On the Ridge Between Life and Death

I just finished this amazing memoir by David Roberts.  I picked it up at the library and wondered if I would ever read it.  Sometimes I never to get to those thick mountaineering books, and once I do, I can only get through the first three paragraphs before I have to stop because of the drab writing style.  Not so with David Roberts.  His writing style is engaging and educational.  You may even have to look up some words in the dictionary.  

David Roberts is a mountaineer.  He began his career back in the 1960s when mountaineering was a fairly obscure sport.  He led first ascents and expeditions to the Alaska peaks and had many rewarding and harrowing experiences.  I suppose, for a mountaineer, his life was nothing special.  Another such individual of the time may have had the same experiences.  But when I read his words and his story I want to do something spectacular.  It inspired me to look into myself to find those dreams I have stuffed in the back of my brain and wonder if I could maybe start on one of them.  Now that I'm finished with the book I am wandering around in a haze of melancholy, wondering if I will ever do something grandiose; not in the mountaineering field of course.  Maybe becoming a mother, or finally writing a book of some sort, volunteering, family history...who knows.  The possibilities are endless and reading Robert's memoir has lead me to the beginning of some sort of path.  I may vacillate here for a while, but hopefully I will eventually start down it to some satisfying end.

 

This book does have some foul language that I would rate somewhere between PG-13 and R.  It was not enough to distract me.  There isn't a lot of gore or scary description but I did dream last night about mountain climbing so I suppose his tale is all-encompassing.  

**NOTE: David Roberts has written multiple books so I totally scored when I opened this one.  Not only did I get to read an amazing memoir but now I have 10+ books that I can look forward to reading.