This book is a good Dire Straits reference if you are looking for the earlier era of Straits. But if you are looking for a complete biography, this book will not do very well. Being published in 1984, it really only covers less than half the bands history.(They both recorded and toured until the early nineties.) However, the period it does cover, it covers superbly. The author has known Mark Knopfler, Straits lead guitarist, since Knopflers teaching days in london in the late '60's and has followed the Straits closely up to the time the book was published. This book is fully authorized and was written in cooperation with the band