According to a cover blurb, the subject of On the Road with Bob Dylan calls this Rolling Thunder Revue chronicle “the War and Peace of rock and roll.” Though that comparison makes no sense except perhaps in terms of sheer length, this is an enjoyable book.

True, the ego of author Larry “Ratso” Sloman intrudes all over the place; like such equally eccentric Dylan writers as Toby Thompson and A.J. Weberman, he often seems to use the singer as an excuse to tell us about himself. But Sloman does temper his stance with an engaging, frequently self-deprecatory sense of humor. And his book, which includes rare albeit gossipy talks with Bob and Sara Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and many other luminaries, proves as hard to put down as it is fluffy.