As a biographer, Brian Herbert did a fantastic job. Although he made his love for his father abundantly clear, he didn't shy away from the cracks in Frank Herbert's personality. Frank Herbert comes across as a less-than-stellar character, though his writing is out of this world. Brian refers to his own writing, (Some he did with his father) and though we never get a taste of his science fiction, we do discover his excellent communication skills as he details his parents' lives. More than just a life story of one man, it's a family love story that touches the mind and spirit on many levels.

Going into this book, I wasn't expecting to hear nothing but good things about FH. I'm not so naive to assume he was a good guy all the time. And Brian Herbert did an admirable enough job depicting his dad very factually for most of this book. You can tell he did his research about every job Frank held, every influence that would eventually come together to form the author he became, especially where Dune is concerned. You can feel his admiration for his father once they became good friends, and he harps on and on about how in love his parents were. While he mentions the bad, you can tell he tries very hard to smother it all over with the good later on.
Saddest parts were about the younger son, Bruce. Not sure if it was out of respect or out of disrespect that he's in the book so little, and always under the shadow of his "gay lifestyle". Very unfortunate and different things in this book hasn't aged well. But if you can wade through the praise, he does a good job depicting his father as the complex, domineering man he was.

3.5/5 - 'Dreamer of Dune' offers fascinating insights into the life and personality of Frank Herbert, yet it also left me feeling conflicted as the book has some significant issues.

Despite being called „The Biography of Frank Herbert“, in reality, Brian Herbert irritatingly made this book just as much about himself, seemingly with the intention of showcasing himself as his father's ideal successor in continuing the Dune universe. (In retrospect, looking at the cover art, I realized that both „Frank Herbert“ and „Brian Herbert“ are the exact same font size, which could have given me a hidden clue.)

Another significant problem with the book is the way Brian Herbert repeatedly discusses his brother Bruce Herbert's homosexuality in a regressive, unsympathetic, and frankly appalling manner. It is difficult to believe that such attitudes still persist in books published in the 21st century.

Even setting aside these issues, this book would have greatly benefited from a more aggressive editor making some necessary revisions, as the writing delves into self-indulgent diary-like territory at times.

Despite my reservations, 'Dreamer of Dune' is worth reading for those interested in a glimpse into Frank Herbert’s life, considering the lack of alternatives. However, the book's shortcomings and its regressive treatment of certain subjects should not be overlooked.

Definitely an exhaustive resource about Frank. If you wanna know, like, beat for beat what he did on any given day of his life this is the way to go. I feel like I know more about what Frank and Bev ate on any given one of their vacations than I do about the world of Dune. Also kind of reads like a memoir from Brian.

Brian Herbert's "Dreamer of Dune" is a solid, if unpolished and narratively unfocused, look at his father Frank Herbert.

As any of you reading likely already know about the man's work and legacy, I'll skip the preamble and go straight to brass tacks. This feels like the first draft of a manuscript. What interesting insights there are about Frank's life and work are marred by repetitive writing and a matter-of-fact writing style that comes off as plain boring. It reads like "babby's first novel" - Frank's full name is repeated constantly in the middle or end of paragraphs, the writing boils down to "we went to x location, we did y thing" and a lot of the compelling facts (how Frank worked for politicians, the genesis of ideas that would later show up in Dune) are buried beneath mountains of family drama and Brian whining about how much his daddy hated him.

This runs into the exact same problem as a number of other biographies written by a author/actor's child - they feel that they were aggrieved and let their bias filter into the pages. The only thing that sets this above those other biographies is that the material is JUST compelling enough to finish, although it was a chore doing so.

Only recommend for diehard Dune fans. Everyone else should skip it.

A love story from Son to Father

Herbert’s sons grew up hating him and resenting him and the books that stole their father’s attention. In adulthood, his son Brian started keeping a journal about conversations with his parents. Through his journaling he came to understand and love his father. While this is a greatly detailed biography of Frank Herbert, it is also that story of father-son reconciliation. Very interesting! If you loved Dune, you’ll love it more after reading this.

If you're looking for a detailed biography of what Frank Herbert was thinking as he wrote Dune and other works... you won't find much of that here. A little. But not much. But if you want an insider's perspective on Herbert's family life, then maybe this has something for you. The writing is a bit uneven. It's occasionally moving, as when Brian Herbert is discussing the illnesses and deaths of his parents. But having read some of Brian Herbert's latter day Dune books, I recognized his bland, matter-of-fact "and then this happened, and then this happened" narrative style. Often there are huge jumps in subjects between paragraphs, and little sense of a cohesive narrative. For all that, I did find the family stuff interesting (less so Brian's detailing of his own writing career), and I did learn a few things about an author whose work has been a part of my life for decades. A few examples: the chapters that included (all too brief!) discussions of what Frank was reading and thinking about as he wrote Dune were great, Frank Herbert could be impulsive, overbearing, and a bit of a jerk to his kids sometimes (Brian seems to bend over backwards to excuse some of Frank's behavior, especially toward his other brother whose sexual orientation Frank never accepted), I had no idea that Frank Herbert liked the script and was enthusiastic about the Lynch version of Dune, at least until it was a box office disappointment, and I didn't realize he remarried about a year after his beloved Bev died (kind of a bummer given his tribute to her at the end of Chapterhouse: Dune that has always moved me). Lastly, the book is unnecessarily long at over 500 pages, and could probably have used some serious editing for both style and length. I put it aside several times and almost didn't bother to finish. But serious Dune fans such as myself will find something of interest here.

For anyone who loves the entire Dune series and is fascinated with Frank Herbert's writing this would be a revealing and enjoyable read.

The first half focuses on Brian's childhood experiences with his dad and family, while the second half is about his mother's illness and how his relationship with his father grows and changes later in life.

Before reading this I wasn't sure if I wanted to give the expanded Dune books a shot but I will definitely test them out now to see if I will enjoy them.

RATING: Ya’ Dune Good, Kid

I’ve been pretty mixed on Brian Herbert’s Dune output for a while now. As it turns out, what he needed was to not write a Dune book, and write a book about the guy that Dune-d…yeah.

Brian Herbert recounts his father’s life in a very fascinating way that kept me intrigued. It was both highly opinionated but also rather neutral like a nature documentary unfolding. His relationship to Frank also let me see into a whole new facet of the prolofic man’s legacy — for better and for worse. It was methodical and rich with tiny details, proving Brian does truly love his father and his works.

It also made me super emotional, especially as it goes into Frank and Beverly’s — spoiler but it’s history — decline in health. The slow pace shows gradual change in their condition, which was heartbreaking. Additionally, a slower, more gradual speed is something Brian hasn’t had with his Dune escapades…

Overall, I would read this book if Frank Herbert interests you, or his novels. It’s the best Brian Hebert book I’ve read, and a great biography on its own too!

This book is fascinating because of its subject matter and the person who wrote it. It’s a biography of Dune creator Frank Herbert, and it’s written by the person who’s best placed to tell the story – his oldest son, Brian.

I’m already familiar with Brian’s writing because I’ve read all of Frank’s Dune books as well as all of the ones that Brian wrote with Kevin J. Anderson. I’ve also read a good few of Frank’s non-Dune books, although by no means all of them. Either way, I think it’s safe to say that I’m a fan.

Reading this gave me some great insights into the way that Frank thought and the kind of person he was, and his son did a pretty good job of showing both the positive and the negative. Frank was a real person, and like all real people, he had his good sides and his bad sides. He was particularly sucky with children, and so Brian’s relationship with his father didn’t really develop until they were both a little older.

It turns out that Frank was also kind of crazy, and we’re lucky that he lived long enough to write his novels in the first place. For example, he was attacked by a dog when he was a baby, leaving him with a scar that he carried for the rest of his life. He was also attacked by a colleague with a pair of scissors when he first started working for a newspaper, and he almost drove the entire family off the round in an incident where he ended up flooring it and jumping the car over a gap in a bridge.

These stories all add a heap of colour to Frank’s character and help to illuminate what he was actually like, but they’re not the most interesting parts of this biography. For me, those bits where the parts where Brian shows how his father got his inspiration and where some of the ideas from his stories came from. This covers everything from an interest in zen Buddhism to the time that Frank tried to test whether ESP existed with a girlfriend and ended up guessing every card in a pack of cards, twice.

The result is a fascinating literary biography that looks intimidating when you first pick it up but which you’ll end up whizzing through, with the whole book only taking me three days or so, despite it having a ton of pages and pretty small print.

And so if you’ve read the Dune books and you want to know more about the author, or even if you just like a good biography, you should pick this one up. It’s a pretty good masterclass in what a biography should be like, and Brian clearly put a lot of love, work and thought into this one too.

The result is one of the best biographies I’ve ever come across. It even beats out a lot of the autobiographies that I’ve read, too. It’s just a solid non-fiction book, a hefty tome that’s a pleasure to read. I can honestly say that when I finished it, I was sad that I didn’t have any left, because I just wanted to keep reading it. It was made even worse by the fact that I saved reading this until I’d finished the Dune series, so I had none of that left, either. Meep.

They say don’t meet your heroes, and for a while it felt that one should not read about them either. Now that I’ve finished, I think I’m glad I did. Frank Herbert was a complicated person - certainly not perfect, but then again no one is. Although the writing was sometimes dry and seemingly irrelevant, this was an illuminating glimpse into the personality of FH - especially his relationship with his wife, Beverly.

I put off reading this for more than 10 years, and I think that was a good decision. For the Dune-curious, I think this is a book which should come - if at all, for it is not really necessary to appreciate those texts - after several reads of the Dune series.

Very informative and detailed. My living in the Seattle area for a time made it more of a trip to read about the families raising and exploits in the San Juans and Olympic Peninsula etc.... Brian does get a bit whiny but not overshadowing the narrative or historical direction of the book. Overall would recommend.