Blind Man’s 9/11 Story Hits NYT Best-Sellers List

The
remarkable story of a blind man and the guide dog that led him and
dozens of others to safety just moments before the World Trade Center
crumbled nearly 10 years ago, has become an instant best-seller. Thunder
Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog & the Triumph of
Trust at Ground Zero will make its debut on the vaunted New York Times Best-Seller List in its first week of release.

Co-authored by Susy Flory, readers follow Michael Hingson and his yellow
Labrador Retriever, Roselle, in a firsthand, moment-by-moment account
of not only what it was like to be inside the World Trade Center when
Tower One was struck, but of each painstaking step between the 78th
floor and survival on the streets below moments before tower collapsed
just yards away.

“On one level, this is a book about the events of 9/11, but it is so
much more than that,” said Brian Hampton, Senior Vice President and
Publisher at Nashville-based Thomas Nelson Publishers. “It’s a beautiful
story of trust and courage, an exploration of the unique bond between
humans and animals. It leaves the reader inspired and full of hope. I
believe that’s why it has impacted people so quickly and powerfully and
why they are telling their friends about it.”

A cum laude graduate of the University of California with a master’s
degree in physics, Hingson has never been one to let blindness slow him
down—figuratively or literally. As a boy he rode his bike around the
neighborhoods of Palmdale, Calif., drove a Mustang around campus as
a college student, and today he pilots small planes and plays golf when
time away from his San Francisco consulting firm allows.

Hingson is also a national ambassador for the Braille Literacy Campaign
and has recently launched “Roselle’s Dream Foundation,” the purpose of
which is to assist blind children—and later blind adults—in
obtaining new technologies.

Roselle, after navigating a number of ailments through the years—not
the least of which were severe muscular atrophy and an auto-immune
disorder that was believed to be have been brought on by the ingestion
of the toxic dust generated by the destruction of the towers—passed
away on June 26. It was recently learned that she has been named a
finalist in the 2011 American Humane Association’s American Hero Dog
Awards.