Recommended Reading: Everyone Loves You When You're Dead

An icon is defined as "a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol of something," for author and journalist Neil Strauss, he compiled interviews and memorable bits of his illustrious career that hit the cutting room floor and brought them back to life in his 2011 book, Everyone Loves You When You're Dead.

The book, which features interviews with Oasis, Lady Gaga, Chuck Berry, Britney Spears, Ludacris, Phil Collins and many others. He paints a picture using the words from these artists and shows the inner workings of their creativity and inner madness plus an inside look into what celebrity life and culture is really like. While Strauss made enemies in his career, he also made stars like Gaga break down and become the most candid they ever have been. An interesting and curious read to what a world and culture we as a society are obsessed with is really like.