Robin

An entertaining and engrossing biographical account of the life of Robin Williams. All of his milestones are covered and there are some fantastic interviews and bits about everyone's favorite movies, TV shows, and comedy routines. There is also a somber thread that runs through the entire book, partly because of the known addiction issues Robin faced, but mostly because Robin intensely needed validation and adulation for his work, something that is hard to maintain at high levels for as long as his career was.

The book does a thorough job of chronicling the ups and downs of his career and lists many, many projects that I had not seen or was even aware of, many of which were ruthlessly panned by critics. His son Zak explains, “Dad's happiness was correlated very much to how he was doing, career-wise... When there were films that would be less successful, he took it very personally. He took it as a personal attack.” With Robin's well-chronicled depression and anxiety, it almost seemed that being in the film industry was a recipe for disaster for him personally. Who can take the litany of critical attacks over years between the career highs that would save his career? It must have been very difficult.

Ultimately, this book reminded me why I loved Robin Williams so much. The wonderful films are all here: Good Morning Vietnam, The Fisher King, Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting, and so much more. Robin had enough high points to sustain an army of entertainers. He was a singular comedian and actor. Great book about a great man.

Robin Williams was a prodigy akin to Mozart and I never fully appreciated it until reading this book.

A comic genius in every sense of the word with a life of success and heartache that manages to both inspire and give warning.

I read this while flying home from vacation–the book was so absorbing I was surprised when the flight was over. Sad, of course, but an excellent biography.