(Book) Blender Level = 1. A look at the Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer

As I sat down to write this, I felt it very important to make something very clear.

'I don't like biographies.'

The only other biography I have read in my life was an unofficial one on Jackie Chan.

For me, biographies tell the story of a life. It could be a politician, a musician, a movie star, a sports hero. Whatever.

Personally, though it's released for the public to read, the book feels too personal, or in some cases, too grandiose or obnoxious.

To read a biography would be the equivalent of walking in on said person while they're having sex. Having done that a couple of times in the past, it never gets any less embarrassing.

So, I don't like biographies. If I can, I avoid them.

I have a biography on Zelda Fitzgerald I have yet to read at the behest of someone I love dearly. I'm sure I'll get around to it.....eventually.

I spent the better part of a week after buying this book wondering what to expect upon reading Amanda Palmer's -since she wrote it herself- autobiography. Would it be Hunter S. Thompson-esque and involve a room full of people acting out a football game? Would there be dragons?

I was so unsure.

I met Amanda Palmer once. She handed me a flower that I gave to a fellow fan later on. I later sent Ms. Palmer a message on facebook explaining to her that I was so full of words that I didn't quite know how to explain how much I enjoyed her music.

That connection was important in reading this biography.

It felt like we were sitting down, having coffee as she told me about her life, what she'd gone through in order to get where she is.

It was honest, raw and everything I had come to expect from a conversation with a drunk person at 3am, where people are usually at their most honest.

Amanda has successfully created a book in which you are not only taken on a journey, but you're looking right over her shoulder. You're experiencing it with her.

It's like a hardwire direct to her brain in all its colourful chaos.

Amanda has made a book that takes her honest and unadulterated connection to her fanbase and solidifies it into something tangible. Magic that you can hold in your hands.

'Please see me. I'm Real.'

I see you Amanda Fucking Palmer. You're so real it hurts.

And I love you for it.

5 stars.