d child growing up in Zanesville, Ohio, in the 1940s and '50s, blind children were typically steered into occupations caning chairs or tuning pianos. "Or selling pencils on street corners," Jim says. No way he was going to settle for that.

With the help of a loving mother who saw the wisdom of integrating a blind child into the sighted world and Jim's own innate determination--he might call it stubbornness--Jim overcame the obstacles and prejudices blind children faced in those times. As an adult, with the support of his wife, Vicki, and their four children, he built an exemplary life of achievement and success in academia, state government, and the music business. Along the way, he managed to pack in a large share of fun, fine music, love, and laughter.

Blind people like Jim who succeed in the sighted world must have extraordinary levels of determination, memory skills that put the sighted to shame, and an awesome drive to persevere and persevere--and persevere some more--while overcoming obstacles that you, you sighted person reading this now, can barely imagine.

What does it take? How did Jim Sayre do it? Read Jimmy and be inspired by the human spirit of a person who insisted on developing his full potential despite the limits that society wanted to place on him.