Route 66 enthusiast Dan Rice publishes book on eight-year recovery from TBI

By April MacIntyre Nov 14, 2010, 21:25 GMT

Dan Rice is the president of Santa Monica Pier retailer 66-to-Cali Inc., recipient of the prestigious Will Rogers 2010 New Business of the Year Award, and a recovered Traumatic Brain Injury victim.

The open route of historic Route 66 helped Rice recover from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

In a new autobiography published by The Way Things Are Publications, author Dan Rice, 66-to-Cali Inc. owner, Route 66 enthusiast, and a permanent fixture on the iconic Santa Monica Pier, reveals his journey to recovery from Traumatic Brain Injury in attempt to raise public awareness of the condition and how it can be treated.

Dan Rice, courtesy of The Way Things Are Publications

The book, "End of the Trail," explores a psychological struggle with deteriorating mental faculties, depression, anger, suicidal ideations, and an increasing inability to understand the world around him due to a trauma that often is misunderstood. 

Background

Rice’s eight-year recovery from TBI began with a near fatal car accident in 2002 that halted a Hollywood career and high-paced track toward a Ph.D. in Psychology. The undiagnosed injury threw Rice into a downward spiral in which his perceptions of reality were completely transformed, unintelligible, and in some cases altogether removed. The story of his recovery is intertwined with the story of his passion for Route 66, illustrating that the economic trauma of the historic route, representing a larger economic trauma of middle America, mirrored his own physical trauma.

“Dan Rice’s story is compelling on many dramatic levels,” said Jennifer Havenner, director of publishing for The Way Things Are Publications. “The twists and ebbs of his recovery from TBI told with the lens of Route 66 tell a simultaneous story of the struggle for survival while broadcasting an important and relevant message. More than 1.5 million Americans suffer from TBI and it kills over 50,000 annually. It is considered the signature injury of the Iraq War; though millions have been diagnosed, there remain millions more with no idea they have an injury and that it is treatable. Dan’s book shows this can happen to anyone – and more importantly reveals the path to recovery.”

The book will be available in illustrated hardcover in the winter of 2010 at all major bookstores and online.