Crashing Through: A True Story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See

by Robert Kurson

Hardcover, 2007

Status

Available

Call number

362.41092

Genres

Collection

Your library

Publication

Random House (2007), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 320 pages

Description

In his critically acclaimed bestseller Shadow divers, Robert Kurson explored the depths of history, friendship, and compulsion. Now Kurson returns with another thrilling adventure--the stunning true story of one man's heroic odyssey from blindness into sight. Mike May spent his life crashing through. Blinded at age three, he defied expectations by breaking world records in downhill speed skiing, joining the CIA, and becoming a successful inventor, entrepreneur, and family man. He had never yearned for vision. Then, in 1999, a chance encounter brought startling news: a revolutionary stem cell transplant surgery could restore May's vision. It would allow him to drive, to read, to see his children's faces. He began to contemplate an astonishing new world: Would music still sound the same? Would sex be different? Would he recognize himself in the mirror? Would his marriage survive? Would he still be Mike May? The procedure was filled with risks, some of them deadly, others beyond May's wildest dreams.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member msf59

Mike May was blinded at the age of three but it never diminished his youthful spirit or his immense drive to explore and revel in the joys of life. He continued to play sports, attempted to drive a car and a motorcycle, went to college and as an adult he took up downhill skiing, racking up a couple

world records along the way. Later, he became an entrepreneur, an inventor and raised a family. Life was wonderful for May!
After a chance meeting in 1999, May, now in his mid-forties, was given the opportunity to try a new eye-surgery, involving a stem-cell transplant. This could give him vision but it also held many risks. Since, May loved his current life, this made it a particularly difficult decision. The key was, he appreciated a challenge, another chance to “crash through”.
This is a terrific story, impeccably researched and presenting the reader with a glimpse into the life of the blind and introduces us to a daring, fascinating man.

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LibraryThing member JenneB

A cool story, but his writing style sounded like he was talking to kids. I can't put my finger on why, exactly.
The man in the book has been blind since the age of 3 and then gets his sight restored and has to try to understand what his eyes are seeing. Very cool from a neurological point of view,

although the guy himself seems like he would be exhausting to be around for long, always charging around all "I will be the best I can be! And experience everything! Rar!"
Kurson's Shadow Divers was also exciting (more so, in fact)--he does have a knack for finding interesting people to write about, but don't read him for the actual writing.

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LibraryThing member brianinbuffalo

Here's one litmus paper question I often ask myself when evaluating a book: "Have I ever read anything like this before? And if I have, does this book cover new territory?"
Kurson's work is truly unique. Until I read "Crashing Through," I never gave a lot of thought to the role our brains and our

tactile experiences play in shaping our visual perceptions. Kurson vividly illustrates how our eyes are merely crude tools in helping to shape our take on the world. I really liked this book.

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LibraryThing member khuggard

Crashing Through is the true story of Mike May, a man who regained his sight after losing it in an accident at age 3. The author uses Mike's story to explore issues of risk taking, decision making, family, and vision itself. Indeed, the most interesting parts of the book were the portions that

explored vision from a neurological perspective. Kurson did an excellent job of condensing complex scientific concepts into accessible and understandable passages. The pictures he selected to illustrate his points, were effective and well-chosen. In fact, I think you would lose a lot listening to the audio version of this book without looking at the pictures.

One of my favorite parts of the book occurs when Mike gradually begins to make sense of the visual world. Although Mike can see after his surgery, his brain has a difficult time making sense of the incoming visual stimuli. Mike eventually learns to use the tricks he utilized as a blind man to make sense of the sighted world. I found this to be a interesting metaphor for the human ability to turn our weaknesses into our strengths and to use them to make sense out of the world.

At times, I felt the the biographical detail in the book was a bit extraneous. I also felt like the author repeated himself excessively, often mentioning details that he had just shared within the previous few pages. The first time I noticed it, it seemed like a slip, something an editor missed. After a pattern of it, it just became annoying. Fortunately, this book has enough merits that I would still recommend it to nonfiction readers.

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LibraryThing member xollo

Despite the fact that Mike May was a rather remarkable blind person, I found this book to be much less than remarkable. The storytelling plods, the details of Mike’s life bore, and even when Mike was learning to see, I grew quickly tired of figuring out along with Mike: that must be a shadow! Is

that a giraffe? Etc. It seemed like the author left out interesting details (how does a blind man take a geometry class designed for sighted people anyway?) in favor of the mundanities of married life, or being a father. Mike is portrayed as a nearly flawless human (relationship trouble between he and his wife were glazed over, for example) and a hero, and I came away, after forcing myself through dry, telling prose, frustrated, and wanting to know the “real” story. His story could have been told much more engagingly and to greater effect in a magazine article rather than 300 trudging pages of and then Mike did this, and then he did this, and then he thought this. This is a book you “get” from the title: Crashing Through: A Story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See. What more do you need to know?

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LibraryThing member jcdmack

When an operation in middle-age restores the sight of a man blinded at the age of three, he is unable to see in the way that both he and his doctors expected. This fascinating book shows how our brain recognizes(or doesn't)what we see.

LibraryThing member debs4jc

Crashing Through: A True Story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See by Robert Kurson truly tells an amazing story. Robert May wasn't born blind, but a childhood accident when he was three years old caused him to become blind due to the chemical burns his eyes received. His mother's

refusal to treat him as handicapped coupled with Mike's own tenacity enabled him to grow up defying the typical streotypes associated with blind people. He literally "crashed through" them by using his brain to develop ways of doing the things he wanted to do--like ride a bike, hike alone in the woods, ski, travel, and many other things that even sighted people hesitate to try. His philosophy is that getting lost is part of the fun and it is truly inspiring to hear about his adventures and courage when facing challenges. The book shifts back and forth from telling the story of May's life to explaining how at age 46 May discovered that due to advances in the treatments available for blindness he was a good candidate for a procedure that could enable him to see. As the story follows May through his decision process, the reader learns a lot about this particular medical procedure and a lot about May, who has to weigh his current contentment and satisifaction with his busy life with the risks of the procedure and the uncertain benefits sight would give him.

I am thoroughly enjoying listening to every bit of this story. The narrator, Doug Ordunio, reads with a nice even tone well suited for this non-fiction memoir. One annoyance--I don't like audiobooks that give you no cues at the end of each CD but rather leave it to the listener to figure out it is time to change to the next disc. Anyway, I find May's enthusiasm for life and determination to not let anything stop him totally inspiring. Here is a man who skied in the Olympics, travelled to Africa (alone except for his seeing eye dog), worked for the CIA, started his own business, and I could go on and on. What is stopping the rest of us from following our dreams like this? I also thought the medical information was fascinating as were the descriptions of the perception problems of blind people who have their vision restored. This book informs, inspires, and challenges the reader to use his or her senses to their fullest potential. I highly suggest giving it a read or a listen. A bonus on the audiobook is that the last disc has an interview with the author and May which adds even more insight into this fascinating story.

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LibraryThing member princesspeaches

Truly inspiring. I loved Kurson's work in Shadow Diver's and was not disappointed by this book. Without giving too much away, the basic idea is a man who lost his vision in a childhood accident, but who never allowed it to be a disability, faces a possibility of regaining his sight as an adult.

LibraryThing member sbenne3

Fascinating read - I could not put this down. I love biographies especially on such an interesting life.

LibraryThing member mandolin82

A reasonably written book on a fascinating subject: a man who gains sight after 40 years of blindness.

LibraryThing member alaskabookworm

Kurson's other book, "Shadow Divers" is one of my very favorite nonfiction adventure pieces of all time. "Crashing Through" was also very interesting: the story of a man who regains his sight after a lifetime without it, and his attempts to "learn" how to see.

Kurson came to Anchorage to promote

this book, and there were only a dozen or so people at the signing. He was a very nice guy; very passionate about his stories. His interest, empathy, and research come through in his books.

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LibraryThing member hemlokgang

A very interesting story of a very interesting man. The blending of narrative, biography and medical information was done very well. Satisfied the desire to know as much as possible about the man and the medicine. Sometimes it was difficult to believe all the "crashing through" stories, but I guess

there really are some folks who live life in the extreme from childhood on. Good read!

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LibraryThing member SFCC

I found Robert Kurson's: Crashing Through fascinating. Follows in some detail Kurson's life—focusing on his blinding as a child and the restoration of his sight as an adult. Good for anyone interested in how our brains interpret what we see and how we understand our world. Recommended by Margot

Casstevens

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LibraryThing member Iambookish

Again, Kurson is a talented story teller, but the subject of this book was a very unappealing character. That alone brought the enjoyment of this book down for me.

LibraryThing member ajlewis2

A perfect book to read if you want to learn some interesting details about how vision works while reading a page-turning story. The story is especially wonderful, because we get so much human interest and for not being a novel, it is very well delivered. The main characters of the story gave the

author a lot of interview time and he used it well. I was very surprised by what the actual struggles May faced. There a lots of people to admire in this book. I also admire the author for a job well done.

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LibraryThing member dara85

Having worked with blind people for nearly 20 years I applauded Ori Jean fighting for her son and pushing him to try things. I saw Mike May speak and he is a very driven, intelligent man.
This book gives you incites about vision and how what we see is processed. So many books perpetuate the

stereotypes of blind persons. This one does not.

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LibraryThing member dogrover

Who, being blind, would think twice about taking an opportunity to see? The answer and the reasons for it define the man, Mike May, as much as the title of the book itself.This intimate narrative is part love story, part drama, part documentary, part case study, and completely compelling. As I read

some of the exploits of the main character, I had to double-check that this was indeed a true account. The author spent hundreds hours interviewing May's friends and family, as well as May himself, and weaves their accounts together into an emotional, if sometimes simply-told, recital.The descriptions of May's first experience with vision, after losing it for over 40 years, brought tears to my eyes and made me feel as if I were part of the story myself.

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LibraryThing member curious_squid

Story about a man blinded at age three who regains sight through an operation he has in his forties. The most interesting part of this for me was how the brain and vision interact. I will also admit I was thoroughly creeped out by discussions of eyeballs, and had to stop reading a few times, but

was able to complete the book.

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