Someone Anyone
34 reviews1 follower
A fascinating read. Like others, I agree that the lack of editing is jarring... but the man wrote this entire book with a pencil in his mouth, tapping it against a keyboard. It took five years to do this. I can't dismiss that. I appreciate the effort that went into it and I enjoyed reading Paul's words. What a special life he has lived. Forcing himself out of turmoil. It's beautiful.
Joe
386 reviews4 followers
Though for me to read as his Polio was in the same year as mine. Much of his remembrances are similar to mine. Being alone for 6 months in a hospital, even if mom and dad came often. Seemed like forever to me. He certainly captured my feelings. A real view of Polio of the paralyzed it causes, really is a bastard of a disease. Not gone, no cure, it is preventable with a vaccine.
D Brothers
211 reviews5 followers
This book was a good reminder that not all writing needs to be executed with precision or revised by an editor in order to have value. As many readers noted, there are plenty of typos and backtracking timelines, but if they had been edited out the story would have lost its character. What this book delivers is an authentic telling of one man's life story, in his own words, and by his own hand (or in this case, mouth stick). It felt relatable and familiar, the way you'd expect your own uncle or grandparent to recount their personal history - with plenty of detours and side stories that add color and character to the raw facts.
Clay W
38 reviews1 follower
Man, I feel bad about giving this book 2 stars. The man's story is extremely interesting and I wish it had been told better. My biggest issue is in the editing of this book. From formatting errors, hard to follow segments, repeated sentences, and tons of grammatical errors are truly jarring and distracting from really being able to dive into the narrative. Just with some basic editing this book goes up to a 3, if it was reworked then a 4 - easily. I'm not sure if the book was kept in this state for artistic reasons(that being the author wrote the book with his mouth, presumably upside down looking through a mirror) but I couldn't really get over the constant and oftentimes confusing errors. The story was enlightening, interesting, and a showcase of perseverance against a world not designed for them. I just wish it was put together much much better than it is.
James Koenig
96 reviews2 followers
Paul Alexander has an extremely compelling story to tell, but unfortunately, it gets lost in the poor editing of this book. There are events out of sequence, spelling errors galore, and confusing sentences. Paul Alexander has the most remarkable spirit. Nothing, not even polio paralysis stopped him from living out his dreams. I admire his grit and tenacity to overcome as best as possible his severe physical limitations. It’s extremely unfortunate that Paul’s story was not edited by a professional. Mr. Alexander wrote his own story with a pencil in his mouth! When I consider the effort that went into the writing, I’m awestruck. My question is this: Why didn’t someone help Mr. Alexander with putting his story together, such as a professional editor? The book cover gives credit to a Norman Brown RN, as the editor. Unfortunately, the poor editing makes this book a difficult read. Had a shadow-writer interviewed Mr. Alexander, gathered up the details of his life story, and then composed the book, a much better result would have resulted. Perhaps Mr. Alexander wanted to do this work himself, with little actual assistance. This is likely the case. One theme throughout the book is Paul Alexander’s desire to live independently. In the end, I give Mr. Alexander immense credit for his intense effort and determination to write his life story.
I’d like to see this story re-edited by a writer and republished with additional details about Paul’s life. His courage and determination to live as normal a life as possible deserve a better edit than this book received.
Marina Gaston
144 reviews
I gave this book 5 stars on principle. Paul is an amazing individual with a unique life experience and absolutely awe inspiring perseverance. At times, I had a lot of trouble figuring out what he was trying to convey and frequently was just lost on the timeline or place of the action. Much of the content on this book was just hard to decipher for me. Regardless of the jarring effects of the editing, or lack thereof, this is a must read. We, the lucky many, who have never experienced truly unsurmountable obstacles to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, must take the time to learn and admire people like Paul. Paul is a miracle in his own right who achieved so much with what we would consider so little.
- non-fiction print
Julie
573 reviews
After viewing an episode of The Good Doctor that featured a middle-aged woman in an iron lung, I caught a quick segment on the evening news about Paul Alexander and his book. So of course I bought the book right away!
Mr. Alexander's courage and perseverance are incredible, starting with the sudden attack of polio that changed him from a playful boy to an almost-dead invalid in an iron lung. The discussion of the polio fears of the early 1950s are a reminder of the early Covid fears of 2 years ago. Fortunately, like now, a vaccine came to the rescue and I recall getting the vaccine sugar cubes as a child.
Reading about Mr. Alexander's life, you wish you could meet him. He did everything possible to expand his life beyond the limits of the iron lung, continuing his education and experiences as much as possible. He was fortunate to have amazing parents and siblings, as well as caregivers and friends along the way.
I understand the value in leaving the manuscript "as is" to give the reader the full impact of the difficulty faced in writing/typing a book using a mouth stick. However, I must admit that it was difficult wading through the continuous errors that would have been corrected and smoothed by a good editor. Also, much of the sequence of his life was lost due to the erratic order of the book.
- bio-memoir
Adriane Robinson
107 reviews
I applaud the perseverance the author has shown through the trials in his life, however this book was very difficult to read due to the extreme lack of editing. I assume this decision was made because the author painstakingly typed every word by mouth (which I respect), but the narrative suffers because of it.
Raymond Chan
21 reviews9 followers
Polio is a such horrible disease that impaired the author's life, even the doctors said he would not live long. However, he is so optimistic that he live it through today and make many great achievements. It was a very inspiring read and teach me a great lesson: seize the day! Though the book could be made better if there are some more editing as some parts may be hard to read due to some spelling errors.
Karina Venable
14 reviews1 follower
Paul Alexander has incredible grit. I am so thankful he typed out his memoir (despite being paralyzed from the neck down!) As others have mentioned, this book contained a lot of errors, and some portions were hard to follow because of repeated sections or stories not told chronologically, etc. That said, I feel as though perhaps the errors allow readers to get to know Paul Alexander and about what he overcomes daily more genuinely.
Dee
41 reviews
Very humbling This book hit me deeply, especially as vaccines had long made this disease not a part of daily life by the time I came around. With the current pandemic, and the description of terror and the unknown, keeping children home, over full hospitals, it feels so relevant to today. I loved the introduction as well. It was true when it was written and so desperately true right now. As the sibling of a childhood cancer survivor, his writing about his siblings and giving a nod to their experiences during the early parts of his disease brought a lot of that back up Spending months in a hospital with a sibling exposes you to other children dying and a lot of fast forwarding in your own childhood. But I'd never ask for a different life, only if I could have taken her place. I liked that this was not edited to be pretty. He wrote it from an iron lung with a stick. The language and words and here-and-there errors keeps that in the forefront of your mind.
Jamie Lee
133 reviews1 follower
The editing didn’t bother me so much, I think it gave it character. What really irked me was the lack of details. Like I get he learned frog breathing but WHAT IS THAT and how is he able to take flights and be outside of the iron lung so long?! I feel like that is such a big deal and it was not addressed. But aside from that, very sad story and he seems like he was very positive considering his lot in life.
Rebecca Li
1 review
Wonderful I saw a youtube video of author and went looking for this book. Usually i read with audible but i downloaded kindle for this book because I was so fascinated by this warrior and intelligent person. What a great read! I feel so encouraged and motivated by this book. Thankyou, i will read this again
K.T.
225 reviews1 follower
A pretty incredible story of perseverance and making the best of a terrible disease. It’s amazing that Alexander took the time to write this, one letter at a time taping a keyboard with a mouthpiece. I feel terrible saying this but the lack of editing really takes away from the story. This would have been an even more moving work if it was just a tiny bit polished.
Marilyn
94 reviews1 follower
A little frustrating to read but it was written by a man in an iron lung with a stick as he called it. He contracted polio at the age of five or six and this story is his life as he remembers it. Everything he accomplished, his pain and heartbreak, how he fought to live as normal a life as possible in a time where a person with disabilities was basically a non-person. It is heartbreaking and inspiring. He is still alive today and still in an iron lung. He reminds us to not forget diseases like Polio that were so devastating and thankfully have a vaccine for. Really an amazing life that most people would not have made what he made of his.
Lauren
149 reviews2 followers
I wanted to like it... The premise of this book was incredibly intriguing and it is astounding what this man lived through from the age of 6 on, so it pains me to rate it with 1 star. However, I have never read such a convoluted book. The storyline bounced back and forth from childhood to college to adulthood and back without any cohesive thought and the grammar and spelling were awful. I hate to comment negatively about that as I know the author wrote it with his mouth which would make it very easy to make mistakes, but an editor would have been very helpful and could have made the book much more enjoyable and readable.
Sarah
100 reviews1 follower
Paul, your story is extremely important and eye-opening. Thank you for sharing your life with us. The cruelty you experienced in the hospital and the love from your parents had me bawling. I pray you’re never left alone in your iron lung again without help and never have maintenance issues with it.
Lisa
2 reviews
Many grammatical and typographical errors. He wrote this with a companion so it’s not just on him. Another problem was repetition of the same stories - nearly word for word in some cases. Interesting story - just not a well written or well articulated book.
Linda Anderson
88 reviews
inspiring I can’t imagine the difficulty of his day to day life. What an optimistic human being. Truly incredible, amazing man!
Tracey
102 reviews1 follower
Wonderful, it has a few errors. A great story and a life well lived with many obstacles.
Danielle Kovaly
7 reviews
Reflecting on our experience through the pandemic, I can only imagine what the polio epidemics were like and how his mother felt that day she knew he was sick. A light inspirational read.
Alexander Dwyer
4 reviews
A beautiful perspective on life, the struggles that life involves, and the ability to overcome those struggles even when they include complete paralysis.
Vandenbosch Laura
1 review
A few months ago I saw a video on YouTube called 'The man in the iron lung.' There was a detailed description of Paul R. Alexander's situation, it spoke immensely to me and I wanted to delve into his life further. When I found out that Paul R. Alexander had written a book I was immediately interested, the thing that finally made me buy the book is that he wrote and typed this book all by himself using only his mouth. I had prepared myself before reading for a very detailed story, lots of emotion but also love. It was a very informative story although at times I found it to be somewhat oddly worded, I do fully understand this because of the circumstances in which it was written, yet it truly reflects reality, showing that not every book needs to be perfect and that mistakes can also be made. I really do look up to Paul R. Alexander's determination immensely, always stuck in an iron lung would make me feel really unhappy, the way Paul R. Alexander handled it is fascinating to me. He never gave up, he stayed positive and spread a lot of love. It was very interesting and I learned a lot, but since an autobiography is not my thing I also found it a bit boring at times. I don't think I will read an autobiography again but this story was eye opening. Overall, I give this story 5 stars; it touched me on multiple levels and is truly something rare and extraordinary. I have immense respect for Paul R. Alexander and his determination to have completed this remarkable book. When I found out that he recently passed away I was devastated,
May he rest in peace.
Monty
70 reviews
I'm going to echo what many of the other reviews say, which is the life that Paul has experienced is such an inspirational adventure. With that said, this book desperately needed an editor to help sort it out. Chapter 2 of this book should be required reading for schools, as with this seeming to be Paul's most traumatic point in his life, he gives the most detailed and organized explanation of how torturous it was to get polio. The story that the title of the book is based on is also quite good! However, the rest of the book after chapter 2 really jumps around a lot and randomly introduces people in his life. There is also a lot of random musings that get thrown in. There were many instances reading this where I thought "where did that come from?" or "Why wasn't this mentioned before?" The book also doesn't go into much his adult life, it sort of glances at his stay at University of Texas and then abruptly comes to an end. There is a timeline at the end of the book and it seems that he doesn't cover much of anything passed 1973! Sequel material? The book really needs to be a bit more organized. I am very impressed by the fact that Paul typed this out by his mouth and that is part of the allure of this book, but I think it could've been helped with some editing/help. Maybe for the sequel, Paul can dictate to his computer and let someone edit it with his blessing?
Kelli Trusedell
248 reviews1 follower
Paul Alexander died last month, on March 11, 2024. When I saw the headline, I remembered that I had his 2020 autobiography sitting on my bookshelf to read, so I moved it to the top of my to-read pile. Paul was born in 1946, and when he was six years old, during the Polio epidemic of 1952 that claimed approximately 60,000 lives in the USA alone, he contracted polio. He had one of the worst polio cases ever recorded, causing him to be paralyzed from the neck down. He didn’t let that stop him though. He was a paralytic polio survivor, a college graduate, a lawyer, a writer, and he holds the World Record for the person who spent the longest amount of time living in an iron lung (over 70 years). Definitely amazing. This is Paul’s autobiography, which he took seven years to write, using his mouth and a pencil attached to a stick. While it’s very interesting to read his story and thoughts, it’s as if he threw down his thoughts, and no one read or edited it before publishing the book. Lots of misspellings, misuse of punctuation, repetition, and other errors, which is all very jarring and distracting. But the story of his life is heartbreaking, enlightening, and inspiring, and I’m glad he shared it with us before he passed. I give this book three dogs. 🐕🐕🐕
Rhose
14 reviews
Wauw what a inspiration to never give up even when life throws you the hardest battles! Paul wrote this from his POV which gives the reader a great look into his life from the Iron Lung. There is no description of what happened around him, what he couldn't see/hear/smell himself. Throughout the book you feel abit more of the freedom the frog-breathing method gave him, and what he had been able to accomplish because of that. Especially the part about the studying and how eventhi his caregiver abandoned he refused to call his dad! Ngl I have shed a tear, or two, when reading the part about boxer Ginger. She was the reason he was trying to learn the breathing method and the dog dying so soon was alot to take in. I think everyone should read this book. It teaches so many life lessons and gave me a new outlook on life. Thank you Paul for writing this and may you have a peacefull place in Heaven
Paul had so much to go thru as a kid that it amazes me how light this book still is. And I know that's because Paul kept on thrusting God over his life and eventho depression kicked in every now and then, he didn't let it take over the book. Which is really nice
30-01-1946 - 11-03-2024
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
- bought-24 english
heathersbookaddiction
143 reviews
I came across this book one day while googling Iron Lungs. Paul passed away earlier this year but was one of the longest people ever to survive still using the Iron Lung. Paul’s book was written with a stick in his mouth while he typed out each letter while in his iron lung. I just can’t imagine!! Paul sounded like he had the most amazing and supportive parents which supported him thru his life. While there were some hard days Paul always seemed to make the most of things and lived life to the fullest. He went to college and became a Lawyer and made many friends. His early days in the hospital were traumatic and I cannot imagine being so lung and not understand the whole extent of what is going on. I wanted to know more and more but was happy to get a glimpse of what life was like for him. I love that everyone who crossed his path tried to give him experiences he may not otherwise have. During Polio many children and adults became infected with life lasting effects or death. Many people stayed indoors away from others much like during COVID. Today Polio should be irradiated and no longer be feared. The hope was that polio vaccines would no longer be needed as it would no longer exist. But due to people choosing not to vaccinate for multiple different reasons it is still very much a concern in the world. Thankfully Canadas last reported case was in 1977. In the USA the last case was 2022.
Lindsay
101 reviews
I am a polio survivor. I caught it in 1952 as a one year old so do not have memories of being hospitalized and kept away from my family. My polio was muscular and affected my legs and lower back and left me with little muscle in my legs and weakened back muscles. I did not need an Iron Lung. Paul's horrific account of being a 6 year old in an Iron Lung and the abuse he suffered by neglectful and overworked medical staff is so hard to read. He survived and his story of his accomplishments is inspiring. In today's world of anti-vaccinationers, this is a very sobering account of what happens when you get polio. It is so sad to see that polio is still around when we have an effective vaccine. Rant, rant... My only problem with this book is that it really needed a proofreader. There are so many typos and even sentence and paragraph repetition. Perhaps future printing will have those corrected. Overall though, an interesting account of a full life even while relying on an Iron Lung.
- biography-auto-biography philosophy
Sapna
62 reviews
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March 17, 2024I read the book after hearing of Paul Alexander's death. His life was unique and required an unusual mental resilience and I was curious about him and how he developed this exceptional quality. It seems he has a very strong faith in God, an aversion to a victim mentality, and wonderful friends. In this book, he rarely spoke negatively of others though it is clear certain people and institutions let him down and discriminated against him. He celebrated the people who supported him. He believed in himself and his ability to meaningfully contribute to society. I felt very sad to read about his traumas, particularly as a young boy, but was overall truly in awe of his full life, in which he experienced and had to process those emotions we all do - love, loss, anticipation, disappointment, etc... I am glad to read about his remarkable life and hope he's enjoying being free of the physical constraints of this world.
Frederico Borelli
21 reviews1 follower
This is a very touching book. Paul struggled almost his entire life against his limitations of being a victim of Polio. In the book, he managed to give the reader some details about his life in a way that make us think how we are fragile and just a very small part of this huge universe. He was very strong and resisted all the tough challenges of his life journey, even getting a law degree in a good university. Not to mention that He had to learn how to breath in a different way to be able to stay out of the iron lung for some time. The book is quite raw (and that is a very nice aspect about it) and very authentic. The reader can feel different "moods" of Paul along the five+ years of writing. He wrote this book with his mouth. This fact is enough to make this book an amazing piece of work. I really recommend for any person. It's a BOLD lesson of endurance and strength. When you think your life is full of problems, just remember this guy's life.