The Lives of John Lennon

Book Description

The result of six years of research and some 1,200 interviews, this book takes fans deep into Lennon’s secretive world, from his traumatic childhood to his Beatles days to his hidden life with Yoko Ono. While the Lennon of legend enjoyed a gifted and inspired life, the private Lennon lived in torment, poisoning himself with drugs and self-hatred. The Lives of John Lennon exposed for the first time all of his various lives, from idealist to cynic, from ascetic to junkie. It is a lasting tribute to his brilliant achievements and a revelation of the price he paid for them.

Customer Reviews:

TRASH.......2007-09-11

Goldman is well known for this load of rubbish and anyone who believes this hack job would do better to read cartoons, they're more truthful in comparison.

Compelling and Underrated.......2007-08-28

It took me 19 years to finally read this book because I was under the impression that it was a hack job. A tabloid style, character assassination by someone who just wanted to cash in on the Lennon tragedy. However since I've decided to read everything I can lay my hands on about the Beatles,I could no longer pass it up and my curiosity got the best of me.

From the first line of this 720 page book, I was riveted. I could not put it down, and I had to force myself to stop reading because life was still going on around me. You know, "the cooking and the washing". Goldman is a superb writer. His descriptive style holds your interest and keeps you turning pages as if you were reading a great fiction novel. And no one's life resembles a work of fiction like Lennon's. Goldman starts with a taster of life at the Dakota in 1978, and then of course the story goes back to John's childhood. Potential readers, this is the most exhaustively researched, interesting account of Lennon's or any other celebrity's childhood that I have ever read, and I've read many. For the first time, I realised the impact that all of these "characters" had on the life of this sensitve little boy, and how damaging their influence actually was. You will read about Mimi and her cold, Edwardian style in raising children. Her almost narssisstic domination of her nephew. You will find out what really happened between Mimi and Julia(a very weak person) and the devastating way John's dad, Fred Lennon(another weak person) was treated by Mimi. In Goldman's account, Johnny Dykins (Julia's common law husband) is not just a footnote in the Lennon story. He is a fully researched "player" in this passion play, and he had a profound influence on shaping John's personality. Especially his view of women. The father figures in Lennon's life were not his kind, but wimpy father, who was shunned from the family, but Johnny Dykins and Mimi's husband George Smith, a weakling who lost his dairy business and spent most of John's childhood hiding behind a newspaper while Mimi and John had their battles. There was not one adult in this poor boy's life who was mature enough to take care of him. This speaks volumes when you try to understand the person that John Lennon became. John Lennon had an attachment problem. He could never fully attach himself emotionally to any of these people, which paved the way for his emotional problems as he grew. I couldn't help but mentally compare his childhood with McCartney's. Paul had a charismatic father figure to look up to and an "attachment village" of adult role models to guide him. The only time this came into jeopardy was when his mother died, hurling his father into a deep depression. It's no coincidence that McCartney fell in love with being a rock star right around this time, paving the way for his pairing with another "little boy lost", John Lennon.

Getting back to John's childhood, there is a revealing story which Goldman recounts, involving a girl on a bike, that reminded me of John's later jealousy of Paul. This book is a psychological profile of a very complicated, disturbed, but talented songwriter. My impression is that Goldman did not intend to smear Lennon's name. This work is the product of years of research, and hundreds of interviews. The author talked to everyone who ever came into contact with John, from children he knew in Liverpool, servants, musicians, aquantances, to good friends and lovers like Pete Shotten and May Pang. Throughout the book you get the same impression of the man, whether it's a Nems office worker telling a chilling incident that occurred at a party in 1963, or Lennon intimates at the end of his life. Could all of these people be lying? There are so many of them, and most of them don't know each other or haven't seen each other in many years. Yet they all have the same stories to tell. About the drinking and drug use, the sex, the incoherant violence. The reviewers who refuse to believe this book are the one's who give it 1 star. But isn't it just their innability to take in the cold truth about John? This is not surprising since the truth is so far from the media image that Yoko has honed to a fine art over the years. The things that Goldman writes are shocking, and really hard for a Beatle fan to accept. But it's no secret that John was a [...]. This is detailed in every book about the four. In fact I know of many more ugly incidents that aren't even in Goldman's book, because he didn't interview those particular people, so he didn't know about their awful stories. The only thing I think Goldman is guilty of here, is not showing a more rounded John Lennon. Of all the people he talked to, he surly must have heard some nice things about the guy. There has to be a reason why so many loved him. Yet it seems that he didn't use their quotes as much. This results in a slanted view of Lennon. That is why I recommend you read other Lennon biographies like Ray Coleman's 'Lennon' or Larry Kane's, 'Lennon Revealed', and 'Ticket to Ride'. Also, McCartney's 'Many Years from Now' has a touching account of John by someone who never lost his affection for him.

Goldman also brings to light truths about people that I never understood before. Like Brian Epstein for instance. In all the books I read I never realised what a shallow, stupid, fop he was. Here Goldman reveals in sickening detail, all of his blunders, and his dishonesty, while he hid behind a false "gentleman" mask. He used the Beatles, and took advantage of their trust, and stood back while others took advantage of their youth and innocence, instead of protecting them and working in their best interests. He was too busy worrying about dinner parties and furniture, and picking up boy toys. The Beatles should have let Brian make them stars, which is the only thing he was really good at, then they should have dumped him. Of course, according to the many people Goldman talked to, there was definitly a bond between John and Brian that could only be broken by Brian's death. I'm referring to Lennon's bi-sexuality, and if you think he wasn't acutely bisexual, then think back to the lack of male role models or strong father figures in his life. His lack of male figures caused his bisexuality just like his lack of mother love caused his misogyny.

Now for Yoko Ono. Forget the fairy tale of JohnandYoko. It's just that; a fairy tale. Half of this book covers Yoko's sick, self serving personality and keep in mind that every Beatles book has gone onto detail about this. Yoko is a media genious and an excellent actress. She ruined John's life in every possible way, brainwashing and pulling him away from everyone who ever meant something to him. She didn't love him. She is not capable of love or any emotion. She married him for his money and fame. She broke up the greatest pop songwriting team of the 20th century(and kept them apart) to further her own "career". It made me sick to read about her narssissim. Her hatred of Paul McCartney made my blood turn to ice. She had to hate him you see, because he was the one thing that stood in the way of her own success with her "puppet" John Lennon. If you think I'm exaggerating then take note of the date when John came under her spell. Goldman reveals that it was much earlier than that "two virgins" encounter in May of 1968. Their affair began in the fall of 1967. This gave her more time to work her black magic. She is a person who is perfectly capable of using her influence to get Paul busted in Japan...and to keep John from finding out.

I was also disgusted by her neglect of her children, especially Kyoko. Her frivolity concerning her husband's money, and the chilling way in which she disregarded his wishes put forth in the will after his death. I was shocked by the things I read in this book. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't want to hear anything about John that isn't crowd friendly media hype. If you are in this category or you're very young, don't read this book. It will upset you. If you are a Beatles scholar, or a hardcore fan then go ahead and read it. I am in this category and nothing I read about any of the Beatles would ever make me stop liking them, so if you're like me then you will learn something new. The only thing I didn't enjoy were Goldman's critiques of the Beatles' music. Although he loves their music, his comments were silly and misinformed. He doesn't know anything about John's guitar playing. He has no idea who plays what on the records, or that Harrison didn't always play lead guitar. His comments about Ringo's drumming were insulting and stupid. He compares their early music with "oom pahh bands, football chants, and John Phillip Sousa"! And he likes it! He thinks 'Drive My Car' is a John song even though Paul wrote 70% of it and sings lead. That is why I couldn't give 5 stars because when Goldman throws in his own oppinion about the music and the sacking of Pete Best especially, he is sadly misinformed. He should have stuck to his expertise, which is well researched journalism and vividly detailed writing about his subject's life. Approach this book with caution if you are very sensitve, and remember the music is what really counts.

Portrait of John is good but portrait of Yoko is bad.......2006-09-22

I think the best parts of this book and the most believable are the parts covering the Beatlemania period, the Hard Days Night, Help and Rubber Soul period through the time that John met Yoko where the book becomes as much about Yoko as John. It's obvious that Goldman hated Yoko and this makes the book awful at the end. However he admires and understands John's musical genius as well as his apparent mental illness. I do believe that Lennon was one of the greats in music but that he was seriously in need of mental health help. Too bad he never got it. It shows that the famous can live tragic lives. I really came away from this book feeling sympathetic to John. I did feel some the book was highly fictionalized.

Mix of fact and fiction; not very useful.......2006-08-24

I just tried to use Albert Goldman's "The Lives of John Lennon" to find a fact about John Lennon. I heard Lennon's "Rock'n'Roll" album, and thought it was oretty good, overall, so I wondered who'd played on it. I checked Goldman's book. After all, in a 719 page biography of a musician you should be able to find information about his music, like who played on his albums.

But Goldman only mentioned Jesse Ed Davis, on guitar. I flipped backwards and forwards trying to find another smidgen of musical fact. Instead I found this: "Perhaps the most revealing moment in John's relationship with Jagger had come on their joint appearance on the Rock'n'Roll Circus, when a stoned John, playing a TV interviewer, had done a satiric turn with Mick as pop star, that concluded with John slipping his hand inside Mick's shirt and feeling him up."

That's funny, I thought. I'd just played the DVD of "Rock and Roll Circus", and I never noticed that. So I played the Lennon sequence again. The hand in shirt thing still didn't happen. Seems Goldman had an agenda (claiming Lennon was gay), so he made it up. When Goldman wrote, "Rock'n'Roll Circus" was hard to find; he probably didn't expect that marketing and technology would one day make it easy for people to check little things like that.

I'm no longer confident in claims made by Goldman that stand unsupported by other biographers. Did Lennon take a metric ton of heroin, and make an absolute tool of himself during "The Lost Weekend"? Yep, I believe that, because other biographers confirm it. But did Lennon (for example) kill a man in Hamburg, or go to bed with Brian Epstein, or do a voodoo trip to the Caribbean? Did Yoko arrange for Paul's drug bust in Japan? Nah. Get away with you, Mr Goldman. Only Goldman tells me so, and he offers only malicious hearsay, sometimes filled out by his own imagination, not evidence.

My scepticism isn't because I think Lennon was a saint. It seems that the real, historical, John Lennon could be a right bastard, angry, violent, including to women, and a mean drunk. It also seems that the historical John Lennon could be funny and kind and thoughtful. He could tell terrible lies, and be awkwardly honest. He was a bit of a mess, in fact, though he tried to sort out his mess. And historical evidence suggests that a lot of people who were close to him loved him. Not fans. Not "staff". Friends and family. Which suggests that there was more to the man than the sum of his faults.

But Goldman doesn't give us this human complexity, but a hatchet job of no more than fair to moderate reliability on matters of fact. The real problem is not so much that his most sensational claims don't stand up. It's more that the whole portrait is out of register. Goldman mainly portrays Lennon not as a bastard but as a dweeb, a pitiful, weak, loser, stupid, gullible, characterless schlemiel. It's not the details, but the basic picture that simply fails to ring true.

It's hard to present yourself as witty, cocky, sharp, sharp-tongued and astute, in interview after interview over many years, also in private with observer after observer, and for 15 or so years solid with three guys who know you better than anyone else, unless wit, cockiness, sharpness, and astuteness are actually a large part of your nature. It's easy to fake stupid, but hard to fake intelligent.

We know too much about what Lennon was like, from other sources, to believe in Goldman's Lennon. Goldman's Lennon is a wet slug, who could never have made any records.

In a sense Goldman's Lennon doesn't make music, since Goldman avoids the topic as much as possible. The single most important thing about Lennon is that he was a musician, but this book is useless on Lennon's music. Goldman doesn't provide the most rudimentary information about its creation. And if a biography of a musician doesn't do that, what's the point of it?

Not that Goldman's musical judgements inspire confidence. Goldman's Lennon was too incapacitated to make music at the time the real Lennon made the superb "Walls and Bridges" album, so Goldman simply dismisses what the record clearly demonstrates. But Goldman reaches true weirdness with his claim that Lennon couldn't play guitar, but faked it all the way through the Beatles and his solo career.

But had Goldman ever listened to a Beatles record, he'd have noticed that there was a good drummer, a brilliant bass player, a limited lead guitar player and an occasionally powerful rhythm guitar player. That last player was Lennon; there were only four of them, for heaven's sake. From the opening chords of "I wanna hold your hand" to the driving riff of "Yer Blues" - on "Rock and Roll Circus" you can watch Lennon playing rock guitar on "Yer Blues", not disgracing himself in company with Eric Clapton and Keith Richard - Lennon could create riffs and drive a band along, as he once described the rhythm guitar player's job. He was also a good acoustic guitar player, on songs like "You've got to hide your love away" and "Working Class Hero".

I guess Goldman had come to so dislike his Lennon that he was prepared to say any old thing about that literary character. With hindsight, it now seems amazing that a book that contained the guitar claim got taken seriously. Goldman stepped out of serious biography and into "Paul is dead" conspiracy theory territory.

So here's this big fat book about Lennon. It was probably useful, in a way and in its day, for debunking the idealised portrait of Lennon the martyred saint. But can you use it as a source of factual information about Lennon's life and music? Basically, no. No, you can't. It's no use, for that.

Laon

"Give it to Yoko, she likes anything!" (NOT).......2006-07-24

She likes nothing, so don't make her reaction your criterion... Reviewer NancyMc, how does he "inadvertently prove" that criticism of Yoko was primarily misogynistic and racist? Just because YOU believe it was? So anyone who shows her in a bad light must be proving your established belief? No; I don't think Goldman does this disservice. None of us knows all the facts but I don't think the guy's getting away with murder here -- or even attempted. This is an entertaining book, as well it should be for anyone to read its 700 pages. It's my opinion that the book is probably the BEST about Lennon, and should be recognized as such the more time goes on. In 1988 people didn't really want to hear about the dark stuff or simple character flaws. If the dirt is there, well, get it -- that's partly what our age of Hollywood paganism is about. You're a hero in the public eye? Good, you'll have to deal with fallout. John, and especially Yoko, took it all too seriously. I'll say one thing: If half of what he describes about Yoko Ono is correct, she's one hell of a lifestyle dominatrix, even if perhaps unconsciously (in other words, she's the real thing). I can see why John signed up for what he did, given who he was, but alas, you never really count the cost. Goldman is literate and enjoys presenting his story. Read the other John bios, but also read this one!

John Lennon (Famous People, Famous Lives)

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John Lennon (Famous People, Famous Lives)
Harriet Castor
Manufacturer: Franklin Watts Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0749643501

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All You Need Is Love
Amazing Story
Is Search of a past life of John Lennon
Past lives affect us all
Intriguing & Fascinating From Beginning to End!

All You Need Is Love
Jewelle St James
Manufacturer: St. James Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Jude ---- My Reincarnation From Auschwitz

ASIN: 0973275200

Product Description

The incredible true story, of one woman's search, discovering her past life with John Lennon ( John Baron) in ancient England.

Customer Reviews:

All You Need Is Love.......2007-09-21

This is a truly amazing story of an ordinary wife and mother who finds herself researching details of a past lifetime she spent with John Lennon. If you don't believe you might have lived before this book could change your mind. It is so well written. You will swear the author is sitting there telling you the story rather than you reading it. It is an extrodinary story to share.

Amazing Story.......2006-05-23

I couldn't put this book down, it amazed me how someone could have such courage to share their story with the world, some would feel it is such a private affair, it is intriguing to hear about John Lennon's soul in a different way than we all know him. This book makes me want to explore my own past lives, how exciting!!!!!

Is Search of a past life of John Lennon.......2006-03-03

Is there really life after death? Is there such a thing as Reincarnation? These are some of the fascinating topics Stuart Sutcliffe and I used to discuss. Following John Lennon's death, numerous spiritualists throughout the world claimed to have contacted him and I received numerous tapes from séances and also accounts of John's life in the spirit world.

As a child I was always encouraged to maintain the sense of wonder children have in their discoveries of life and I was always interested in books such as `The Search For Bridey Murphey' and the series of `Far Memory' books by Joan Grant.

Let's all keep an open mind. After all, most religions believe in life after death and the majority of people in the world do believe in reincarnation.

Which brings me to Jewelle St. James' book `All You Need Is Love', which is an adventurous search for her past life with John Lennon.

Don't dismiss such books readily, it's a voyage into the unknown, surely, but also one in which we should keep an open mind.

Jewelle is a Canadian housewife and mother who had no real interest in John Lennon. However, following his death she became almost obsessed with intense feelings that she knew him in another life. Contact with people who were able to confirm and channel her beliefs led her on to a journey to England tracking down the clues and eventually discovering the details of their past life together.

Even if you are a sceptic you can't fail to be fascinated by what is a truly intriguing love story.

Past lives affect us all.......2005-10-22

This book is conclusive proof that we have all had past lives, and that sometimes the memories of them are forced upon us even if we weren't looking for them!
Jewelle St James is one such case. A sceptic at first, she was driven to find evidence of what her soul was revealing to her, and in doing so she has helped everyone who wanted proof that their own memories are real.
The involvement of John Lennon in this experience, simply made Jewelle more sceptical, and yet the proof was found. John Lennon lived before as John Baron. After reading this book I have to say there is no doubt.

Intriguing & Fascinating From Beginning to End!.......2005-07-06

Wow!!! I just finished reading "All You Need is Love", and I am still completely blown away by both the premise, and the amazing amount of proof the author uncovered!

I must confess that, although I truly believe in past lives, and I consider myself to be pretty open minded, I still approached this particular book with a certain level of skepticism. It's funny how, as soon as someone mentions a connection to someone famous, many of us are quick to decide that it must be fantasy - but when we read the same type of info about a connection to a regular "old joe", it's much easier to believe. However, I now realize that because of this skepticism, it was probably even harder for the author to come forward with her story - who would take her seriously? Who would believe her? Yet, after reading this book cover to cover, I think it's more relevant to ask who couldn't believe her? With the amount of evidence she's uncovered, you'd have to be pretty closed minded to chalk it all up to coincidence!

This is actually several stories wrapped up into one. The main premise is about a young mother who, after the shooting death of John Lennon, is overcome with a grief that she can't understand. In trying to understand this intense emotion - for someone she never knew, and wasn't a major fan of - she uncovers evidence of having lived a tomultuous past live with Lennon - then John Baron. However, even she is quite skeptical, and is unable to believe that this is really true.

This story is about her journey... a very spiritual journey. A journey which leads to her realization that she keeps living the same type of life over & over again - and will continue to do so until she heals herself. So, a part of this book is also about her current life, and by the end, one can easily see the parallels between the two.

This is also a story about synchronicities - those amazing "coincidences" that tend to occur so many times that it's hard to just dismiss. "All You Need is Love" is filled with so many of these amazing occurances that it becomes impossible to dismiss them with the wave of a hand.

Ultimately, this is a beautiful love story that offers the reader a chance to live vicariously through the "characters". It also offers the reader a chance to learn about the topic of past lives, in an easy & riveting manner. This is definitely a page turner!

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the topic of past lives - it's really a great read!!!

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THE LIVES OF JOHN LENNON
Goldman Albert
Manufacturer: Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000I17LQM

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John Lennon (Famous Lives)
Liz Gogerly
Manufacturer: Hodder Wayland
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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John Lennon (Great Lives)
Vanora Leigh
Manufacturer: Bookwrights Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: School & Library Binding

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Attorney lives Lennon's 'do you want to know a secret?".: An article from: Los Angeles Business Journal

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Attorney lives Lennon's 'do you want to know a secret?".: An article from: Los Angeles Business Journal
Emily Bryson York
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Los Angeles Business Journal, published by Thomson Gale on September 25, 2006. The length of the article is 488 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Attorney lives Lennon's 'do you want to know a secret?".
Author: Emily Bryson York
Publication: Los Angeles Business Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 25, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 28 Issue: 39 Page: 8(1)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Lives of John Lennon
Gene Walden
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 555004837X

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The Lives of John Lennon
Albert Goldman
Manufacturer: Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NZU1S8

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A real live fairytale
Marcia Huyette
Manufacturer: Hidden Studio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: 0942722000

Book Description

You already know the most common uses of your TiVo. Have you ever wondered what makes your TiVo tick-or what kind of performance you could get out of it with just a little tinkering? "Hacking the TiVo®, Second Edition" is here to answer that question! If you're nervous about playing with hardware, relax. You'll learn how to activate secret commands that help you get more out of your TiVo without even opening the box. But if you're feeling adventurous, jump right in and learn how to inexpensively add disk space and how to install and run many open source applications that enable you to schedule recordings over the Web, and get news, sports, and weather displayed on your TiVo screen. Linux®, Macintosh®, and Windows® users will all find TiVo tips and tricks including how to expand your TiVo's storage capacity, back up and restore data, and trouble-shoot your TiVo.

Customer Reviews:

not very useful.......2007-05-08

can find most of the info on the internet only for those wanting to open up the tivo

Not very enlightening.......2006-04-05

This book by the cover appears to be a very in-depth book when in fact it is meant to be a sort of text book. I have taught for over 4 years and this company was a primary source of text books. Over all their text books are of good quality, but leave a bit more to be desired. I found this book to be in-line with my history with this publisher. In fact if I had known that the book was by them I would not have purchased it for myself. That was my mistake for not paying closer attention.
The book offers the typical level of information that I would expect from this publisher. It will provide enough information to dazzle those of you that are not so technically inclined, and may even impress you. For those that have a bit of technical knowledge. You will find the book basic and leaving you at a point where you will either want to know more, or are not sure if this book offered you any more information than you already knew.
Anyone that is serious about finding out information about the Tivo box, the actual software, or remote hacking is pretty basic and offers no real interesting information that will really improve your Tivo experience. It offers information about changing the text and displaying information on the screen that really has no realavence, or benefit.
As for the hardware hacking, this information may be interesting to someone that may be timid about opening the box. If you have any real computer experience, you could have figured most of this information on your own.
In my best oppinion I would pass on this book. In fact if any other Tivo books are of similar quality I would save the money and find a good library to check it out for free. Even if it is late you will have still spent less than the shipping.

Excellent Book, Pathetic Editing.......2005-09-11

As usual for the past 15 years, the editors were asleep at the wheel and completely hosed the vital (to brain-damaged Linux) command line arguments -- at least on page 39 (Chapter 2: Adding a Larger Hard Disk to Your TiVo).

If you're transferring everything over to a larger hard drive using the "mfstool" commands the correct arguments are as follows (I've used "[space]" to indicate a single space between commands):

mfstool[space]backup[space]-o-[space]-a[space]/dev/hdb[space]|[space]mfstool[space]restore[space]-i-[space]-C[space]/dev/hdd

Idiot copyeditors and typesetters. Idiot editors in general.

System information.......2005-08-10

The current, non-DirecTV system, updated by satellite, is actually 7.1 (as of 9 August 2005). I haven't found that any of the hacking books are especialy useful for Series 2 boxes, especially as the software upgrades.

DirecTV Tivo System-2 software Updates - now 6.1.......2005-08-02

While this book contains some useful information for older Tivo boxes, the Series-2 has been Upgraded automatically by the Satellite to an even higher version. While the other reviewer, recently written, says it's now 5.3 and nobody has figured it out without actually tweaking hardware and reinstalling the chip (definately NOT recommended), the Software has already been upgraded again. As of now, 8/1/05, it is Version 6.1.

Hacking TiVo: The Expansion, Enhancement and Development Starter Kit with CD-ROM

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** Caution: for non-super technical people BEWARE**
Very Limited Usefulness
Not as comprensive as others for Series 2
Massive expansion
Making DVDs of your Tivo recordings

Hacking TiVo: The Expansion, Enhancement and Development Starter Kit with CD-ROM
Jeff Keegan
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0764543369

Amazon.com

In Hacking TiVo, Jeff Keegan proves that the TiVo television-recording device is far more than an enhancement to the passive lifestyle. By showing his readers how to use known tricks and all-purpose resourcefulness (plus some online community resources), Keegan shows how to make the TiVo perform far beyond its advertised purpose. He provides a chef's tour of the versatile appliance, calling attention to non-invasive tricks (like entering Select-Play-Select-3-0-Select to skip exactly 30 seconds ahead in a recording to bypass an ad) before moving on to more drastic kinds of fun. By the time you're through with Keegan's guide to the TiVo, you'll have it working as a more or less complete Unix workstation, accessible over the Internet via the excellent TivoWeb interface, and showing home videos, telephone caller ID information, and instant-messaging communications on your television screen.

This book mostly is concerned with software hacks, which will void your TiVo warranty as surely as anything involving a soldering iron, but which have the advantage of usually being reversible. Though he says the hacks in this book will work on TiVo Series1 and Series2, he doesn't explain how to defeat the systems' anti-intrusion mechanisms (which prevent the installation of software, and thus preclude the performance of about half the hacks in this book). This appears to be an exclusion for legal reasons, and he points out that the information is easily found on the Internet. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to make your TiVo do more of what you want. Instructions show how to add a bigger hard drive (for greater recording time), access the TiVo's bash command line, use unsupported command sequences, and share files between your TiVo and your networked personal computer. Particularly neat sections deal with using TivoWeb and putting Caller ID information on-screen.

Book Description

You love your TiVo. Make it love you back.

In Hacking TiVo, TiVo Underground insider Jeff Keegan blows the lid off of your TiVo, literally. Your TiVo does many wonderful things on its own; Hacking TiVo shows you how to access TiVo enhancements that you've never dreamed of.

The obvious hacks are all there, of course, including:

vastly increasing the size of your TiVo's hard drive
accessing the backdoor remote control codes
full detail on how, when, and why to use over 35 backdoor codes
adding on-screen sports scores, stock tickers and more
starting and stopping installed hacks with your remote control
hacking into the TiVo operating system.

Those hacks, while fun and interesting, just scratch the surface.

Advanced hacks covered in the book will show you how to not only connect your TiVo to the Internet, but also allow you to take control of your TiVo remotely via the Web once that connection exists. Hook your TiVo into online instant messaging services like ICQ or Instant Messenger; link it to your Caller ID; display your own photos onscreen; or insert footage from your camcorder into your TiVo.

At the heart of this book is its unique CD-ROM, which makes hacking your TiVo fast and fun. Simply insert the CD and reboot, and your PC becomes a Linux machine, pre-configured and capable of reading and writing to your TiVo hard drives. Simply follow along with the book to install the hacks one at a time, or use the CD's install all feature to install all of the hacks at once! This is simply the easiest CD-ROM available today for TiVo hackers.

At over 500 pages, Hacking TiVo offers more extensive, hands-on coverage of backdoor codes, video extraction, and operating system hacks than any other TiVo book available. And with more than a hundred pages of guidance on writing your own hacks, the possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

Hacking TiVo is available exclusively from Amazon.com. If you're looking for the very best book on getting the most out of your TiVo, you've come to the right place.

Your TiVo is already great. With Hacking TiVo, take your TiVo to the next level.

Customer Reviews:

** Caution: for non-super technical people BEWARE**.......2004-10-20

First: the majority of the content is not compatible with the current TIVO system, series 2 *** I got SKUNKED!
Second: This book is really for someone with very strong technical skills, particularly a Unix background.

I am fairly technical with a Computer Science degree and would not attempt to do anything with this book and passed it to another fairly tech savvy friend and he gave it right back to me. There is a page or two that has cute shortcuts for the remote but you can get that info off a TIVO user group site. I regard this purchase as a total ripoff. I'll be happy to send you this book to you for $5 + shipping. email: funbeach6@yahoo.com

Very Limited Usefulness.......2004-09-22

This really is not a book on Hacking Tivo, rather a book on "Hacking First Generation Tivo's." I have a series 2 DVR and expected to see some hacks that would prove worthwhile for my DVR, however there is little for owners of Tivos manufactured in the last two years. Very simple recommendation-if you have a first generation Tivo buy the book, otherwise pass.

Not as comprensive as others for Series 2.......2004-09-17

I bought this book and "Hacking the Tivo, Second Edition". The two books cover a similar range of hacks and include Linux boot CDs. However there are key Series 2 hacks that are not covered in this book. For example, video extraction is a very valued hack. I want to transfer videos between my Series 2 Tivo and my PC.

"Hacking Tivo" backs away from this hack on Series Two claiming "legal reasons". Bah! "Hacking the Tivo, Second Edition" shows you how to do this and shows the likely reason why "Hacking Tivo" avoided it. It's harder! "Hacking the Tivo, Second Edition" is written by someone who loves every aspect of hacking the machine and it shows. Get this one instead.

Massive expansion.......2004-08-26

The Tivo has spawned a dedicated fan base that speaks to both the power of the TV [including cable] and of TiVo's time shifting usefulness. Naturally, many fans quickly reached the limitations of a normal TiVo and have chafed at these. Now comes Keegan with this book on how to lift many constraints.

He explains several neat tricks. But perhaps the most useful is simply to increase the storage capacity. A default TiVo holds 14 hours at a basic quality of resolution. But a TiVo is really a special purpose computer. So just like you can add more disk space to a generic PC, so too can this be done to a TiVo. But there are many fine details that are specific to TiVo, and indeed to specific models. He gives you all the necessary help to build out your TiVo.

Why? In his experience, when you expand from 14 hours to 110 hour by adding an 80 Gb disk, there is a qualitative improvement in your usage. And this is for an 80 Gb disk. Keep in mind that as 200 Gb+ disks come on the market, you could potentially use his guidelines here to try installing those!

Some of you should appreciate this book.

Making DVDs of your Tivo recordings.......2004-06-07

I haven't read this book, but have been actively reading the reviews of it, as well as other Tivo "hack" books. One theme that seems to continually run through the reviews is that someone wants to burn their Tivo recordings to DVD. If you're one of those people and you have a PC, read on, otherwise this posting will be a waste of your time.

I use a product called Pinnacle Studio 9 AV/DV (Analog video/Digital Video) to accomplish burning Tivo recordings to DVD. It works great and you can even edit out all of the commercials...which is superior to fast forwarding through them. This product can be purchased right here on Amazon...at the best price I've seen. Of course, you'll need a DVD burner, but you'd need that to burn DVDs either way. The quality is quite good.

I see no reason that this solution wouldn't work for any series Tivo 1 or 2, including DirecTV Tivo.

Book Description

If you own a TiVo, you're already aware of its awesome built-in capabilities. Wouldn't it be cool if you could make your TiVo do even more? Now you can! "Hacking the TiVo" covers the tools that are available to do just that, including MFS Tools, boot-page, monte, BlessTiVo, and many more. Learn what they are, how they work, and what TiVo model they're meant for. To ensure that all your hard work is never lost, you'll discover how to back up and restore your TiVo data. Want to expand your TiVo's storage capacity? You'll learn how to replace your TiVo disk with a larger one and how to add a second drive. Want to put a new or old TiVo on your home network? Clear instructions explain how to get access to the machine to install and start popular applications and network services. Don't limit the power of your TiVo! Integrate it with caller ID and AOL Instant Messenger, utilize it for news and sports updates, and use it to display photos and play music. From the hidden menus of the TiVo user interface, through the secret commands accessed through the remote control, to programming your TiVo over the Internet, this is your guide to tapping the full potential of your TiVo!

Customer Reviews:

Book has errors about network wiring.......2006-05-22

In a pretty good section on networking, von Hagen explains that the essence of Category 5 cable is "shielding that insulates the cable from outside electromagnetic influence and... not giving off poisonous smoke if the plastic exterior of the cable burns off."

Both statements are wrong. Cable and wire categories relate to data transmission speed, not shielding or insulation.

Von Hagen has impressive credentials and is apparently an expert on computers and TiVo, but that doesn't make him an expert on wire.

On the second page of the book, the publisher acknowledges the possibility of errors, and denies responsibility. That's irresponsible. These errors could have been easily corrected before publication.

The author can be forgiven. The publisher can not.

No new information.......2004-04-24

Most, if not all, of the information in the book could be found free on http://www.tivocommunity.com. If you find the information in Tivo Community difficult to understand you probably shouldn't be hacking your Tivo, and this book isn't worth $20.

tricky.......2004-04-01

If you are the type of person who builds PCs from scratch parts and you are also a Linux expert, this book is for you. Anyone else should take a long look before they buy it.

If you have a series2 Tivo read the bulleted points on page 223. Beware that one of the required items is very, very difficult to obtain.

Great book - told me what I wanted to know and more!.......2004-03-02

I'd seen reviews of multiple books about TiVo, but I have a Series 2, so this was the only book that covered it. It was great! Within a few hours, I'd upgraded my Series 2 to 200+ hours of recording time, and it was easy. Hacking the Series 2s isn't covered in any other TiVo book, and I bought the Keegan book at a bookstore, but it was no help. Von Hagen's books could be a little better organized, but it worked for me. I recommend it highly!

Hands on review.......2004-01-04

CAUTION!!! Just finished upgrading the hard drive on my Series 1 TiVo. This book was full of errors and outdated information. Had I not bought Jeff Keegan's "Hacking TiVo" book at the same time as this book, I would have a TiVo boat anchor by now. Luckily, I am the cautious type and read both books before I started. I don't think the author, William von Hagen even proof read his work before it was published. Besides giving wrong information on setting up larger disk caches etc. the book was littered with lots of small typos such as MB instead of GB etc.
I did give this book an extra star for the user friendly language and explinations and the larger sized type. Jeff Keegan's book is a lot more technical, has less detailed explinations and smaller type.

Joe Grand's Best of Hardware, Wireless, & Game Console Hacking: Includes DVD with 20 Hacks in High-Res Color

Average customer rating:

A nice collection of hardware hacks

Joe Grand's Best of Hardware, Wireless, & Game Console Hacking: Includes DVD with 20 Hacks in High-Res Color
Joe Grand , Frank Thornton , Albert Yarusso , Lee Barken , Bobby Kinstle , Marcus Brown , Tom Owad , Ryan Russell , Job Haas , and Deborah Kaplan
Manufacturer: Syngress
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Macs | Hardware | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

PCs | Hardware | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Security | Business & Culture | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

iPods | Digital Music | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

iTunes | Digital Music | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Programming | Mobile & Wireless Computing | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1597491136

Book Description

The book introduces the principles of hardware design and describes the tools and techniques required to begin hacking. The DVD contains hack instructions for over 20 game consoles and hardware devices from Nintendo, Apple, Sony, Microsoft, Palm and more.

The presentation of these 20 projects on DVD media provides users with benefits and options not available on the printed page. All images are hi-res color that can be enlarged or printed, the text is easily searched, and the user can copy the contents to their hard disk and add comments directly into the PDF files. The DVD media also lends itself well to group projects (it includes a 10 user license).
The 160-page book includes chapters on hacking tools and electrical engineering basics, along with chapters on the background, design and functionality of each hardware device.

* Packed full of high resolution colour images that reveal the smallest details of each step in a hack
* Includes in depth coverage of the tools of the hacking trade and the basics of electrical engineering
* DVD includes a "Using the Tools" video starring Joe "kingpin" Grand

Customer Reviews:

A nice collection of hardware hacks.......2006-07-27

OK, of course I say it's a nice collection; I'm the author. :) This combination book/DVD is a selection of our favorite hacks from Hardware Hacking: Have Fun While Voiding Your Warranty and Game Console Hacking. If you're curious about modifying hardware and electronic products to do things they weren't intended to do, then this collection is for you. It's a great way to get involved in the hobby without breaking the bank. Cheaper than either of the previously mentioned larger books, only 4 chapters are printed (Tools of the Warranty-Voiding Trade, Electrical Engineering Basics, Operating Systems Overview, and Coding 101) The actual hacks (the rest of the material) is on the included DVD in PDF and HTML format with high-resolution images (most of them in color, as opposed to the black and white of the previous books). Some of the hacks include: Declawing your Cuecat, hacking the Playstation 2, hacking the iPod, modifications for the classic/retro Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, and 8-bit systems, hacking the Xbox, and how to build your own DVR/Home Theater PC. Don't be afraid to modify or hack your hardware - have fun voiding your warranty!

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