Fascinating book about a world I've never experienced and am not likely to. ( )

the writing is quite compelling and funny. the stories go from very grotesque to extremely comedic, laughing out loud kind of stuff. it seems like a very truthful telling of the life of a street tattoo shop and -if it's not truthful- at the very least it's quite entertaining. two things related to the tattooing world i loved about this book: one, his musings on the style known as "traditional american" and it's resurgence. two, his questioning of the conservative ways in which information is kept hidden among tattooers (a situation that is slowly changing). fun to read. ( )

A goal of mine is to eventually get a tattoo, which would be my first one.

Jeff Johnson's "memoir" of his life at his co-owned tattoo shop is a wonderful reading of the "behind the scenes" of a tattoo shop.

Jeff Johnson has a mixture of his life at the shop, his home life and what he thinks of as the future of tattooing.

A quick and interesting read for anyone, not just ones who are interested in tattoos. ( )

Jeff Johnson's Tattoo Machine is part memoir, part cautionary tale for those wanting their first tattoo, and part breast-beating brag. It reads very fast, and each chapter is an essay on a particular aspect of the tattoo industry. Johnson does a good job of holding the reader's interest, but in the end it feels too light and too repetitive. I'd recommend it to those who enjoyed the reality shows "Miami Ink" and "L.A. Ink," as it goes more in depth and is more revealing of the sex and drugs involved in the business, which can't be shown on television. ( )

Tattoo artist Johnson tells stories and anecdotes from his almost 20 years in the business. Some give interesting looks behind the scenes of a tattoo shop; some are gross; some funny. Danger, practical jokes, and lots of drugs and drinking feature prominently in the day-to-day life in a tattoo shop. It becomes a little repetitive, and could have used more editing. ( )