Review by Dahmy 10 -- The Altitude Journals
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Dahmy 10
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Review by Dahmy 10 -- The Altitude Journals
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Altitude Journals" by David J Mauro.]
4 out of 4 stars
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What exactly are we here for? What exactly is the purpose of life? At the end of the day, what do we gain that we can actually say is ours? These are inquiries and doubts which haven’t really been satisfied. But while we may never be able to really clear them up, I came across an interesting answer in the book I am about to talk about.
Being worn out after a tedious hill-hike I embarked on, at a certain point in time during my university days, I pondered as to what the reward really is for a professional climber after his expedition. It couldn’t be the view, in fact there is almost no view when it comes to high profiled mountains, as everything is shadowed by their gigantically elevated status. So what then goes home with them after the immense stress of scaling thousands of feet? David Mauro went far beyond satisfying this wild curiosity of mine. He actually immersed me into the magnificent and breathtaking (though very frightful) experience of mountaineering in his book, The Altitude Journals.
The Altitude Journals (nonfiction) is what Mr. David has rightly called, “a seven-year journey from the lowest point of my life to the highest point on Earth”. It encapsulates his life from the period divorce thoroughly shook his world, through to his journey to the summits of each continent. Beyond this journey, David also shares how every summit he achieved motivated him towards fixing his shattered world. I’ll like to call this a metaphorically motivational book. While the book doesn’t come out straight as a motivational book, it surely inspired me by using the author’s experience to intensify my belief in some hitherto learnt lessons – I’ll share just a few:
The foremost lesson is the advantage of always keeping one’s goal in mind. The experience that drove this lesson home is the act of David always focusing on the summit he was striving for, instead of the turbulence occurring in and outside his body. The second lesson is the strength that comes when we live for others. His goal wasn’t just to summit, in fact, the goal of summiting was motivated by the anticipated joy his loved ones would feel, and the motivation his story would impact on those who would latter come across his story – like me.
Thirdly, I re-learnt the fact that we really don’t have full control over our lives, and we really didn’t choose our passion. If you had told David a year before he started mountaineering that he would achieve what he did, I strongly doubt he would have given you any attention. Fourthly, the fact that we do not enjoy love optimally because of our fears of being hurt, was well impressed in my heart. To get the experience that taught that lesson, read this book.
I must warn though, just like the tasking act of mountaineering, this book isn’t for lazy readers. I faced challenges while reading the book myself. Even though it was well detailed, I had challenges connecting with lots of events written therein. This majorly was due to the fact that I am not so much acquainted with mountaineering. This made a major part of the book uninteresting – it isn’t the authors fault though, he wrote as he should have. To enjoy this book, one would have to go the extra mile in surfing the internet for better understanding, and probably a more graphic detail.
Immersed into the pages of this book are pictures, facts about mountaineering (I feel I have good information about mountains already), and the reality of what climbers face (their frustration, ill-health and joy). This book was professionally edited, there was not one mistake I noticed. It’s for this reason I rate it 4 out of 4 stars. As I said before, it’s major deterrent to being a very interesting book is due to the reader and not the book. If you are indeed an adventurous person, then you need to read this.
******
The Altitude Journals
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Dahmy 10's review? Post a comment saying so!
4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
What exactly are we here for? What exactly is the purpose of life? At the end of the day, what do we gain that we can actually say is ours? These are inquiries and doubts which haven’t really been satisfied. But while we may never be able to really clear them up, I came across an interesting answer in the book I am about to talk about.
Being worn out after a tedious hill-hike I embarked on, at a certain point in time during my university days, I pondered as to what the reward really is for a professional climber after his expedition. It couldn’t be the view, in fact there is almost no view when it comes to high profiled mountains, as everything is shadowed by their gigantically elevated status. So what then goes home with them after the immense stress of scaling thousands of feet? David Mauro went far beyond satisfying this wild curiosity of mine. He actually immersed me into the magnificent and breathtaking (though very frightful) experience of mountaineering in his book, The Altitude Journals.
The Altitude Journals (nonfiction) is what Mr. David has rightly called, “a seven-year journey from the lowest point of my life to the highest point on Earth”. It encapsulates his life from the period divorce thoroughly shook his world, through to his journey to the summits of each continent. Beyond this journey, David also shares how every summit he achieved motivated him towards fixing his shattered world. I’ll like to call this a metaphorically motivational book. While the book doesn’t come out straight as a motivational book, it surely inspired me by using the author’s experience to intensify my belief in some hitherto learnt lessons – I’ll share just a few:
The foremost lesson is the advantage of always keeping one’s goal in mind. The experience that drove this lesson home is the act of David always focusing on the summit he was striving for, instead of the turbulence occurring in and outside his body. The second lesson is the strength that comes when we live for others. His goal wasn’t just to summit, in fact, the goal of summiting was motivated by the anticipated joy his loved ones would feel, and the motivation his story would impact on those who would latter come across his story – like me.
Thirdly, I re-learnt the fact that we really don’t have full control over our lives, and we really didn’t choose our passion. If you had told David a year before he started mountaineering that he would achieve what he did, I strongly doubt he would have given you any attention. Fourthly, the fact that we do not enjoy love optimally because of our fears of being hurt, was well impressed in my heart. To get the experience that taught that lesson, read this book.
I must warn though, just like the tasking act of mountaineering, this book isn’t for lazy readers. I faced challenges while reading the book myself. Even though it was well detailed, I had challenges connecting with lots of events written therein. This majorly was due to the fact that I am not so much acquainted with mountaineering. This made a major part of the book uninteresting – it isn’t the authors fault though, he wrote as he should have. To enjoy this book, one would have to go the extra mile in surfing the internet for better understanding, and probably a more graphic detail.
Immersed into the pages of this book are pictures, facts about mountaineering (I feel I have good information about mountains already), and the reality of what climbers face (their frustration, ill-health and joy). This book was professionally edited, there was not one mistake I noticed. It’s for this reason I rate it 4 out of 4 stars. As I said before, it’s major deterrent to being a very interesting book is due to the reader and not the book. If you are indeed an adventurous person, then you need to read this.
******
The Altitude Journals
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Dahmy 10's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: First Family by Alice Langholt
