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This third volume of astonishing people has more amazing inventors: the doctor who invented the implantable drug infusion pump, which is now used by diabetics to keep blood insulin levels in check. The doctor who came up with acetaminophen, to treat your headaches and other pains. The physicist and engineer who invented the crash-test dummy (and why). The guy who came up with the idea for renting videos. The microbiologist who is responsible for saving more lives than anyone else in history.
There’s also the woman who founded the first rape crisis center in the U.S. (because her 15-year-old daughter really needed it). The guy who came up with the first web crawler to create a search engine (it wasn’t Google).
And then there’s the artists — the guy responsible for bringing Batman to modern audiences, after the character declined after World War II. The woman who created “Brenda Starr”. The man who quit his corporate job and came up with a new concept to help the poor: the food bank.
You’ve heard of the Green Berets — the very first Special Forces team. Have you ever heard of the secret agent who was responsible for creating them, and chose the color of the beret? You will here. And the guy who was the first Blue Angel — the U.S. Air Force’s precision flying team.
Not to mention the doctors who improve or save lives, like the one in New Zealand who recognized, and developed a treatment for, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Plus, of course, a number of rocket scientists and other geeks.
The mainstream media tend to worship celebrities and sports figures, but the real heroes in life are often anonymous to the public. This volume includes 149 of those fascinating men and women.
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The Honorary Unsubscribe is a recurring feature in "This is True" — one of the first Internet-based newsletters, created by Randy Cassingham in early 1994. TRUE's mission is to provoke thought through social commentary. But if readers aren't entertained by the stories, they won't read very many. Thus its vehicle: weird-but-true news from legitimate news sources from around the world. The result spans the gamut of the crazy things we humans think we can get away with: jaw-dropping examples of the human thought process, and the realization that we can do better — a LOT better!
The Honorary Unsubscribe is the "balance" to those weird stories of people doing dumb things. The H.U. is, in fact, the opposite: stories of the absolutely coolest people you've ever heard about; the ones who DO live a lot better. This is the first volume collecting those write-ups into book form for the first time.
