WHAT I LEARNED WHEN I ALMOST DIED

TV news honcho Licht was used to calling the shots as executive producer of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, but that changed one day when something popped inside his skull.

Instead of prepping for another episode of the successful morning show with hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, the author, not yet 40, landed in the emergency room. There, he learned that his brain was bleeding—and no one knew exactly why. Licht, who up until then was the picture of health, found that he was no longer in control. What followed was a harrowing ordeal that, even if it didn’t ultimately kill him, was destined to change him in ways that he could never have dreamed of before. As a “stop and smell the roses” parable, Licht’s tale of sudden life-threatening illness covers familiar ground. Still, hearing how this classic type-A personality was forced to confront some hard truths about himself in order to survive makes for a compelling exercise. Readers might not care much about how attentively Scarborough and Brzezinski buzzed around his bedside, or that Vice President Joe Biden personally got on the phone with the hospital in an effort to ensure his recovery. But other candid observations, like the impact the author’s steady-as-a-rock father had on his son’s healing, are right on the money.