A Pirate Looks at Fifty [Hardcover]

Jimmy Buffett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 1998

For the millions of fans of Jimmy Buffett's music as well as his bestselling books, Tales From Margaritaville and Where Is Joe Merchant?, here is the ultimate Jimmy Buffett philosophy on life and how to live it.  As hard as it is to believe, the irrepressible Jimmy Buffett has hit the half-century mark and, in A PIRATE LOOKS AT 50, he brings us along on the remarkable journey which he took through the Southern hemisphere to celebrate this landmark birthday.
        
Jimmy takes us from the legendary pirate coves of the Florida Keys to the ruins of ancient Cartegena.  Along the way, we hear a tale or two of how he got his start in New Orleans, how he discovered his passion for flying planes, and how he almost died in a watery crash in Nantucket harbor.  We follow Jimmy to jungle outposts in Costa Rica and on a meandering trip down the Amazon, through hair-raising negotiations with gun-toting customs  officials and a 3-year-old aspiring co-pilot.  And he is the inimitable Jimmy Buffett through it all.
        
For Parrotheads, for armchair adventurers, and for anyone who appreciates a good yarn and a hearty laugh, here is the ultimate backstage pass -- you'll read the kind of stories Jimmy usually reserves for his closest friends and you'll see a wonderful, wacky life through eyes of the man who's lived it.   A PIRATE LOOKS AT 50 is a breath of fresh air and a ingenious manual for getting to 50 . . . and beyond.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Tales from Margaritaville (stories) and Where Is Joe Merchant? (a mystery) secured songwriter Jimmy Buffett's niche reputation as an affable, poetic beach bum. A Pirate Looks at Fifty, a travel-diary-cum-autobiography, features Buffett behind the wheel of his Grumman Albatross seaplane, safely piloting family and friends through a three-week trip around South and Central America and the Caribbean. He blends gentle scenic narration with rambling, unplugged life stories meant to convey that he's made peace with the whole aging process. For Buffett, turning 50 "can be a ball of snakes that conjures up immediate thoughts of mortality and accountability. (`What have I done with my life?') Or, it can be a great excuse to reward yourself for just getting there. (`He who dies with the most toys wins.') I instinctively chose door number two."

On this tack, Buffett plans an opulent, laid-back trip for his brood and goes into so many details about his favorite possessions (three pages on knapsacks!) that the cheerful vagabond in flip-flops is nearly eclipsed by the rich, domesticated businessman/dad he's become. In addition, stinging losses and limitations--his dad's Alzheimer's disease, his own terrifying solo plane crash in 1996--creep into his cozy yarns. Yet Buffett's infectious, grinning attitude towards life eventually finds resurrection in extended riffs on fly-fishing, solo piloting over water, and surfing. In such passages, he earns his claim to a "saline psyche," a legacy inherited from his grandfather, skipper of a five-masted barkentine that ferried lumber from New Orleans to the Caribbean. Sailing and soaring over Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific seas, Buffett looks at 50 and sees a very good life.

From Publishers Weekly

The breezy pop craftsman of "Margaritaville" and "Cheeseburger in Paradise" famously spends most of his time sailing, trotting out 1970s chestnuts on the summer tour circuit?and writing. Buffett's bestselling Tales from Margaritaville (1989) and Where Is Joe Merchant? (1992), among other books, created a world of sun-baked characters whose doings bore some resemblance to those of their author. This memoir draws back the curtain between fact and fiction, and genially takes stock in a manner likely to appeal to the Me generation. Though he rambles, repeats himself and may even raise hackles ("I have been too warped by Catholicism not to be cynical"), Buffett is earnest and unapologetic in his hedonism, seeing his mock pirate's life as the antithesis of the conformity foisted on him as a child in Alabama. In a series of loosely chronological vignettes, Buffett quickly takes us from his bar-band beginnings to a brush with death when he crashes one of his fleet of seaplanes. A lower-latitude voyage with his family (in a newer, bigger plane) to celebrate his 50th birthday makes up the bulk of the book, and takes them from Florida to the Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Colombia and the Amazon. The diaristic logbook that Buffett keeps along the way provides endless opportunities to muse on the music business; his older, wilder ways; navigation and, on the horizon, approaching mortality. Buffett's prose won't itself win him more "parrotheads" (as his fans are called), but those with enough patience or reverence to wade through long descriptions of beloved gear, favorite books or "fucking tikki pukki drinks" will find beneath these amblings a disarmingly direct character. Simultaneous audio, CD and large-print edition; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 454 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1 edition (June 3, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679435271
• ISBN-13: 978-0679435273
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (257 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #328,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #44 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Composers & Musicians > Pop
  • #67 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Composers & Musicians > Country & Folk

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Like to read weblogs?, July 22, 2004

By 

R. Miller "R. Miller" (Aurora, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Pirate Looks at Fifty (Mass Market Paperback)

The simplest way to decide whether to read this book or not, is to ask yourself, "Do I like to read weblogs"? If the answer is "yes," then this is the book for you. This book is as described, a travel diary based on a family trip with stops in the Caribbean and Central and South America. Presumably, it is a time of reflection for Mr. Buffet, based on the fact that he is celebrating his fiftieth birthday.

I wouldn't describe myself as a "Parrothead," but I do enjoy Jimmy Buffet's music a lot. When you enjoy something that someone else has created, you develop a curiosity about the person who created it. So it is with Jimmy Buffet - I wondered what kind of person came up with this music. This book seemed like the way to know a little more about him.

While I did learn a bit about him, this book isn't really a visit to the deep, dark corners of Jimmy Buffet's soul. To be sure, he does talk about personal situations, such as his two marriages and wives, and the problems he has had to work through. Perhaps the most touching, and telling, is when he talks about his father. Also, this book fills in some of the background to his songs, and a song is more interesting to listen to when you have the inside story on it.

But the main theme of the whole book is what a blast Jimmy Buffet is having. I must say that he appears to be living the life that suits him, and that brings him the greatest satisfaction. What more could anybody ask for? I hope that this is the truth, because it makes achieving one's dreams seem possible - an important idea for those of us stuck in a more mundane world.

The most critical thing I can say about the book is that some people will see it as no more than a long brag by a rich, successful man. He goes on at great lengths about the planes he has owned, how he flies around the Caribbean looking for fishing spots, about sailing - all things that "the common man" may have trouble relating to. Personally, I have no problem with this - the man has earned it.

The book is, perhaps, a bit long for the content, but not by much. If you want to know a little more about Jimmy Buffet, learn a little about the Caribbean and Central and South America, and have some spare time to do so, then it's an enjoyable light reading experience. Not great literature, but far from the dregs.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great literature it's not, but it's a pretty good read., July 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Pirate Looks at Fifty (Hardcover)

While not a parrothead, I'm a pretty big fan of Jimmy Buffett. As such, I buy into his general philosphy on life and I like the Jimmy Buffett character I've constructed in my mind when I hear his music. That character still looks a lot the same after reading the book, but not entirely. Fact: Jimmy Buffett is filthy rich. He owns some great toys and has the freedom to work "30-40" days a year and spend most of the rest of his time traveling to exotic locales pursuing adventure, fish, and fun. He employs a pilot and other people who iron out logistics and boring details for him. He's a father of 3 who seems to spend a LOT of time not having to change diapers or dealing with his teenage daughter's tough transition into adulthood. I'm sure that I'm suffering from "wealth envy" here, but Jimmy Buffett's wealth seems largly to do what most of us think that having money would do: insulate us from the less pleasant parts of life. Another fact: Jim! my Buffett's fun yet philosophical "no starch in the shirts" persona is still there, and still worth listening to. He has a lot of fun in the book and he tells a pretty good yarn. If you're a Parrothead, it's a must read. If you're not, you'll probably enjoy the book anyway. I did.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Pirate Family Vacation, March 7, 2006

By 

Sarah Sammis "Avid BookCrosser" (Hayward, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Pirate Looks at Fifty (Mass Market Paperback)

I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir. Buffett wrote it during a family vacation to the Carribbean and South America over Christmas 1996 and New Years 1997. The trip inspired memories of his childhood and of other trips and he weaves these stories into the book. There are also wonderful asides about geography, history, movies, fiction and of course, music. Some of my favorite pieces of the memoir were the times he spent with his then 2 1/2 year old son Cameron. As a parent of a now 3 1/2 year son, I found myself laughing at the descriptions of his son's enthusiasm and energy.