Against Tall Odds: Being a David in a Goliath World

by Matt Roloff and Tracy Sumner

Book Overview

FROM THE DUST JACKET: "HE STARED AT THE CEILING TILES, SUSPENDED IN A FULL BODY CAST. HOW MANY MONTHS WOULD IT BE THIS TIME? THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS BATTLED FOR CONTROL OF HIS SOUL: HOPE, DESPAIR,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1576735834
• ISBN13: 9781576735831
• Release Date: July 1999
• Publisher: Multnomah Books
• Length: 182 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 9.6" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

awesome

Matt Roloff is a great author and a great man. his book really gives insight into the human condition and how to overcome it. I learned much from reading his book just once, and will read it many times again. Physical disability is no stopper for Mr Roloff, he says time and again that whats important is a good mental attitude. with his can do attitude he has become a succesfull business man, a good father and was once president of Little People of America.He has a farm in Oregon with his family and he builds real life sized structures for his family to enjoy like an old west town,and a pirate ship on a pond. He has an orchard on the farm that is open to the public once a year. all in all, Mr Roloff is an all american guy, living the american dream to it's fullest and he tells us in his book how he got there. living with a physical handicap has been turned into many ways to serve the Lord for Mr Roloff, it is an inspirational book and a must read for anyone facing adversity no matter what kind it is.

A must-read for anyone who is feeling challenged by life

It was inspiring to read this book about a big man in a small body, who has faced the adversities and challenges, and has overcome them. This is an uplifting story of triumph, which has helped me in my own day-to-day battles. I have recommended it to my friends and colleagues.

I can relate...

As the father of a "little person" I can relate to Matt Roloff's book. It is a great motivator to other "little people" and parents of "little people". It just shows if you put your mind to something it can/will get done.

A Truly Inspirational Story

If you are a parent, I urge you to read this book! Not only were Matt's parents thrown into the world of raising a little person in an "average-sized" world, they excelled at teaching Matt that despite his disabilities, he could not only survive, but succeed in this world. They never gave Matt an opportunity to pitty himself.We live in a world that tells us to blame someone for everything that happens in our life. Matt never did that -- today he is a successful businessman, a devoted husband and loving father.This book taught me that God has a purpose and plan for everyone's life and we must use our talents to the best of our ability. Matt's life has turned out better than what he could have ever imagined.What a wonderful story!

An engaging and inspiring book for readers of all ages

At one level, Against Tall Odds is about overcoming the challenges of being a little person in a world built and inhabited largely by average-sized people. At a more basic level, it is about being human and learning to live a full and productive life no matter who you are or where you start from.Matt Roloff, a highly-successful software and services developer and part-time real estate entrepreneur, started from a place that's hard to imagine even after you read his own account. As a diastrophic dwarf, Roloff spent a significant part of his early life in San Francisco's Shriner's Hospital. There, well-intentioned but ultimately ineffectual doctors subjected him to a battery of excruciating medical procedures designed to "straighten, twist and lengthen different parts of [his] body," and hospital staff enforced a strict visitation policy that limited family visits to 2 hours per week. During the long days and nights that he lay immobilized in a body cast, Roloff stared at the white ceiling tiles and dreamed. Later on, those dreams became the mainspring of an active, intriguing and inspiring life that revolves around his wife, their four young children, and their Disneyesque 35-acre farm/home that is the creative expression of his fertile mind.Roloff's progression from the baby the doctors were afraid to tell his parents about to an accomplished, multi-talented adult is a fascinating and touching story, told against the background of an amazing family; of siblings whose physical infirmities and will to live rival his own; and of parents whose faith, humor, strength of character and unselfish love instilled in their children the curious notion--so evident throughout this book--that life is to be relished, not endured.Against Tall Odds is an engaging book for readers of all ages. It should be required reading for every middle school student and is definitely a must-read for anyone who has ever excused himself for anything on the grounds that life isn't fair.