A Pirate Looks at Fifty

By: Jimmy Buffett

Narrated by: Don Johnson

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Jimmy Buffett offers his philosophy on life and how to live it, “like sitting with Buffett at a beachside bar, listening to him spin tales” (Time).

“Buffett took his family on a three-week trek around the Caribbean. . . . His colorful travelogue is interspersed with memoirs of his youth and music career—both of which revolve around his continuing search for the perfect fishing spot.”—USA Today

For Parrotheads, armchair adventurers, and anyone who appreciates a good yarn and a hearty laugh, here is the ultimate backstage pass. You’ll read the kind of stories Jimmy usually reserves for his closest friends and you'll see a wonderful, wacky life through the eyes of the man who's lived it.

Jimmy takes us from the legendary pirate coves of the Florida Keys to the ruins of ancient Cartegena. Along the way, we hear a tale or two of how he got his start in New Orleans, how he discovered his passion for flying planes, and how he almost died in a watery crash in Nantucket harbor. We follow Jimmy to jungle outposts in Costa Rica and on a meandering trip down the Amazon, through hair-raising negotiations with gun-toting customs officials and a three-year-old aspiring co-pilot. And he is the inimitable Jimmy Buffett through it all.

Critic reviews

Jimmy Buffett "has gregarious charm . . . and a bottomless well of stories to tell. . . . Reading A Pirate Looks at Fifty is like sitting with Buffett at a beachside bar, listening to him spin tales . . . discourse on life . . . and share nifty bits of geography and history."
--Time

"Fulfilling his peripatetic pirate lifestyle fantasies, rocker Jimmy Buffett took his family on a three-week trek around the Caribbean in celebration of his 50th. His colorful travelogue is interspersed with memoirs of his youth and music career--both of which revolve around his continuing search for the perfect fishing spot. But Buffett also imparts useful understandings gained from childhood through parenthood, and a valuable account of what it was like growing up in the '50s."
--USA Today

"The fun-loving Man from Margaritaville parses his hell-bent half-century."
--People

"Buffett takes the occasion of his fiftieth birthday to tell us about himself, and he does so with candor and modesty. The person who emerges is not the sort of rock star who trashes hotel rooms and slugs paparazzi, but a charming, decent, wry, kind, and contemplative man . . . . Buffett's evocation of the languid, louche Key West of the 1970's draws on the same well of affection as his best songs."
--The New York Times Book Review

"America's . . . good-time guy joins Hemingway, Dr. Seuss, and Steinbeck as one of the few who have topped both the fiction and nonfiction bestseller lists."
--Rolling Stone

It’s all about the journey!

The narration by Don Johnson elevated this extraordinary memoir!
It could not have been better!

Look forward to listening to it again

An Excellent book and great narration - for Avery Jimmy Buffett fan, a must listen. I’m looking forward to hearing it again.

Such a shame

Jimmy Buffett's book was spectacular. unfortunately the narration is horrific. the narrator speaks loudly at the beginning of every sentence and then Trails off to a whisper at the end of the sentence. if you're trying to listen to this and anything other than headphones it's almost impossible to get all of the great words that Jimmy Buffett has put together.

the love of the travels

hearing jimmy travels in the islands and wishing a could do the same some day.A good read.

Loved this

I wanted to read this book for years. I never quite got around to it and now after Jimmy’s passing, I figured it was time. I loved it I I grew up sailing in the Caribbean and to hear him speak of all those familiar spots was quite endearing to me. I thought Don Johnson did an amazing job as well. Though I really would’ve liked it if Jimmy had read his own journal.!