole cloth -- it depends on the willing suspension of belief in his audience, and it's helped along by a publicity department that values Mr. Dylan's own unwillingness to open his mouth about what the words mean. That's what the lyrics are for in the first place.

Still, that doesn't mean that "Chronicles" isn't a put-on, a put-down or intentionally arcane. "Bob Dylan" is still his own best character. The book succeeds best in conveying the singer's own doubts about himself. Mr. Dylan's selective memory is certainly not a generation's collective one, and why should it be? The book reads like an overheard monologue, a man on the porch remembering bits and pieces of the past: this happened, oh yes, and then this. That's not to say that Mr. Dylan isn't a sly dissembler (he can be) or that the great stories are waiting in volume two (they're probably not). But it's akin to discovering one's hero still puts his pants on one leg at a time -- disappointing, but what does one expect? Ambrose Bierce defines the imagination as "a warehouse of facts, with poet and liar in joint ownership." I'll bet Mr. Bierce never had anyone yell out "Judas!" after him, though.

Insightful into the workings of the mind of a professional songwriter and stage performer. One of the most interesting, amusing and entertaining books I have ever read. It has been years since I have begun reading a book and realized that I was looking forward to the author's next book long before finishing the first. Mr. Dylan has a grasp of American English beyond that of most mortals. His observations of pre Civil War history will awaken one's interests in all things common to the American condition and spirit (pp. 83 through 86 - hardcover). The only fault found might be that Mr. Dylan's ideas flow too easily and too quickly to simply absorb in a single sitting.

Chronicles is a must have for Dylan fans and music lovers! I read this book in two days and completely enjoyed it. I found it to be humorous, honest and inspirational. A book you can relate to at times and lose yourself in. A musician's life is obviously not all glamour and glitz and it takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there. This book made me want to pick up a guitar and hit the road (and I am no musician). Dylan conveys his life as an understandable, humble, interesting journey anyone can relate to, but an extraordinary life nevertheless. I look forward to new music and sequels to the first book.

As I read through Dylan's book I couldn't help but feel most of the book is relating his preferences for music and all the people he has met during his life. Dylan will devote pages to totally incidental things and then gloss over or omit a key event. Besides that, the book is intentionally not chronological for no apparent reason which really confuses all the forward looking phrases like "it was not that time yet."

Overall I would say that the book speaks more to Dylan's taste in music than it does to his own humanity and in the end I don't feel I grasp his person much better than before I read the book.