Last Man Down: The Story of a Survivor and a Hero by New York Fire Department Deputy Chief Richard Picciotto (with help from Daniel Paisner) is the true story of a firefighter's experience on September 11. I chose this book as my required autobiography for summer reading, but as I got into it, I started to realize that this is one of the best books I will probably ever read.

This amazing account takes the horrible story of 9/11 to a new level. It took me from the outside - from watching and hearing about it on television - to actually getting the perspective of someone inside the flaming debris field. This is what made the book leave such an impact on me, I felt like I was actually listening to him tell me about his day. Every moment seemed surreal, like an adventure story but it was actually someone's life. Every page is filled with a heart-pounding situation and a heart-wrenching moment.

I believe this book should be read by every American. We all felt something that day as we sat watching the towers fall, but this shows you how someone inside those buildings reacted. You feel the emotions that Picciotto experienced as not only a hero and a firefighter, but also as a survivor of one of the greatest disasters of U.S. history.