The Bob Dylan Reading List
With the release of the highly anticipated biopic "A Complete Unknown," starring Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, the legendary musician’s life and legacy are back in the spotlight. In 2016, Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature, recognizing him not only as a songwriter but as a literary figure. Whether you're a lifelong fan or just discovering his impact, there’s no better time to dive into the world of Bob Dylan through the books written by and about him.
10 books
The inspiration for the major motion picture A Complete Unknown
Janet Maslin & Simon Warner
Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties
Elijah Wald"Provides a deeply researched and entertaining chronicle of the culture clash that Dylan sparked from the Newport stage." - The New Yorker
Janet Maslin & Simon WarnerPaperback, 2023
$18.99$9.49 + Free shipping50% off your first book
The Philosophy of Modern Song
Bob Dylan"Entertaining and profound, Dylan’s philosophy runs along the lines of Pascal’s Pensées, or the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius—personal ruminations on how to live with oneself, and the universe. Dylan finds profundities where others find ditties, but he always has." - The Brooklyn Rail
The New York Review of Books & John DickersonHardcover, 2022
$45.00$22.50 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine
Mark Davidson"Subtitled Treasures from the Bob Dylan Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma, this is a 607-page, 11in-by-9in, five-and-a-half-pound behemoth with a dozen original essays, countless photographs, hundreds of illustrations, and plenty of connective tissue by authors Mark Davidson and Parker Fishel." - The Guardian
Hardcover, 2023
$100.00$75.00 + Free shipping50% off your first book(max discount $25)
Folk Music: A Bob Dylan Biography in Seven Songs
Greil Marcus"The most interesting writer on Dylan over the years has been the cultural critic Greil Marcus... No one alive knows the music that fueled Dylan's imagination better ... [an] ingenious book of close listening." - The New Yorker
Los Angeles Review of Books & Joyce Carol OatesPaperback, 2023
$18.00$9.00 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Chronicles: Volume One
Bob Dylan"A remarkable achievement, and like Henry Miller's best personal writings, it is a story that opens up the times that it portrays, and then reveals the possibilities of the human spirit." - Rolling Stone
Chris Hayes & John HarwoodPaperback, 2005
$18.99$9.49 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Bob Dylan: No Direction Home (Updated Edition)
Robert Shelton"This is the straight-ahead Dylan bio by the New York Times critic who first wrote about Dylan for the paper... a good place to start." - Slate
Hardcover, 2024
$45.00$22.50 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Dylan's Visions of Sin
Christopher Ricks"Focusing on the centrality of the seven deadly sins (pride, anger, lust, envy, sloth, greed, covetousness), the four virtues (justice, temperance, fortitude, prudence) and the three graces (faith, hope, love) in Dylan's writings, Ricks confirms Dylan's poetic genius and elevates the poet of the north country to canonical status alongside Tennyson, Shakespeare and Milton." - Publishers Weekly
Paperback, 2005
$17.99$8.99 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Tarantula
Bob DylanFirst published in 1971, this essential volume to Dylan's creative process includes song lyrics and poetry that echo Dylan's wordplay and savvy street rhythms.
Bob Dylan & Rhino RecordsPaperback, 2004
$17.99$8.99 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Dylan & Me: 50 Years of Adventures
Louie Kemp"In this intimate and entertaining debut, Kemp takes readers into his 50-year relationship with Bob Dylan, whom Kemp first met in 1953 at a Jewish summer camp in Wisconsin... This loving account of a long friendship will thrill Dylan fans." - Publishers Weekly
Hardcover, 2019
$29.95$14.98 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Why Bob Dylan Matters
Richard F. ThomasClassics professor and renowned Dylanologist Richard F. Thomas makes a compelling case for moving the iconic singer-songwriter out of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and into the pantheon of classical poets, based on his wildly popular Bob Dylan seminar at Harvard.
Bob Greenberg & Kenneth B SmithPaperback, 2023
$19.99$9.99 + Free shipping50% off your first book