Is That It

Bob Geldof's authobiography is a searingly honest account of his early life, the recklessness and gaucheness of his teenage years and his determination to further himself. He makes much of his the poverty that was so trapping people in Ireland when he was a teenager - poverty of ambition as much as anything else. His first sexual encounter as a schoolboy with a woman from his street, and his first job as a labourer in a slaughter house are described in graphic detail.

But then another side of him emerges as he decides he wants to get on. He travels to Canada, and carves a niche for himself as a music journalist, before coming back to Ireland. He charts the succeses and lows of a pop career with real honesty, and makes clear his own views on how facile pop music is.

The success of Live Aid has made him almost a saintly figure in the media. Critics such as John Pilger rightly point out that money raised in the concert is equivalent to only a days dent repayment by Third World to First world nations. And yet, for a small group of individuals, of which Geldof was a key part, to have achieved all they did was astonishing. It was the first ever live global event on this scale.

This is a gripping account not least because of its ability not to shy away from the rough edges that exist in the world: the blandness of poverty in Ireland, the temporal nature of fame, the daily grind of poverty in Africa.