Devouring Disney - A Reading List

[suorkaterina]

I was listening to the introduction podcast and Pete mentioned when he first started loving Disney that he devoured books on Disney. I just wanted to put a request out there to the team and to all you Disney fanatics. What are your favorite books about Disney the man, the parks, the magic?

And hopefully I can find the Kindle version of them

I apologize if this is a repeated question. I did a search but didn't find a thread like this. If you've seen one please post a link for me. Thank you!

 

[vegetablegirl]

Right now, I'm reading Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination which is a very, very detailed look at his life and has turned out to be very interesting.

I also have Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real. It's a little old, it doesn't include Animal Kingdom, but the drawings and stories in that book are incredible! It starts off with the original drawings of Disneyland up to the opening of Disneyland Resort Paris.

 

[WaltD4Me]

Right now, I'm reading Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination which is a very, very detailed look at his life and has turned out to be very interesting.

I also have Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real. It's a little old, it doesn't include Animal Kingdom, but the drawings and stories in that book are incredible! It starts off with the original drawings of Disneyland up to the opening of Disneyland Resort Paris.

Is the book you are reading now by Neil Gabler? I haven't read it yet, but I remember hearing Diane Disney wasn't happy about his book, just wondering if it's Anti-Walt (for lack of a better term)

There are alot of great books about Disney. I am reading an biography about Roy Disney right now that is really interesting and I just finished a book about Walt a few months ago, but I can't think of the name of it at the moment. If you go to the Disney Movies & Books Forum there are a couple threads discussing books about Disney. That forum is right under the Community Boards forum on the main forum page list.

 

[phred84044]

Is the book you are reading now by Neil Gabler? I haven't read it yet, but I remember hearing Diane Disney wasn't happy about his book, just wondering if it's Anti-Walt (for lack of a better term)

There are alot of great books about Disney. I am reading an biography about Roy Disney right now that is really interesting and I just finished a book about Walt a few months ago, but I can't think of the name of it at the moment. If you go to the Disney Movies & Books Forum there are a couple threads discussing books about Disney. That forum is right under the Community Boards forum on the main forum page list.

Yes, that is the one by Gabler. I very much enjoyed this book as it told from his childhood until his death. I don't know if this is the one that Diane didn't like.

 

[txvjc]

I'm really enjoying Realityland by David Koenig...it's been on my list for awhile I just never had a chance to read it...it chronicles WDW from the very beginning

I also enjoyed Spinning Disney's World by Charles Ridgeway, and looking forward to reading Project Future by Chad Emerson

 

[vegetablegirl]

Is the book you are reading now by Neil Gabler? I haven't read it yet, but I remember hearing Diane Disney wasn't happy about his book, just wondering if it's Anti-Walt (for lack of a better term)

There are alot of great books about Disney. I am reading an biography about Roy Disney right now that is really interesting and I just finished a book about Walt a few months ago, but I can't think of the name of it at the moment. If you go to the Disney Movies & Books Forum there are a couple threads discussing books about Disney. That forum is right under the Community Boards forum on the main forum page list.

That's it. I definitely haven't seen it as anti-Walt, but then, I haven't finished it yet. To me, it just seems like a lot of facts, some more positive and some not so much so. I certainly haven't read anything yet to suggest that Gabler felt any sort of negativity towards him. I hope it stays that way.

 

[DrMomof3]

I'm so excited you posted this question since I've been wondering the same thing. My DH doesn't totally "get" my Disney addiction so I'm always looking for "healthy" outlets and I've been book-browsing. Of course since both of our Kindles are on a single account, he'll get any book that I download...
(He does enjoy the trips that I obsessively plan but he doesn't understand the obsessive part and recently accused me of raising 3 mini-Disney addicts!)

Amanda

 

[eazyeray]

How about Mousejunkies? It's not a heavy read but enjoyable.

 

[Disneysnel]

That's it. I definitely haven't seen it as anti-Walt, but then, I haven't finished it yet. To me, it just seems like a lot of facts, some more positive and some not so much so. I certainly haven't read anything yet to suggest that Gabler felt any sort of negativity towards him. I hope it stays that way.

I am almost finished with this one and I agree with you completely. It is kind of a "just the facts" kind of book but VERY interesting and informative.

 

[dizneedoll]

Realityland by David Koening and Project Future (forget the authors name)
both are about how Walt Disney World came to be. I also like all the books by Jason Surell. He has 3 books that chroncile the development and building of POTC, HM and his last book is about the "mountains" of Disney. "Designing Disney" by John Hench is a must have. "When the World Began" is another book about the design and building of WDW, It's a bit older but still great. I'm not sure if that one is still in print or not. "Disney War" is all about the Eisner years and fight with Roy Disney.
"So You're Going to Walt Disney World" by Steve Russo is a slim little book along the same lines as Mousejunkies but I found much more entertaining and accurate. Oh and another one I like is "Mouse Tales" also by David Koening.

 

[shalom]

I liked Realityland and found it an easy and informative read.

It's pretty uneven,but I quite liked The Magic Kingdom : Walt Disney and the American way of life by Steven Watts. He talks a lot about how Disney's social environment influenced him, and how Disney influenced the social environment. I found the book uneven because he veers off into discussions of various aspects and people that influenced or interacted with Disney life. If you find that person or topic interesting independent of Walt, as was the case for me with the sections on Roy and Lillian, then the stuff more focused on Disney's influences is as interesting as when the author sticks closer to Walt. If not, well....

I suspect I particularly liked The Magic Kingdom because it's the book I was looking for (but didn't get) way back when I read The Disney Version. I thought Watts "got" Disney, had a fair grasp of who he was and where he was coming from, not just from outside, but from within. Seems to me Watts didn't always agree with Disney, but he understood what Disney was trying to accomplish.

 

[bellaDisneydncr]

One of my favorites is a fiction book, really not authorized by Disney lol
It's Waking Walt by Larry Pontius. It's a fictional story about what if Walt really was cryogenically frozen.

 

[WaltD4Me]

One of my favorites is a fiction book, really not authorized by Disney lol
It's Waking Walt by Larry Pontius. It's a fictional story about what if Walt really was cryogenically frozen.

Oh my! I love this book too. Rare that I find someone else who has read it. I think it's out of print now. It's definitely a book for a Disney fan, it was kinda weird, but interesting and for sure made you think.... "What if????"

 

[Illini Disney Guy]

I really enjoyed Designing Disney. It went into a lot of the reasons that they made the decision for color and the like going all the way back to the 1964 Worlds Fair. Great Book.

I am looking to read Designing Disney's Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance next. It looks really fascinating on how the cold war affected some of the ways the parks were built.

Tom

 

[kramer222]

There's a lot of non-fiction that I want to read, including that newer Walt Disney biography: looks fantastic. But something I did come across was a science fiction book about Disney World titled "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" by Cory Doctorow. It's a quick read, and pretty fun. It has it's faults, but I think Disney addicts will have much more fun with it than non-Disneyphiles.

Nate