I started by thinking I knew most things about Paul McCartney that a fan since the age of 10 could be expected to know but I was wrong. I listened to the audiobook and it helped me through several weeks of gardening work; great things AirPods & ear protectors. Well written, well read, I'm sure it hasn't got all the "warts 'n' all" but it tells as much of the truth as I wanted to know. A great listen. If you're a Beatles/McCartney fan it is pretty essential I think and is probably the definitive biography - it certainly enough for this one.

A solid biography of McCartney that is perhaps lacking sufficient supporting materials to make it truly worthwhile.

It does well in contrasting the light and shade in McCartney's life, and Carlin doesn't hold back in circumstances where Macca's been a bit prattish.

The book does concentrate on McCartney's life. His music is covered only with the broadest of brushes, and the book rather assumes you come to it with a familiarity of its' subject's songs (which is entirely reasonable assumption, I'd suggest)

Norman was infamous for his Lennon-bias in his biography of the Beatles. The book referred to by Paul as "Shite" rather than it's correct title "Shout".

I've had this book for a number of years without actually getting round to reading it. Apart from Norman's reputation, it's also huge.

Anyway, Norman addresses the Lennon issue upfront and acknowledges his misjudgements. So far, so good.

The other important point is that the book is not Beatle-centric. About half of it that focuses on Paul's Wings/Solo era.

Whilst not authorised Paul did it give it his approval which opened up a lot of avenues that would otherwise have not been available and which does make this THE Macca biography to read.

A few other comments;

- the release of Peter Jackson's Get Back has rather exploded a few myths about January 1969. It would be interesting to hear Norman's analysis on this

- Norman is clearly Conservative-minded when it comes to politics. Too many comments along the way make this very apparent. Doesn't really detract from the book, but......

I enjoyed this. It is a solid biography, comprehensive in that it covers McCartney's whole career, and, if not authorised, it is, perhaps surprisingly given Norman's previous treatment of its subject, written with Paul's blessing. Norman, as he states in the entertaining introduction, does set out to redress the balance and does go some way to portraying McCartney as, at least, John Lennon's equal even as he dismisses George Harrison arguing "it was becoming clear that whatever talent George possessed had largely rubbed off them and, without their stimulus, was already fading fast."

While I love much of McCartney's post-Beatles output, Norman's contention that "after the Beatles’ break-up, (Wings were)....his creation of a band as big as they’d ever been" is laughable. Or perhaps it's an ironic allusion to Alan Partridge and I missed it...

Punk rock, Princess Diana, Tony Blair and "run-of-the-mill celebs like Sir Alex Ferguson" (one of the most successful football managers ever) are sniffily dismissed as is George's Indian mysticism. The prose is occasionally a little stilted and repetitive - within a couple of pages Luciano Berio is described as the "tape-loop maestro" and "the maestro of tape-manipulation" just in case we'd forgotten.

There's nothing new here and it's not as good as the author's John Lennon biography. Norman doesn't write well about the actual music but, particularly in his coverage of the 1970s period, he does paint a well-rounded portrait of Paul McCartney.

An engaging read about a charismatic and talented man. It has sparked my desire to read more about the rest of The Beatles.

I was always more a John Lennon man. Couldn't quite get over the Frog Chorus and similar atrocities. So Norman's book was a helpful reassessment. McCartney comes across as very likable but also oddly insecure. Never quite convinced of his own success.

Philip Norman's mea culpa to Paul is largely good, has some flaws, and will fill in some gaps. But be forewarned - it's not a Beatles book, and it's not "authorized" in that the author sat with the subject. So, as such, it's a different animal.

Norman gained acclaim/was criticized for 1981's "Shout!," which was a Beatles book and helped lionize John Lennon after the murder. It had damning things to say about Paul.

Norman then buffed John's story anew in 2008 with "John Lennon: The Life." So when he approached Paul about a book, it was a surprise when Macca said fine, but wasn't interested in hashing it all out again. Norman relied on interviews with old friends, staff, family, etc. As such, it's a hit-and-miss collection of memories, from the beginning until Paul's marriage to Nancy Shevell.

There is silence from Jane Asher, which leaves a gap, and a lot of details from "secret" girlfriend Maggie McGivern. She does a good job of inserting herself in a prime spot in McCartney's life.

Linda, of course, was gone so she couldn't talk, so there's another gap. And no Lennon, no insights. And though he had access to previous books, interviews and letters, very little from either Brian Epstein or George Martin.

That said, there were good moments in the book, and sad moments, such as the recounting of Linda's death, and the stupidity of the Japan pot bust/jail time.

Norman also couldn't help himself and did relate Heather Mills' most scandalous accusations in her divorce petition - all of which the judge in the case dismissed as false. So why include them in detail?

Maybe Paul's life is too long now and has had too many chapters to attempt to gather it all into one volume. (For a look at Paul in the '70s, get "Man On The Run.") Maybe this would have been better as a two-parter, or an ongoing series. But it wasn't, so it leaves me a little disappointed.

See more of my reviews at Ralphsbooks.

Rock n’roll could change the world. Maybe the idea died after Altamount. Maybe after John Lennon’s assassination. For a brief time, when the stolid placid Eisenhower years were uprooted by the cultural shifts of the civil rights movement, women’s movement, and intervention in Vietnam, the shift of youth culture could be vesper-like song titles like “All You Need is Love”, “Tomorrow Never Knows” and the creative mashup of the Abbey Road medley. Paul McCartney, from a schoolboy dreamer named Macca, to the driving force of rock’s most influential group “The Beatles” , has his life explored across the decades here. After exploring Paul’s biography in 800 pages, I feel more confident saying he did change the world.

From humble workclass beginnings in Liverpool with little more than sketchbooks and love of 50s pop stars, McCartney’s unlikely but ultimate destiny were sealed. With childhood exposure to piano, guitar, songwriting, and social graces, his dreams from a small pop outfit with the Quarrymen to the defining band of the generation seem like the ultimate lottery. Phillip Norman does an excellent job of analyzing the journey of these young men’s ambitions, sexual conquest, infighting, musicality and effect on the culture.

The second half, the post-Beatles years, is in some ways more riveting. With the demise of the Fab 4, and good relations, McCartney seems to chart his own pop music. Exploring experimental music, domestic life, another Top 40 rock band ‘Wings’, and nascent activism, the cheeky cherubic profile of a young rock star takes a turn more complex and rewarding. Pressures from expectation, loss of John Lennon, court battles, widowing, and demonstrate a steely resolve. We seem him in all his humanness, no longer facing hunger and survival, so much as relevancy, meaning and peace.

All and all, a very thought provoking biography. My only complaint is that we don’t capture Paul’s work from the past 6 years (time since the biography was published). A remarkable life and a remarkable man. Not without his blemishes or poor judgement, the biography rings as a true perspective. And yet, for all his success, he remains in the public eye a man of good conscience, humble, hard-working, kind, and without peer. Whether we call him a knight, a legend, or a Beatle, he is most certainly living life on terms we all strive for - with authenticity and charity towards all.

We listened to this in the car- found it fascinating- revealed things I never knew about the Beatles.