What I've Read: To The Last Breath

Gotta give quick props to the new job on this latest book that I read. It was featured in a book review in the first issue of the magazine that I worked on. And when the reviewer gave it back to the office and it was available to anyone for free, I quickly snatched it up. It's a book right up my alley.

You all know by now that I love me some nonfiction, and combine that with an interesting tale of life, death and the search for meaning in it all, and I all on board. Slakey is a Georgetown professor who lived a very solitary life (for reasons perfectly understood when you read about it) until he decided to accomplish a seemingly simple task: summit the peak on each continent, and surf a wave on every ocean on the planet.

Of course, no plan every goes off without a hitch. It takes him about a dozen years to complete the task, but not before he is nearly killed on a couple occasions and he experiences more than a few deep and introspective moments. His trips to Indonesia, Antarctica and more are filled with interesting insights into the human mind when it's left in isolation (be it on top of a mountain at 18,000 feet or looking down the barrel of a gun in a foreign jungle). This was far from the deepest experience I ever had reading a book, but it was certainly a worthwhile read and also a quick one at just over 200 pages. And anyone who has read Into Thin Air or similar reads will feel right at home here.

I can say for sure, though, that this book reaffirms my desire to summit Mount Kilimanjaro with my buddy Luke, who has has talked about it with me several times over the years. It's probably a silly fool's dream, but it is something to dream of, and that ain't bad.