Among the collection’s standout narratives are a man who could balance his entire body weight on one finger, a trusted advisor for an American President, and a young farm boy who left the fields at 18 for World War II combat. Other compelling stories include a football player whose NFL hopes were shattered by an injury that cost him part of his leg, a woman who swam across Mobile Bay as part of her rigorous training to conquer the English Channel, and powerful accounts of addiction, recovery, the birth and death of dreams, and losing—and finding—everything.