U2 Experience

by Brian Boyd

Over a career that now spans nearly four decades, U2 has produced one hit album after another and created the template for the giant global stadium tour that other bands now use. From their roots in post-punk, the band has grown and incorporated musical styles from synth pop to gospel, while always making socially and politically aware music that hits a nerve with fans. Written by a leading music journalist, U2 Experience documents all of the band’s mammoth achievements. The first interactive book to celebrate the legendary Irish rock group, it contains 20 items of removable facsimile memorabilia —including posters, tickets, flyers, and contracts—as well as numerous rare photographs.

Genres: Music

64 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

Brian Boyd (b.1952) is known primarily as an expert on the life and works of author Vladimir Nabokov and on literature and evolution. He is University Distinguished Professor in the Department of English at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

In 1979, after Boyd completed a PhD at the University of Toronto with a dissertation on Nabokov's novel Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle , he took up a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Auckland (appointed as lecturer in English in 1980). Also in 1979, Nabokov’s widow, Véra, invited Boyd to catalog her husband's archives, a task which he completed in 1981.

While Nabokov’s Ada: The Place of Consciousness (1985; rev. 2001), was considered as "an instant classic," Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years (1990) and Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years (1991) have won numerous awards and been translated into seven languages. In 2009 he published On the Origin of Stories: Evolution, Cognition and Fiction, often compared in scope with Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism (1957).

Reviews

[Mary Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

No "new" information for those who really know this band's story, but what sets this book apart is the awesome reproductions of memorabilia spanning their careers. Cool posters, tickets, set lists from their first tour, etc. It's a very interesting, tactile glimpse into their nearly 40 years as a band.

[Anahí Aguirre Toni · Rating 3 out of 5]

En lo sustancial, no hay nada nuevo. Un breve recorrido por la historia de la banda y la historia de sus integrantes.

Por otra parte, hermoso el material visual que trae (posters, flyers, etc). Vale la pena.

[Picueta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bien es cierto que la biografía no aporta nada que no se sepa ya, es muy básica e ideal para quien quiera empezar a conocer un poquito a la banda. Son los facsímiles los que hacen que este libro sea una experiencia que te lleva más lejos de la simple lectura de una biografía simple y llana.

[Hristo Serafimov · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good beginners guide to U2. It's not deep enough and detailed enough even though it's visually pleasing. Overall, it didn't excite me as much as "40 years of Queen" which has the exact same format with memorabilia.

[Jenny Esots · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a career retrospective from a landmark band.
Each album is given the full gloss treatment plus a biography of each member.
It has lots of memorabilia and classic photos.
From the early origins to the now.
I have about half of their albums - the early ones.
What is lacking in this coffee table book is a track listing of each of the albums.
Plus all the album covers.
Has made me want to get all the old vinyl back on the turntable.