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Crashing Through: A True Story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See |
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Crashing Through: A True Story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See |
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基本信息·出版社：Random House
·页码：320 页
·出版日期：2007年05月
·ISBN：1400063353
·条形码：9781400063352
·装帧：精装
·正文语种：英语
内容简介 In his critically acclaimed bestseller
Shadow Divers, Robert Kurson explored the depths of history, friendship, and compulsion. Now Kurson returns with another thrilling adventure–the stunning true story of one man’s heroic odyssey from blindness into sight.
Mike May spent his life crashing through. Blinded at age three, he defied expectations by breaking world records in downhill speed skiing, joining the CIA, and becoming a successful inventor, entrepreneur, and family man. He had never yearned for vision.
Then, in 1999, a chance encounter brought startling news: a revolutionary stem cell transplant surgery could restore May’s vision. It would allow him to drive, to read, to see his children’s faces. He began to contemplate an astonishing new world: Would music still sound the same? Would sex be different? Would he recognize himself in the mirror? Would his marriage survive? Would he still be Mike May?
The procedure was filled with risks, some of them deadly, others beyond May’s wildest dreams. Even if the surgery worked, history was against him. Fewer than twenty cases were known worldwide in which a person gained vision after a lifetime of blindness. Each of those people suffered desperate consequences we can scarcely imagine.
There were countless reasons for May to pass on vision. He could think of only a single reason to go forward. Whatever his decision, he knew it would change his life.
Beautifully written and thrillingly told,
Crashing Through is a journey of suspense, daring, romance, and insight into the mysteries of vision and the brain. Robert Kurson gives us a fascinating account of one man’s choice to explore what it means to see–and to truly live.
作者简介 Robert Kurson earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin, then a law degree from Harvard Law School. His award-winning stories have appeared in Rolling Stone,
The New York Times Magazine, and
Esquire, where he is a contributing editor.
Crashing Through is based on Kurson’s 2006 National Magazine Award-winning profile in
Esquire. He is the author of
Shadow Divers, and he lives in Chicago. Visit the author’s website at www.robertkurson.com.
媒体推荐 From AudioFile In the interview between author and subject that follows this amazing biography, visually challenged Mike May talks about audiobooks. The best ones, he says, are those that are great books in and of themselves, coupled with narrators who are so seamless they become invisible in their delivery, leaving the listener with the unfettered greatness of the work. That is exactly what Christopher Evan Welch does as he recounts Mays journey from going blind at age 3 to having partial vision restored in his 40s. The story itself is inspiring, and Kurson asks all the right questions about what it means to see and to lead a full life. Welch is the icing on the cake, taking the listener on the wild ride of Mays life, capturing the roller-coaster emotions, struggles, and triumphs of May and those close to him. H.L.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition. From Booklist By the time he turned 44, Mike May had accomplished a lot. He had been an Olympic downhill skier and won three gold medals at the 1982 Winter Games. He was an entrepreneur with a specialized portable GPS system under development. He had lived for a time in Ghana among the villagers of Kumbuli, helping them to build a schoolhouse. He had even worked briefly for the CIA. So when doctors offered May the opportunity to regain his eyesight via a risky corneal transplant, he took the chance of a lifetime. May had been blinded by a chemical explosion at the age of 3, and the operation would make him one of only 60 documented cases of vision restoration after long-term blindness. The surgery proved successful, and May's experience with his new eyesight was packed with adventure—and difficulty. Kurson wrote the best-selling Shadow Divers (2004), about risk-taking deep-wreck divers. His latest offering documents a different kind of courage, as embodied by a man who was willing to take enormous risks on behalf of his curiosity. Eberle, Jerry
专业书评 From Publishers Weekly Blinded in a childhood accident, Mike May never hesitated to try anything—driving a motorcycle, hiking alone in the woods, downhill skiing—until the day, when May was 46, an ophthalmologist told him a new stem-cell and cornea transplant could restore his vision. As Esquire contributing editor Kurson (Shadow Divers) relates, the decision to have the surgery wasn't easy. May, always a "pioneer in his heart," had never really felt he was missing anything in life. The surgery also had a few risks: the restoration of sight might only be temporary; the immunosuppressive drug was highly toxic; May might never adjust to the changes having sight would cause. Previously, patients had become depressed, their lives ruined because, while it might seem strange to sighted people, these patients found that the idea of vision was better than the reality. May went forward, only to find that, even though his eye was now perfect, his brain had forgotten how to process visual input. Fascinated by colors and patterns, he had difficulty discerning facial features, letters, even men from women. How May adjusts to his medical miracle, living with the disappointments as well as the joys, makes for a remarkable story of courage and endurance.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Bookmarks Magazine Robert Kurson's
Shadow Divers (**** Sept/Oct 2004), a tale of a deadly search for a German U-boat off the coast of New Jersey, became an instant classic among adventure readers who enjoy well-told, high-octane nonfiction. In
Crashing Through, the author finds an equally compelling subject. Kurson's journalistic instincts are strong, and tight writing and thorough research reflect his journalist background. The profile of Mike May is generally engaging-particularly in describing the difficult transition to the sighted world and what happens when May is ripped out of his comfort zone. However, readers should know that the story of May's personal struggles takes a back seat to Kurson's lucid exploration of the brain's circuitry and fascinating details of how we can have vision without really seeing.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.
