Flying Without Wings : Personal Reflections on Loss, Disability, and Healing

Rating:
Summary: Superb, life-affirming memoir about life with a disability!
Review: Arnold Beisser grew up with two life goals: To be a doctor and to be a national tennis champion. At 23, he achieved his first goal; at 24, his second. The year was 1950. Soon after his tennis victory, en route to basic training that would have brought him to Korea as an army doctor, he developed a high fever and was brought to a military hospital. Within 24 hours, he was paralyzed from the neck down. As Beisser puts it, one moment he was a doctor; suddenly he was a patient, requiring an iron lung to breathe. He had contracted polio. This outstanding book examines the funny, sad and philosophical aspects of life with a disability and its social consequences. Particularly fascinating are Beisser's stories of the stigma many people attach to disability. His courtship and marriage, as well as his career as a psychiatrist treating professional athletes, make for compelling reading. Anyone who has struggled in life - because of disability or any other tribulation - will be permanently enriched by this unforgettable memoir.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I'm 25 hispanic female that recently read this book. I just became fascinated for the optimistic attitude and spirit of life that this book has. No words to describe what has done in my life

Rating:
Summary: Flying Without Wings
Review: This is an excellent true story. I think it would be very good for people in the medical and/or caregiving professions to read. Dr. Beisser is very inspirational in his journey to overcome his disability. The concepts in the book that were important to me are those feelings and experiences he relays about being dependent on physical care from nurses and doctors. Specifically, I learned alot from what he said he felt like when they cared for him grudgingly or with indifference; and also how he was affected when they simply would not listen to him. I have taken these words into my life and I always try to remember them when I am caring for someone who is dependent on me. Another important concept is the persistence he embodied. He simply never gave up, even when everybody was telling him to 'throw in the towel'. He did accomplish exactly what he set out to do, despite his obstacles. And finally, the concept of gratitude was BIG in this book. He was grateful even for his disability in the end. As amazing as this sounds, it is a pure and simple truth that we all must be grateful for absolutely everything that happens to us. Dr. Beisser shows the reader this lesson in a big way at the end of the book when he talks about his total acceptance of his circumstances and all the personal growth he has attained from those circumstances.