Journey of the Heart - Hardcover

Television producer/writer Richard "Rip" Crystal was born in New York and raised in Long Beach, Long Island. He moved to Los Angeles in 1975 to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. Over the past 30 years, he has produced and written countless television shows including Life's Most Embarrassing Moments, Planet's Funniest Animals, and with executive producer Rob Reiner produced the award-winning documentary on political standup comedy But Seriously.

In 2003, he created and produced the feature film Murder by Numbers starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Gosling. He has sung and produced four pop/jazz albums performing the classic standards he first heard in the legendary Commodore Music Shop, his family's record store in Manhattan, managed by his late father.

He lives in Los Angeles and has been married to his wife, Fran, for 40 years. Their daughter, Jackie, and her husband , Lee, have recently given them to lovely grandchildren - Coco, 5; and her younger brother, Maxwell Henry.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar remains the scoring most player in the history of the NBA. He is a New York Times bestselling author, and a regular contributor to The Washington Post and Time Magazine. Kareem was also appointed to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition.

"Richard Crystal has written poignantly about a personal journey that is faced by so many people. It is both inspiring and uplifting."

"I could explain to my patients exactly what was physically happening in their hearts as they faced the challenges of surgery and recovery, but I could not tell them what they would be feeling in their hearts as they fought to find the hope needed to succeed.

Richard has done a beautiful job of illuminating the emotional. psychological and spiritual journey that accompanies someone's path through heart surgery.

This eloquent accounting of his experience not only will help and inspire all people as they face their health challenges, it helps surgeons like me have a broader perspective on what our patients are feeling and how we can be even greater instruments of healing."

"Richard has been my patient for 10 years and wrote a beautiful book about his personal experience with surgical aortic valve replacement. With his permission, I have given copies to other patients and even a family member to read prior to surgical AVRs. The content was instructive and the personal journey is touching. I would like to comment that the medical and surgical facts mentioned are in fact accurate and took place as described in the book.

I found his memoir beautifully written. It has been useful for patients to connect with the seriousness of the moment and personal and physical events that take place at the time of cardiac surgery."

"As an orthopedic surgeon, I learned a long time ago "the eyes don't see what the mind doesn't know". It has motivated me to keep studying and exploring how the body works. Richard Crystal's book about heart surgery opens all of our eyes to what really happens through the eyes of a patient! It is fantastic! Bravo!

- Dr. Robert Klapper, Chief of Orthopedic Surgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Group