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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
(Also posted on my blog at https://samritchie.io/book-the-second-mountain/)
I had a hard time with this book; it showed up in the TED book club mailing months ago, and I went into my reading primed to love the message, which is concise and persuasive... but maybe so persuasive on its own that the book feels like 300 pages of filler.
David Brooks's "The Second Mountain" is about the sense he's developed, later in his life, that our lives play out on a landscape populated by peaks whose summits, we're told, offer peace, happiness, alleviation from the anxiety of modern life. If you get to the top, earn the PhD, become CEO, you can stop.
But then you reach the peak, and you realize that the gnawing discomfort you have with your own life was there because, just maybe, your whole viewpoint of the world as a peak-covered landscape where gladiators fight for zero-sum... what, Strava CRs? is a broken model.
David Brooks has looked at his own life and the lives of other folks he's found who have achieved a deep sense of fulfillment and found that the pattern is the same. These people reached the top, or gave up on the attempt, and set their sights on a second mountain - some objective or life goal not about them, anymore, but characterized by a thick web of connections to other people, and to a life of service.
I almost think of this like a decision to distribute your sense of self out among as many people as you can. By confining your sense of who you are into one body, you end up feeling, predictably, like you're an island, alone in a big empty world. By dedicating yourself to some cause that ignores you completely and can only be fulfilled my making other people fulfilled - by climbing the second mountain - you can cut past a whole tangled mess of self-doubt.
I love that message. But the book, as a vehicle for this message, has a big problem.
The problem is that if you already believe in this idea, or haven't yet made the leap but get the shape of what I've sketched out above, the book doesn't add anything. I didn't find anything in "The Second Mountain" that I could use to persuade, say, myself as a college student, worrying about grades and internships, that I was playing a fool's game.
Brooks has filled the book with examples of people that have found their second mountain, and are happier as a result. But why? If you take it as self-evident that this is a better way to live, why do you need examples?
What I wanted was a kick in the ass that would help me get over the current anxiety I've been feeling about job security, money and finances — anxieties that I intellectually believe are stupid, given my bank account and family situation, but that I emotionally can't quite let go of. I would be financially fine for at least, say, 10 years if I started giving away half of my income. Why am I not doing that?
Maybe my reaction to this book is unfair; I found that the stories in the book were too vague to motivate me to make any change in my own life. Maybe it's a character flaw that I was looking for a manual.
The goal of reading, as Mortimer Adler states in How to Read a Book, is to achieve enlightenment of a sort. With a practical book, if you come to the end of the book and find that you agree with the premises, and that the author's conclusions make sense, that there are no logical errors... well, then you're obligated to do what the author suggests. A practical book is trying to persuade you of something.
I'm persuaded, but I wanted my hand held. I wanted Brooks to give me a guide for how to find the second mountain, and how to just turn back and forget about tagging the first summit. I didn't find it here, and I suspect you won't either... but maybe the fact that I'm so annoyed by this means the book has done its job.
I had a hard time with this book; it showed up in the TED book club mailing months ago, and I went into my reading primed to love the message, which is concise and persuasive... but maybe so persuasive on its own that the book feels like 300 pages of filler.
David Brooks's "The Second Mountain" is about the sense he's developed, later in his life, that our lives play out on a landscape populated by peaks whose summits, we're told, offer peace, happiness, alleviation from the anxiety of modern life. If you get to the top, earn the PhD, become CEO, you can stop.
But then you reach the peak, and you realize that the gnawing discomfort you have with your own life was there because, just maybe, your whole viewpoint of the world as a peak-covered landscape where gladiators fight for zero-sum... what, Strava CRs? is a broken model.
David Brooks has looked at his own life and the lives of other folks he's found who have achieved a deep sense of fulfillment and found that the pattern is the same. These people reached the top, or gave up on the attempt, and set their sights on a second mountain - some objective or life goal not about them, anymore, but characterized by a thick web of connections to other people, and to a life of service.
I almost think of this like a decision to distribute your sense of self out among as many people as you can. By confining your sense of who you are into one body, you end up feeling, predictably, like you're an island, alone in a big empty world. By dedicating yourself to some cause that ignores you completely and can only be fulfilled my making other people fulfilled - by climbing the second mountain - you can cut past a whole tangled mess of self-doubt.
I love that message. But the book, as a vehicle for this message, has a big problem.
The problem is that if you already believe in this idea, or haven't yet made the leap but get the shape of what I've sketched out above, the book doesn't add anything. I didn't find anything in "The Second Mountain" that I could use to persuade, say, myself as a college student, worrying about grades and internships, that I was playing a fool's game.
Brooks has filled the book with examples of people that have found their second mountain, and are happier as a result. But why? If you take it as self-evident that this is a better way to live, why do you need examples?
What I wanted was a kick in the ass that would help me get over the current anxiety I've been feeling about job security, money and finances — anxieties that I intellectually believe are stupid, given my bank account and family situation, but that I emotionally can't quite let go of. I would be financially fine for at least, say, 10 years if I started giving away half of my income. Why am I not doing that?
Maybe my reaction to this book is unfair; I found that the stories in the book were too vague to motivate me to make any change in my own life. Maybe it's a character flaw that I was looking for a manual.
The goal of reading, as Mortimer Adler states in How to Read a Book, is to achieve enlightenment of a sort. With a practical book, if you come to the end of the book and find that you agree with the premises, and that the author's conclusions make sense, that there are no logical errors... well, then you're obligated to do what the author suggests. A practical book is trying to persuade you of something.
I'm persuaded, but I wanted my hand held. I wanted Brooks to give me a guide for how to find the second mountain, and how to just turn back and forget about tagging the first summit. I didn't find it here, and I suspect you won't either... but maybe the fact that I'm so annoyed by this means the book has done its job.
I feel I already know this... it was refreshing to see it portrayed in heroic terms but the fascination wore off pretty fast.
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Brooks contends that in life, many people strive to serve the ego, and this pursuit of individualism offers a false fulfillment; the greatest heights are achieved in the pursuit of interconnectedness. He explores the four ways we pursue connection: through vocation, family, philosophy or faith, and community. In this reflection on how we find fulfillment in life, Brooks collates his lived experiences and proposes a theory meaning that inspires contemplation and debate.
Finished second mountain.
I disagreed with many of his approaches and his self-promotion, religious promotion and sometimes ignorant generalizing of things. many times I rolled my eyes or thought, shut up David you're out of touch, old man. Be that as it may, I still feel he has many good points. Summary for myself for later:
Individualism has been the prevailing moral ecology (moral ecology = how we interaction and create relationships and value. System of behavior and microculture sculpted by the way we lead our lives and indirectly encourage others too). It drives us to value certain things and fulfill the desires of the ego - to gain status and make a mark and rise in power and be better. But is lacking and empty, devoid and bankrupt of the desires to live in a community, commit to others, depend on others, surrender to something greater. Leads to acedia and lack of meaning and isolation and not even knowing what is missing. Result is culture of utility-maximizing and workaholic judgmental comparers, sensitive to other people's accomplishments.
Life isn't solitary, it is about relationships. Quality and depth of relationships is how we end up measuring ourselves. Adult life should be about making commitments, promises and mutual giving. A bit inverse logic because you give in order to gain, sacrifice to become stronger.
We become what we desire and worship. Have we educated our emotions to love the right things? feel lack of meaning when we don't have something to feed heart and soul, emotional/moral nourishment. Relationships give us the ability to surpass ego and transform ourselves to pursue bigger journey.
We can still live in our capitalist meritocracy with a worldview that emphasizes community, emotional connection, morality instead of individual, cognitive, utilitarian respectively.
Build community from smaller connections and relationships in order to scale it upwards. Giving, storytelling, singing, projects, ritual, dining, deep conversation. See people at full depths and as a whole person instead of seeing them as data point. It's a constant struggle and battle living in our society, and it's about balancing tensions. Utilizing this moral ecology and giving others subtle nudges to live up to it as well and in doing so, create a society. Only way to do it, through personal contact. Radiate generosity and give themselves in small thoughtful ways. Which, when done over and over, help overcome the division they exists in current society.
I disagreed with many of his approaches and his self-promotion, religious promotion and sometimes ignorant generalizing of things. many times I rolled my eyes or thought, shut up David you're out of touch, old man. Be that as it may, I still feel he has many good points. Summary for myself for later:
Individualism has been the prevailing moral ecology (moral ecology = how we interaction and create relationships and value. System of behavior and microculture sculpted by the way we lead our lives and indirectly encourage others too). It drives us to value certain things and fulfill the desires of the ego - to gain status and make a mark and rise in power and be better. But is lacking and empty, devoid and bankrupt of the desires to live in a community, commit to others, depend on others, surrender to something greater. Leads to acedia and lack of meaning and isolation and not even knowing what is missing. Result is culture of utility-maximizing and workaholic judgmental comparers, sensitive to other people's accomplishments.
Life isn't solitary, it is about relationships. Quality and depth of relationships is how we end up measuring ourselves. Adult life should be about making commitments, promises and mutual giving. A bit inverse logic because you give in order to gain, sacrifice to become stronger.
We become what we desire and worship. Have we educated our emotions to love the right things? feel lack of meaning when we don't have something to feed heart and soul, emotional/moral nourishment. Relationships give us the ability to surpass ego and transform ourselves to pursue bigger journey.
We can still live in our capitalist meritocracy with a worldview that emphasizes community, emotional connection, morality instead of individual, cognitive, utilitarian respectively.
Build community from smaller connections and relationships in order to scale it upwards. Giving, storytelling, singing, projects, ritual, dining, deep conversation. See people at full depths and as a whole person instead of seeing them as data point. It's a constant struggle and battle living in our society, and it's about balancing tensions. Utilizing this moral ecology and giving others subtle nudges to live up to it as well and in doing so, create a society. Only way to do it, through personal contact. Radiate generosity and give themselves in small thoughtful ways. Which, when done over and over, help overcome the division they exists in current society.
challenging
inspiring
medium-paced
I can't decide if I want to give it 2 or 3 stars. I think my positive feelings are in part influenced by having recently read a similar self-help style book (Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules) and I liked this one better. I appreciated the emphasis on relationships and community over individualism and I agreed with valuing joy over happiness. The author seems to have had an interesting faith journey that reconciled parts of his Judaism and developed parts of his Christianity, and his belief in a moral world and celebration of ritual were insightful. My negative feelings about the book mostly stem from feeling like it was trying to do way too many things. The conclusion includes a listed summary of the important things discussed and it was impossible to keep track of, in part because I was listening to the audiobook but mostly because the list was outrageously long and full of numbered sub topics. He's trying to be worldly and secular, but also religious and faithful. He's trying to be rational and logical but also emotional and mystical. He's trying to be self-deferential and humble but also knowledgeable and full of wisdom. I liked his insistence that our culture's individualism has gone too far and is damaging, but beyond that I found it difficult to focus and remember his advice and commentary because it covered a huge variety of topics and values and experiences.
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
I thought I would be disappointed but this was actually really inspiring... Can building community save the world? How relationships grow and evolve, or don't.. friends, marriages or loves, helping each other and ourselves. This was very insightful and built on a foundation of wonderful philosophers and researched ideas
I found myself thinking about the book when I wasn’t reading it, and wanting to pick it up until I was through. Like all books, timing is important. For me, reading about ‘The Second Mountain’ as I approach the second half of my life is helping me to think about all the work I need to do to move from selfishness to selflessness. I’ve had a lot on my mind over the past few years of the nature of my chosen career and the value it brings to the world, and if there’s a way for me to apply my skills, knowledge and wisdom to something with a higher purpose. I’ve still not figured that out, and Brooks has raised a lot of questions for me to ponder about becoming a better person, the kind of person that puts others first and commits fully to a work that allows the fabric of society to woven more tightly. I do feel that the generation I am growing up in truly contains the most individualistic of people, and perhaps what we’re seeing in the world today is the revolution we need to create a better world. The Second Mountain will not be shelved, rather it will remain on my desk as I pick out the questions that I need to create answers for and work on the sections from the manifesto that I want to create action from.
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
A bit redundant at parts, and there were plenty of ideas that didn’t resonate. But overall it brought a fresh perspective to life in the 21st century and helped me figure out where to go in my life from here.