Breaking Free: My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder by Herschel Walker with Gary Brozek and Charlene Maxfield (S & S/Touchstone) is a candid and smoothly written account of the football great's life, and there's much that's surprising here.

Growing up not far from Atlanta, Walker often had to run barefoot as a kid because his family had no money for sneakers.  As a child he was a stutterer, and he was chubby.  One of his teachers said to him during his elementary school years, "Poor Herschel.  You'll never amount to much."

Walker is classy enough not to name names, but he says he'll never forget the teacher who said that to him.

As most people know, he famously went on to become a star college football player, winning the 1982 Heisman Trophy award.  He also played pro football, represented this country in the Olympics, and earned several black belts in the martial arts.

This is not just a standard tale of overcoming hardship (if there is such a thing as a standard tale), but a more complex narrative given the alter egos Walker explained he took on over the years as a coping mechanism, and his diagnosis in his late 30s as someone with DID.  It's inspiring and so much more than a "sports story."

Michael J. Fox's Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (Hyperion) is memorable for its intelligence and thoughtfulness, as actor-activist Fox tells the battles he's waged over the last ten years with Parkinson's.  There may be more politics here than some people like, but I admire his honesty and his reflective, analytical, and positive nature in telling of his struggles and sharing his opinions. 

Also worth mentions:  How to Be Useful by Megan Hustad (Houghton Mifflin), spunky, spirited career advice for corporate newbies; Ballparks Then and Now by Eric Enders (Thunder Bay Press), a photographic history; and The Essential Lincoln: Speeches and Correspondence, edited by Orville Vernon Burton (Hill and Wang).