I can't even begin to say how much I loved this book.  It was so good that I offered all my classes a huge amount of extra credit to read it an discuss it with me.  I even suggested that we give it as a prize for a student who was winning an award in our department.  This is the amazing story of Louie Zamperini who was an Olympic runner turned war hero.  This book follows Louie from his early days in his quest to get to the Olympic through his military training and his role in WWII.  This book reads as though it is fiction because of the extraordinary circumstances that Louie lived through.  For example his plan is shot down over the Pacific and he survives for months on a raft with no food or water then is captured by the Japanese and is kept a prisoner of war.  For me it gave m ea look at WWII that I have never really read about which was what happened to those who were captured by the Japanese.  This book was also intriguing to me because of the various psychological aspects.  To see how a man can survive so much and come out the other side still a whole person. I don't want to give away to many details from the book because that is the beauty of it, realizing that this book and the things in it are not fake but something a real person lived through.  This is truly the most amazing book I have read in ages.  I think that this book is on par with my love of the book 1984 by Orwell.  It is really in my mind one of the greatest books of our time and a must read.