I saw myself in this book in so many places that it was kind of spooky at times. Josh's feelings on baseball, baseball cards and growing up really resonated with me and brought back memories that I haven't recalled in many years. Like Josh, my obsession with baseball cards met an inevitable conclusion, but my love for the game continues even if it will never again reach that fevered pitch of youth where I would live and die by how my Astros did that night. I thought this book would be gimmicky with the baseball cards theme being forced and feeling contrived, but Wilker did a great job of tying each card into the story of his life in a way that sent my mind back to my collection time and time again. I cried when Josh surprisingly said that his childhood was happy, and my heart soared when his Red Sox finally won the World Series and he got to celebrate with his brother. I never have the desire to reach out to an author and personally tell him how his story impacted me, but I found myself wanting to do that with Cardboard Gods, probably because in many ways his story is my story.