Agent Palmer

I always take notes when I read a book. Part of it comes from wanting the ability to add quotes to the reviews I write, but the bigger picture reason is because sometimes I like to go back to those notes and see them at a later date. By actually being able to read through a small document with all the quotes I pulled, I’ll find the one I remember, and it’s easier than paging through and rereading a whole page.

I bring this up because the notes I collected from reading The Innovators by Walter Isaacson are more than a lot of the other books I have recently read, even some on the same subject.

Edith Head famously said, “You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it.” Well, then Michael Caine was destined for success. In this book, Michael Caine: 1960s by Graham Marsh, the style of the era and of the man coincide with some of the most classic photo representations of the swingin’ sixties.

Now, there aren’t a lot of words in this book, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a lot to say. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this book is longer than Moby Dick!

Michael Caine recently released his third autobiography Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: And Other Lessons in Life, the title of which comes from one memorable scene in The Italian Job. It joins What’s It All About? his first, and The Elephant to Hollywood his second.

I’ve now read all three and yes, there are some overlapping stories, but all three have a distinctive narrative because he is looking back from a different time in his life.

There is something more authentic and honest about this book than most biographies or autobiographies. Perhaps it’s the fact that this book is a collection of essays, stories, pictures, lists, images, and other ephemera created by Mike Diamond (Mike D), Adam Horovitz (Ad Rock), and their friends, assembled together in chronological order.

Or… Perhaps it’s just the fact that the Beastie Boys are the Beastie Boys.