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Full disclosure: I have been a Rush fan since high-school, which is perhaps why I rate this biography so highly.

Geddy Lee was the bassist of the Canadian power-trio Rush, a band that started out of Geddy Lee and fellow guitarist Alex Lifeson's highschool dreams and became a multi-platinum giant of the global music business over 40 years, while still maintaining the highschool nerdiness of its admittedly nerdy founders. Drummer Neil Peart joined the band just as they broke into the mainstream in 1974, and these three truly became like brothers.

This genuine and open style, with often self-deprecating, Canadian humour makes this book a treat to read for not only Rush fans, but perhaps anyone who grew up in Canada in the 1970s through 1990s. Lees narrative style is much like sitting in your suburban basement with your best friend, shooting the breeze and reliving memories.

Not all the memories that Lee shares are sunshine and rainbows either. He quite rightly delves into some sad and scary family history, explaining how his parents met and miraculously survived the holocaust as Polish Jews. You can see how this left an indelible mark on the young Gershon Lee Weinrib, living in suburban Toronto. He became somewhat of a rebel when his father died when he was just a young teenager--growing his hair long, listening to "weird" music, changing his name to something "stage-friendly" and losing all interest in school. Although he had quite a different highschool experience than me and most Canadian kids, there is something familiar about the alienation of adolescence that people of all different strokes can easily identify with.

After exploring his early years and family of origin story, the book moves logically and chronologically through the band's development and the adventures they have as a prolific album producing and touring group.

Geddy is not too shy about getting into more personal details that play into his story, while adroitly avoiding salaciousness and gossip. I must admit, the stories of drug consumption surprised me a little, as the band members always comported themselves with such dignity in public and pulled off amazing and professional stage performances. But this is the essential thing about Rush and those three gentlemen: they were genuinely interested in expressing their art to the fullest without the pretensions that others at that level may fall into. To the very last show in the summer of 2015, they were essentially three high-school nerds, living their musical dream. The drug scene of the 70-80s was perhaps unavoidable, and it seems not to have negatively affected them.

Of necessity, the closing chapters are tinged with sadness with the passing of drummer Neil Peart, whose life had already stumbled over earlier tragedies due to the untimely death of his teenage daughter and his wife, both within a year in 1998. Once again, Geddy handles it well, expressing his emotions with dignity and candor while letting his fans know what those days were like for him and Alex and their families. Rush can never exist again as it was, but the amazing story of these guys should last a very long time.

I consumed this book quickly, reading its 500 pages, also filled with wonderful photographs, in just two weeks. It also got me listening to Rush again, which I haven't done much of in the last few years!