Kindle
$15.33
Available instantly
Audible Logo Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial
Hardcover
$32.00
Paperback
$16.79
Buy new:
-16% $16.79
FREE delivery Saturday, May 11 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
$16.79 with 16 percent savings
List Price: $19.99

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Saturday, May 11 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery Friday, May 10. Order within 10 hrs 4 mins
In Stock
$$16.79 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$16.79
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$9.60
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Saturday, May 11 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 10 hrs 4 mins
Only 2 left in stock - order soon.
$$16.79 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$16.79
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Philip Norman
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

John Lennon: The Life Paperback – September 8, 2009

by Philip Norman (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,777 ratings
See all formats and editions
Great on Kindle
Great Experience. Great Value.
iphone with kindle app
Putting our best book forward
Each Great on Kindle book offers a great reading experience, at a better value than print to keep your wallet happy.

Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.

View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.

Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.

Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
Get the free Kindle app: Link to the kindle app page Link to the kindle app page
Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.
View Kindle Edition
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$16.79","priceAmount":16.79,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"16","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"79","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"LjtYDSBIvsjszSu22y7269fJQzyuJXHLWKaBi3%2FzsQhk9%2FVhnyBaHPDhF0x3JwVP7PBS1hfz0mw6rv6RtuLBfRbBgSq%2BAdGB%2BulJTaTxYpiNeq0ZhOq2dtlTGVqHiGB8FIhbcTbivwc%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$9.60","priceAmount":9.60,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"9","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"60","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"LjtYDSBIvsjszSu22y7269fJQzyuJXHLoK3gCPXUk9yk%2BAcGV59cRnzUL0seofgPgLP%2F9PllMUmHv3qvxh0XcpTGesq0WlCtUJyohSjKVm6KBbHCgMIUNC38abb58ccqx9BYrK8GGr%2BgOxra9rsR2vG0RI4ge2jaxXRZyO18I3RhrviH87sVIFOO4caFWjvk","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

For more than a quarter century, biographer Philip Norman's internationally bestselling Shout! has been unchallenged as the definitive biography of the Beatles. Now, at last, Norman turns his formidable talent to the Beatle for whom being a Beatle was never enough. Drawing on previously untapped sources, and with unprecedented access to all the major characters, Norman presents the comprehensive and most revealing portrait of John Lennon ever published.

This masterly biography takes a fresh and penetrating look at every aspect of Lennon's much-chronicled life, including the songs that have turned him, posthumously, into a near-secular saint. In three years of research, Norman has turned up an extraordinary amount of new information about even the best-known episodes of Lennon folklore—his upbringing by his strict Aunt Mimi; his allegedly wasted school and student days; the evolution of his peerless creative partnership with Paul McCartney; his Beatle-busting love affair with a Japanese performance artist; his forays into painting and literature; his experiments with Transcendental Meditation, primal scream therapy, and drugs. The book's numerous key informants and interviewees include Sir Paul McCartney, Sir George Martin, Sean Lennon—whose moving reminiscence reveals his father as never seen before—and Yoko Ono, who speaks with sometimes shocking candor about the inner workings of her marriage to John.

“[A] haunting, mammoth, terrific piece of work.” -New York Times

Honest and unflinching, as John himself would wish, Norman gives us the whole man in all his endless contradictions—tough and cynical, hilariously funny but also naive, vulnerable and insecure—and reveals how the mother who gave him away as a toddler haunted his mind and his music for the rest of his days.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    864 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Ecco
  4. Publication date
    September 8, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.76 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0060754028
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0060754020
  8. See all details
Next page
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Frequently bought together

John Lennon: The Life
$16.79
Get it as soon as Saturday, May 11
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle
$21.99
Get it as soon as Saturday, May 11
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation
$17.49
Get it as soon as Saturday, May 11
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“[A] haunting, mammoth, terrific piece of work.” — New York Times Book Review

“It’s this level of detail that makes Norman’s 822 pages such compulsive reading.” — Bloomberg News

“[Norman] sharpens what we know about Lennon at just about every turn…devotees will relish the new information, while casual readers will find a familiar story told more truly than ever before.” — Rolling Stone

“[Norman’s] definitive biography draws impressively on exclusive and extensive interviews with Yoko Ono and, for the first time on the record, their son Sean…densely detailed, intricately woven and elegantly told, John Lennon: The Life neither condemns nor condones, nor does it consecrate its subject. — USA Today

“The bad news is that John Lennon: The Life is so rich and enveloping that it demands to be read…it’s a clear-eyed and compassionate study of a man...Grade: A-.” — Entertainment Weekly

“Powerful and heartfelt.” — Washington Post Book World

From the Back Cover

For more than a quarter century, Philip Norman's internationally bestselling Shout! has been unchallenged as the definitive biography of the Beatles. Now, at last, Norman turns his formidable talent to the Beatle for whom belonging to the world's most beloved pop group was never enough. Drawing on pre-viously untapped sources, and with unprecedented access to all the major characters, here is the comprehensive and most revealing portrait of John Lennon that is ever likely to be published.

This masterly biography takes a fresh and penetrating look at every aspect of Lennon's much-chronicled life, including the songs that have turned him, posthumously, into a near–secular saint. In three years of research, Norman has turned up an extra-ordinary amount of new information about even the best-known episodes of Lennon folklore—his upbringing by his strict Aunt Mimi; his allegedly wasted school and student days; the evolution of his peerless creative partnership with Paul McCartney; his Beatle-busting love affair with a Japanese performance artist; his forays into painting and literature; his experiments with Transcendental Meditation, primal scream therapy, and drugs. The book's numerous key informants and interviewees include Sir Paul McCartney, Sir George Martin, Sean Lennon—whose moving reminiscence reveals his father as never before—and Yoko Ono, who speaks with sometimes shocking candor about the inner workings of her marriage to John.

Honest and unflinching, as John himself would wish, Norman gives us the whole man in all his endless contradictions—tough and cynical, hilariously funny but also naive, vulnerable and insecure—and reveals how the mother who gave him away as a toddler haunted his mind and his music for the rest of his days.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ecco; Reprint edition (September 8, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 864 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060754028
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060754020
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.76 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,777 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Philip Norman

Philip Norman

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
1,777 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

BigDrumDaddy
5.0 out of 5 stars HOME RUN!
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2015
Verified Purchase
In JOHN LENNON: THE LIFE, Author Philip Norman has complied possibly the most complete, concise, honest and forthright biography of the late John Lennon to date. And it saddens me that Yoko couldn't bring herself to endorse it because, as she said, "He was mean to John."
That may be the most telling aspect of the whole ordeal. For, if anything, it was John himself who was most mean to John - and nearly everyone else. Even the most casual Beatles fan knows that. And Yoko was, in many ways, his facilitator. In others, the mother figure he never truly experienced.
Nonetheless, from his early childhood to Quarry Bank, to Beatlemania and well beyond - until the day of his tragic murder - Philip Norman covers it all in exacting detail, straight from the mouths of John Lennon's family, friends, and closest confidants. And all the names and footnotes are laid out for all the whole to see. So, to that end I say, "Bravo Mr. Norman!" You've taken on one of the most beloved and controversial figures of the 20th Century, laid him bare, raised him up, praised him where deserving, and - not really criticized - but shown us all just how complicated, confused and conflicted this self proclaimed "Working Class Hero" could be.
In doing so you've painted a picture of a man with parental & authority issues, who never quite grew up, yet managed to reach heights never before scaled by anyone in his chosen profession. A man full of insecurities and paranoia. A drug addict. Sex addict. And God only knows what else. And yet he managed to author some of the most endearing, inspiring, tender, and meaningful songs of his time. And despite all his flaws, bared to the world for decades now, he remains beloved by untold millions still.
You've taken the story of this complicated man, and told it in a straightforward, unapologetic fashion. Told his story, good, bad and otherwise - warts & glory - in a manner easy for anyone to understand and relate to. And done a fine job of it sir. And John Lennon fans everywhere (this one included) are forever in your debt.
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Brother Punch
4.0 out of 5 stars Very informative book about John Lennon with an emphasis on filling in about John's youth and Yoko. Not comprehensive.
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2014
Verified Purchase
Lots of details, some of them entirely new to me and likely to be to any regular Beatles fan. Competently written but not as energetic as the author's prior Beatles book. Enfatuation with detail remains, the sometimes envious but always enthralled tone of his prior work is gone. "The Life" is decently paced, interesting, follows chronology but appears to have limited resources (John's 'lost weekend' lasted a year and a half and I think its description covered only 10 pages in this book... getting Nilson to scream himself hoarse and thus ruin his career isn't covered, the many women John slept with while 'on a break' with Yoko aren't detailed any more than to list the one that was assigned as his designated lover (a Ms. May) by Yoko). I was surprised to learn so much more about Yoko, like that she was a classically trained musician and heiress of a famous Japanese art/banking line before meeting John (but which she had broken from prior to meeting him). Her expressing herself in Beatles' recording sessions, onerous as that must have been for the rest of the band, appear to have been informed by more than mere whim. The fact that John had been an aspiring artist, real artist artist with turtleneck and a broad reading list and crazy friends, before his occasional band got good helps to explain partly why he left the Beatles for the actively avant garde Yoko... I think he was well on his way to being an acid casualty too and his plunge into symbiosis with her certainly saved him from the worst of that. Its strange to realize that John was already a married man, already on his way to being a father before he showed up anywhere on TV in chirpy lad mode. This book is heavy with info on his youth, about which I'd only read dribs and drabs here and there before. The last chapter, apparently distilled from an interview with John's son, was surprising and very moving.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Alex
5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Well Balanced Lennon Bio
Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2011
Verified Purchase
Norman does it again with "John Lennon: the life". Almost all biographies I've read or seen on musicians contain about 300-350 pages. Lennon the life is a whopping 822 (that's not including the index). The book is extensive, interesting and detailed. It is very fair, showing Lennon's amazing attributes and faults. And who is more qualified to write on John Lennon than Philip Norman, who not only meet John on two separate occasions and covered the Beatles business breakup in 1969/1970, but also wrote the most successful Beatles biography, "Shout". Norman has clearly done his homework and his passion on the subject and attention to detail really shine through. If I have any negative comments on this book it would probably be on John's later years (1975-1980). Don't get me wrong the writing is suburb and the events actuate, but it goes less in depth on what went on during these years. However, this could simply be because these were Lennon's stay-at-home-dad years and he was not making music or seen much in the public eye. My only wish is that Norman would have gone into more detail in John's Double Fantasy Sessions with Yoko. Overall... An amazing, amazing book. Well written, accurate, enthralling, and just a plain great read. I'm so thankful the author decided to do this John Lennon biography the right way and that he went into so much depth on the man's feelings and life events. I've read several Beatle/John Lennon books and I can honestly say this book is a home-run.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Recomendo
Reviewed in Brazil on October 12, 2022
Verified Purchase
Ainda não terminei a leitura mas estou gostando bastante. O livro foi entregue antes do prazo previsto. O livro chegou intacto em perfeitas condições. Agradeço.
Report
J. GERARDO GOMEZ RIOS
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente !!!!
Reviewed in Mexico on June 26, 2022
Verified Purchase
Me llegó en perfectas condiciones y a tiempo.
Es una magnífica biografía de John Lennon, la recomiendo ampliamente.
Report
Angus/malcolmnews.
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Read.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 14, 2024
Verified Purchase
Decent read and interesting too.
Report
Sakshin
5.0 out of 5 stars For all Beatles fans, Norman at his best!
Reviewed in India on November 10, 2023
Verified Purchase
This biography of John Lennon doesn't disappoint. It's fast-paced, covers his entire life and is full of quirky details of Lennon and The Beatles!
Report
Mary-Ann C
5.0 out of 5 stars Good quality, same author as Paul McCartney book!
Reviewed in Canada on January 18, 2021
Verified Purchase
I purchased this book for my husband for Christmas, he already had the Paul McCartney book by the same author Philip Norman. I was surprised that it took so long to ship. But happy with the paperback book. It is quite thick!
Report