These days, I'm listening to a business book in the wrong category.
Life, by Keith Richards, was recommended on Inc.'s Best Business Books of 2010. I was surprised enough that I bought the book - 22 hours' worth. Unabridged.
Mornings are cold in northern Ontario. 5am finds me and Keith, alone in the frozen dark truck; two addicts pondering their vices. Richards was a heroin addict for fourty years. "I reckon I slept about two nights a week for thirty years," he says. "That means I've been conscious for three lifetimes. And I remember all of it." He then seems to recount every second from age five onward.....
There are bits of genius, and a lot of meandering. I know absolutely nothing about guitar chords or early-1960s Blues singers; I frequently have to repeat several seconds to make out what he's saying. His language is course, full of old slang and his own private diction. But when he DOES say something to which I can relate, it's memorable. It's sticky art. I find myself quoting him on facebook nearly every day.
When you have fans - or even people just waiting to hear what you're going to say - they'll slog through the muck to find the penny. That's a Keith Richards line, and it was bookended by ten minutes of 'muck' on either side. Totally worth it.
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