Norman Ollestad, Crazy for the Storm

Crazy for the Storm

Norman Ollestad

Ecco, Jun 2 2009 $25.99

ISBN: 9780061766725

When he was growing up as "The Boy Wonder", Norman Ollestad admired his FBI agent father for his daredevil lifestyle. The older Ollestad was an adrenaline junkie who threw his son into all sorts of wild escapades that often frightened the preteen, but he always dived head first into them anyway. Norman became a Southern California surfer in Malibu as well as a downhill skier. In February 1979 when he was eleven, Norman, his father, his father's girlfriend, and a Cessna pilot were flying a small plane when it crashed into the San Gabriel Mountains during a blizzard. Everyone inside except the tweener was dead. Norman, heeding his father's mantra "never to give up," began a survival test requiring endurance and fortitude that would have killed most adults, but he made it in spite of the freezing temperatures on the mountain.

Obviously the tragic plane crash and his ultimate survival are the obvious prime events, but CRAZY FOR THE STORM is much more as this memoir focuses on loving relationships especially that of a father and son and on personal courage. Readers will admire Norman Ollestad not because he survived as a tweener an ordeal when he was also grieving, but because of his belief that the brave try when they are afraid; trying when you have no trepidations does not require courage. Fans will enjoy this inspiring memoir that encourages readers to be all we can be by doing.

Harriet Klausner