Customer Reviews

Sharing Good Times

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

An amazing book by an amazing man. Discount the last reviewer. If he did read it, it must have been over his head, especially since he gives five star reviews to Prince albums. Nobody likes a hater, especially a nerdy loner with no taste. Jimmy Carter is an amazing man and we could all do well by learning something from him, myself and haters included.

Sharing Good Times by President Jimmy Carter

President Carter has written another excellent book, this one is his 19th. I think that this book is unique in that he touches on and vividly describes his thoughts and feelings on very personal and private topics. He admits that he had difficulties sharing problems and tribulations early on in his life. He talks frankly of how he has made such a conscious effort to involve his wife and other family and friends in his affairs and he describes how beautifully this has paid off for him. In his first campaign, for example, he didn't even discuss this life changing decision with her until he was getting dressed to register as a candidate on his 38th birthday. Now he and his wife Rosalynn are such equal partners that this early beginning seems so unreal. I believe that this book will have a similar positive effect on historians and casual President Carter and Mrs. Rosalynn Carter enthusiasts, as did his well-known book An Hour Before Daylight.
He provides the reader with an inside view of major personal events of his life. It begins with his early life growing up in a small Georgia town of Plains, Georgia, and continues to write of events up through August of 2004. This book gives his unique perspective of life before, during, and after his presidency. We are treated with wonderful stories throughout the book on many topics such as baseball, Navy life, traveling with his family, campaigns, sporting activities, White House vacations, and private hobbies. He has a few humorous stories concerning his eleven grandchildren, which are just delightful.
Most importantly, President Carter opens up about topics, which are dear to his and his wonderful wife's hearts; serving others. He provides insight of some of his volunteer work and he also writes of some of his activities at his real life's passion, the Carter Center. This modest man really glows throughout this book and I am very happy to see that he has allowed us to learn more about his current work at the Carter Center as he strives to "wage peace, fight disease and build hope", throughout the world.
Mr. President, thanks for "sharing" this great book with us.
Ricardo A. Fernandez
Orland Park, Illinois

Former President Jimmy Carter's latest book is in many ways and addendum to some of his earlier works and it includes many stories that will be found in those previous works. In this book however, Carter adds to and builds on those previous stories and in a few cases adds details that he probably left out of his earlier books on purpose. President Carter may seem like an austere and serious individual but as one follows his adventures in this book his lighthearted and fun-loving side becomes obvious. In many instances I was reminded of the perpetual adolescence of Teddy Roosevelt.

In this book the former President chronicles many of the, "Good Times" in his life. He writes of vacations, side excursions to business trips, and his numerous hobbies. It seems that even on the most serious trips that President Carter makes for the Carter Center he takes at least some time for his hobby of bird watching. This is an addictive hobby that I share with Mr. Carter and can fully relate to his excitement when first spotting a new species. My wife often notes that around our house the birds will always have food whether we do or not.

The real story behind these tales of adventure however is the story of how the former President learned to fully include his family and friends in his adventures. Most Southern men who grew up in the pre World War II South have the common trait of being somewhat aloof. There is no doubt that these men love their families but they have a very hard time expressing or sharing that love. My father was born about ten years before President Carter and shared this same problem with him. I have found that sometimes I even have a little problem in this area and from both my own experience and my experiences with my father I can relate very well with Jimmy Carter's struggle. I have learned, as has Mr. Carter, that shared fun is the best kind of fun and I applaud the former President for the open way he has addressed this problem in this book.

Despite the serious nature of this book's main plot, this book is a very fun read. The more Mr. Carter writes the better he is at it and this may be his must enjoyable book yet. The stories are generally about activities that almost everyone can relate to right down to late night 'coon hunts. I once visited President Carter's church and watched as he showed off the TV stand he had made for the church. He talks about his woodworking in this book and admits that is one of the hobbies he enjoys pursuing alone. He does enjoy sharing the fruit of his labor with others though and I think he was as proud of that TV stand as he is of the Camp David Accords. Thankfully he also shares his private hobby of writing with the rest of us and he can be just as proud of this book as he is of that TV stand.

This is probably the most inconsequential of Carter's "mini-memoirs", having little of the timeless insight of, say, "An Hour Before Daylight" and covering some of the same ground. This one looks across Carter's entire life, though, and recounts some particularly memorable occasions he spent, well, sharing good times with friends.

I have to admit, though, that as a fan and admirer of Carter I did find it interesting to learn that he is an avid outdoorsman and hiker well into his later years. He has climbed to Everest base camp in his 60's and climbed Mount Fuji in his 70's. He's not above using the perks of his reputation to get a private tour of a world-famous museum that's closed for renovations, or to get a private nature tour in between overseeing third-world elections. In fact, the man requires that he get a tour from a licensed naturalist every place his visits while doing business for the Carter Center.

You might see the man as egocentric and maybe a bit daffy; I know many folks do. But I found myself dreaming that I was part of his inner circle, and hoping to imitate him in my own later years. I give it an objective three star rating, but add a star if you are a fellow Carter admirer.

This wretched little book is like being trapped at a family reunion with your most boring relative. President Carter does share stories of good times, but he does so with a singular lack of storytelling ability. The chapters here mostly adhere to a chronological order, but that's about the only literary thing about them. President Carter just kind of lays out observations one after another, and not interesting ones either: "I had black friends when I was a kid. I like baseball. I like fly fishing. My wife used to do some sexy hula dancing. My grandkids like to ski in Aspen at a super-luxurious lodge. I climbed Kilimanjaro while other people were throwing up. I had lots of debt when I left the White House but we still took expensive vacations." In one particularly disgusting page, President Carter notes a trip to see mountain gorillas near the border of Rwanda, then he notes that many of the people who hosted him on that trip were murdered in the violence that followed, then he changes topics completely without delving for a second into what that means or how he feels or anything. And it only gets worse when he quotes a long section of his own "poetry" as he contemplates his hobby for collecting arrowheads. I know that, as a Christian Democrat, I'm supposed to love everything that President Carter does/writes/etc, but this book was a waste of money, even though I only spent a dollar at a used book store. I respect President Carter as a person and a dedicated public servant, but he simply lacks the ability to tell a story. Do not read this book.

Having the highest regard and respect for former President Jimmy Carter (in fact, world leaders should emulate his wisdom, style and ideals), I say the following very delicately.

Admirable in that former President Carter communicates to the world his inner and private feelings from childhood thru adulthood. The meaning of sharing with family, friends, total strangers, foreign dignitaries, etc. is the purpose of a contented existence. At first this did not come easy to President Carter, but as the years came and went it surfaced, and he was at peace with himself.

The redundant theme of the Carters gallivanting and vacationing all over the world could lead some to resentment for not being able to do the same(?). One must take into consideration though that President Carter would oftentimes combine work with pleasure (the presidency, Carter Center). In so doing, he was threading the common fabric which connects us all...conversation, diplomacy and kindness.
Overall, a warm and compassionate read on morals, values and hope.

Former President Carter is an amazing man. Besides all the work he does via the Carter Center, he takes time to write books about the things he thinks are imortant. This book is a reflection back across the life of a workaholic - Jimmy Carter. In it he talks about how he eventually learned to take time out to relax and have fun with friends and family - something we all should do. What a marvelous man!

From our greatest living statesman come more pearls of wisdom.
A kind and thoughtful man, husband and father, Jimmy Carter shares insightful stories of his life with friends and family. Learn how love and trust can carry us through the tuff times and reward us in the golden years.

This book is not a biography per se rather a collection of the most pivotal moments in Jimmy Carter's life containing little "work" and much "play". In this collection of short stories we see Jimmy Carter the son, father, grandfather, climber, painter, and outdoorsman. The conspicuous lack of politics, apart from a brief couple of pages, establishes just how human Jimmy Carter really is. His greatest joys are his children and charitable works not the galas he has attended or the dignitaries he has met, making this a refreshing memoir.

They may have been good times for President Carter, but for many of us his administration brought painful inflation, 17% interest rates for houses, the great give away of the Panama Canal (bought and paid for with American taxes and lives), a failed rescue of the Iranian Hostages (he should have left this one to the experts, or at least to Ross Perot), and his total lack of leadership leaves little to compliment Jimmy's good times. I thought the book was shallow, devious, incomplete and a waste of time and money.