Richards, K., & Fox, J. (2010). Life. Little, Brown and Co. Keith Richards is a British musician and guitar innovator known as the guitarist and songwriter for the Rolling Stones. To read Keith Richards' memoir is to go on a full speed ahead musical ride. His autobiography offers what you'd hope for from one of rock's most notorious survivors: a no-holds-barred journey through the chaos, creativity, and contradictions that defined his career with the Rolling Stones. What makes this memoir stand out is Richards' surprisingly lucid recollection of his wildest years, all delivered with his trademark unapologetic attitude. Richards doesn't shy away from his notorious drug habits, admitting that for years he "slept, on average, 2X a week." Yet somehow through this pharmaceutical fog, he managed to create some of rock's most enduring music. Richards, an only child, was born December 18, 1943 in Dartford Kent, England, his early life shaped both his resilience and musical sensibilities. Growing up in post-war England, he took regular beatings from neighborhood kids ("I took the beatings"), hated school, and found refuge in music. His grandfather was instrumental in his musical development, "subtly leading me into getting interested in playing, rather than shoving something into my hand." Long before the Stones were born, Richards was absorbing a rich tapestry of musical influences. "I was basically a musical sponge," he writes. In his pre-TV youth, he was "listening to Ella Fitzgerald, Sara Vaughan, Big Pill Broonzy, Louis Armstrong" along with "Stephane Grappelli, Django Reinhardt, and Bix Beiderbecke." His first record purchase was Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally," and his tastes quickly expanded to include "Elvis, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Little Richard, Fats Domino." This musical education would later inform the Stones' distinctive sound. The formation of the Rolling Stones, as we now know them, comes across as almost accidental, with Richards confessing, "We had no intention of being anything ourselves. The idea of making a record seemed to be totally out of the picture." Their ambition was modest: "Our first aim as the Rolling Stones was to be the best rhythm and blues band in London with regular gigs every week." His insight into his guitar technique is fascinating. Richards explains that none of his blues heroes were "playing straight chords. There's a throw-in, a flick-back... It's an amalgamation, a mangling and a dangling, and a tangling thing." His discovery of open tunings revolutionized his playing and the Stones' sound. His relationship with Mick Jagger gets substantial coverage. Richards doesn't hold back: "Mick can write! It's unbelievable how prolific he was," but later reveals, "Mick had fallen in love with power while I was being... artistic." He describes their creative chemistry with surprising tenderness: "We always come up with something when we're alone together. There's an electromagnetic spark between us." Richards' descriptions of his drug use and heroin addiction are both stark and revealing. "The life of being a junkie is not recommended to anybody," he writes, yet admits, "Junk really is a great leveler in many ways. Once you're on the stuff, it doesn't matter what comes your way; you can handle it." His eventual recovery and rekindled creativity form an unexpected redemption arc. What's perhaps most surprising is the domesticity that emerges in later chapters. Richard revealed, "I lead a gentleman's life. Listen to Mozart, read many, many books. I'm a voracious reader." "Life" delivers exactly what you want from a Keith Richards autobiography: survival against all odds, musical innovation that changed rock history, and enough drug stories to make one wonder how he survived. Describing music's hold, Richard said, "It was like a drug. In fact, a far bigger drug than smack. I could kick smack; I couldn't kick music."