[close] The life and music of Iceland's Björk Gudmundsdottir, from her origins as a burgeoning child star and her days spent training on the battleground of Iceland's notoriously seditious punk scene to her eventual emergence as one of pop music's pioneering figures, are explored in this comprehensive biography. Punk extremist, teenage mother, fashion iconoclast, fierce independent, emotional conduit, feminist antihero, reluctant actress, unabashed music geek, and lover-no side of the complex artist is left unexamined. Described are Björk's merging of naturalism with technology, self-empowerment with unflinching vulnerability, and elements of avant-garde and experimental music with her own irrefutably unique sensibilities. Containing a detailed songbook and more than 30 exclusive interviews with close family members, past band mates, and frequent collaborators, this is an exhaustive and revealing look at the life, music, and philosophy of one of modern music's most compelling innovators. [close]