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Biography & Autobiography. Nonfiction. HTML: Faith. Trust. Triumph. "I trust Roselle with my life, every day. She trusts me to direct her. And today is no different, except the stakes are higher." --Michael Hingson. First came the boom--the loud, deep, unapologetic bellow that seemed to erupt from the very core of the earth. Eerily, the majestic high-rise slowly leaned to the south. On the seventy-eighth floor of the World Trade Center's north tower, no alarms sounded, and no one had information about what had happened at 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001-- what should have been a normal workday for thousands of people. All that was known to the people inside was what they could see out the windows: smoke and fire and millions of pieces of burning paper and other debris falling through the air. Blind since birth, Michael couldn't see a thing, but he could hear the sounds of shattering glass, falling debris, and terrified people flooding around him and his guide dog, Roselle. However, Roselle sat calmly beside him. In that moment, Michael chose to trust Roselle's judgment and not to panic. They are a team. Thunder Dog allows you entry into the isolated, fume-filled chamber of stairwell B to experience survival through the eyes of a blind man and his beloved guide dog. Live each moment from the second a Boeing 767 hits the north tower, to the harrowing stairwell escape, to dodging death a second time as both towers fold into the earth. It's the 9/11 story that will forever change your spirit and your perspective. Thunder Dog illuminates Hingson's lifelong determination to achieve parity in a sighted world, and how the rare trust between a man and his guide dog can inspire an unshakable faith in each one of us..… (more)
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The book is well written and insightful and educational and I enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
Michael intersperses his escape from the North Tower with descriptions of his life. Blind due to Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) because born premature he was incubated and oxygenated to promote lung development. But like approx. 10,000 other premies born between 1941-1953, the intensive oxygen treatment caused blood vessels in his eyes to constrict and rupture causing irrreversible blindness. His parents could have sent him to a Home for the Blind but chose to raise him at home, treating him as they did his older, sighted brother. Because of their progressive wisdom he never thought of himself as disabled!
I believe that he thrived and survived because of all that he learned from his family, many teachers and mentors, what he taught himself, and because of his amazing guide dogs. This book honors guide dogs, Guide Dogs for the Blind, the National Federation of the Blind, and those like Ray Kurzweil, whose genius developed technology to aid the blind (and the general public) in living fuller lives.
Thunderdog includes resources for the blind, and a useful glossary, but most outstanding is an essay by Kenneth Jernigan, Blindness: A Left-Handed Dissertation which on its own merits getting this book.
I read his book during the 10th anniversary of 911, after watching many TV programs of replays from that day and the aftermath—even so, his memoir affected me on such a deep level that I felt like I was taking each step with him and Roselle. It is so amazing the way Roselle, a dog that was afraid of thunder, responded to all that was happening around her. There should be many thanks to Guide Dogs for the Blind for training these wonderful service dogs, and to Michael for detailing not only his escape, but in sharing his wisdom with us. “We can’t let fear paralyze us” is one of many great quotes in this book which is full of wisdom, good information and resources for the blind.
It is a very inspirational story about a blind guide dog that helps his owner out of the Twin Towers during 9/11.
I'm glad I listened to this book rather than read it. It seemed like I was descending the stairs with Michael and Rozelle, smelling the airplane fuel, feeling the heat and then running from the building. I think I could have done without the last part of the audiobook which was a speech Michael made to announce the book and an interview when the book was released. They just seemed like filler.
I expected a great story about Michael and Roselle, and this is definitely that. I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed the chapter in which Michael describes his personal experience with God that day as the South Tower fell, and his association to Psalm 23. I also appreciated Michael's words about his relationship with Karen, and the moments that were told from her perspective. I really love this story, and heartily agree with Larry King in the foreword about it being a page-turning.
It is truly an engrossing story, so much more so because it is a true story, and a true story about some of the good things that happened despite the horrific tragedy that happened on September 11, 2001.
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers via Booksneeze. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed above are my own.
Length? – Most of a day’s read.
Characters? – Memorable, several characters.
Setting? – Real world 1950 - 2009.
Written approximately? – 2011.
Does the story leave questions in the readers mind? – Ready to read more.
Any issues the
Short storyline: This is a biography with scenes shifting from the tragedy of September 11, 2001 to earlier events in the main author's life that prepared him for that event.
Notes for the reader: Large print version. Many places within that contain valuable background, help, and hope for those living with blindness. As a low vision reader, I had hoped to find a few points that would help me as my vision decreases. There is a list of resources in the back that I will research.
Thunder Dog interleaves the story of Hingson, Roselle, and Hingson's colleagues escaping from Tower One, with the story of Michael Hingson growing up blind in a family that refused to follow then-typical medical advice to isolate him in a home for the blind, but instead "mainstreaming" him before the term was invented. We see how his atypical upbringing--both the fact of his blindness, and the fact that his family expected and supported his full integration into everyday, "sighted" life, helped to develop the skills that in turn enabled him to be a leader in the 9/11 evacuation. Courage was necessary to be a steady, calm force in the stairwell of Tower One, but in many ways it took more courage to get to that point, to overcome assumptions, expectations, and bias to be working, productive professional despite the barriers created by not only his blindness but others' attitudes toward it. This is not the story of a dog, but the story of a partnership between dog and man, each supporting the other, putting their talents and strengths together for the benefit of not only themselves, but everyone around them.
Hingson tells his story with grace and humor, and it's read very effectively by Christopher Prince. As a bonus extra in this audio version, we get a couple of speeches and an interview that Hingson did, delivering even more effectively his wit, humor, and charm.
Highly recommended.
Thanks to booksneeze.com for providing a copy of this book for my honest review.