Book Review - Stand & Deliver, The Autobiography - Adam Ant** Poor old Adam, the beautiful face of punk rock, driven by bi-polar disorder and a fierce need for adulation and success, he became hugely popular in the UK and managed a minor level of celebrity in the States. His autobiography then should make for interesting reading, but sadly, Adam just isn't a great writer. I was a huge ant fan when they were at their peak, I painted my bedroom with a five foot high ant head surrounded by song titles, I had a drummer boy jacket (rock fashion is a circular thing, look at My Chemical Romance dressing up as little Adam's) and would wear nail varnish and white stripes on my cheeks, it was just the sort of look that went down really well in a small Yorkshire village. I really wanted this book to be good because Adam was one of my early musical heroes. His life story seems at first glance to leave nothing out, he is painfully honest about his childhood, his mental state and the obsession with sex, but for all the in depth stuff that he includes, the missing parts of the story spoil the book. I really wanted to know more about the break up of the Ants, but Adam dismisses it as "they had reached the end of their contracts," was that really it ? Just like that ? One of the most popular bands of that era ended because contracts had come to an end, I don't believe it was as simple as all that. Also lacking from the book is any real detail about his life after his musical career ground to a halt, the sad events that led to his arrest and sectioning are mentioned, but the last decade is skated over. Adam's obsession with popularity is painful to read, his desire for publicity seems boundless, it controls his mental state. He seems unable to comprehend why his acting career never reached stellar levels, well mate, the truth is this, as a singer you were great entertainment, as an actor you were bloody awful. Adam was fantastic on stage, mesmerising, brilliant, on film he was the opposite, dull, wooden, lacking any spark. He hasn't been great to people either, I suspect that some interesting parts of his life have been left out as they would leave him open to criticism from other people, and it's obvious that he really can't bear any sort of criticism. Stand & Deliver is a flawed work then, but given Adam's state of mind for much of his life, I suppose that is only to be expected.