An interesting look into the mind of Dylan. He reads! Other than that, no crucial insights, but that is enough. Ideas... most often they start with reading. Finished 06.07.2020. ( )

An interesting speech by Dylan, but a miss. He speaks about three books that influenced him: Moby-Dick, All's Quiet on the Western Front, and The Odyssey. Unfortunately he cribs from Sparknotes for his discussion of Moby-Dick (Google "Dylan," "Moby Dick," and "plagiarism" for articles on it). It makes you wonder if he really was influenced by these books. His discussion of All's Quiet on the Western Front is a bit better, though The Odyssey seems tacked on just to have three books. The best part of the book is his actual, heartfelt thoughts on seeing Buddy Holly play. If Dylan had discussed the actual poetry of rock 'n' roll, old country music, the blues, and folk music, he would have been on better ground. I think he wanted to sound smart for professor-types and literature-types, so he stretched to sound cool, and, like an undergraduate with a C and trying to stretch for an A, he resorted to plagiarism in order to score. He shouldn't have. But, though some of Dylan's lyrics are pure poetry, he really shouldn't have won a Nobel for Literature. Music, maybe, if they had one. A miss. ( )