Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon

Paul Simon's life and career is already well chronicled though Marc Elliot's exhaustive biography (A Life, 2010) and Robert Hilburn's dry and factual biography (The Life, 2018) so you could well question whether the world needs another.Malcolm Gladwell is know for his best selling pop social science books which are both engaging and entertaining. Gladwell states at the beginning of this remarkable extended podcast that he is not interested in re-telling the story of the Jewish boy from Queens who made good but was more interested in getting to know Paul Simon and understanding his creative process. He did this through a series of meetings (9 in all around, 5 hours each) which he recorded and what we have here is an edited version of the discussions during which Paul Simon discusses his life and career as if he talking to a friend.We learn how Simon's cultural identity influences but does not define his work and, most interesting of all, how he approaches the creative process. Simon's enthusiasm is infectious, as is his dedication to pushing boundaries exploring different musical traditions. He is highly self critical and strives for perfection (The Boxer took over 100 hours of studio time to record) and Simon comes over as someone who has an exacting ear and a disenable taste. We hear snippets of songs throughout this podcast style recording and this will be fascinating for anyone interested in music.

Unbelievably short for what is claimed by Malcolm Gladwell in the selling of this product. So much is promised and so little delivered. Very disappointed. I regret this purchase.

I like Malcolm Gladwell. I listen to his podcast all the time and he has a definite way of telling a story and it puts him front and centre of the narrative. That’s fine when he’s telling you a story about something new that you don’t know anything about but it’s distracting when the subject is your favourite singer-songwriter and all you want is to hear them talk and play guitar forever. Also, in a World where McCartney just released a two volume set of books about the lyrics of 154 songs, 5 hours seems nowhere near enough time to do justice to someone who released his first record in 1957 and is apparently still working on another one at the age of 80. Books would have been interesting but probably unsatisfactory because Simon is not simply a poet or songwriter. He makes records. Dylan is a songwriter and many people have made much better versions of his songs than he has but Simon’s records are a definitive statement. Sometimes covered but rarely equalled.I enjoyed it for what it was. A very long episode of Broken Record and the £3.99 I paid Audible seems fair but I would gladly have paid much more to hear all 30 hours of conversations on their own.

An incredibly moving, honest, and beautiful musical journey through Paul Simon's career. Malcolm Gladwell's storytelling transforms this from just another narrative about a musician into something so emotional and thought provoking.

Hugely disappointing that this has been advertised as 30hrs of discussion with Paul Simon when it has been whittled down to 5 hours. In essence this is a glorified podcast episode.

I love Paul Simon, and did enjoy this audiobook. Love just listening to Paul’s voice, but it sadly is way too short at just 5 hours. Before the book came out, the author said there was 30 hours of material taken over many interviews done, so a disappointment really that only 5 hours were used! Also, although I enjoyed the stories and where the song ideas came from, I actually already heard or read a lot of it before, as I’ve been a Paul fan for years. Still, glad I heard it. Needs a follow up using more of that material gathered!

Wonderful loved it