The book not only aided Oliver Stone signifigantly in his movie THE DOORS but enables the reader to connect with Jim Morrison through the eyes of John Densmore. Many fascinating accounts that only John had with Jim leave the reader wondering how crazy Morrison really was. It is fascinating but doesn't leave the reader with an untruthful perception by any means. Morrison was special and he was undoubtedly a poetic genius who seemed to be having an inner battle with good and and evil. Densmore justifies his feelings for Jim based on his ignorance of the seriousness of Jim's drinking problem and inner battle. A must read for any true doors fan complete with Jim's aswell as many others poetry from the time period and including many interesting stories from a racist limo driver to how John and Ray dodged the draft and how the doors seperated and became more independent and much more.

This is well written book of John Densmore's experience growing personally and as a drummer, and his life with Jim Morrison and the Doors.
John bravely reveals his fear, his pain and his guilt over Jim's self-abuse and ultimate demise. Definitely worth the money and the time for any Doors or rock-n-roll fan. Thank you John.

I enjoyed this book and found it very believable. John's insight into Jim's character sounds as sincere as any subjective view can be. This book traces the band's rise to stardom and the effect of Jim's tragic death on John. This book is essentially John's perspective of Jim, which is filled with emotions of love, regret, envy and shame. In addition to that, John infuses this book with his own personal dilemmas that consequently take us away from our insight into Jim's highly captivating personality and focuses on John's life, which remains, at times, pretty compelling. I do not find John's divergent moments of personal reflection too intrusive because The Doors was a band comprised of four members-who were certainly overshadowed by their highly charismatic lead singer/poet-and it is refreshing to hear a bit about what was going on in the other member's lives, in addition to how Jim's personality intermingled with theirs. Also, the title of the book is "Riders on the Storm: My Life With Jim Morrison and the Doors," which suggests that John did not intend to make this book a Jim Morrison biography, but probably designed this book to be a John Densmore autobiography that concentrates on his Doors experience and one of his most memorable friendships. Though this book is not a glamorized version of Jim, it is a very frank account of how John perceived Jim, and is therefore a good book to read because it gives us additional insight into Jim Morrison from a man who worked closely with Jim, and who seems to have painfully loved Jim even though he had difficulty with truly understanding him.