No Excuses: The True Story Of A Congenital Amputee Who Became A Champion In Wrestling And In Life is the triumphant story of Kyle Maynard, a boy born with a genetic defect known as Quadramembral Phocomelia, which caused the extremely limited growth of his arms and legs. But it is far from a sad story as Kyle, through sheer determination, overcomes his disadvantages and participates in sports, eventually getting into wrestling.

“I was eager to be a wrestler because I had been a fan of so-called ‘professional’ wrestling for quite a long time. I liked those TV wrestlers because they always looked so strong and intense. I thought I’d actually get to jump off the top rope and body slam my opponents in the ring. Little did I know that the sport I was about to undertake was a different animal entirely. Real wrestling is a completely different sport than the dramatic fighting seen on TV. It is one on one combat. It’s the only sport in school-sanctioned sport that, when you lose, it’s because you got your butt kicked by the other guy. That’s a particularly hard thing to accept at a young age, but it’s the kind of life lesson that builds a tremendous amount of character; it’s a character that comes with the sport. I soon found that out on the mat, I was all alone. I didn’t have ten teammates there to help me out if I made a mistake that I couldn’t fix on my own.”

Overall, this is an amazing book. The prose is conversational, which keeps it from getting bogged down with too many details. At roughly two hundred and forty pages (with his diet and workout plan in the back), it’s a good quick read that will inspire anyone who reads it.