"... and stay out of politics!"

Last year I saw that Jim Baker, Reagan's Chief-of-Staff and Secretary of Treasury, Bush 41's Secretary of State, had a book out. "Work Hard, Study... and Keep Out of Politics!" After blitzkrieging through Harry Potter, this book has been a fun and different read. It covers his life before and during public service. Baker has some great perspective on the fall of Communism and the first Gulf War. He also touches upon several presidential campaigns and the Florida recount in 2000. But what I really enjoyed are the stories of President Reagan. From pp159:

The president often directed his wit at his own alleged frailties in a way that charmed his friends and disarmed all but the most humor-impaired critics. [...] After a U.S. fighter plane shot down two Libyan jets one night, controversy erupted because the president had not been awakened. "I've laid down the law, though," he joked later at a dinner for White House correspondents. "From now on... no matter what time it is, wake me... even if it's in the middle of a cabinet meeting.

It turns out he wrote a larger book in 1995, The Politics of Diplomacy, which goes in much greater detail concerning his role in the global events between 1989 and 1992. He wrote it to serve as a historical record and analysis of his work as Secretary of State. I think it might be a good read as well.