3 out of 4 stars
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THE ALTITUDE JOURNALS by David Mauro
3 out of 4 stars (***)
Everyone goes through personal problems in life, but some manage to, through struggles and otherwise, try to overcome them and find some sort of purpose by taking on seemingly impossible challenges. That is the premise of David Mauro’s book The Altitude Journals. It is a non-fiction book that documents, in detail, one man’s personal journey to conquer what are commonly called the Seven Summits, what the author called the highest summit of each continent.
The story starts out with the author, who was once a successful financial planner, and married for 17 years with two sons. Devastated by eventual divorce, he receives a birthday gift from Noelle and her husband Ty, who had produced a documentary film about climbing North America’s highest summit, Mt. McKinley, also known as Denali. It is through this that inspires Mauro to take on the challenge of his life…mountain climbing. Through counseling and training, he begins his first effort at climbing the Seven Summits. After Denali, he loses a close friend but gains a new one who he meets through online dating. This encourages the author to take on his next effort…Kilimanjaro. Once again, the complications of his efforts try to prove to be sidetracks along his path.
With financial instability looming, the author has to move on to a new job when a catalog is sent to him, convincing him to climb Mt. Elbrus. But before this, he tries his hand at something else in order for him to build up his sense of humor—comedy improv. He even meets a key Hollywood actor during his new job. Other than his side projects, Mauro has to endure more challenges during his summit attempts, including occasional illnesses, and even a key crisis involving one of his sons. With the end of each subsequent challenge the author often considers giving up mountain climbing, but can criticism and encouragement convince Mauro to take on the final, critical goal, Mt. Everest?
The Altitude Journals is one non-fiction book that made me feel like I was living the experience, only with words. The book accomplishes many objectives…to teach about the history of the Seven Summits, to inspire people, and to council others who have, at one point or another, have been in similar situations as the author. The book gives a good amount of back story into each of the summits, especially Everest. The author also expresses his emotions and words in an informative way, although often times he does use explicit profanity in his accounts. Mauro does change the names of some of the participants, which is understandable, but does not affect the impact of his accounts in any way. He is also not afraid to talk about his personal life, but he does so in a way that does not affect the overall account of the book’s theme. Key photos of his efforts used throughout the book also help to support what the author is saying about his summit attempts.
When I read the book, I often wondered whether or not success or failure would happen in Mauro’s seven summit attempts. But that is just part of real life, and this book certainly taught me a lesson on making the difficult decisions we have to face in this life, and whether or not we can train our minds to meet our goals, no matter what the circumstance. Even though I give this 3 out of 4 stars due to occasional explicit language, I would recommend this book especially to those people who are considering mountain climbing and are willing to prepare themselves for what may sidetrack them along the way. Most importantly, the lesson learned is that anything is possible if our minds are set to it.
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The Altitude Journals
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