Pre-order No One’s Coming to Save You today: https://infinitebooks.com/products/no-ones-coming-to-save-you
David Rhoiney was five when his father walked out, forcing David to become the “man of the house.”
Compton, Oakland, Long Beach: no matter where they turned, fear and hunger waited. Long nights in the homeless shelter. Drive-by shootings. Strangers in overalls dragging his mother away. As his world collapsed, David lost hope. No one was coming to save him.
But he could save himself.
When basketball threw him a lifeline, David grabbed it. So began an unlikely journey, one that carried him from living in a Volkswagen Jetta onto the courts of Division I, through the halls of the Naval Academy, into the corridors of national intelligence, and under the watchtowers of Guantánamo Bay. At last, scalpel in hand, David reached the operating room, where he could become the man his family needed.
Ed William, a former lawyer, spent several days interviewing David and spoke to dozens of people from his life. The result is Ed’s first book, No One’s Coming to Save You: The Escape of David Rhoiney, out from Infinite Books on 8 December and now available for pre-order: https://infinitebooks.com/products/no-ones-coming-to-save-you
“A powerful and deeply moving account of a boy forced to grow up too soon and the man he fought to become.”
—Rob Henderson, bestselling author of Troubled
Ed and Jim discuss:
● The time David was forced to fight a schoolyard bully in front of his family.
● David’s unusual experience of the Rodney King riots.
● The note David wrote to God every night.
● The English teacher who changed David’s life in one hour.
● The prep school coach who cancelled David’s credit cards.
● How a five-foot-three kid ended up playing Division I basketball.
● David as a role model for young men.
● The guilt underpinning David’s success.
● The single word that describes David.
● Why Ed’s interview plan fell apart in the first five minutes.
● Why Ed was inspired by Into the Wild and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
● How Ed captured David’s voice.
Much more!
THE BOOK
No One’s Coming to Save You: The Escape of David Rhoiney: https://infinitebooks.com/products/no-ones-coming-to-save-you
READ ED
Rough Cuts: https://www.roughcuts.blog
RELATED
Dr. David Rhoiney on Infinite Loops (Ep. 99, 2022): https://youtu.be/TJFAPXqC1eo?si=t_PJ0viURGtgDob6
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
1:30 How an NFT Led to This Book
2:37 Earning David’s Trust
3:31 Interviewing People Who Don’t Like Him
5:05 “Man of the House” at Five
7:34 Living in a Volkswagen Jetta
8:53 Resilient, Not a Superhero
10:04 Nervous as Hell, Then the Center of the Room
11:54 The Chapter Ed Never Planned to Write
16:47 His Mother and the Guilt of Leaving
19:34 “Born to Fit Out”
20:32 The Coach Who Became a Father Figure
21:50 First Paycheck, Credit Cards and an IRA
23:38 From Living in Cars to Annapolis
27:40 Praying to Be Six Foot Two
29:31 Proving Himself Against Racism
31:58 “We Do Not Run in This Family”
35:25 The Childhood Photo That Drove Him
36:53 Going Deep on Finance
39:40 Ed’s First Draft and the Last 5%
42:43 Why the Book Reads Like Fiction
45:01 A Role Model for Young Men
47:06 How Ed Captured David’s Voice
49:07 Raiders, Mad Max and the “Micro Epic”
51:33 David in One Word: Relentless
53:19 Nature, Nurture or Agency?
57:16 The Teacher Who Gave Him One Hour
1:00:40 Cryptology Without a Math PhD
1:02:35 Why He Took the MD Exam Too
1:04:14 How the Navy Changed His Life
1:06:06 Spot the Problem, Then Fix It
1:08:16 From Black and White to Incremental Change
1:10:38 Where Does David Go Next?
1:12:58 David as a Father
1:15:16 Lessons From a First-Time Author
1:18:45 Two Ideas David Would Give the World
1:20:05 Release Date
ABOUT THE GUEST
Ed William is a writer and editor. He spent the first years of his career as a lawyer, then changed careers just before turning 30. He writes Rough Cuts, a weekly newsletter on film, and lives in England. No One’s Coming to Save You is his first book.
ABOUT THE HOST
Jim O’Shaughnessy is the founder and CEO of O’Shaughnessy Ventures and the author of the New York Times bestseller What Works on Wall Street.
He founded O’Shaughnessy Asset Management and hosts Infinite Loops.
