Loved this book!

Whether you are for or against President George Bush, this book is a revealing look inside a man making difficult, almost impossible decisions - decisions that affected the entire world. It's so easy to listen to the press's interpretation of events and decisions, but I feel I never know the whole story. This book let me peek behind the scenes of the presidency and understand with the information available at any given time, how a president thinks. I love it when asked the question, "if you knew then what you know now, would you do it differently?" His answer is "I didn't have that luxury". It is far too easy to second guess past decisions, but in any moment we can only act on the information we have. Having the book read by President Bush himself was a real treat.

10 people found this helpful

straight forward

if I knew this information while Bush was in office; if americans all knew this information, we would have appreciated and understood what a great man and president he was and is. What an eye opener to the president;s job. amazing.

6 people found this helpful

Excellent

President Bush gives an insightful view of the behind the scenes activities and thought processes that made up his presidency during a difficult time in American history. I wish all of his haters would get this book and maybe find out it's not an easy task being the leader of the free world, especially when we have a bullseye on our back.

5 people found this helpful

I liked it despite myself

I once broke up with a girl friend because she voted for this guy. I'm not his biggest fan but what I believe is that he was doing the best he could given his skill set. It's surprisingly religious. Not my cup of tea. Perhaps I should have expected that... I believe he believes what he wrote. I don't necessarily believe that it's as simple as he describes. He's very black and white. That said, he faults himself in situations in which he deserves it and he's candid about a lot of events that allowed even me, a hater, to find him very human and almost endearing. Interesting book no matter your views. I recommend it.

71 people found this helpful

Interesting Account of Presidency

First off, there is an unabridged version of the book that I wish Audible would have linked to from either the front page or this page. I didn't know that at the time I bought this, or I would have looked for the unabridged.

I enjoyed the recounting of many of his decisions. I don't think his reasoning will surprise many people who keep up with politics, but I do think that a lot of that reasoning tends to fall by the wayside in our 24-hour infotainment media that wants to cover outrage more than news. It's unfortunate that we don't get these types of explanations while a president is in office.

I liked that he owned up to many mistakes (the Katrina handling comes to mind). I also like that he doesn't necessarily pull punches when others screwed up too (the Loiusiana governor taking four days to request the response to be federalized). Some may see it as back-handed attacks, but the simple fact is that the law requires the first response to be from the state, not the feds.

I guess the biggest benefit is hearing what he was doing and when, without the constant sniping of critics trying to reframe his actions to political advantage is very useful. For historians, that's a great gift. Too much of what we know of these events is shaped by the partisan attacks on cable, and not enough on the first person accounts of those involved.

This is a book well worth the time.

42 people found this helpful

Insight on the Presidency

Whether you are a political fan or not there is something about hearing a President explain his decisions. I love that this book is read by George Bush. Its as if he's sitting in a room with you explaining why he made the decisions he's made. I may not agree. I may not have made the same decisions. But I now know what was behind his thinking in making his. This is a great read!!

8 people found this helpful

A must read book or a must listen audiobook

You must read this book to understand what really happened during his presidency. It is always easier to criticize than it is to take decisions. In this book President Bush explains how each and every decision was carefully done based on facts and extensive legal and research background. A patriot who takes pride for keeping America safe he took the heat for bad decisions done by other people like the Governor of Louisiana during Katrina or those who failed to see that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were not doing so well. Bush is a very smart man but is portrayed as being not so smart by the main stream media. This book shows that he was a wise commander and chief. I agree with him. History eventually will recognize his merits in an unbiased way in the future. Listen to President Bush express his love to this country, his devotion to keep it safe, his beliefs about God is an inspiration to all of us.

8 people found this helpful

Very interesting and insightful

This book shows how a president can use his faith and internal strength to make the hard decisions that won't always be the right ones, but anyone on either side of the political spectrum can see he made them in the best interest of the people. Where he made mistakes he owns them, and this is something the current president has neither the willingness nor character to do. Bush also gives credit to others that helped make the decisions and build the policies that were highly successful under his leadership. One can't help but be motivated and inspired by his internal strength and faith. I hope others regardless of their political views will read (or listen to) this book, as it will help us all to expect more out of our leaders and ourselves.

26 people found this helpful

Great insight

It was a great insight into the presidency. I actually enjoyed the "topic" approach rather than the chronological approach. This allowed me to understand the basis of the decisions President Bush made whether I agreed with them or not. I would recommend this book strongly.

13 people found this helpful

Delivers what it promises

What did you love best about Decision Points?

Good insights from the oval office as key events played out.

Any additional comments?

Interesting way of portraying Bush's perspective as events played out during his tenure as President. Not a chronological autobiography, which occasionally was jarring as it is 2005 in one moment, then back to 2001 in another.. but this was explained in the book summary so was as promised.
Whether you like or dislike George W. Bush, you can't discount that President of the USA is one heck of a tough job and you don't get any

2 people found this helpful