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"My live seems plaited by many ropes, like a musical improvisation, composed with the different voices of a J.S. Bach fugue. The "Basso Continuo" is my development as musician, the melody lines flying high above are my human relationships ... " Sting writes in the middle of his thick, idyllic autobiography. The development of his music levels: As a little child he sat under the piano of his mother. She introduced into the horizon of the British family Little Richard (Tutti Frutti) and Jerry Lee Lewis's with his "Great ball of fire". To identify the bass-lines, he slowed down the speeds of his Venyl-records. He lovingly describes the atmosphere in his hometown small music shop: "as Aladdin's magic cave". His first concert-impressions (Beatles, Jimi Hendrix etc.), his gigs in jazz and pop are mentioned and his work as a bass player in an orchestra-sink at Christmas musical performances. His relationships: At first we find the well comprehensible experiences in the dancing halls of the 60s (written with humour), then the adventures while seeking a woman for the whole life (written with blood), then we find the pondering over the complicated relation to his (divorced) parents (written with tears), but especially interesting for me, written with cynicism: the precision with which he represents the details of the subtle hostilities in that school staff, he was forced to work with as a young teacher, before he ventured the great jump in a pure musician career: "I felt like a fish in the aquarium, but one in the false cymbal. There is a intricately maintained truce, a hostility, only badly hidden by a false, polite tone. Did the headmistress smuggled me into the staff as a collaborator? I remained in guard, but one day the swindle would be exposed ... " These lines may serve as a piece of evidence for my classifying, that Sting has literary qualities, coming up to the talent of novelists like John Updike for example ... A book, creating a pleasant emotional effect in every reader with his altogether peaceful, here and there viciously detailed, but mostly positive atmosphere: highly recommendable!

If you're looking for a meticulous biography dealing with endless descriptions and enumerations of negligibilities, then this book is not for you.

Instead, Mr. Sumner describes without prejudice certain events and episodes which shaped him and the course of his life. In an uncomplicated manner he lets the reader be a witness of very personal experiences and get to know him, his family, close friends and fellow musicians in a rather unspectacular way.

Apart from reading about a celebrity's life, you will read about good and bad times, about great experiences, great loss and most of all about a life that - up to a certain point at least (which occurs rather late in the book) - is not so much different from yours and mine.

And even if you're not exactly a fan of the music (very improbable, I know :) ), you will enjoy the subtle humor and very readable style of the writing.