Our U.S. presidents are just people. They swear, fart, cheat, lie, shoot people, have affairs, and do lots of plain goofy stuff.

George Washington spent 7% of his salary on booze.

John Quincy Adams liked to skinny-dip in the Potomac River.

Jimmy Carter reported a UFO sighting in Georgia.

Kennedy had literally countless affairs with women of all ranks, from young starlets to wives of diplomats to a staggering number of prostitutes. He allegedly told Bobby Baker, the secretary to the Senate Democrats: “I get a migraine headache if I don’t get a strange piece of ass every day.”

Secret Lives starts with Washington and ends with Obama. It introduces every president, shows his career and accomplishments in a few pages, and then tells stories about each one that amazed me.

Our chief executives were people like we all are, for better or for worse, and for worse much more than better.

There are 44 presidents, and reading the section about each one will take about 10 minutes and amuse you to no end. So it would be best to read this book in 44 sessions. It would be a great book to keep next to the commode.

The only complaint I had was that when I was done with one, I couldn’t put it down, and I wanted to go right on to the next.

Now I want to run for president. If these 44 oafs could do it, I can do it too.

Rating: ***