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This guy wants you to suffer and he’ll yell at you to make sure you know everything is your fault. He also has the temerity to think that Delaware should be a state in the union.
This book is tedious. The writing is uninspired and I got no insights about his experience with death, dying, and grieving. Maybe that's because "that's what he's like" (as my book club said), but I just didn't "enjoy" it.
I thought this was a great political memoir. This book came out as part of Biden's 2008 Presidential campaign as one of those "Learn more about me! Read my book!" media tactics. However, I feel like real effort and thought went into this book and I learned a lot about Biden's political views and his personal life. This book was not 5 star for me because in an effort to highlight what he must see as the biggest political moments in his life (Bosnian civil war intervention, passing the VAWA) Biden...
I enjoyed this book. It probably helps that I am a democrat and have voted twice for the Obama/Biden ticket.This book gave me hope again in politics. It can be a demanding, at times soul-wrenching, career. At the same time it provides a means to be of service to people that few other careers do.Joe Biden, like few others, has made a career of politics. He was first elected when he was not quite old enough to be sworn in--he was old enough when he actually was sworn in. He has been office since 1...
My teenaged daughter raved about this book, the autobiography of former Vice President Joe Biden up to the point of his 2008 run for the presidency. She urged me to read it and I'm happy I did. Politically, I line up pretty well with Mr. Biden, so I didn't find a great deal to argue with in that area. And Biden tells his affecting and often moving life story with grace, self-deprecation, and, at times, courage. The tragedies and triumphs of his life are quite engaging stories, but I found most f...
The 3rd of 4 books I’m reading about each of the candidates for President and Vice President. Biden has had an interesting life as a Senator. The personal tragedies were devastating.
Having read a number of great political books a few months ago while the US election approached, I took a little time to get to know the Democratic nominee, Joe Biden. After the race and the formal acceptance of the results by the majority of the electorate, Electoral College, and congressional members (even with an attempted coup by the Whiner-in-Chief), I wanted to hear more from the man himself. I remembered that he had penned a memoir of sorts ahead of his 2008 run for president and thought
“you should not run for president because tactically you can win. The questions you have to ask are why you're running for president and what will you do when you are president. You shouldn't run until you know the answers to those questions.” Pros:1. Learned a lot about Senate issues in modern history as they happened -Including some personalities of the Senate. I like how so many political memoirs have takes on Hubert Humphrey2. Biden is a very personal writer, and his perspectives on his fami...
Okay, so Joe Biden did inspire some clever memes, and he certainly has the experience in Washington politics. Overall, he seems like a decent enough guy, if one is willing to overlook the allegations of sexual misconduct that is almost requisite for presidential candidates today. (https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-b...) Seriously, what the fuck, Joe?I didn’t want Biden to run in the first place. I certainly hoped and prayed that the Democratic party would pick someone else as their nominee, bu...
I was happy to see that Biden gave acknowledgement to his co-writer, Mark Zwonitzer, because this is a well-written book that reads like a novel and I doubted that Biden had crafted it by himself. That said, the stories are Biden’s and I enjoyed them all. Looking forward to Joe’s future memoirs about his Presidency!
Presumably, Biden wrote this in preparation for his 2008 Presidential run. I'm not sure if my perspective would have been different if I read then, but it falls flat in 2019. Part of this is due to his candor, which I appreciate, but even so. He doesn't seem like warm and charming "Uncle Joe," but rather a kind of arrogant, aggressively ambitious person who ran for President in 1988, even when, back then, he had no particular reason to run other than he wanted to President. His politics are dist...
This is an interesting and educational political memoir. The chapters that focus on Biden's childhood are surprisingly brief. I'm always interested in learning about politician's youths, but there is not a lot of those years related here: Biden is Senator of Delaware by only a few chapters in (1973). There are some emotional, personal moments after this: his struggle with a speech impediment; the loss of his first wife and daughter; his brain aneurysm, surgery, and recovery. There are several in...
VP-elect Joe Biden is refreshingly candid reflecting on his life in and out of politics: unbreakable faith and famiy ties; a crippling stutter(Impedimenta); the loss of his late wife Neila and daughter Naomi in a tragic car crash; finding love again with Jill Jacobs, and his own brush with mortality following a disastrous presidential campaign in 1987. Biden's coloful narrative is so engaging that you feel as though he is right there with you, sharing his story. He also shares his vast knowledge...
Promises to Keep is Joe Biden's memoir published in 2007. I was interested in learning more about our President's background and I think this book did a good job of telling his story, both in his personal life and his political life. I learned a lot I didn't know about him, but I also took this book with a grain of salt, knowing that his perspective in hindsight is his truth but not the only truth. Biden was born in Pennsylvania in 1942 and his family moved to Delaware when he was 11 years old.
Worth the read to understand Mr. Biden. He is a good, compassionate, kind, and humble man. The 📖 is easy to read. It reminds me of. Having a conversation at the table. He doesn't seem like a phony. He seems down to earth, and humble. He has many accomplishments since being elected senator in the 70's in Delaware. He has made many friends across the aisle. He has been responsible for laws being passed for women in domestic abuse. Thank you Mr. Biden. Because back in the 90's if it wasn't for you....
3.5 stars - I subtracted 1.5 because both books were a bit boring at timesI actually listened to this book (and at the same time Promise Me, Dad) on audible trying to get a better feel for our Democratic candidate. So I'll just review both of them here. After two Joe Biden books in near rapid succession I do feel like I better understand what is driving Joe Biden, but unfortunately, a big part of what drives him appears to be hubris. But for better or for worse, it is what it is. I do feel like
Autobiographies are always a little awkward—it’s hard to tell your own story without either a) focusing too much on your own flaws (especially hard if you’re writing your memoirs leading into a presidential run, which he was in 2006), or b) sounds egotistical. I think he sounded a little less modest than I’d expect from him, but that happens. But the stories he tells are good, and mostly you know from reading this that he’s a good man, who’s served the public admirably for decades, who cares dee...
I didn't finish this book and won't get back to it anytime soon, so it seems unfair to rate it. From the standpoint of hooking my interest, the most compelling thing about this autobiography so far has been Joe Biden's killer smile on the cover. His world-famous personal warmth and charm doesn't come through in the writing, which seems stilted and unnatural. But maybe that's just me. I've been reading a lot about politics lately, and this year's election cycle has been highly entertaining. It ri...
Although I don't agree with J. Biden's political considerations, I found this book interesting. I learned more about his family / personal situation and his extensive experience in the Senate. The man has suffered more than anyone on average experiences in a lifetime. Certaintly a must read if you're more interested on his personal view.
Started off strong, but lost me toward the end.At parts, Biden (understandably) just tries to make it seem like he was in the right, even while acknowledging his mistakes.