The Walrus was Paul by R. Gary Patterson

I have a confession to make. Prior to reading this book, all I knew about the subject was that the Beatles had attempted to convince the world that Paul was dead (just that bald fact, no intricate details), and that when the track "Revolution #9" was played backwards it supposedly sounded like "turn me on, dead man." And that second part I don't know for sure if it's true, since I never had the opportunity to test it out for myself. Thus I entered the premise of this book as a complete novice.

That said, I imagine that this book best fulfills the need to teach the novice. I couldn't expect a more in-depth and detailed covering of every clue that was concealed in the albums that the Fab Four tried to use to pull of this deception. I was entertained with a description of each album individually, with emphasis on album covers, but also the songs and backwards recordings that occured on each album.

One thing that could have made it better however would have been larger pictures so that one could see the details on the album covers to which the author is referring. The pictures included in the book were much too small to see some of the details. Given the rarity of being able to find each album in the dicount bins at vintage record stores, that is. This detail also makes it hard to check up on little things like the previously mentioned backwards recordings. With easy access to albums and (eegads!) a turntable, one could easily find these for oneself. But to the person without such treasures, a recording on CD of these oddities would have been welcome. I mean, I don't imagine every home has an intricate set-up with which to play the CD version of the albums backwards (if it can be done at all).

Aside from all that, though, the book is written in an easily readable style, although it does come off as a bit disjointed. Patterson seems to make leaps from one subject to the next, without regards to how well it fits in the continuum of the subject. To his credit, he divides the chapters into a discussion of a single album, so you are not treated to quick segues from a topic on the Sgt. Pepper's album to a totally new topic concerning Abbey Road.

All in all I rate this one 7 stars. Next book is "How the Republicans Stole Christmas" by Bill Press.

Winthrop