Book Review: Mentors, how to help and be helped, by Russell Brand

Mentors: How to Help and be Helped by Russell Brand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Russell Brand has grown and changed over the years. He has calmed down a great deal and endeavoured to change his image from reckless wild boy to inspirational speaker. He has used his celebrity to interview and talk to other celebrities and influential speakers from the stand point of his own addiction and recovery, and deeper issues that cover political, philosophical and religious.

My attention was brought to him when he interviewed one of my favourite speakers, Tony Robbins, and after listening to that talk I went on to listen to many more interviews and discussions either on YouTube or his own website where he has podcasts - the new popular format for these interviews - and enjoy the in depth chats and intellectual debate. Russell has a great deal of knowledge on a great many topics, and uses a broad vocabulary and fast delivery, along with humour to connect and dissect all them.

Listening to these drew me to his book, Mentors, and as I expected, having a dictionary to hand is useful when reading it (in fact if you read it on a kindle you have the easy option of just pressing on the word, but unfortunately I read the hard back copy). He writes as he speaks, in a fluid meander around topics, making jokes and side comments, which at times had me in stitches.

I enjoyed this book. However, it was more an overview of Russell's life and experiences with people that have supported him than explaining how to be a mentor, as the subtitle might suggest, although he does talk about some of the people he mentors and talk about the steps he used in recovery from his addiction. It is also a dissection of himself and the growth he has gone through as a person.

At times there were events and people he talks about with an assumption the reader will know the background or history on them, or know who the person is, without providing details, which was a little frustrating. Some might see this book as a sort of display of all his connections, showing off his success and how well he has remained connected through all his ups and downs, but he tries to temper that with jokes about his own 'messiah complex' and own failings, and how touched he is by others stories, never assuming to advise people on subjects that are out of his depth.

If you want to know more about Russell Brand and his journey this makes for an interesting read.

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