To the best of my ability Book

This book is a perfect refresher of the highlights of each U.S. President, including the messy elections and transitions between Presidents. So often I see new publications of Presidential Histories which don't give me the highlights, but take a novel spin on history. This book serves a useful purpose and is highly readable.

I even learned some things--even though I was a history major. For example, I had no idea that Buchanan was rumored by some people to be gay (and I'm embarrassed I didn't know that).

Also, this is a great preparatory book before you read "America: A Citizens Guide to Democracy Inaction" by Jon Stewart and the Daily Show writers.

I remembered half of the joke about Silent Cal having someone say that she could get him to say more than two words, and he responded "You Lose." I couldn't remember what the two words were exactly. Thankfully, the story was recounted in To the Best of My Ability. In the Jon Stewart version, a lady tells him at a dinner party that she was going to get him to say more than two words, to which he replies "F*** You."

While that's funny, I'm pretty sure it didn't go down that way. Thank you To the Best of My Ability for clearing it up.

Also, one interesting point about the format of the book. DK publishing does many of our family's travel guides. As a result, this book is beautifully designed with nice glossy pictures. I especially liked the discussions on TR and Lincoln.

For a very in-depth discussion of Lincoln's assassination, you should check out "Assassination Vacation" by Sarah Vowell. She's seriously incredible.