S. Leonard Syme

Memoir of a Useless Boy S. Leonard Syme

S. Leonard Syme tells the story of a skinny 12-year-old boy whose father challenged him to squish the caps of soda pop bottles. He regularly failed. He clearly remembers feeling bruised every time his father walked away muttering about his "useless boy." Looking back, he realized that he devoted his life to proving his father wrong. The lessons he learned in successfully dealing with his father's rejections and disapprovals allowed him to help others. His Memoir is an optimistic one: it describes his humorous and revealing journey from squeezing bottle caps to changing the way we as a society understand health and well-being.