Rob Chapman lifts the veil of secrecy that has surrounded the legend of Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett for nearly four decades, drawing on exclusive access to family, friends, archives, journals, letters, and artwork to create the definitive portrait of a brilliant and tragic artist. Besides capturing all the promise of Barrett's youthful years as a rock star, Chapman challenges the notion that Barrett was a hopelessly lost recluse in his later years and creates a portrait of a true British eccentric whois rightfully placed within a rich literary lineage which stretches through Kenneth Grahame, Hilaire Belloc, Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, John Lennon, David Bowie, and on up to Damon Albarn of Blur.