Synopses & Reviews
A remarkable memoir from the best-selling author of
Friday Night Lights and
Three Nights in August.
Buzz Bissingers twins were born three minutes—and a world—apart. Gerry, the older one, is a graduate student at Penn, preparing to become a teacher. His brother Zach has spent his life attending special schools. Hell never drive a car, or kiss a girl, or live by himself. He is a savant, challenged by serious intellectual deficits but also blessed with rare talents: an astonishing memory, a dazzling knack for navigation, and a reflexive honesty that can make him both socially awkward and surprisingly wise.
Buzz realized that while he had always been an attentive father, he didnt really understand what it was like to be Zach. So one summer night Buzz and Zach hit the road to revisit all the places they have lived together during Zachs twenty-four years. Zach revels in his memories, and Buzz hopes this journey into their shared past will bring them closer and reveal to him the mysterious workings of his sons mind and heart. The trip also becomes Buzz's personal journey, yielding revelations about his own parents, the price of ambition, and its effect on his twins.
As father and son journey from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, they see the best and worst of America and each other. Ultimately, Buzz gains a new and uplifting wisdom, realizing that Zachs worldview has a sturdy logic of its own: a logic that deserves the greatest respect. And with the help of Zachs twin, Gerry, Buzz learns an even more vital lesson about Zach: character transcends intellect. We come to see Zach as he truly is: patient, fearless, perceptive, kind—a man of excellent character.
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Everyone who is fascinated by the human-animal bond should read this totally engrossing book."
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"Rupert Isaacson has conjured a non-fiction journey that reads like an epic novel.
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"In this intense, polished account, the parents of an autistic boy trek to the Mongolian steppes to consult shamans in a last-ditch effort to alter his unraveling behavior.... Isaacson records heartening improvement in Rowan's firestormlike tantrums and incontinence, as he taps into an ancient, valuable form of spirit healing."--Publishers Weekly
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"A colorful real-life adventure with inspiring results."--Good Housekeeping
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"Isaacson charts his son's progress and regressions with an endearing tenderness....
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Isaacson's astonishing memoir
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"Blunt, tender, sometimes harrowing, and always affecting, Fathers Day is a triumph. Bissinger unfurls the whole fabric of love and pride and heartbreak and salvation that makes a family, with an honesty that will make you gasp."
— Susan Orlean, author of Rin Tin Tin and The Orchid Thief
"Bissinger has the great writers gift of showing us we are not alone. Here he explores the religion all parents share: that our childrens essential goodness will somehow grant them safe passage through a rough world. What a book! Every parent should read it."
— Chris Matthews, host of Hardball and author of Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero "I loved this unflinching, heartbreaking, and ultimately triumphant tale of disability and difference, and what it means to be a father, a son, and a man." — Jennifer Weiner, author of Then Came You and Fly Away Home "Buzz Bissinger's memoir — a paean to his remarkable son — is tender, funny, frightening at moments when love is re-stated; even brave — which memoiristic writing rarely gets the chance to be. It also reads as unflinchingly true, which should give it a long and useful life in the reader's heart." — Richard Ford "Father's Day is the story of a road trip like no other. Searing and heartfelt, this is not just an unforgettable portrait of a father and his son; it is a love story that speaks to the mystery, pain, and exhilaration of being human." — Nathaniel Philbrick, author of Mayflower and The Last Stand
"This brave and beautiful memoir gets at the core of what it means to be a parent — how painful it can be, how scary it can get, and how rewarding it is. By facing a challenge that would try any of us, and beat many of us, Bissinger emerges a better man. He not only finds his son, but himself, and the reader finds something, too. After reading Fathers Day, Ive rethought my assumptions about what makes a successful and worthy life. Ultimately, this is a mesmerizing story about how we can all be better."
— David Sheff, author of Beautiful Boy
"Buzz Bissinger has given completely of himself in this moving book about his son Zach, who was born too small, too soon. There is the father's disappointment and guilt, his confusion and frustration, his wonder and love. That Zach has a twin brother, who grew up unscathed, and that Zach's mind is as divided as his father's emotions, makes the story all that more compelling. Father's Day is wonderfully, achingly written, with all the doubt that tells you how truthful it is."
— Frank Deford, author of The Old Ball Game and The Entitled
"Every father of a special needs child should read this very insightful book."
— Temple Grandin, author of Thinking in Pictures and Animals in Translation
"A fiercely honest memoir about the complex hard drive of a son's brain and the balky software of a father's heart. Though his story is singular, Bissinger makes it feel like part of that eternal saga — fathers and sons trying to connect."
— J.R. Moehringer, author of The Tender Bar
"Gorgeous and brutally honest . . . As much as this is a book for parents, who know well the crushing vulnerabilities of the job, it is also a story for grown children who understand what it means to love an imperfect parent. Would that we were all as forgiving as Zach.
Synopsis
When his son Rowan was diagnosed with autism, Rupert Isaacson was devastated, afraid he might never be able to communicate with his child. But when Isaacson, a lifelong horseman, rode their neighbor's horse with Rowan, Rowan improved immeasurably. He was struck with a idea: why not take Rowan to Mongolia, the one place in the world where horses and shamanic healing intersected?
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When his son Rowan was diagnosed with autism, Rupert Isaacson was devastated, afraid he might never be able to communicate with his child.
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A cutting-edge account of the latest science of autism, from the best-selling author and advocate
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andldquo;The right brain has created the right book for right now.andrdquo;andmdash;
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Temple Grandin may be the most famous person with autism, a condition that affects 1 in 88 children. Since her birth in 1947, our understanding of it has undergone a great transformation, leading to more hope than ever before that we may finally learn the causes of and treatments for autism.
Weaving her own experience with remarkable new discoveries, Grandin introduces the advances in neuroimaging and genetic research that link brain science to behavior, even sharing her own brain scan to show which anomalies might explain common symptoms. Most excitingly, she argues that raising and educating kids on the autism spectrum must focus on their long-overlooked strengths to foster their unique contributions. The Autistic Brain brings Grandinandrsquo;s singular perspective into the heart of the autism revolution.
andquot;[Grandinandrsquo;s] most insightful work to date . . . The Autistic Brain is something anyone could benefit from reading, and I recommend it to anyone with a personal or professional connection to autism or neurological difference.andquot;andmdash;John Elder Robison, author of Look Me in the Eye
andquot;The Autistic Brain can both enlighten readers with little exposure to autism and offer hope and compassion to those who live with the condition.andquot;andmdash;Scientific American
Synopsis
The best-selling author of Friday Night Lights and 3 Nights in August journeys across country and into the psyche of his son and traveling companion, where he finds not only the remarkable skills and debilities known as savantism, but a host of qualities we should all emulate.
Synopsis
Buzz Bissingers twins were born three minutes—and a world—apart. Gerry, the older one, is a graduate student preparing to become a teacher. His brother Zach is a savant, challenged by serious intellectual deficits but also blessed with rare talents: an astonishing memory, a dazzling knack for navigation, and a reflexive honesty that can make him both socially awkward and surprisingly wise.
One summer, striving to understand the twenty-four-year-old son who remains, in many ways, a mystery, Buzz convinces Zach to join him on a cross-country road trip. As father and son drive from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, revisiting all the places they have lived together, Buzz learns to see the world through Zachs eyes. Father's Day is a powerful account of this journey, and a universal tale of the bond between parents and children.
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About the Author
TEMPLE GRANDINandnbsp;is one of the worldand#8217;s most accomplished and well-known adults with autism. She is a professor at Colorado State University and the author of several best-selling books, which have sold more than a million copies. The HBO movie based on her life, starring Claire Danes, received seven Emmy Awards.
RICHARD PANEKandnbsp;is the prize-winning author of The 4% Universe and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in Science Writing.
Table of Contents
Zach 1
Bon Voyage 17
Blue Box 34
Is That All There Is? 50
Failure to Forget 65
Embassy Suites! 79
Lost in Milwaukee 93
Cardinals and Cookies 107
Lost 117
Ill Do Anything 127
Scene of the Crime 134
Boobie 148
Mom and Dad 162
Hollywood Blue 178
Viva Las Vegas! 190
Coming Into Los Angeles 200
Picture Perfect 210
Zach and Gerry 221
Reality Bites 227
Epilogue 234
Zachs Acknowledgments 240
Buzzs Acknowledgments 242
Authors Note 244