Phil Collins is an impressive drummer, great songwriter and iconic stage personality. What he is not, judging by this book, is either an interesting storyteller or a man of good judgment. "Not Dead Yet" consists mostly of recountings of life events in the style of "This happened, then this happened" (not having read many celebrity autobiographies, I suppose this is standard), and there are only few reflections about the events that really seem to mean something (the early death of Collins' father stands out). Mostly, Collins just talks about how time and again he had a hard time getting his priorities straight and always buried himself in work and more work to the detriment of his private life, without noticing it until much later. In the book, this oscillates between self-flagellation and self-pity, which is seldom interesting or insightful. The four life partners that Collins has had don't gain any profile as people beyond being difficult (Andy), beautiful (Orianne) or caring (Dana).

What is most disappointing to me personally, is how little he talks about the process of making and producing music. I understand that there's no discussion of the nitty-gritty bits, which are too arcane for a wide audience, but Collins doesn't even seem to be willing or able to reflect on how songs emerge inside him, how his collaborative process works, what fascinates him about sounds, rhythms, songs, ideas. Since he seems to be a very intuitive musician, who plays things mostly by ear (according to accounts, for example, in [b:Genesis: Chapter and Verse|1751787|Genesis Chapter and Verse|Phil Collins|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1317064400s/1751787.jpg|1749590]), this is understandable, but I would have been much more interested in Phil Collins' musical mind than in the play-by-play of his love life.