When Your Back's Against the Wall

Fame, Football, and Lessons Learned Through a Lifetime of Adversity

By: Michael Oher, Don Yaeger - contributor

Narrated by: Cary Hite, Michael Oher

Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

The NFL champion whose life inspired the hit movie The Blind Side is back with an inspiring and motivating book on overcoming any obstacle, no matter how tough the odds

Millions of people became part of Michael Oher’s story when they watched a version of him on the big screen; read his memoir, I Beat the Odds; or cheered him on from the stands. After speaking to so many of them over the years, Oher knows that more than anything, people want to believe great things can happen, even when the situation looks bleak. His story of overcoming the toughest of odds serves as their hope.

Oher’s life has had a lot of unexpected highs: a college degree; four beautiful, healthy children and a happy marriage; drafted in the first round; a Super Bowl victory; and a second chance to play in the “big game.” He’s also run up against quite a few walls: poverty, hunger, homelessness, struggles in school, bullying, job loss, brain injury, anxiety, and depression. What he knows now is that your wall can be your opportunity. In When Your Back’s Against the Wall, he offers encouragement and shows listeners how to get back up—again, and again, and again.

©2023 Michael Oher (P)2023 Penguin Audio

very inspirational, raw

I loved this book. It is nice to hear his story from HIS perspective. It is very truthful.

Authenticity

As someone who also greatly impacted by a concussion, I identified with the recovery process. As someone who was also able to exit poverty, I identified with some of those facets too.

Appreciate another life story

I enjoyed this book as it’s heart warming to hear how one person with the support of mentors along the way paved a way for himself and used those same skills to create an organization to pave a way for others
Thank you for sharing your story

Heartfelt and Informative

Wow, these other reviews. "He should be more grateful" and "not enough content." Clearly not the target audience. It's a memoir with his life lessons and motivation for his foundation. I enjoyed listening to it and resonated with many of the themes. It's accessible and will give people in tough circumstances some tools.

I got bored

Too much of same thing chapter after chapter. I’m an audiobook junky but couldn’t finish this one. I praise him for the good he’s doing for kids!

Enough material for a short YouTube video

I appreciated the 3 or 4 inspirational stories. I was particularly touched by the story of Judd (sp - it is an audiobook :-)) However, the Author's intent was to provide inspiration. Books that capture an audience interest are unique either in idea or approach. This book was not unique in either aspect. It is boring except for the few minutes of stories that were unique to the author. Minimal creativity in the presentation of principles that many others have provided in other books. Additionally, he seemed to contradict his own "lessons" in the book. For example, early in the book, he talked about how it was important to not let anything stop you but then later walked that back when he suggested that you should stop if there is a chance you might overdo. On the subject of contradiction, the author suggested that you should let go of things that others do and forgive yet tone in the book about the book, "The Blind Side" and the movie suggests that he has not moved past that. My analysis is reinforced by the Petition the author filed in his conservatorship. One can hardly take his chapter on forgiveness seriously in light of the allegations the author has most recently leveled against the Tuohys and the relief he is seeking. As a footnote, it is hard to understand how a 37 year old, with the income he had during his professional career, failed to seek professional advice on the conservatorship which was established so many years ago. Having said that, one thing this book does reinforce is that Football, as it is played today, is unreasonably dangerous causing unnecessary and, in many instances, irreversible injuries and needs to be drastically modified to protect those who wish to play this sport. I do applaud the author for correcting the record on the efforts he made during his early years to take charge of his life.