Come for all the his- and herstory, stay for the topical, deep-cut playlists.

Questlove has a chatty way of writing that's endearing and fun, and he connects genres, artists and musical-social-political moments across the decades in smart ways. From 1971 into the 2000s, music is considered and contextualized amidst the events and headlines, triumphs and tragedies, of the time at hand. Records are broken – and literally, in the case of that fateful Disco Demolition nite in Chicago. Rest in Pieces, all that beautiful wax.

This is, unsurprisingly, an ambitious undertaking of a book. Where would-be music historians might be daunted, Quest is truly on a journey here, and he calls in all who would read/listen. His thoughts become a bit meandering and repetitive at times (at 350ish pages), though that's probably part of his particular charm.

This book enhanced my understanding of quite a few standout albums, songs and singers/musicians, from a walk through Stevie Wonder's astounding 1970s discography to a brief, funny story about Quest himself in the studio with Fiona Apple, laying down drums for her track "Not About Love." Happily, as expected, I learned a lot about artists I had little knowledge of to date, like Ohio Players and a few others.

Quest harbors the humility to talk about Barack Obama hiring him to DJ a White House event and then tweaking him for not getting the young folks out on the dance floor. And he has the hard-earned hubris to name-drop at will. Quest's earnest meditations on his own band, The Roots, had me glad that I already have 2010's How I Got Over on vinyl; next up for me will be acquiring 1999's Things Fall Apart.

Overall, a studied, entertaining voice in my music-book and music-history journey.