I picked up this since I subscribe to Shane and his fiancee's YT channel Squirmy and Grubs. Although this isn't his recent book published, I enjoyed reading more about Shane and his life, including attending High School and growing up with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. It does get a little foul-mouthed at times but overall, it was a good read!

I loved this very honest, if not raw autobiography of Shane Burcaw who is living with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. He details a life of very funny moments balanced by those scary, real life moments for a person living with this disease. His approach to life is refreshing. I would love to put this book in the hands of my mature middle school readers who seem to carry the weight of their problems and family problems around with them every day. He asks himself one question when he begins to worry about...

"None of us are normal. I have a diseas that's causing my muscles to waste away. I don't know if I'l be alive in ten years. I'm afraid to die. There are tons of annoying, aggravating, onoxious, and difficult things about living with SMA. But you know what? Life is still f-ing awesome. Every single one of us has problems. That's part of being alive. The beauty begins when you connect with other people and realize that we're all in the same boat. Once we accept that life is inherently difficult, w...

What an awesome book! Anyone who has read things I write would recognize why I love this book so much. It's like he's describing my life in another disease. Shane has a progressive muscular dystrophy in which he has slowly lost more and more function over the course of his life. He has never walked and has been fully dependent on others for his entire life. In spite of the huge challenges he has faced, he has a great sense of humor and finds ways to make horrible situations humorous. Humor has a...

Shane Burcaw is an inspiration, and this book can teach anyone to live their life in the way they want no matter what challenges (especially physical) they might face. The last half of these 256 pages had me entranced, and I felt really happy for Burcaw because he had been able to find love and give purpose to his life that even he did not have many aspirations for at a young age, but he didn't let his disease stop his ability to just be a genuinely good person. Aside from being inspirational, t...

Read during Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon!

I was a bit disappointed in this book for a couple of reasons. First off, the lengths Shane goes to to separate himself from the mentally disabled people he is sometimes grouped with (on the short bus or in adaptive sports programs). On the one hand I understand this, as someone who grew up with visible birth defects, I’ve felt the blow of being treated as mentally less-than by people who assume my physical differences equate to mental differences. I spent most of my school years staying as far

This will certainly be the most usual YA in your collection. The author, 21-years-young, has spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and has been wheelchair-bound all of his life. He started a blog and, the Internet being the wonderful world that it is, the blog took off. Why? Shane Burcaw has a sense of humor, AND he puts his predicament in perspective.For some, the book might cross well into TMI territory -- you know, way too much information, from the logistics of peeing and pooping to the quest for a

You gotta admire his sense of humor, as he laughs at his nightmare. Thank you Shane.

I was pleased to be a good reads first reads winner of the book "Laughing at My Nightmare" by Shane Burcaw. I have an "ARC" copy of this book. I am amazed at Shane. He was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. one of the Muscular Dystrophy. He was 21 when he wrote this book a year ago. Shane has a wonderful sense of humor that shows in this memoir. He has dealt with a lot his whole life. spent most of it in a wheel chair. SMA is a vicious neurological diagnosis that slowly attacks the muscles. it m...

I picked this book up because I love Shane and his current girlfriend's youtube channel, so for what this is, I had a really great time learning about Shane's history and childhood and the way his disease has progressed over the years. This book is told in Shane's famed humorous style, as he uses that sarcasm and joking manner to spin what others see his life as a tragedy into something more meaningful. Although I enjoyed my time reading this book, there are two major hindrances that caught my e...

Twenty-one year old Shane Burcaw's acerbic, raunchy, cussing look at life from a person with a debilitating disease, is written to teenagers with an authentic voice and good message, but it is flawed by its negative stereotype and insensitivity toward people that suffer from mental challenges. Shane is only affected physically and ironically he perpetuates stereotypes in his comments about those with mental disabilities. Shane is a courageous kid who uses humor to deal with his spinal muscular a...

I was able to get an advanced copy of this book through netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion. Being a person with MD, I could relate to many of the things Shane discussed in his book. While I am still able to do many things for myself I do have to rely on other people for help sometimes and know how frustrating it is. I also deal with people staring because of the way I sit in my chair or being talked to like I'm 3. So much of his book hit home. I loved his humor and I too find that laugh...

It took me a few days to let this one marinate before writing a review. I know that my opinion of it is different than most others here on goodreads, but it left a sour taste in my mouth. Shane (and friends) considers himself to be a champion for disabled people, a breath of fresh air, etc. But throughout the book, he reiterates that he does not like other disabled people. In fact, they sicken him. After a little internet searching, I found that the feeling is mutual. His "fresh air" actually wo...

Got this from Netgalley!So, first I have to say that this book would definitely be rated R for profanity and some sexual situations. As a middle-aged Mormon pediatric nurse with five kids, this is not particularly my cup of tea. Despite those things, I loved this book for it's message of using humor and optimism to enjoy life and be thankful for it no matter what your circumstance. Shane was born with spinal muscular atrophy, which is when the body fails to produce a particular enzyme required f...

Okay, I wasn't going to review this book, but several days after reading it I still feel aggravated, so I'm going to reduce my review by a star and say why.I'd probably have liked this book if the author wasn't a jerk. Now, I'm an equal-opportunity jerk-hater, so his disability shouldn't enter into it... But the way he treats other people, particularly the other kids he's been in close contact with who have mental disability, place him squarely in the douchebag category that I reserve for people...

Having only "discovered" Shane Burcaw and his work fairly recently, I'm a bit late to the party of Laughing At My Nightmare (I mean he's already written an entirely new book, Strangers Assume My Girlfriend Is My Nurse, its already out and looks awesome, just FYI). Since I've enjoyed his work on Youtube and Instagram, I thought to pick up a copy of Laughing At My Nightmare and give it a go. I went with the Audiobook version, and listened a lot in the evenings before bed.I enjoyed the lighthearted...

This wonderful memoir hit all the right notes. It wasn't super sad because Shane Burcaw is wicked funny. It wasn't full of platitudes because Shane's 100% honest and holds nothing back. It was a warm, funny, honest book about a really cool guy, his family, friends and girlfriend. It was about his ambitions and limitations and the way he lives his life. When Shane revealed his deepest fears and greatest joys, I related to all of it. After reading this satisfying book, I felt like I would enjoy ch...

Trigger warnings: medical procedures, descriptions of physical injuries, some pretty horrifying attitudes towards people with mental disabilities, mentions of suicide, vomit. I've seen a handful of Shane Burcaw's videos and so when I saw this on Scribd, I figured I'd give it a try because I was interested to learn more about his story. And the parts of the story that dealt with his disability and how he hasn't let it stop him from doing the things he wants to do in life? That was pretty great. H...

I have to confess I approached this book--and the blog of the same name--with some mild trepidation. I feared Burcaw was exploiting his disability, i.e., currying praise for being inspirational when all he's doing is, you know, surviving. I don't like referring to a disability as a disease, either. It's like playing the pity card, emphasizing medicalization and portraying yourself as a victim of said disease.BUT … as Shane himself says, he's just a normal guy. He doesn't want to be pitied and he...