Howard Marks - book recommendation.

[Globalti]

I've just finished Mr Nice, Howard Mark's autobiography. He was the Oxford graduate who turned to smuggling hashish in the seventies. I strongly recommend it as a fascinating and enjoyable read, the man has a brain like a planet and the back-to-back scams he set up were truly elegant. The book is also an interesting study of the extradition methods used by the Americans and Marks's nemesis the DEA. I couldn't put it down.

 

[2Loose]

Read that years ago, but watched the film last night. It had lost a lot in translation and focused on how he let his family down...
+20 for the book though.

 

[Stephenite]

Very good read, i thought too.

 

[Svendo]

Excellent book also read it a while ago. Problem I have is it makes me too wistfully nostaglic for the bad habits of early adulthood!
A liitle disappointed but not suprised the film repartedly has to concentrate on the downside, even if that is in Howard's case a consequence of prohibition rather than inherent quality of the substance. Has to sell in USA I suppose.

 

[Yellow Fang]

He did seem to have an incredible memory, particularly considering how much dope he smoked. The biggest problem reading that book is that he'd had more adventures by page 10 than I have in the whole of my life.

 

[slowmotion]

The book is a ripping yarn but I just found HM to be unappealingly smug.

 

[Globalti]

Have a gliff at his website: http://www.howardmarks.name/

Find the multimedia tab and you can listen to some of the DEA's phone taps. Marks comes across as quite plummy and Welsh.

 

[monnet]

I read the book when it came out and then went to see him on his tour to promote.

Both tour and book were most enjoyable. It was pre-smoking ban days, which led him to announce that the police wouldn't want the publicity of busting one of his tours. Consequently it was a very relaxing atmosphere.

I did think the book was a somewhat rosetinted view of the life of a dope dealer though. If he's to be believed, there was no violence. COnsidering he was dealing with Colombian cartels at one point I'd guess he was hopelessly naive or putting his own spin on things.

He also rather lewdly tried to pull my mate's girlfriend in a bar after the gig.

Taken with a hefty pinch of salt though, it is a great read.

 

[PaulB]

I watched the film version of this book just last Friday. The relaxed manner of smoking cannabis seemed so pleasant, that, for the first time in my life, I had a spliff. I enjoyed it so much that within three days, I was hopelessly addicted and by the following thursday, I was injecting Tamazepam into my stump. Highly recommended.