Rating: 
Summary: I liked it.
Review: Written in a Hunter Tompson gonzo journalism style,I found the book to be very witty and funny.This is fear and loathing meets rock n roll.Even though everything in it has to be taken with a grain of salt,I did get a feeling of live on the road with the Dead.Being a recovering addict myself I did get a sense of the problems drugs cause, and towards the end of the book, I think Scully did a good job of potraying this.I feel even though some people seem upset at the potrayal of some of the other band members I was equally upset at the way in which he was cast out of the band after 20 years of service.Scully admits in the book about resentment issues,but I feel he has dealt with them quite nicely.His comments about the band are really quite funny and not really malicous.In general,Scully is a great story teller and a twisted,funny, witty man.I would like to thank him for the book,and if the other Grateful Dead members will not thank you for your services ,I will.Iam sure Jerry would of.
Rating:
Summary: Essential Reading
Review:
Days after finishing Scully's book, I continued to be moved by his insights and observations about the Dead in general and Jerry Garcia, in particular. I also felt a tremendous sense of loss, nearly mourning.
It is as important a historical document as The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, and clearly lays out how the Dead influenced and shaped the budding alternative 60s culture and changed the music scene forever.
Living With the Dead is funny, exciting and quite touching in its "You Are There" style, especially as Garcia's (and Scully's) progressive heroin addiction kills the hope and optimism the Dead symbolized when they began.
If you loved the Dead and Garcia, and need a solid sense of their history, how they did what they did, and why it fell apart, Scully's eloquent and loving memoir is essential reading.
Rating:
Summary: Funny and farout
Review: A gas. Enjoy it
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable but not accurate
Review: A number of Scully's historical facts are inaccurate, which struck me as odd since he claims to have had the manuscript proofed by Blair Jackson. Perhaps Jackson's memory is not so good either! I found the sordid tales of My Favorite Band very entertaining, but remember to take them with a grain of salt. And be wary of Cash Cow reviewers who claim to have worked for the band but cannot spell their names, or much else, correctly.
Rating: 
Summary: Embellished
Review: Although I don't doubt the extent of some of the issues discussed in this book (ie, the moral decay from sex, drugs and rock and roll), clearly it's very subjective and has a rash or two of self indulgent embellishment. According to Scully, Jerry is the musical genius who captained the good ship Grateful Dead, while the rest of the unworthy (in particular Bob, who apparently still to this day doesn't know basic cord changes let alone how to tune his guitar) merely sat on his coattails and enjoyed the trip. Of most interest is Scully's apparent ability to relay pages of quoted, and quite critical, dialogue from over thirty-five years, most of which were spent in self induced medicated states. I don't know about you, but most days I have trouble remembering what I had for lunch yesterday, let alone conversations I had in my younger days while drinking "funny Kool Aid" (unless of course he was writing everything down).
Rating:
Summary: cold
Review: Cold heartless writing. Does not capture the heart, soul, spirituality surrounding the Grateful Dead. Unenlightened author who did not get it, in spite of being there all those years.
Rating:
Summary: DEADHEADS -- YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!!
Review: Find out what happened behind the scenes! The spark that existed in the early Grateful Dead was drugged and dragged down! It was not all light and airy as - it seems to me - many seem to think. Jerry was in serious trouble and on heavy drugs. Know the truth in what was going on. This book explains the difference in the early, (1960's), Grateful Dead and the clearly more sluggish Grateful Dead of the last years. Apparently, Jerry just continued to play to provide money - support for his life-lifestyle -- which was about serious drug use. Jerry, an experience with you and your group changed my life 30 years ago -- Rest in Peace.
Rating:
Summary: Makes no sense of the music
Review: I came to this book with a great curiosity to ground the music of the Grateful Dead in their history. I found this book of very little use in that endeavor. For someone in recovery from drug addiction, Scully would appear to have excessive nostalgia for the years he threw away on drugs. But more to the point, there is very little about the musical evolution of the group, other than Scully's assertion that all creativity came from Jerry, and that by the mid-70's, he was washed up. At least to my ear, the Dead made some GREAT music after that, most notably in the late 70's and early 80's ... I get no sense of why that might be from Scully's book. Nothing about the impact of Godchaux's death on the group, or the multi-media stuff of the mid-80's or, from an earlier period, landmark concerts like the February 1970 Fillmore East gigs. Really, the heart of the book seems to be Scully's shared addiction with Jerry, and I sincerely believe that is not the most interesting story he could have told.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay
Review: I found the book to be fairly accurate, BUT most of it is Rock Scully's personal opinion and experience. He seems to forget that you aren't reading the book to learn about him, but to gain more insight into the band. Overall it wasn't too bad. I have read it a couple of times and enjoyed it. Rock Scully was a close personal freind for many years and he does capture the pre-band era of the Grateful Dead.
Rating:
Summary: A Tabloid Account with Some Funny Stories
Review: I have to admit that I was entertained by this book. Scully and Dalton share some anecdotes about the salad days of the Dead that you probably couldn't find anywhere else and do it in an amusing language they seem to have copped from Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test." (By the way if you're interested in the San Francisco acid period that is THE book to read.) As with Wolfe's book, the combination of detail and the "psychedelic" writing style make you feel like you're there. Unfortunately, like the individuals portrayed, "Living with the Dead" has some serious flaws. The only person other than himself that Scully treats with any depth is Jerry. As others reviewers have mentioned, the other band members are given short shrift. Scully seems to see them as unnecessary appendages, but anyone who has ever listened closely to the Dead's music knows this isn't the case. He reduces them to charactertures and the reader can't help but feel that either Scully didn't know them very well, didn't have much regard for them as people, or thought that a cartoonish treatment would make for more sensational reading and better sales. Quite possibly all three explanations were factors. Moreover, there is only the most superficial discussion about the music and how it evolved. Anyone interested enough in the Dead to read this book is presumably doing it because they love the music and want a deeper insight into it. Don't expect much here. What you do get is a somewhat seedy, albeit amusing, view of the sex and drugs elements without much rock and roll. Ironically, on pg. 69, Scully derides the "irreproachably trashy memoir" "Going Down with Janis," then proceeds to write one that is probably only slightly less sensational. If you are a fan who wishes he/she could have been there at the beginning, read this book for an intimate glimpse. However, be prepared for some unflattering portrayals of people you revere.
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