This book has its place. If you're looking for a very complete reference of Zappa recordings and band personnel changes here it is. But this is not much of a biography apart from a few key facts about schooling, kids' birthdates and such. There are no quotes, and only the most succinct and dry accounts of events. There's a great deal of shallow "sidebar" material on the order of "the single release was a 1:05 longer than the album". If that's what you're after, go to town, but look elsewhere for a serious (or humorous for that matter) Zappa biography.

Sometimes it makes me wonder what book people are reading when I look at other reviews. I have more than 20 books on Zappa and this is the most amazing collection of Zappa information ever compiled. Since more than half of the information in this book has not appeared elsewhere, it was certainly not cut and pasted from another book. It is, in fact, Neil Slaven's book which is rife with errors. This book, in a convincing fashion, proves Slaven wrong time after time with the documentation enclosed within. Why can't other books be put together like this one? If you want to learn about Zappa, this is the place to go after you purchase Frank's book. It should also be noted that the author of "Cosmik Debris" was also greatly involved with the Original Sound CD reissue of Frank's earliest recordings. No other FZ book author can claim this on their resume. I would suggest that all FZ fans buy the book now!

I have read the following books about Frank Zappa:

THE REAL FRANK ZAPPA BOOK by Frank Zappa and Peter Occhioigrosso

NO COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL: THE SAGA OF FRANK ZAPPA by David Walley

COSMIK DEBRIS: THE COLLECTIVE HISTORY AND IMPROVISATIONS OF FRANK ZAPPA by Greg Russo

BEING FRANK: MY TIME WITH FRANK ZAPPA by Nigery Lennon

With the exception of BEING FRANK, all were well written, interesting, thought provoking and worthwhile reading material.

Each of these books (again with the exception of BEING FRANK) creates a picture of Frank Zappa. Each shows a different dimension of the same person. COSMIK DEBRIS is unlike the two because it provides greater technical details. For example, Russo provides the greatest degree of information regarding the business and artistic aspects of Zappa's life and musical history. He shows how classical artists had an impact on Zappa's musical proclivities, but explains historical linkages based on the artistical/musical techniques. For years, I've been attempting to explain Zappa to a friend in Maine who is a classical pianist. I don't think she understood me until I gave her some passages to read from COSMIK DEBRIS.

COSMIK DEBRIS provides an important dimension into the understanding of this artist that none of the other books do. It is more technical than the others are. However, and most importantly, it is a critical addition to everyone's Frank Zappa library.

I found this little number at the library, and I suggest that if your even remotely compelled to read this strange bit of fact/fiction/fantasy, you should get a free copy that can be returned also. I find plenty of these accounts plausible and probably just a groupie account of some wonderful events that meant more to her than anyone else. There is nothing wrong with that but it does'nt warrant a book. Perhaps Mike Keneally could offer some insight on this book. He did a great job at picking apart Ben Watson's self-indulgent/ highly laughable "Dialectics of Poodle Play".

Being Frank: My time With Frank Zappa
Expanded From The Original Classic

Since his untimely death from prostate cancer in 1993, the legend of iconoclastic musician Frank Zappa has continued to grow. The decade following his passing has seen the publication of a number of books, both sacred and profane, which examine his life and work, but the best, and only, up-close-and-personal account of the man and his music remains the original: Nigey Lennon's Being Frank: My Time with Frank Zappa. Musician/author Lennon maintained a personal and professional relationship with Zappa during the period which is generally agreed to have been the composer's most creative, and she invests her recollections with considerable musical and emotional insight.

"....Being Frank can be viewed as a cautionary tale, a cinema verite' rock-and-roll moral fable, an historically accurate emotional portrait of one of America's most enigmatic modern musicians during an important transitional period in his life when he was free of the emotional/financial baggage of the original Mothers of Invention and could do as he creatively wished...what makes Zappa such a quirky individual and his music so irresistible...is precisely what Nigey has patiently and passionately documented...between the two of our books is a valuable portrait of one of the more intriguing and enigmatic cultural figures of the Twentieth Century, god help us all.
--From the Introduction by David Walley, author of No Commercial Potential: The Saga of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

This edition is a reaffirmation of Being Frank's validity as a "must read" book and hell, even a "must re-read" book! Just like Frank's music, the deeper you get into this book, the more you will get out of it.
--From the Foreword by Greg Russo, author of Cosmik Debris: The Collected History and Improvisations of Frank Zappa

"irreplaceable...is the word to describe Being Frank...[Lennon's] memoir is both spiky and musically literate...Lennon's previous books were on Mark Twain and Alfred Jarry, which indicates the kind of cultural perspective required to get a grip on Zappa: something brighter than rock-journo pedantry."
-- Ben Watson, author of Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play

This book is an accurate, funny, and well-observed portrait of one of the most enigmatic figures on the American music scene.
It is most of all a portrait, warts and all, of a human being trying to deal with a human universe, something which Zappa held at a great distance from himself, and despite his protestations to the contrary had difficulty in dealing with. It will and has ticked off many members of Zappa Anonymous who've been fed a steady diet of well... publicity which Zappa in his lifetime encouraged and ironically and inevitably became its victim after his death. I highly recommend this book for those who are interested in historical and sometimes hysterical accuracy. She was there at a crucial time in Zappa's life as a confidant, a lover, and a working member of his band when he was recuperating from a grievious accident which nearly cost him his life. This book is part sociology, part auto-biography and describes her coming of age and the influence that one of America's great enigmatic figures had on her life. She writes well with a great sense of ironic detachment, which is as idiosyncratic as the person whose life for a time she shared.

This is a dismal book. Badly written, unedited, and full of mistakes, this is truly a vanity project. Unless you are a member of Thana Harris' immediate family there is no reason whatever to purchase this. Frank Zappa fans looking for informative details on the recordings of Ms. Harris's overdubs on the "Sleep Dirt" tracks will learn nothing new. Fans of Bob Harris and/or Steve Vai may be a little less disappointed, but this is just one more book that only got published because it has a tenuous connection with Zappa. ...

The subtitle of UNDER THE SAME MOON is MY LIFE WITH FRANK ZAPPA, STEVE VAI, BOB HARRIS AND A COMMUNITY OF OTHER ARTISTIC SOULS. I purchased the book because of the subtitle.

Suzannah Harris has a nice writing style and is quite a romantic. However, I was really disappointed. I was much more interested in capturing the unique picture of the Frank Zappa, etc. UNDER THE SAME MOON is a personal biography with little emphasis on the community of artistic souls.

Thus if you are seeking greater insight to the community, you need not read this book. If you want to read the thoughts and feelings of a person moving from girl to woman, this is the book for you.

I've been a huge fan for years of Frank Zappa and Steve Vai, so it was with much happiness that I discovered this book and ordered it... Just for those parts of the book alone, it was well worth the purchase.

I thought it kinda dragged on and was boring but it had it's good moments