First of all, I can’t believe I finished this book (I listened to it) in a month as it was a whopping 29 hours! It wasn’t difficult though, the book was so interesting that I found myself waking up and having coffee with Barack, and then taking him along on walks while I was in Charleston. If you decide to read this I highly recommend the audiobook, it truly was so soothing and wonderful and felt like spending time with him! This is the first volume of Obama’s presidential memoirs, taking you through both is personal and political life from his earliest aspirations to running for senate to getting elected, to capturing Bin Laden. I found it so interesting to hear his perspective (having had some distance from being in office now on his foreign policy, cracking down on Wall Street, the early days of Donald Trump (and the birth certificate nonsense), and everything in between. I especially enjoyed the more personal stuff, his family life, marriage to Michelle, etc. It is beautifully written, intimate, and deeply introspective. He is such a brilliant writer and it genuinely felt like sitting down with my old friend the ex-president, reliving his glory days, vulnerably talking about his mistakes and disappointments, etc. It’s poignant and hopeful and was the perfect palette cleanser after the election. I did not want it to end and am really looking forward to the next one!