What a Fool Believes: A Memoir

What’s beautifully written story. Great snippets of the LA music scene, his gratitude for being in the right place at the right time. I thoroughly enjoyed learning this man’s journey! So talented and so humble. Thank you Michael McDonald! Thank you Paul Reiser for helping to bring this to all of us fans 🍀

Loved this autobiography. If you’re a fan of Michael McDonald or the Doobie Brothers you probably will too. I’ve followed Mike’s career by reading various articles in music magazines over the years and thought i somewhat knew his story, but turns out I had no idea. He fills in the details in What A Fool Believes.I got the audiobook version and am glad I did. Hearing Mike read his own book is wonderful and I feel it adds a lot, especially to the many dryly humorous moments and stories. I found myself laughing out loud.His story is not all roses (whose is?) yet it’s still an ultimately uplifting book by one of our great singers and songwriters. Is it possible for a guy this talented to be this humble? I also read the recent book by Doobie Brothers Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons this year; according to them, the answer is yes. He’s also a deeply soulful singer and musician -but we already knew that.

Too big a fan not to love this book. On occasion, he’s less focused on how his tunes were built and why or how he truly felt while among his fans at his concerts. But, those were the only limitations. A great, honest, intimate memoir from a music giant.

It's a great look back over the years and all the great music and all the details surrounding different songs and how they came to be. I've admired him for years and went to each and every concert I possibly could, in my area. A big surprise is stories of other entertainers that he worked with and the details of his thoughts and contributions to other works. A great bonus is in the back of the book all the pages with the anthology of all other creative works that he was involved with. He is truly amazing. I'm glad that I have this book to refer to and cherish his career.

I've been a fan of Michael McDonald for a long time, so this may be biased, but it is refreshing to read one of these rock bios and have it be fast paced enough to really hold my attention, full of background about the industry and funny and poignant. Excellent work! Highly recommend whether you are a fan or not.

What I appreciate the most about this book is the human side of Michael McDonald.He's candid about his personal insecurities dating back to his childhood and his predisposition for chemical abuse. Your average fan would probably have no idea about his personal struggles.I found his musical journey to be entertaining and I really liked the stories about his career with Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers.The origin of popular songs and circumstances around them is always something I like a lot and Mr. McDonald shared that. "Takin' It To The Streets" and "It Keeps You Runnin'" are just two of those songs. I didn't know that he wrote them.As a fan of the Doobie Brothers music I always figured that Michael McDonald was detrimental to the survival of the band. Reading his side of the story explains what happened and I came away with the impression that he's actually not a villain. He brought a lot to the band and without him some of the success might not have been there.The book is written well, engaging, humorous, and overall a great story!

What a great read!! Brought it to Nantucket and read it in two days non-stop. It always amazes me to read what famous people go through and the odds they overcome. Especially when they make it all look so EASY!! This book had me in tears and laughing out loud!! And such nostalgia! So well written too! Love both Michael and Paul! Definitely recommend. (Going on my favorite books shelf)

I've been a fan for years, so I had to buy and read this book. Good "road" stories, good stuff about how certain songs came to be. But did he really have to include the names of everyone he ever encountered in the music business?

Great book from one of the greatest singers of all time Mr Michael McDonald and the guy who sent Ellen Ripley and those colonial marines off to die on LV426…anyway, great read from beginning to end.

Biographie Rock a lire absolument. On connais tous les chansons et cette voix Soul...

WHAT A FANTASTIC BOOK COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN READ IN TWO DAYS SO ENTERTAINING AND THOROUGHLY HONEST ABOUT HIS JOURNEY TO NOW WITH NO SUBJECTS HIDDEN. I LIKE HIM EVEN MORE AND HAVE BOUGHT SOME OF HIS BACK CATALOGUE I HADN'T GOT ALREADY. I WANT TO READ MORE ABOUT HIM NOW.

I'm a fan of musical bios and Michael McDonald's work, so I preordered this memoir in anticipation. I had listened to and enjoyed several of the advance interviews that he and Paul Reiser did to promote the book, and couldn't wait to dive in. However, upon finally being able to read it, I found that many of the colorful stories shared during the interviews fell short in the book; there was really not as much extra context or background given. The essential stories about young Michael's stage debut, picking up (and nearly dropping) a pivotal gig for the Emergency! tv show cast party, the Steely Dan tour dates (the ballerinas, the hummus!) and more are without much additional color commentary whereas the stories are lively and humorous when told in person by McDonald. I really hoped the book would've been more in depth, not the other way around.The other problem, and arguably the biggest in my opinion, is that many of the chapters read in Reiser's personal punchy, comedy set-up writing style as seen in his own books (Couplehood, Babyhood) and as a result, they come across with Reiser's signature delivery instead of McDonald's voice. Eventually I was able to settle in to McDonald's voice, but not until I was at the midway point.My favorite parts were once McDonald gets into his career with Steely Dan, Doobies and his own solo and studio work. I love reading artist bios to pick up tidbits on how songs were written, albums were made and connections were cemented in music history, and the recent autobiographies by McDonald contemporaries Elton John and Toto's Steve Lukather are stand outs in my mind. I wish there had been more industry insider kind of material here, but perhaps those details fell victim to the editor's pen or else they are just vague recollections from the hazy, substance-fueled 1970s and 80s.Overall, I give What A Fool Believes 3.5 out of 5 stars, but rounding up to 4 because the final chapter has a beautiful closing paragraph, and I'm a sucker for a full-circle moment.