I Took a Lickin' and Kept on Ticking

This book is about a miracle.

There's just no other way to describe what happened.

When Lewis Grizzard went in for his latest heart surgery - a replacement for his much-publicized pig valve - he assumed it would be another ordinary, humdrum hospital nightmare. He'd been through plenty of those. Little did he dream that, while on the operating table, his heart would stop. And stop dead in its tracks - the key word here being "dead." For Lewis Grizzard was, in fact, as good as gone. His ticker didn't work for three days. He was in a coma for weeks. His doctors said his chances of survival were nil. He even saw the glowing white light at the end of the tunnel. For most people, that would be a sign that heaven was just around the corner. For Lewis - just his luck - it turned out to be a K-mart tire sale.

I Took a Lickin' and Kept on Tickin' (and Now I believe in Miracles) is the extraordinary journey that took America's most popular humorist all the way to Russia (Lewis would have us believe he'd rather go through another heart operation than use Russian toilet paper again) to the Den of the Bloodsuckers (otherwise known to most people as hospital orderlies) to the very brink of death - and back again. In great detail - ranging from the horrendous and painful to hilarious and heartwarming - we see, close up, what it's like to come as near as a man can come to dying.

Lewis would rather not make such a journey again, but even he must admit it was a trip worth taking, for, at death's door, he learned all the lessons he'll ever need about life.