Barry Miles is the author of biographies of Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Charles Bukowski and other books about the Beat Generation. He wrote the authorised Paul McCartney biography as well as books on Frank Zappa and other rock'n'roll heroes. Among his studies of the counterculture are In the Sixties; Hippie; Let Me Take You Higher and, his most recent, London Calling, a Countercultural History of London Since 1945, which is published in paperback this month by Atlantic Books.

"I have an entire shelf of academic studies of bohemianism, the avant garde and the counterculture – the behaviour of beatniks, mods, rockers, hippies and punks - but I always prefer the memoirs of the actual participants.

"Only here do you get the flavour of day-to-day living, their concerns and gossip, what they eat, drink and wear, their attitudes to sex and politics, the background and context of life in the counter-culture. I have concentrated entirely on the London scene because that is the one I know and was a part of. They are in no particular order."

1. Days in the Life, Voices from the English Underground 1961-1971 by Jonathon Green

Jonathon interviewed virtually everyone involved with the London underground scene and presented their views in direct quotes, organised chronologically by event. Here are their wonderfully conflicting views on who did what, who named what, and who was there. An essential sourcebook for anyone studying the subject.

2. Give the Anarchist a Cigarette by Mick Farren

A personal, often very funny, sometimes controversial view of the 60s by the lead singer with the Social Deviants, ex-editor of International Times, SF writer, rock critic and radical political activist – he was head of the UK branch of the White Panthers. An old beatnik who was there – from the teddy boys to the hippies to the punks.

3. It Was Twenty Years Ago Today by Derek Taylor

The summer of love, 1967, told through a series of interviews with the leading participants from Allen Ginsberg to the Beatles conducted by Derek Taylor, for a Granada TV documentary of the same name. It was Taylor, a legendary press officer, who provided all the razzamatazz surrounding the Beatles in their psychedelic period, and the book is strong on entertaining gossip.

The standard work on the subject. Jon was a central figure in the movement and was therefore able to interview all the major, and minor, participants. It is rare to find a cultural historian who understands his subject so well from the inside that is able to take an objective look. The story is in the details and they are all here. Indispensable.

Jenny, in tatty lace and old velvet, goes on an innocent romp through the hippy Notting Hill of the late 60s. The cast, whose names have been changed, but who easily recognisable, includes Syd Barrett, members of Family and the Fugs (visiting from New York). Her memoir perfectly captures the pre-women's movement sex and drugs and rock'n'roll lifestyle, when the bands were all young and wore tight crushed velvet trousers and women were just beginning to assert their independence.

6. Soho in the Fifties by Daniel Farson

An insider's portrait of the Soho demimonde surrounding the Colony Room and the French pub, Wheelers and Francis Bacon's studio. Farson, who had his own TV show until alcohol got the better of him, has written several volumes of autobiography telling these often hilarious stories but this is the least self-conscious and easily the best.

An American academic's analysis of the Sex Pistols' anarchy in the UK, seen from the standpoint of the Situationist International. Often ponderous, overblown and unintentionally funny, it also makes many interesting observations, and proposes many thought-provoking questions. An excellent companion to Jon Savage's history.

8. Thanks for Coming! by Jim Haynes

Jim, who started the Edinburgh Traverse Theatre and Europe's first paperback bookshop, The Paperback (also in Edinburgh) was a co-founder of International Times and the Arts Lab. When invited to write an autobiography, he had the clever idea of inviting all his friends to write to him with their memories of how they met and any entertaining stories they might have. He reprinted their replies in facsimile, complete with headed paper and phone numbers.

The author contacted all the musicians and regular punters he could find who had lived through the momentous years of the late 50s when first skiffle, followed by British rock'n'roll, emerged from this tiny Soho basement. Told mostly in their own words, it gives a poignant snapshot of a lifestyle, enthusiasm and attitude long gone, swept away when the music business became big business.

10. The Tightrope Walker by Hermine Demoriane

This is a strange and beautiful memoir of the early 70s by Hermine: a singer with numerous albums, a playwright, an actress on both stage and film and a performance artist. For five years from 1971 she became a tightrope walker. The book mixes performance notes with a very intimate personal diary, giving a very accurate picture of London's avant-garde scene at that time.