I eagerly awaited the arrival of this book as I have enjoyed reading David Roberts' other books on climbing and the Southwest. In this book Roberts' gives us an honest, revealing look at his early high school years through to the present day, concentrating on the various aspects of his life from climbing, teaching, and writing and what he gets out of each. He is directly involved in several climbing fatalities and yet continues climbing putting up many extremely difficult first ascents in Alaska. He examines his changing attitudes about the risks of climbing while reasessing the impacts the fatalities have had on his life and more importantly the families involved.
Here we have a 62 year old who is looking back over his life, feeling pride over his accomplishments (justly deserved), shame over past behavior, and struggling through career choices, which can help all of us with our own moments of self evaluation.

From reading Roberts' other books, I have wanted to know more about him. In this book, he shares his life with us, from the complexities of relationships with women to lifelong friendships he has made with the likes of Jon Krakauer, all interwoven with amazing climbing stories from Colorado to Alaska. Well written, and like usual, I kept a dictionary handy.