David Rensin Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

David Rensin is a memoir fiction novelist who is best known for the novels that he worked on with Louis Zamperini and several other authors.

The author was born in Manhattan and spent nearly a decade of his childhood in the South Bronx, a few streets from Yankee Stadium. He would then move to Teaneck, New Jersey and then the family moved to Northridge when he was fourteen.
In 1964, David landed in Los Angeles on the very day “The Beatles” arrived in New York. Several nights later, he went to the North Sepulveda Blvd motel, where he watched them on Ed Sullivan when they made their first appearance.

At one point, his mother handed him a “Playboy” magazine that belonged to his father and surprisingly, he would spend much of his later career at the magazine.

When he was older, David Rensin graduated with a degree in Political Science from California State University Northridge. He got into writing because he used to hang out with a friend who used to write for the college paper.
Since he loved music, he figured he could do some reviews, and each week, he used to go to concerts or to Roxy, Troubadour, and Ash Grove, where he used to meet a lot of interesting girls.

It was while he was working for “Rolling Stone” that he had his first epiphany about his niche and style when he was taken to task by an editor over a story he had been working on.

He used to write three paragraphs of quotes and two lines of description but his editor told him that to make things flow, it needed to be two lines of quotes and three paragraphs of exposition.

Even though he loved letting people explain themselves, he finally got into Q&As and soon learned how to make his interviews have internal logic and flow. David Rensin published the cult classic “The Bob Book” as his debut novel alongside Bill Zehme in 1991.
Over the years, he has coauthored novels with Garry Shandling, Jeff Foxworthy, and Chris Rock.

It was in 1982 that David Rensin began collaborating with Zamperini when the latter was working on an assignment about Miki Dora the king of Malibu surfing for “California Magazine.” David would ultimately write about Dora in “All for a Few Perfect Waves” the novel that he published in 2008.

It was very interesting how he came to meet Miki, as he has often iterated in interviews. Before he met Miki, he had to be vetted by his close friend Cynthia Applewhite, who happened to be the wife of Louis Zamperini.

After spending several months with Cynthia as he wrote his book about Miki, Cynthia asked him to watch Louie’s story that was then being aired on “48 Hours,” and like most people, he was fascinated by it.

When it came time to write his story as a book, Rensin got the job. He spent two years taping hours of talk and rifling through his scrapbooks before he published “Devil at My Heels” in 2003.

David Rensin’s “Devil at My Heels” is an extraordinary inspirational work about Louis Zamperini the WWI Japanese survivor, POW, and Olympian.

Zamperini has a very full life as a Second World War bombardier, Olympian, world-class NCAA miler, and juvenile delinquent. But everything changed in May 1943 when his bomber crashed in the Pacific and left Louis and two other survivors floating in a makeshift raft from the wreckage waiting for rescue.

The raft drifted 2000 miles over one and a half months while they drank from sporadic rainfall and ate raw albatross and shark liver. Their only companions are faith, hope, and the ever-present sharks.

Just as they were about to lose all hope and die, they landed and were taken by the Japanese spending two years as prisoners of war under much humiliation and torture. He was subjected to medical experiments, threatened with beheading, and routinely beaten by a brutal prison guard known to be a psychopath.

In the meantime, he has been declared dead by the American government, which has even sent condolences to his family.

Nonetheless, he never gives up and ultimately returns home as a hero. But the respite for him and his family is short-lived as he soon gets into brawling and drinking and sinks into the depths of despair and rage.

David Rensin’s novel “Don’t Give Up, Don’t Give In” is a work that provides a lifetime of humor, insight, and wisdom from the life of a man who has been one of the most inspiring in the United States.
In this work, the author with great charm and warmth showcases the lessons and essential values that sustained Zamperini throughout his lifelong journey.

Louis was a young troublemaker from California who went to the University of California and became a world-class miler and Olympian in 1936. Thereafter, he began volunteering for the Army and after Pearl Harbor, he became a World War II bombardier.
He went down in the Pacific while conducting a rescue mission and survived against all odds but this was just the beginning. Zamperini endured more than two years as a prisoner of war in Japan, enduring all manner of psychological abuse and torture.
Coming back home, he faced even darker times until he had a spiritual rebirth in 1949 which helped him turn his life around. He would then live a long and happy life over the next sixty-five years.
As such, it is an extraordinary work that is all about living life to the fullest.

David Rensin’s “The Men on My Couch” is a work he coauthored with Dr. Brandy Engler.

When the latter opened her sex therapy practice in Manhattan targeting women, she got a big surprise as most of the callers were men. All they want to talk about is prostitutes, womanizing, impotence, port addiction, and most of all love.

These were everyday men from all walks of life. There was an introvert named Charles, who believed his fiance was too beautiful for him and kept pushing her away. Then there is Paul, a very successful man who has a very sexy wife but loves visiting massage parlors.
Then some men have stark revelations about the search for the right women to marry and male anger. The author gets you into the many private sessions where you get an insider’s look into the evocative and exciting encounters with what men fear and desire.

Engler also tells her own story as she details her personal and professional evolution from being initially chagrined to becoming a very compassionate therapist. She also reconciles her idealized notions of sex and love with the raw and unexpected truth she usually gets at work.

It provides some great insights into contemporary sexual frustrations from ordinary men experiencing real epiphanies and real struggles in the real world.