[David]

I actually bought this book yesterday and I finished it last night. Sure, it has some good juicy stuff, even if the narrative is obviously constructed in a cheesy, after-the-fact approach. But the flaws are threefold for this sort of book:

• The photos are blurry or fuzzy or just stupid. Can’t you find some better photos from a year in the studio? How about check Tumblr? Or call Peter Beard for tearsheets.

• We’re not interested in your love life or your immigration story or your shenanigans around town if Fleetwood Mac weren’t involved. Way too much space is given to such claptrap. If you didn’t feel like writing more about Fleetwood Mac (or couldn’t remember anything else to add), shorten your damn book and lower the price a little. Don’t pad it with your personal detritus. Start a blog instead.

• Last but most important, you’re both longtime studio engineers but the rest of us are not. This book is absolutely filled with techno-geek jargon that probably 99 percent of us don’t understand. Why didn’t you bother paraphrasing some of this recording verbiage into something that would mean something to us readers? Are you just showing off your knowledge? There were so many times I wanted to hear a clear, straightforward description of the technology and the approach (for example, mic setup or instrument placement around the room) for certain songs but couldn’t wade through the clotted undergrowth of your pseudodescriptive language. It was pretentious. I have a pretty good background in music theory, can read staff notation, and play an instrument, but I couldn’t understand you 75 percent of the time you were discussing the songs or the studio. “Let’s put the amp in the iso room with two close mics on it.” Uhh, sure.

I give this book a 5 out of 10. The Rumours book is arriving next.