Guts

one American guy's reckless, lucky life

1st ed.
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August 6, 2021 | History

Guts

one American guy's reckless, lucky life

1st ed.
  • 0 Ratings
  • 0 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 0 Have read

"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 you're squeamish or have an orderly turn of mind."--Robert NylenThe 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, he's already bit the dust. But let's not dwell on that.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 anyone's age, for that matter. And yet Guts is not a mere chronicle of injuries but a sharp and wry meditation on American Manhood.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.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.From the Hardcover edition.

Publish Date
Publisher
Random House
Language
English

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Guts
Cover of: Guts
Guts
2009, Random House Publishing Group
Electronic resource in English
Cover of: Guts
Guts: one American guy's reckless, lucky life
2009, Random House
in English - 1st ed.

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Published in
New York
Genre
Biography., Personal narratives, American.

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
959.704/3092, B
Library of Congress
CT275.N84 A3 2009

The Physical Object

Pagination
p. cm.

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL22560329M
Internet Archive
gutscombathellra0000nyle
ISBN 13
9781400067763
LCCN
2008041269
OCLC/WorldCat
244417191
Library Thing
8154830
Goodreads
5928409

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON
August 6, 2021 Edited by New York Times Bestsellers Bot Add NYT review links
July 22, 2019 Edited by MARC Bot remove fake subjects
June 17, 2010 Edited by ImportBot add details from OverDrive
April 28, 2010 Edited by Open Library Bot Linked existing covers to the work.
December 11, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page