The only sure cure

In "Extraordinary Comebacks", we present the story of author Stephen King's recovery from a devastating accident. Work, he said, was the only remedy for pain -- it was much better than morphine.

Now, in a new book about the esteemed author Saul Bellow, he seconds that emotion. NPR reviewed the new book of his letters.

Excerpt:

The only sure cure, he writes in 1960 from his house in Tivoli, New York, to young San Francisco writer Alice Adams, the only sure cure for everything that ails you is to write a book. I have a new one on the table, Bellow says, and all the other misery is gone.

His devotion to his work is instructive for all writers, especially the young. The years go by, letters flow. Admiration and awards and sales replace adversity, and one marriage yields to another, but the wit sparks up all the same, even as Bellow shifts from aesthetic critiques of books by friends into writing their eulogies - eulogies for Bernard Malamud, Robert Penn Warren, Ralph Ellison among them.

2010 was a comeback year

Time magazine cites:

• Conan O'Brien
• GM
• Paul Reubens
• Eliot Spitzer
• Lisa Murkowski
• Mark Twain
• Betty White
• Kanye West
• Michael Vick
• Jerry Brown

Deadly haunting, young Madoff succumbs

What makes comebacks special is that they are difficult, sometimes nearly impossible, never guaranteed, and sometimes life and death themselves hang in the balance, as it is with a tightrope walker strung between two buildings.In high winds.

Very tragic story here, Madoff Jr suicide.

"Haunting" is lethal.

Madoff Jr should have found the wherewithal to start over, somewhere, someplace, new name, new endeavor.

But he couldn't. He was 'haunted.'

The problem wasn't on the outside, it was on the inside.

The wisdom of Sparky Anderson

Many notables left us in 2010, including baseball manager Sparky Anderson. 76, who took his leave November 4. Like a Yogi Berra or Casey Stengel, Sparky was known for colorful language.

For example:

"I've got my faults, but living in the past isn't one of them. There's no future in it."

and, the even more metaphysical:

"It's like there and their. What's the difference, as long as you know there's a there there?"

Amen, Sparky, amen. RIP.

EC2's profit Louis Zamperini subject of new best-seller

We profiled Louis Zamperini in our newest volume, "Extraordinary Comebacks 2: 250 (more) Inspiring Stories of Courage, Triumph, and Success." Now he is the subject of an entire new volume by Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand, called, appropriately, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
.


Our profile:

Lou Zamperini was nothing if not colorful. He was a juvenile delinquent, then a world-class NCAA miler and 1936 Olympian.

Then came World War II; on May 24, 1943 his B-24 crashed in the Pacific Ocean. He was 47 days on a raft, floating 2,000 miles. They ate shark livers and raw albatross. Their water: sporadic rainfall.

Then things got worse: on day 47, he and his companion were captured by the Japanese. He was starved, beaten, and subjected to medical experiments. His chief tormentor was a prison guard nicknamed “The Bird.” Even the other guards thought him a psychopath.

Zamperini lived through it. He made it back home to America. But inside, the rage was still burning. He drank, he fought, he suffered nightmares. Now we call it post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Then Zamperini happened to attend a revival put on by a young evangelist by the name of Billy Graham. He found faith, but still wrestled his demons. He kept overcoming, to the point where he became an inspirational speaker himself.

During the 1998 Winter Olympics in Japan, Zamperini’s story and dramatic return to face – and forgive -- his torturers were chronicled on CBS’s “48 Hours.” His book is Devil at My Heels (2003).

Active and vigorous into his eighties, Zamperini made one small concession to age. In 2003, age eighty-six, he gave up skateboarding.

PS, Mr. Zamperini, 93, is still going strong.

What a superb gift idea to someone going through heavy waters....

Buckeyes find a way to come back

Buckeye nation thrilled Sat. to Ohio State's dramatic comeback. Down 4th and 10, late in the game, QB Terrell Pryor looked downfield, saw nothing, tucked the ball, and ran his way to the first down, and ultimately victory. Character matters. Hats off to Coach Tressel and the entire football team, was simply breathtaking.

Watch it here on ESPN.

Thomas Muster loses 30 pounds, back in pro tennis -- age 43

Monday, October 25, 2010 page one;  from the NY Times....