I finally got around to reading A Cellarful of Noise (by Brian Epstein) this weekend and I’m so glad I bought it because I really liked it. The book focuses mostly on Brian’s experiences as a manager and he also briefly mentions his pre-Beatles days so I’d recommend it to anyone who would like to read more about him or to anyone who would like to learn more about management (I read it for both reasons). There are also a few great stories about The Beatles that I might post later on. Overall it’s a really good book but unfortunately it’s really short.
If you’re more interested in a book about that focuses more on Brian’s background and about him as a person (rather than a manager) I’d suggest The Brian Epstein Story. I read that one last year and I thought it was really interesting and if you read both books you’ll notice some overlapping themes. You can tell in A Cellarful of Noise that he had a lot of respect for the people that he worked with and that he loved them and that he was very loyal but at the same time it’s evident that he was pretty insecure and under a lot of pressure. It’s understandable though when you consider how the first group he ever signed became one of the biggest bands in the world. I have so much respect for him as a manager and as an individual and those books just made me respect and admire him even more.
I also finished reading East of Eden last week and it has definitely become one of my favourite books. I’m not going to go into detail about it (because I could go on forever and this post is already becoming way too long) but it’s a great book and I’d definitely recommend it.
