A Full Life

At the age of ninety, Jimmy Carter looks back on his public and private life. He returns to his youth in rural Georgia and writes about racism, the hazing at Annapolis, twice nearly losing his life on submarines and his interview with Admiral Rickover, and admits he left the Navy and entered politics without consulting his wife, Rosalynn. He covers the Georgia Senate and the White House, sorting its difficulties into issues mostly resolved and problems still pending, and his regret at losing reelection. He also writes about the presidents who followed him, his work with The Carter Center, and pastimes such as painting, fishing and woodwork.

Bill Gates called it a quick, condensed tour of Carter's life and enjoyed reading about his improbable rise from a rural Georgia home without running water or electricity. Richard Branson included it in his top 65 lifetime reading list.