Biographic: Bowie

by Liz Flavell

Many people know that David Bowie (1947–2016) was an iconic singer, songwriter and actor, whose lyrics, performances and ever-changing persona were at the heart of pop culture for over five decades. What, perhaps, they don't know is that he smoked 80 cigarettes a day, acted in 27 films, sold over 140 million albums and once shared a Berlin apartment with Iggy Pop. This book presents an instant impression of his life, work and fame, with an array of irresistible facts and figures converted into infographics to reveal the artist behind the music.

Genres: Biography, Music, Nonfiction

96 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2018

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Whenever pop is ambitious, whenever pop is odd, whenever pop dresses up, whenever pop looks like nothing you've seen before, it is using tools and a framework largely built by one man . . . and his name [is] borrowed from a fixed-blade fighting knife." -- Caitlin Moran, British journalist / author

Major Tom. Ziggy Stardust. Aladdin Sane. The Thin White Duke. No matter what you call the man, David Bowie was one hell of a unique and talented performer -- a triple threat of singer/songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor. Biographic Bowie, to be clear, is not a standard A to Z or birth to death type of biography. Instead, it is a tightly detailed collection of facts / figures about his life and career, presented mostly in compact paragraphs organized around unconventional illustrations. One of the most surprising sections was a 'by the numbers' success comparison between Bowie and friendly rival Mick Jagger. I would've thought Jagger (with the Stones) easily had the 'show-biz' edge, but Bowie racked up some pretty impressive figures - even more so considering he did it as a solo act.

[Morvling Bookink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very factual-packed! This did make it seem that it had a lack of emotion to the writing but this book isn't a work of literature, it's a work of infographics and that was successful.
I really quite like infographics - it's like stats, which is fun maths, made imaginative and artistic. And so infographics about Bowie? Perfectoness.

Honestly I knew everything (even the "things you don't" - not even won't, just don't - "know about Bowie, I was quite proud that I got that 100% ha) except that he broke both his legs in a car crash with that Rupert Riley car he made with his mate. It'll be visible in the 'Woodland Creatures' outfit from the Ziggy era, which Kate Moss wore once to pick up Bowie's BRIT award when he was too I'll the get it himself - not that the public knew this at the time. Facts.

So yes I recommend this if you want to know more facts about Bowie, I'm going to try to locate the other ones in various libraries (I picked up the Beatles one at the same as this one, so that's a start!).

[Hristo Serafimov · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book for Bowie beginners with some fun and creative graphics. Very easy to read too.

[Jeff Koskinen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for picking up interesting facts about Bowie’s unique and incredible life and career. Format includes catchy graphics to organize the different themes in creative ways, which definitely added another side to it.

This is a short book that I really enjoyed being able to pick up and read in short time frames over breakfast or lunch, as you don’t need to block off chunks of time or feel frustrated if you get interrupted.

[Elvin Eliasson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enkel, humoristisk men framförallt fylld med massa bra fakta! Saknar honom…

“Duran Duran, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Daft Punk - Whenever pop is ambitions, whenever pop is odd, whenever pop looks like nothing you’ve seen before, it is using tools and a framework largely built by one man from Bromley with tombstone teeth, and his name borrowed from a fixed-blaze fighting knife.” - Caitlin Moran

[Darius Ostrowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely a one-day read, but it met my expectations for the most part. The facts would be new if you've never heard of David Bowie, but the graphic presentation was interesting. It would be good for the author to remember that not all facts/data are pertinent information...

[Stacey Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool idea doing a graphic representation of Bowie's life. I learned some interesting facts that I didn't know about Bowie. It was a quick read with just enough unique info to make it enjoyable to read. The graphics were well done.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fun read, and designed in such a creative way!

[vince weldon · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a big Bowie fan I like this quirky approach to facts and figures about The Same...probably not to everyone's taste but a good foil to all the wordy tomes that are out there