Easy read about a very adventurous life, and although the book could have been a bit shorter - it was a decent read. Thank you kindly for sharing your incredible life story!

Autobiography of James (Jim) Smith and his extremely colourful life, which left me breathless! Born in East London just after the Second World War, he got into numerous scrapes, had lots of various jobs and travelled extensively. Safe to say there wasn’t a dull moment in this man’s life. So much detail, apart from the later years where it was skimped - I would have liked to have been brought up to date with his relatives as we’d heard so much about them in his book.

This is an autobiography of a man born 12 day after World War ended in Europe.

Its more a recited memoir though, rather than an autobiography. James, or Jim as he is known has a chirpy writing style, much like he is telling his life story down the local pub.

His life story is dealt with in chronological order, but there is a lot of moving on quickly from events. And there are a lot of events. He moved to Australia twice. Joined the Merchant Navy and the British Army, eventually marrying a Danish lady and setting in Australia.

It’s a lively story, and Jim is entertaining. I received an advance copy so there were mistakes in it. Also, it bugged me when he described travelling up the East of Africa, and he talks about natives coming on board to sell their wares. I genuinely didn’t think people still used this term.

Jim could have been a man of the time though. His description of other men relates to height, build and weight. This doesn’t make it a bad book though, as I rather enjoyed it. Not to mention envious of how easy his trips seemed to work out for him.

A lovely and honest memoir from James Smith. Born in London in 1945, he spent time in a London orphanage and in a children's home before migrating to Australia in 1960. he tells a series of tales about his travels in Australia, Europe and the rest of the world. An interesting story of family life and an easy read. My thanks to Net Galley for my ARC. Reviews on Goodreads and Amazon.