A founding member of Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver--and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee--shares the story of his rise to the pinnacle of fame and fortune, his struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction, his personal crash and burn, and his phoenix-like transformation.

In 1984, at the age of twenty, Duff McKagan left his native Seattle--partly to pursue music but mainly to get away from a host of heroin overdoses then decimating his closest group of friends in the local punk scene. In L.A. only a few weeks and still living in his car, he answered a want ad for a bass player placed...

One wouldn't usually turn to a veteran of Guns N' Roses for advice on how to live, but Duff McKagan is not a typical rock musician. He got sober at thirty, went back to school, got smart about money, fell in love, became a father, and got his life back on track. Through trial and considerable error, Duff learned to strike the balance between family and work, travel and contentment, financial aptitude and sacrifice.

In How to Be a Man, Duff takes the reader into the life of an international rock musician and shares, with disarming candor and humor, the solid life lessons he's...