The Strawberry Bricks Guide To Progressive Rock

Here's a few encapsulations from very recent reviews of The Strawberry Bricks Guide to Progressive Rock, Revised and Expanded Edition (2017):

“In this updated edition of his 2007 book, an idea of the kind of depth Charles Snider goes into can be gleaned from the revised artwork, an electron-microscope image of the grooves of Minstrel In The Gallery. It’s a heck of a project, and his dedication and breadth of choice is to be applauded. Snider’s summaries are intensely fact-packed but academic – this is still an enthusiast’s mothership.”
--Jo Kendall, Prog Magazine

“[H]is time-centric genre definition cite[s] supportive data from various sources and suggest[s] that progressive rock is/was music created by a generation of men born roughly between 1944 and 1950 (median birth year 1947): Fascinating, and persuasively explained in the context of his premise.
Where “guide” books of this ilk sink or swim lies in how convincingly the author makes his/her case for inherently subjective viewpoints and conclusions. Snider deserves credit for tackling this head-on. The Strawberry Bricks Guide to Progressive Rock is an informative, enlightening read that’ll keep you occupied for hours and certainly get you thinking. Snider supports his [opinions] with considerable research/study. This book offers valuable perspective on where “prog” came from historically, in one handy (hefty) volume.”
--John Collinge, Progression Magazine

“I don't often use the word massive, but this book is, in fact, massive. At over 600 pages, The Strawberry Bricks Guide to Progressive Rock is a sort of bedside reader for prog fans of all stripes. Author Charles Snider taps his deep knowledge of the genre for a fascinating read.
It's a strong piece of work. Snider makes his points well and writes in a smooth conversational style. We don't share the same views on every release, but who does? The Strawberry Bricks Guide to Progressive Rock is very honestly the most enjoyable book on progressive music I've read to date! I must now seek out several albums I never even knew existed before I read this book!”
--John Wilcox, Progsheet

Is it also absurd that you would dismiss an entire book on the basis of one sentence in a review, even when the reviewer (who read the book) found it "Fascinating, and persuasively explained in the context of his premise."

Here is no substitute for heavy lifting, my friend!

If you are referring to what I said I didn't dismiss it based on what one reviewer said. In fact I didn't dismiss the book at all. I'm sure it's a great book for those who want to explore prog further and don't know where to start. For me personally I have all the information I need to buy prog music for the next several years. 

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - August 17 2017 at 06:59

Fairly few books merit the name of a "brick", but this one does: not only because of its name, but also its format that comes close to a real clay brick, though the book's cover is neither strawberry or clay colour like. Despite its foundational reference book nature, it is a brick which you shouldn't place at the bottom of your library's foundation, because you will probably pull it out repeatedly to verify some info on an album's place in progressive rock's history.

Though a lot of encyclopedian music books follow some kind of chronology, Charles Snider has a different concept than most music books, who either go through the history of a musical movement either year by year, group by group. In the present case, he goes one further by respecting a more strict chronology, going through the year's releases month by month, which is as far as I know the first time this has been done. Aymeric Leroy has done this to some extent on his Canterbury School recent book, but if that other (thicker) brick does review somewhat the albums released, it is not its main goal.

Indeed, this monthly release notion is relatively important in understanding as to whom influenced whom and eventually on on which album. Most other books will present a given year's output on the same pedestal with no chronological order, unless a band/artiste has put out more than one album that year.

This monthly release notion is not only an important one, but a sometimes complicated task, as the information is not necessarily easily available/ Most records will give the recording date, but never the actual release date, though one can extrapolate that it would normally be marketed roughly six to 15 weeks after the recording sessions, though there is no rule at all. In some case, the author did not manage to find a more precise date, so he will give "Autumn 71" (which is still fine) or "Sometime in 73" (which means that the author's search for additional info failed)  

Of course the book doesn't fully manage to translate  Snider's excellent website of the same name, as the actual timeline is simply unformattable (read practically impossible) onto paper, unless using the foldable leporello format, but even then I doubt the result will be very practical. Though still focusing on the late-60's until the late 70's, this 2.0 version of Strawberry Brick book sees the timeline extended to the early 80's, and he gives us a rapid overview of decades to come as an epilogue. As another "bonus", a series of lengthy and fascinating interviews of some of the key actors - no superstars, but some essential artistes – are very welcome.