"To lead a full, successful life, to make the maximum use of all the talents that we have -- that's what we're here on earth for. Most of us yearn for this, especially when we are young, but somehow, with every passing year, we lower our sights, we allow ourselves, as Rabindranath Tagore put it, to enter the ""dreary desert sand of dead habit"". And before we know it, we're trapped in a mediocre, unsatisfying life.
To reinvigorate ourselves, to once again reach out for the stars, few tonics are as effective as reading about people who did not allow themselves to fall into a rut. And this book is crammed with the stories of exactly such people -- people who triumphed despite all odds. Some are famous -- like the great American tennis player Arthur Ashe and the actor Anthony Hopkins. Others are unknown. But all have this in common -- they lived with every fibre of their being. We offer you this book in the hope that their stories will stir you to do the same."