Customer Reviews

Life Lessons of a Legend

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First and foremost, in his passing at the tender age of 92 on All Saint's Day 2008, I wish Capt. Tony an eternal life of blue sky sailing. As for the book, I must say I was disappointed. I was expecting, as stated on the back cover of the book, "a dramatic and insirping story collection of Captain Tony' Tarracino's remarkable journey from the ghettos of Elizabeth N.J., to becoming a living legend...." Instead, in my humble opinion, the Author spent too much ink on 'his' personal journey in the day (or week) of the then 87-year-old Sea Captain. I expected a 'full life' account, more of the regarding his life in Key West as a salty barowner & ranconteur. It seems half the book was attributed to Capt. Tony while the other half was attributed to the Author's trip and time with the Captain. I suspect that the way the book is written may be interesting to some readers. Based on the book's description, I interpretted it to be a "biography". But as a frequent traveler to the Southern Most City and hobbiest of its history, I was expecting more accounts and anecdotes on the colorful life of the Captain. Sorry! As Buffett sang....'there's still so much to be done(Told)!' Peace!

Like, Captain Tony's co-author, Brad Manard I have also been lucky enough to meet Captain Tony in the bar named for him. He is a true story teller, that captivates every person he meets. Captain Tony, has lived a life of true adventure, love and compassion. From running from the NJ mob, to his many loves, including women and the sea, to his famous friends like Jimmy Buffett. Captain Tony, a pirate turned unlikely mayor of Key West, has lived his life one day at a time and has enjoyed every step of the way. I am so thrilled that Mr. Manard and Captain Tony have told his story together. This was a wonderful "I couldn't put down" book, not only for fans of Key West and Jimmy Buffett, but for anyone who loves adventure told by one of the greatest story tellers of all time. "Life Lessons" truly fill this book, told with the wit and humility of a true American Legend. God Bless you Captain Tony, what an incrediable life you have lead!! I will be looking for you in Key West!!

Lisa Merrell
Virginia Beach, VA

This should not be simply described as a book, instead a true tale of how a man was changed by Captain Tony. I too had the honor of many nights hearing his stories and learning from him. Knowing Captain Tony was an inspiration and a life lesson. Brad's book was well written and well received. I feel he is a gifted author, and look forward to his next book. I considered Captain Tony a true friend, someone who always welcomed me to Key West and made me always want to come back. Brad's book accomplished it's mission, to immortalize the legend in one of history's greatest men. Thank you Brad, Tony trusted you, and you came through for him.

I have just finished Brad Manard's book about Captain Tony and his "life lessons". Having been to Key West a few times, but never having met Captain Tony, I was thrilled to read this book by a fellow Midwesterner, displaced into a Paradise so far removed from our everyday lives. What a thrill to be Mr. Manard and have this opportunity to write about (and with) a legend we have been introduced to by Mr. Jimmy Buffett. I could feel the warm breezes and the salt water air as I followed Mr. Manard throughout the island, visiting places I have been to so many times with so many fond memories. I thought Mr. Manard did an excellent job of weaving his awe of the man and the island into an enjoyable and memorable piece of literature. Thanks for bringing me back to the island and for introducing me to this onery old man of the sea that I would have loved to have known. Great job....and now that Captain Tony has left us, the whole experience is even more poignant. To Brad Manard - how lucky you have been to know this man up close and personal and to bring him into our lives with so much reality. From an Illinoisan to an Iowan - Great work!

I sat many times next to Tony in his famous saloon in Key West, drinking beer and listening to him tell about all the years before. This was in the
late 1970's and Life Lessons of a Legend captured all there was to know about Captain Tony. I bought the book to see if it confirmed what Tony had
relayed to me and it did more than that; for example, his gun running went into much more detail than I had known as did the detail of his various loves and marriages......As was told to Tony, put your memories in a book as a book will live on forever. Well, to the author, thanks to you Tony does live on forever now.

As a huge Key West and Captain Tony's Saloon fan, I was anxious for this book to arrive in the mail. Though it is always fun to re-read some of his more exciting stories, I must say I was fortunate to hear the same stories from Tony in person. The book is a very quick read and entertaining being a huge fan of Captain Tony's. It does however tend to get very "cheesy" and even a little hard to take at certain times when the author drags on about how each little story he has heard has changed his inner-self and helped him get through the stress of being an educator. Dare I say the author is trying just a little too hard to be Jimmy Buffett? If you are a fan of Key West and Captain Tony, its a good quick read that I would recommend. However, many "Parrotheads" may start to see too many attempts at emulating Jimmy Buffett which really starts to get annoying (especially after an attempt by the author to write a song about the legend a la "Last Mango in Paris.") Long live Captain Tony and his remarkable life! He will be missed!!

As a parrot head, I picked up this book as I have with many others, assuming it was required reading right along with the Coconut Telegraph. After reading it in nearly a single sitting, which I hardly ever do, I realized it was much more than a pirate story. I found that not only did I learn a lot about both Capt Tony and the author, but I also learned some things about myself.

There are several lessons that rang true for me in this book that I hope to carry forward in my own interactions and relationships. This book is in no way meant to be any kind of a self-help story, but you can't help but to think that if more people saw the world through The Captain's eyes, we would live in a much better place. True compassion!

Being fortunate enough to be a friend of Captain Tony and the Tarracino family, I read Brad Manard's Life Lessons of a Legend with eager anticipation, and I have to say that this book exceeded my wildest expectations! It is extremely well-written, and the descriptions and characterizations make the reader feel as if he or she is actually there in Key West with Captain Tony and Brad as the Captain shares his life and experiences with the younger Midwesterner. These two men hail from totally opposite backgrounds, one being a conservative, well-educated school superintendent from Iowa and the other being a school drop-out who ran from the mob in New Jersey and ended up as an adventurous fishing boat captain, gun-runner, womanizer, gambler, bar-owner and mayor in Key West, Florida. As the unlikely friendship was formed, it was the educator who learned the invaluable life lessons of compassion, of sharing words of kindness with others and of love of family from the hard-living yet kind-hearted Captain Tony. Throughout the book, the Captain tells, in his own words, many wonderful stories of his exciting life, going all the way back to his childhood and early days in Key West, including stories about his friendships with people such as Jimmy Buffett, Mel Fisher, and Shel Silverstein. This book is excellent and captures the true essence of the `Salt of Key West,' the legendary and beloved Captain Tony.

I guess it helps if you are a Jimmy Buffet fan and a lover of Key West... if you are you will LOVE this book! I had the pleasure of meeting Captain Tony just a few months before he died and it was so nice to read about his life in this book... and what a life! But there are lessons to be learned... compassion... find the jewel... an act of kindness... I feel Capt Tony has helped make me a better person after reading this book... give it a try!

Most people, at least many I know, don't live life to the fullest. They spend their lives half-asleep, living in the suburbs, mowing the lawn, going to a job they hate but feel they can't leave. In short, too many of us live distant from what we truly want to be. What a shame. Capt Tony, on the other hand, lived life to the fullest. He didn't waste a day -- and that's a lesson we can all learn from him.

Manard's book was inspiring for me. The author, Brad Manard, was like most of us -- just a regular guy from the midwest who spent much of his life being "good," doing what society told him he should do. But deep down inside he was never truly happy because he was living without passion. A few trips to Key West and 10 days with Capt Tony woke him up and showed him that it was okay to live the life you dream. There are great life lessons, as the book title suggests, in this book and in Capt Tony's story. But the most powerful lesson of all my be Brad Manard's: wake up and do what inspires you before it's too late.