Tag: autobiography

Standalone Sunday: Thunder Dog

Standalone Sunday was started by Megan over at Bookslayer Reads.

What is Standalone Sunday?

Each Sunday bloggers feature a standalone book (one that is not part of a series) that they loved or would recommend. The standalone can also be one you want to read. There is so much focus on books that are part of a series that standalone books seem to be forgotten. They can be just as great as book series!

Since 9/11 is tomorrow, I was very selective with my choice for Standalone Sunday this week.  This is one I really need to read.  Here is my choice for this week:

Thunder Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust

Book Description from Amazon:

Faith. Trust. Triumph.

“I’m sorry,” the doctor said. “He is permanently and totally blind. There is nothing we can do for him.”

George and Sarah Hingson looked at each other, devastated. Their six-month-old son, Michael was a happy, strawberry blond baby boy, healthy and normal in every way except one. When the Hingsons switched on a light or made silly faces, Michael did not react. Ever. “My best suggestion is that you send him to a home for the blind,” the doctor continued. “He will never be able to do anything for himself.”

Forty-seven years later, a yellow Labrador retriever puppy was born in the whelping unit of Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, California. The puppy’s name was Roselle. On September 11, 2001, she saved Michael’s life. This is Roselle’s story too.
―From the Introduction

Every moment in Michael Hingson’s and Roselle’s lives seemed to lead up to this day. When one of four hijacked planes flew into the World Trade Center’s north tower on September 11, 2001, Michael Hingson, a district sales manager for a data protection and network security systems company, was sitting down for a meeting. His guide dog, Roselle, was at his feet. Paired for twenty-one months, man and dog spent that time forging a bond of trust, much like police partners who trust their lives to each other.

Michael couldn’t see a thing, but he could hear the sounds of shattering glass, falling debris, and terrified people flooding around him and Roselle. However, Roselle sat calmly beside him. In that moment, Michael chose to trust Roselle’s judgment and not to panic. They were a team.

Thunder Dog is a story that will forever change your spirit and your perspective. It 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.

 

Blog Tour: Transition


I am on the blog tour for Transition by Jo Huey. Today Jo will be telling us about some of her favorite things!  Now, I feel I must apologize publicly to both the publicist Emma, and also the author Jo for my tardiness in this post.  Life happened and this post did not make it on my scheduled date for the blog tour. I genuinely apologize and feel terrible about that!

Jo Huey is an inspirational & motivational speaker, coach and author.

Book Description:

An autobiography of Jo’s life from the trauma and unpredictability of living in an alcoholic home, through self-development transformation to the more content, happy and successful business woman she is today.

Jo shares her many insights into alcoholism and the effects on the family. An honest and brutal account of Jo’s experience with her father’s addiction to alcohol, she shares the highs and lows of life with an absent father and busy mother.

After life hit an all-time low in adulthood she decided to turn her life around and start a journey of self-discovery. Jo transformed herself through therapy, self-help books, groups, events and more which she shares in the book.

If you have experienced the challenges of living with someone’s drinking, then you’ll relate to Jo’s experience and feel the connection with her story.

If you are interested in an inspirational and motivational story, then you won’t be disappointed. Within the book, Jo shares several techniques you’ll be able to learn and use in your life if you really want the change you seek.

Jo gets up every morning wanting to help those with experiences like hers, those affected by someone’s drinking. She connects the dots to form a new picture using practical tools & techniques.

Buy Transition Now:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

Some of Jo’s Favorite Things:

I’m a passionate and loving person and I have a lot of friends and a very close family. My immediate family is my Mum, step-dad, older and younger sister and two nephews. I have an aunt and uncle, two cousins and two step brothers which 2 nephews and nieces.

I’ve lived in Bournemouth pretty much my whole life and I love it here. I wouldn’t really want to be anywhere else but you can never say never!

As a child I learnt to bake, sew and do a number of creative things which I still love to this day. I’ve manage to make myself a good few clothes and certainly have baked a lot of cakes and treats in my time. You could say I have a sweet tooth, I blame my Mum.

I didn’t really have a lot of friends growing up but the ones I did have were neighbours and we use to love playing a game called ‘block’, baking and playing on the computer. I’m still very much into technology, I worked for an IT company for 14 years and had a number of roles and it’s something I find very exhilarating. Apart from the times when I can’t get it to work then it’s the most frustrating thing on the planet.

I’ve recently developed a love of yoga, I’ve tried it in the past but never really taken to it and that’s one example of something I always share with people. Just because we may not like something now or if we try something it may not suit us in the moment, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try it again in the future. I really believe in timing and sometimes it just isn’t the right time, if we try and force it I think it loses its attraction.

My self-development journey started over 20 years ago and I have to say it’s something I’m committed to for life. I’ve seen so many positive changes I’d be stupid to not continue with it. I’m so passionate about it and getting to the bottom of problems and helping others to do the same. I think helping people has been part of my DNA since I was at secondary school. I think I learnt about helping others from my Mum.

When I’m not working on my business which I love, I’m socialising with friends and going to events. I love to sing and I’m part of a great soul choir and we sing once a week as well as performing in events every so often.

More recently I’ve become an AFC Bournemouth football fan, they were promoted to the premiership league a few years ago and it’s been an exciting journey. It’s such a great atmosphere and I really feel part of something which is important to me.

Another passion of mine is TV series, I love quite a few that are released by the CW channel and sadly one of my most favourite TV series ended. The Vampire Diaries was introduced to me by my older sister and I was hooked immediately. Even though it’s finished there is a spin off series called ‘The Originals’ which is almost as good so the void isn’t quite so great.  I have too many to list but some others I enjoyed were Grimm, Blacklist, Scandal and True Blood.

About the Author:

Jo is an inspirational speaker, coach and author. She is also an adult child of an alcoholic and shares her personal story of living with an alcoholic father for 16 years and how that has impacted her adult life.

Jo is brutally honest about her experience, explaining how she coped as a child in an alcoholic home and the self-development journey she took in her twenties to overcome the trauma.

If you’ve experienced the impact of living with a heavy drinker, someone’s addiction or mental health problem you’ll relate to Jo’s story. For those of you that haven’t experienced what an alcoholic home brings it will give you an insight into the damage it causes to the family.

Jo shares her story for two reasons, the first is to connect with those that have been affected so they know they aren’t alone and the second to educate and inform others about this very hidden problem.

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