Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: A Rock 'n' Roller's 12 Steps to Becoming a Golf Addict

With his first book, Cooper, the original shock rocker, attempts to combine autobiography and golf manual in one snappy narrative; that both parts are equally half-baked hardly matters, as Cooper's simple, frank account of his 40-plus years in the rock and roll biz is great entertainment. Cooper started playing golf in the early 1980s-as many as 36 holes a day-to fill his post-rehab days and keep him from the destructive spiral of alcoholism. Thus, golf plays a vital role in this memoir; indeed, without golf, Cooper might no longer be alive-and not incidentally, the rock legend has since become one of the best players on the pro-am tournament circuit. Cooper devotes 12 sections to his ""steps of golf addiction"" (""Be a Good Imitator,"" ""Let the Adreneline Flow,"" ""Play with Those who Inspire You""), interspersed between short chapters that present a Cliff's Notes version of his life. Revelations include the truth behind the infamous 1969 incident in which Cooper threw a live chicken into a rabid Detroit audience, an unexpected backstage encounter with Liberace and Cooper's late-life conversion to Christianity. While there's more here for fans of Alice Cooper's music than his fellow golfing nuts, the man deserves credit for finding a way to tell his life story that's as unconventional as the life itself.