Dreaming the Beatles

A Love Story of One Band and the Whole World

By: Rob Sheffield

Narrated by: Rob Sheffield

Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone columnist and best-selling author of Love Is a Mix Tape, offers an entertaining, unconventional look at the most popular band in history, the Beatles, exploring what they mean today and why they still matter so intensely to a generation that has never known a world without them.

Dreaming the Beatles is not another biography of the Beatles or a song-by-song analysis of the best of John and Paul. It isn't another exposé about how they broke up. It isn't a history of their gigs or their gear. It is a collection of essays telling the story of what this ubiquitous band means to a generation who grew up with the Beatles' music on their parents' stereos and their faces on T-shirts. What do the Beatles mean today? Why are they more famous and beloved now than ever? And why do they still matter so much to us, nearly 50 years after they broke up?

As he did in his previous books, Love Is a Mix Tape, Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, and Turn Around Bright Eyes, Sheffield focuses on the emotional connections we make to music. This time he focuses on the biggest pop culture phenomenon of all time - The Beatles. In his singular voice, he explores what the Beatles mean today to fans who have learned to love them on their own terms and not just for the sake of nostalgia.

Dreaming the Beatles tells the story of how four lads from Liverpool became the world's biggest pop group then broke up - but then somehow just kept getting bigger. At this point their music doesn't belong to the past; it belongs to right now. This book is a celebration of that music, showing why the Beatles remain the world's favorite thing - and how they invented the future we're all living in today.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2017 Rob Sheffield (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

Still Dreaming...

My introduction to Rob Sheffield's writing, who is now one of my favorite authors, affectionately writing about one of my favorite bands. So, of course, "Dreaming the Beatles" has become one of my favorite books. I read the book on it's release and just now completed the audiobook for a revisit. Sheffield's writing, and delivery in the audio, is hilarious, with thoughtful. detailed and well-researched anecdotes of the Beatles and the world they still impact. Many of these stories I hadn't heard before. I have since devoured Sheffield's whole bibliography and now waiting for more.

Whimsical and Bright

I wish this went on forever. Wait a minute; it will. Ya, ya, ya, yaaaaaaa.

Beatles Fans: A MUST..!

This book captures the nuance of what makes The Beatles such a unique gift to our culture. It’s written from a “fanboy“ perspective but totally justifies why. It’s also a good analysis of rock ‘n’ roll from the 60s - 2000s.

Enjoyed it so much I bought it again

Loved it. Fascinating structure, full of interesting details. I loved the audiobook and, when I finished, bought the hardcover so I'd be able to thumb through it at my leisure.

If you love The Beatles, this is a fun read!

Are you a Beatlemaniac? Listen to them every week? Taught your kids The Beatles? Think The Beatles? Then this is your book. Fun, insightful, educational, arguable and more. Wonderful narration by the author. Love to John, Paul, George and Ringo (and George Martin).

A Worthwhile Mlx

The first five minutes sound like a book report by a clever Sixth-grader, but it soon becomes an entertaining and informational treat, containing much that is either new or a fresh opinion about some event. While I disagree with Sheffield on some opinions and interpretations, this is an excellent discussion by a fan and Amanda who knows music and performers. Well done.

Faded toward the end

I really enjoyed the first half, three quarters of the book. I learned a lot and will looking for the boots he speaks of. Minus one star for saying at one point Dylan was trying to keep up with the Beatles and for the comment on Neil Youngs’s Tonight’s The Night.

it isn't about The Beatles but ABOUT the beatles

This is the book I would have written if I could, not so much a history of the band, though that is used as a framework, but instead a love letter to the band and the fans.

Wonderful ramble

This isn't so much a history of the Beatles as a loosely chronological collection of essays. It's engaging, well-informed, and highly opinionated; it covers the group, the individuals in the group, the music, why many of the songs are brilliant but a few are rubbish, and why and how the world bowed down in homage. If you're a Beatles fan, get it. If you're a Stones fan, get it too - you'll find some useful information here.

Sheffield does a great job narrating his own book, with one exception. His occasional attempt at a British accent (usually in a quote from a Beatle) is pretty bad. Aside from that, he's one of the best writers-as-narrator I've heard. His passion for the subject comes through in his voice.

Pop Storytelling Standout

If you are like me, especially on this 50th Anniversary of Sgt Pepper, you've read some, possibly many books on my favorite subject, The Beatles. And like the escape they provided in the early 60's after the Kennedy assassination and since, this book and the journey it provides functioned as yet another escape in these most difficult political times. Worth spending time together.