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Whatever your political leanings, Decision Points is a more engaging and readable presidential memoir than it has any right to be. Bush organises his 481-page book not chronologically but thematically, devoting each of its fourteen chapters to a specific decision or cluster of decisions - from his choice to stop drinking at forty, through the harrowing hours after September 11, to the controversial troop surge in Iraq. The thematic structure is a smart move that avoids the bloated, name-dropping chronology that plagues many political memoirs, and it keeps the narrative surprisingly brisk for a book of this length.

The opening chapter, dealing with Bush's battle with alcohol and his turn to faith, is arguably the strongest section. Here, Bush writes with genuine vulnerability and transparency - admitting his failings, tracing the path from a DUI arrest to sobriety, and crediting his wife Laura and his religious awakening in equal measure. His faith threads through every chapter in an unassuming manner, and Laura Bush emerges as an often unseen but ever-present advisor on nearly every subject. These personal passages feel honest in a way that the political chapters sometimes do not.

And therein lies the central frustration of the book. There is an extraordinary absence of introspection on some of the most complex and challenging issues, replaced by a portrait of decisiveness based largely on personal instinct. Bush walks through the intelligence failures leading to the Iraq War, the Katrina response, and the financial crisis with a tone that is candid but rarely self-questioning. He does acknowledge certain errors - the infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner, his failure to deploy active-duty troops quickly enough after Katrina, his inability to see the fragility in the financial sector - but he stands firmly by his big decisions, and backing up those claims is simpler when the other side is not present to offer their account.

The writing rarely rises above the workmanlike, though it has a plainspoken directness that feels authentically Bush. There are moments of genuine warmth, particularly in the passages about his family - the handwritten notes exchanged with his father on the eve of the Iraq War carry real emotional weight. There are fascinating reveals too, including his affection for Ted Kennedy, his complicated relationship with Dick Cheney, and some pointed digs at Colin Powell. These glimpses behind the curtain make the book worthwhile even for those who arrive sceptical.

Bush's accounts of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and other major events are riveting and hold genuine historical value on their own terms. As a record of what it felt like to sit at the centre of those crises, the book delivers something no outside history can. But it is also a book that largely confirms whatever view you held before picking it up. You finish it with the same judgement you started with - either Bush is telling a political story designed to rehabilitate his reputation, or he really is as unreflective as he comes across.

Decision Points is at its best when Bush is being personal and at its weakest when he is being political. It is accessible, occasionally humorous, and moves at a pace that most presidential memoirs cannot match. But the depth of self-examination that might have turned it from a good read into a genuinely important book remains conspicuously absent.