This is more of a Brian Herbert pitty party than a biography of Frank Herbert. The writing is as bad as his Dune sequel/prequels. Really, if someone is reading this there's a good chance they're a fan of FH and have read his books, you don't have to tell us what they're about every time they're mentioned. I gave it two starts just for the information about FH I didn't know before.

I'm still waiting for the real biography of Frank Herbert.

This is the biography of one of the greatest science fiction authors to ever live. Frank Herbert's magnum opus, 'Dune', should be required reading for every English Literature degree course.

More than that, though, this is the story of a troublesome relationship between father and son. Brian writes candidly about his father's overbearing nature and his intolerance for his children.

Ultimately though, this is a love story. Brian expertly draws the outline of his parents' successful marriage, where each sacrificed success for the other in a wonderful relationship that stood the test of time.

The story is wonderful, frustrating, incredible, ref’s to riches, found love, family drama and forgiveness, healing and more. The only problem is that there was a lot of repetition. Statements made that had already been previously made; verbatim. It seems a minor complaint and in a way it is. Overall really enjoyed this book.

Frank Herbert was a jerk. But also a genius. He was also capable of intense love, loyalty, and feeling. In short, he was complicated.

That may not come as a surprise to many, especially when studying the life of an artist. Complicated people often produce art that is as nuanced and disquieting as they are. I recently read the original six Dune books and was curious to read a little more about the mind that came up with such hauntingly weird stories. There is a layered complexity to Dune that almost gets under your skin; after about book four you will decide it's either a masterwork of culture and religion or pretentious crap. Likewise, reading about Herbert himself may either inspire deep admiration or loathing.

Some of what I learned was not surprising. Herbert was an autodidact who eschewed mainstream academics. He voraciously read everything he could get his hands on, with an emphasis on topics like religious mysticism, philosophy, and psychology. Prone to wide emotional swings and bizarre fixations, he may have had a mental illness such as a bipolar or personality disorder. Life was chaotic but adventurous to him; he experienced more on a daily basis than some people do their entire lives.

This is also an interesting look at a father/son relationship, a kind of subgenre of biographies (along with any book that centers around parents and children). It reminded me other similar literary family dynamics, like "Father and I," written about Lafcadio Hearn by his son, or the relationship between Mark Twain and his daughters. There is a tenderness to such accounts that is often tinged with the bittersweet. Herbert was, by even Brian Herbert's own admission, frequently abusive, physically and especially emotionally. His family often suffered for the sake of his writing. While his admirable and long-suffering wife Beverly stoically shouldered the hardship, his children did not (and could not be expected to) understand why their father ignored them. Brian frequently mentions that one of his father's greatest weaknesses was his inability to understand children. To him their shortcomings seemed intentional; one of many roadblocks in his quest to complete his work. The tragedy of Herbert was that he produced something enjoyed by millions of strangers at the cost of his own, and his loved ones happiness.

We are tempted to judge such fathers alongside the judgments being made by the children--to become angry at them if they are too forgiving, or too harsh, or even both. It reflects the struggle we go through ourselves to admit things about where we came from or how we were raised; a coming to terms with the emotional baggage that inevitably arises in any family unit. In the end Brian had a very positive view of his father, one that developed over many years and took into account his many flaws (as well as what seemed like true regret on the part of Frank Herbert and attempts to make things right later in life). I can't excuse some of the things Herbert did (like his emotional rejection of his gay son, Bruce), but I can respect the path Brian took to arrive at the conclusion he did. It was his decision to make.

If you are a fan of the Dune series, this makes for a fun coda after finishing Chapterhouse. They say you should write what you know. Terrible advice if you don't know or do much, but great if you lived a life as diverse and intriguing as Herbert's. Much of what he did found its way into his fictional universes. The time they lived in Mexico, his religiously strict aunts, when he jumped a broken bridge in a car. Or when he researched desertification and the ecology of arid climates for a journalism story, something that would trigger one of the most famous sci-fi epics of all time. If you learn nothing else reading this book, it is to be endlessly curious. Never stop learning and reading, especially if you want to create something.

Interesting work, although maybe would have been better with some editing. Brian Herbert reveals that his father, partly of Catholic Irish-American background, was extremely anti-English. This shows in the Dune universe, where there is no reference to any specifically English cultural heritage out in the future, that I can recall. Frank Herbert is also shown as a longterm Republican Party supporter, on the grounds of extreme anti-marxism, and supporter of President Nixon. He went on a mission to Vietnam to check on the development of agriculture, as part of his work as an ecological journalist, and to Pakistan, for the US government. Not much on the themes in Herbert's science fiction, so a personal rather than literary biography, but revealing and worthwhile.

4.50

I have a curious mind and an insatiable appetite for the stories behind the stories. To me, there’s nothing more shrouded in mystery than the imagination of an individual who is capable of using wordplay to build a fictional world. Where does it come from? How is one able to stack so many blocks without the tower falling before it’s finished? I don’t think I can ever answer that for myself because without possessing the ability to accomplish the herculean task of creating a literary world, it’s impossible for me to wrap my head around it on my own. And as much as I can read any given fictional universe over and over again, I may only be able to scratch the proverbial surface of its existence. That’s why biographies are like the key to unlocking the mystery, allowing us the opportunity to understand the person behind the magic. Dreamer of Dune is that key for Frank Herbert.

Written by his son, Brian, Dreamer of Dune finds Brian extolling the revered science fiction author and his greatest work, Dune. But he starts at the beginning. Who was Frank Herbert? How did he grow up? What can kind of childhood did he have? And ultimately, where did Dune come from? These questions are answered tenfold by way of telling the life behind the man whose myth has grown as large as the tome he created. Understanding the purpose of Dune allows one to see where the seeds for its existence burgeoned. Most know that in the late 1950s he began writing about sand dunes taking over the coastal land in Oregon, devastating the ecosystem and infringing on the property of those living within close proximity. This was the catalyst for the sand story. But he drew from his years as a political speech writer to carve out the personalities and social/societal interplay. Without that Dune would have been a much different affair. And this is what I find so fascinating — how certain experiences shape the way we see and understand the world. For Herbert, that experience shaped the characters, thus, shaping the story.

Besides the obvious, Dreamer of Dune also provides flashes of heartfelt reflections that overshadow the sometimes — ironically — autocratic writer. He was a focused man who needed complete silence to complete his writing, which was his purpose in life. He couldn’t be bothered with his children coming home from school and disrupting his workflow. Though, as detached as he could be as a father, he was a deep lover, someone who cherished his wife, Beverly, to the point of exhaustion. Once she was diagnosed with cancer in 1974 and only given months to live, Herbert devoted a great deal of time to her to ensure she could fight it as hard as possible. She defied the doctors’ prognosis and lived for another ten years. In that time, Herbert became the most loving, caring, and protective husband. Brian has intimate knowledge of this because he saw it and lived it. I come to this already knowing that the end of their love story happened years ago (before I was born!) and yet it affects me as if this all just happened. This is the power of the written word, transcending time and space.

This is a warts-and-all biography but one that needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Brian’s choice to point out that his brother, Bruce, was gay and that he and his parents disapproved of his lifestyle is unfortunate. It’s his prerogative to feel that way, but every time he name drops his brother he also has to remind us of his disapproval, as if he didn’t state it the last ten times Bruce is mentioned. It feels like an unfair platform for mudslinging and the singular black eye on this book. If you can move past that as I have (but had to point out since it becomes an unwarranted distraction), then you will be rewarded for tackling this lengthy but introspective story about one of the great authors of the last century.

Entering the last chapter of Dreamer of Dune, the biography of science fiction author Frank Herbert written by his son Brian.
I have been a fan of Frank Herbert’s work since childhood but I never knew much about the man himself.
I am honestly dreading this final chapter. The book is obviously written through Brian’s perspective but I feel it has been an unflinching and honest portrayal of his father and I feel that to some extent I know Frank Herbert better now.
I don’t know if I’ll tackle the end of this book tonight or put it off for later.

I love Frank Herbert, but this biography was very poorly written. Sped read the entire book just so I could finish it as quickly as possible.

DNF 104

I have a lot to say about this "biography." A lot. I think I now finally understand why most biographies aren't done by members of the subject's family.

Brian completely misses the mark. This book is way too long. It covers every aspect of Herbert's life: from family history, to how good a driver he was, to vacations in Mexico. Brian even includes the story how he was conceived!

It's like, buddy, TMI is TMI. And frankly (no pun intended), I'd have to go through this book like a detective to find the reliable information and the important points.

Frank Herbert was a deeply flawed a complex person deserving of a better biography by an un-biased historian. Herbert disowned his gay son, picked a favorite child (who could that be??).

This is at best a family history, but mostly a middling and distracting autobiography, and certainly a disappointment. Given the writer’s intimate connection to the subject, he can’t express what the reader needs, just the son. And, sadly, the son focusing on himself rather than the man this book is about.

It made me a little mad because it’s much like what Brian Herbert has done with the disappointing series of Dune novels nowhere near on his father’s level. Coattails . . .

There’s one paltry chapter of thriving analysis of Dune. Limited interesting biography. It’s not about Frank Herbert, the writer, it’s about Brian Herbert’s dad.

Dreamer of Dune is the biography of Frank Herbert - the masterful creator of the Dune science fiction series, as told by his son, author Brian Herbert.

I will say from the outset that this is one of the finest biographies I have ever read. Brian Herbert helps the reader understand the real man behind the books as well as gives great insight into the genius that was his father. That is no small task - presenting someone in all his humanity and, at the same time evoking his brilliance - and Brian Herbert shows that as an author, the acorn didn't fall far from the tree.