That’s what people wrote on Amazon.com about the book Cockpit Confessions of an Airline Pilot, by Stephen G. Keshner. Those terrible reviews are what drew me to the book in the first place. It’s because of those same reviews I didn’t buy the book when I came across it. But the reviews haunted me and eventually I did order it, months later, just to find out what it was all about.

Now I’m a flight attendant who writes about flying, so the last thing I want to do is read about someone else in the business. Surprisingly, I couldn’t put this book down. I read it on the airplane, at my layover hotel, and at my crashpad in New York City. Yes, it’s true, Keshner is a bit crude and crass, and maybe that’s why I like him. I enjoy character driven books and that’s exactly what I got from Cockpit Confessions of an Airline Pilot. You may not agree with what he has to say, or the way in which he says it, but it’s his life and what an interesting life it is.

NOTE: the book is self published, which means there are quite a few grammatical errors. But I’ll take weak editing over a boring plot any day.

While Cockpit Confessions of an Airline Pilot starts out strong, if you can get past the cursing, it does get a little weird, especially during the sex scenes. What I found interesting was Keshner became a pilot later in life. I also enjoyed reading about how he balanced work and family while flying to Saudi Arabia and laying over for three months at a time. That couldn’t have been easy on him or his family. Of course I can’t not mention those bizarre last five pages about TWA flight 800 that will leave you thinking – genius or crazy? Honestly, I’m not so sure, but I still liked the book.