Sunday, May 10, 2015

Duff Mckagan = Uncommon Sense

How To Be A Man (and other illusions) – Duff Mckagan (Da Capo Press)

Take one internationally famous rock star and have them dole out heaping helpings of uncommon, common sense. I know what you’re thinking…NEVER gonna happen, right? Since rock stars aren’t generally known for being fonts of common sense, that would have been my take; that is until I delved into the second book from former Guns ‘n’ Roses bassist Duff Mckagan.

In How To Be A Man (and other illusions), Mckagan taps into the previously unknown realm of music/memoir/self-help publishing category, writing with an easy and engaging style as he doles out advice, often hard earned, on a wide variety of topics. He posits them in easily digestible chunks that you can read from beginning to end or bounce around.


Some stuff is what you’d expect like; Know Your Tunes in which he runs down what deems essential music in the form of 100, or so, of the finest albums. Then there is the unexpected; Skip the Strip Club, Hit the Book Store, where he runs down an eclectic list of his favorite tomes and professes his pursuit of great reads at some of the world’s best book outlets.

Mckagan readily admits to not really becoming an adult until turning 31, so given that stunted start I find that he comes by his current world view via a series of ongoing Ah Ha moments. He is in turns worldly; serving up international travel tips gleaned from years on the road and then down to earth when it comes to family matters…after all those deck boards aren’t going to stain themselves.

How To Be A Man (and other illusions) is an entertaining entry on my list of favorite reads thus far, this year.

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