Review by Fazzier -- The Altitude Journals by David J Mauro

[Fazzier]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Altitude Journals" by David J Mauro.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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The Altitude Journals by David J Mauro is a memoir that details how the author battled his way out of his ‘life demons’ by venturing into mountain-climbing. The author had been through a lot of hardships in his life which were ranging from his father's abandonment, his childhood poverty, his younger brother's death to the failure of his marriage which eventually led to a divorce. All these kept weighing him down and left him feeling helpless, weak, and defeated. He had to, therefore, find a way of surmounting the life hurdles.

Seemingly, the author saw mountain-climbing, which kept his mind too busy to dwell on unpleasant things, as a way of letting go of the life problems that kept on bothering him. Also, he wanted to do something extraordinary to earn back the love and trust of his children whom he felt he had let down. During the mountain-climbing, the author managed to overcome self-doubt. However, the answers to his problems did not come forth as he expected. He, instead, learned so many things from each of the mountains he climbed, with the grand life's lesson coming at the end of the book when he summited Mt. Everest. All these realizations were to work for him toward a journey of self-liberation.

I liked the way this book was presented. The structure of the pages (page layout) and the overall formatting was appealing. Also, I learned terms and concepts regarding mountain-climbing. For instance, I learned how a margin of safety can be kept, and, also, how to overcome the obstacles that come with mountain-climbing such as team attrition, the risk, the pain, the sickness, and the ever-diminishing oxygen. The dialogue between the author and his climbers’ crew, also, made the book lively, breaking for me the monotony usually brought about by a single or non-varied writing style. David J Mauro also incorporated suspense which kept me engrossed throughout the time I was reading this book. Furthermore, colorful photographs have also been included, and they complement well the author's work.

What I liked the most was the talk that the author received in one of the workshops which were held by The Upfront Theater for improv cast members. The author also used to work in the theatre as an improv actor. In that workshop, the instructor was talking about character development in improv; how important it is to vest fully in the part you play. He said, “If your character is a bigot, then be the world's biggest bigot,” and, “If your character is happy, then let that pour out of you.” This part got me thinking. I found it inspiring, and it made me see the viability of living my life fully and becoming the best version of myself.

All in all, I did not find anything to dislike about this book. It was perfectly edited since I did not find any grammatical or typographical errors. I'm, therefore, glad to award The Altitude Journals by David J Mauro 4 out of 4 stars. I found it both inspiring and informative. I highly recommend it to anybody who is experiencing some life challenges they thought they cannot recover from, for there are many life lessons one can draw from this book. Also, I recommend it to readers who are fans of adventure, and culture.

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The Altitude Journals
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[Erin Painter Baker]

This is not my favorite genre of book, but I am glad you got an important lesson out of it.

[Alys Sterk]

I was surprised to see that mountain climbing wasn't really what is was mostly about! This was a great read, but I agree with you about the color photographs. That would have added a lot.

[Charlie19]

i always love memoirs, they are a good lesson for every reader. Thanks for sharing.