4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
I would like to start with discussing the title of The Altitude Journals: A Seven Year Journey from the Lowest Point in my Life to the Highest Point on Earth by David J. Mauro. When I was in University, studying English literature, I wrote a lot of essays. I was told that a title was much more important than a lot of people believe it to be. A title, my professors said, should not just be tagged on at the end of writing an essay and before handing it in. One’s title should be picked very astutely and then the whole essay written to conform to the title and its theme. I do not know definitively that David Mauro picked the title and then wrote his book. I do know that the title’s epitome is captured in every page Mauro writes.
Not to change subjects abruptly (though it will seem so) and seemingly change the direction I was going with the above paragraph, I must note that this is a secular book. What do I mean? It is not Christian or even Jewish. It does deal with faith, but in a broad, skirt-around the issue type of way. This matters to me because I don’t tend to read secular books -besides young adult apocalyptic. In this case, I had heard how fantastic this book was and thought it was worth a try. I won’t lie, I had a hard time reading it at many times. I often wondered how so many people had rated it so highly; I was uninspired for a lot of it and… yes, even a little bored.
To back track a little, the story is about a man who climbed the 7 summits: the highest summit of each continent. First Denali (Mt. McKinley) in North America at a height of 20,320 feet; next Mt. Kiliminjaro in Africa at 19, 410 feet; thirdly Russia’s (Europe’s) Elbrus (18,513 feet); then Aconcagua, South America of 22,700; fifth 16,048 foot Vinson Massif in Antarctica; sixth Carstenz Pyramid -16,023 feet, Australia- well, Papua New Guinea but considered the highest for the continent nearly world round; and finally Mt. Everest in Asia.
Bringing this up now is for two reasons- the title being so fitting was something that I wanted to portray right away. The title is full of wit and reflection. It is deep and on further reflection on my part, I realized the book was deeper and deeper as I went. Bringing up the secular issue was also related to the fitting-ness I found in the name of the book. You see, though not a genre (or category?) I usually go for, and a little disappointed at first, I realized that this book is quite spiritually rich. I have found, in my life as I’m sure many others do as well, that a good show or movie teaches valuable life lessons (though those can always be found in the Bible, sometimes television’s somewhat relaxed maneuvering appeals on a certain level). This book did that as much if not more than “good” T.V.
To qualify a bit (especially if you like “deep”), David Mauro took some heavy blows or at least had some fairly big learning opportunities in his life. He grew up in relative poverty in the United States –his mom was divorced and raised him and his siblings alone which was extra hard when he was a kid (approximately 52 years ago). He went through the really bad economic crash in 2008. A few years before this, his wife (who he never shared a very loving relationship with and a topic he voiced his sadness with) divorced him. For the rest, read on!
The point is, David spent a lot of time thinking he wasn’t so great and that life wasn’t either. He didn’t start climbing mountains out of a desire to thrill seek or be adventurous. He really didn’t even think he was very capable (partly due to the feeling life’s events had led him to). When he did start climbing, he never even found that he had been a thrill-seeker in hiding. What he found was that the events of his life might have brought him low, but they did not define him. What he did with the lemons, did. This ultimate lesson was kind of realized during many lessons while mountain climbing, and they were much of the reason that I found the title very amazingly astute.
Another reason this book seemed pretty spiritual to me? There was talk of other religions (mostly Buddhism) but it wasn’t that. I think it was the fact that David Mauro spoke of a “calling” that he felt to climb the mountains, an inescapable call, almost an audible voice. Not always a great desire (there’s a lot of time, money and risk involved obviously in climbing mountains and this equates to sacrifice often) but an urgency.
Small curveball of sorts: David Mauro did (and may still do) improv when not working as a financial advisor. With a celebrity too who I will not name. This curveball added to the layers of the story. Especially the way that Dave took the lessons on the mountains and used them in improv and with his career and vice versa.
Reading about someone’s actual mountain climb should be exciting –and there undoubtedly were times during The Altitude Journals that I was excited by David's mountain climb for the sake of just hearing the climb story. I was much more drawn into this book by tenacity that didn’t only deal with climbing once one’s energy was gone or when the elements were harsh. Rather, I was mostly struck by the not-so-much voices spiritual experiences. The parts that were especially captivating were when the spiritual lessons and reflections on the mountain meshed best with the physical experience. For example, when climbing 16,023 foot Carstenz Pyramid in the midst of the jungle –so not needing heavy clothes and equipment like Everest and climbing one of the lowest mounts out of the seven. David noted that it was a very difficult climb, besides being wary of things like cannibalistic peoples, which required climbers to descend nearly as much as they ascend every day. That mountain actually was more like a 25,000 foot summit one might joke. Lives, and especially looking at David’s life since it was in the spotlight, paralleled wonderfully.
No book needs to be rated on whether it was a genre I like. A good romance book should get 4 stars out of 4 (as long as it’s advertised in the romance category, not self-help or something similar!). For all the merits I listed above, though not being my genre of choice necessarily, I rate David J. Mauro’s The Altitude Journals a solid 4 out of 4.. I am a little shocked by this because the Christian or faith books I have reviewed did not get that rating by me but hey, it was an awesome read!
******
The Altitude Journals
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like blaireth's review? Post a comment saying so!