Be Inspired: Read 'Heroes for My Son' Excerpt

June 17, 2010— -- When Brad Meltzer's first son was born, Meltzer asked himself what kind of man he wanted his son to become.

To help his son along, he wrote "Heroes for My Son," a collection of short vignettes about great men and women in history who inspire courage and character -- traits Meltzer hoped to pass along to his son.

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Read an excerpt of the book below, and then head to the "GMA" Library to find more good reads.

I was stuck at a red light. It wasn't a particularly long light. But I remember the moment because it was dark and it was quiet?the first moment of quiet on the day my son, Jonas, was born.

And there I was, stuck at this red light.

It was one of those moments where you sit outside your body -- like your first kiss, or that first time someone in your family dies -- and you're looking down, knowing that the moment is so personally vital, the only way to comprehend it is to witness it from somewhere else.

So as I sat there, gripping the steering wheel of our little banged-up car, I remember looking up at the crisp black sky and thinking of this baby boy we were just blessed with. That's when it hit me -- and when I asked myself the question for the very first time: What kind of man did I want my son to be?

I have three children now. I've long ago realized I have little say in the matter.

But I still love that moment. That pure, beautiful moment where you get to think of your newborn child, and every door and every possibility is just waiting there, perfectly open. You can dream as big as you want in that moment. That baby of yours may be the future President of the United States, or a creative genius, or a big thinker, or best yet, the kind of person who leaves the world better than he found it.

It's a moment where there are no limits or detours or any of the restrictions that reality eventually brings. And it was in that moment of unbridled love and pure naïveté that this book was born.

I decided right there that I'd write this book over the course of my son's life -- that I'd fill it with advice and good ideas. I started that very night, writing the instructions that he needed to be a good man:

1. Love God.
2. Be nice to the fat kid in class.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida 2009

Innovators, Inventors of the world's first flying machine - 1903

When it was time to try building the first flying machine, the Smithsonian Institution had incredible resources and millions in funding. Bicycle salesmen Orville and Wilbur Wright had the paper airplane their father gave them as children and a dream that they refused to give up on. Guess who won?

Every day, they knew they'd fail.

Every time they'd go out to fly -- every time -- they brought extra materials because they knew their fledgling design would crash.

Crash and rebuild. Crash and rebuild.

But never ever, ever give up.

"If we worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true really is true, then there would be little hope for advance." – Orville Wright

Designer, My Mom

It was the worst day of my professional life.

My publisher was shutting down, and we had no idea if another publisher would take over my contract.

This was terrifying to me. I was wracked with fear, feeling like I was watching my career deteriorate.

But as I shared my fears with my mother, her reaction was instantaneous:

"I'd love you if you were a garbage man."

It wasn't anything she practiced. It was just her honest feelings at that moment.

To this day, every day that I sit down to write, I say those words to myself -- "I'd love you if you were a garbage man" -- soaking in the purity and selflessness of that love from my mother.

Her name was Teri Meltzer. And Theo, she's the woman you're named after.

"Now you'll understand how I love you." – Teri Meltzer, said to me when each of my children was born.

"Not everyone is nice like that." - The receptionist in my Mom's doctor's office, when she heard my Mom had died from breast cancer.

Always remember: The truth is what people say behind your back.

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