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guts combat hell raising cancer business start ups and undying love one american guys reckless lucky life
this is a memoir a package of boasts false modesty flawed memories dropped names outright errors and embarrassing disclosures that i think are pretty neat but may appall you if youre squeamish or have an orderly turn of mind . robert nylen br the thing is robert nylen should have died several times in 1968 . he was a goner in 2006 and 2007 as well and yet he survived through a combination of dumb luck and sheer perseverance . of course as you read these words hes already bit the dust . but lets not dwell on that . br a self confessed reckless jerk nylen spent the last four years of his life grappling with big diseases cancer diabetes an astonishing twelve broken bones and ten surgeries . his lifetime total is twenty four fractures most of which resulted from a flagrant refusal to act his age or anyones age for that matter . and yet guts is not a mere chronicle of injuries but a sharp and wry meditation on american manhood . br growing up in suburbia in the 50s and 60s with a father who had worked on the atom bomb nylen was an immature kid who was always eager for attention . in college he became a slovenly hard partying fraternity brother who barely graduated . then came the realization that he was going to have to go to vietnam . a dramatic tour of duty came to an abrupt end with multiple wounds leading him to grow up fast . it was then that he started the real risky business business itself . some ventures succeeded and some failed . he exercised feverishly and often displayed a complete lack of common sense . and then he got sick inevitably with colon cancer . br hilarious moving and riveting this is the life of a tough guy as seen through the scope of a national obsession with toughness . whether he was facing viet cong as a platoon leader in vietnam or doing battle with venture capitalists at home nylen never backed down from a good fight and he had the many scars to prove it . in guts robert nylen writes with humor and precision about the travails and glory of manhood .
hardcover random house 2009 isbn13 9781400067763 isbn10 1400067766
abridged n isbn 13 9781400067763 number in series 1 number of pages 251 publisher random house inc release date 1243296000000