Michael J. Tougias is a N.Y. Times Bestselling author of 25 books. An avid fisherman, Tougias became a self-syndicated outdoors writer in 1990. At the time he was also managing a division of a major insurance company. He published the first of 25 books in 1998. He travels to more than 100 small and large speaking engagements a year to discuss his books and other topics, including "Survival Stories," lessons learned from those who were shipwrecked. Coast Guardsmen and sailors are frequent audiences; Tougias' last six books have been accounts of historic sea rescues by the Coast Guard, often in the Gulf Stream. His book The Finest Hours: The True Story Behind the US Coast Guard's Most Daring Rescue (2009), co-authored with Casey Sherman, was adapted as a Disney film by the same name, released in 2016. Tougias is a frequent guest on NPR programs, The Weather Channel, Fox & Friends, 20/20, and national talk shows.