Former Rolling Stone associate editor Robert Greenfield is said to have likened the Beatles to Picasso as “artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original.” It is perhaps this very originality that continues to fascinate those who listen to and write about popular music. More than forty years after the Beatles broke up, new studies of the band continue to appear. Apparently, curiosity concerning how John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr changed the world remains unsated. The titles covered in this essay are the best available to date, but scholars will undoubtedly continue to examine the Beatles’ lives and work for many years to come.