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Summary: when you're ready to take the "road not taken" read this..
Review: As someone also on the journey of more spirituality, simplicity, sincerity, serenity, and slowness in my life, I have been particularly interested in personal account stories of others...earlier this spring I thought I needed to head out on my own "alone" time, but luckily I have seen I don't want to get away, but rather get into the life I have and the people I share it with..by journeying with them. Jon Katz openly shares his fears,mistakes, adventures, joys, and discoveries as he "turns a page" realizing the only way to get there is to go through what we do. It's what you do with it that scripts your chapters.
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Summary: Very timely, lovely and funny
Review: I enjoyed this book so much...it's the perfect book at exactly the perfect time. Katz is a spiritual man living in the modern world. He wants both spirituality and a life. And guess what? Well, I don't want to give away this great book.
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Summary: we all need a mountain
Review: Thanks to Jon Katz for providing us armchair travelers with the means for quietude and peace. I found this book a growth tool. I will no longer feel guilty about insisting on alone time, also I will try to follow the inner voice instead of the outer clamour. A wonderfully written and worthwhile journey, one I highly recommend.
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Summary: Dynamite for boomers tired of the hassle.
Review: I read this book and bought a cabin on a mountain top. Mine is is West Virginia and cost only a little more. I am not kidding.
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Summary: The moral of this book: Lonely? Buy a satellite dish!!!
Review: Running To The Mountain is a book that is difficult to categorize. When I purchased it, I thought it would be one thing. Through the first fifty pages, I believed it would be something different. Toward the end, it became something else entirely. And in retrospect it may not have been much of anything at all.The book was suggested to me by Amazon, likely because I had purchased a copy of Walden from them. I suppose that, in the electronic mind that manages Amazon's web site, it was logical that someone who was interested in reading about a man who isolated himself in a cabin in the woods would naturally be interested in reading about another man who isolates himself in a cabin on a mountain. Having purchased the book with this in mind, I was a bit surprised to find that, while the book certainly paid homage to the wonder of nature, (his depictions of a mountaintop thunderstorm was particularly vivid) it was not written from the naturalist, self-sufficient perspective of Walden. Fifty pages in, it appeared as though it would be a "fish out of water" story, with the author relating amusing anecdotes about his adventures with the locals and their "really big trucks." At this level the book is actually quite engaging, and a joy to read for 20 to 30 pages. Just as the book settles into this format, however, we are drawn into a discussion of isolation and spirituality, revolving around the writings of Thomas Merton, the moderately famous hermit-monk of the 50's and 60's. It is extremely interesting that the author, who is clearly very interested in and knowledgeable about the writings of the devout Catholic, Merton, seems to have drawn absolutely no spiritual guidance or insight from them. It's as if someone who has never seen a baseball game were to write about the impact Babe Ruth had on society. Along the way, in what I must assume is an attempt to make up for his lack of spiritual depth, the author attempts to assign disproportionate significance to mundane events such as his daughter's back surgery, a day at the horse races, and his best friend's pending fatherhood. The point at which Mr. Katz really lost me, however, is when he attempted to justify the addition of a satellite dish to his mountaintop retreat. His argument is that it is not good to be too alone, and a TV is a necessity of life. Sorry, Jon, no sale on that one! In retrospect, this book chronicles the efforts of a man of minimal spirituality desperately searching for meaning in his life as he approaches late middle-age. A less generous reviewer might call the whole effort a kind of extended, shared mid-life crisis. This would be less than charitable, however, as the book does succeed in helping us to understand the fears and insecurities which have impacted the author's life, even if only superficially. In the end, however, Mr. Katz provides no meaningful answers on either a spiritual or practical plane, (beyond of course satellite TV) and his work must ultimately be judged at this level.
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Summary: Many, many thanks...
Review: My father told me this was the best Fathers Day present in the world, even though I gave it to him three weeks ago..wanted to pass that on...His quote, (he's 45). "This book isn't about religion, it's about life. That's the very great point of it."
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Summary: My wife says thank the man
Review: My wife says "thank the man" for writing this book..I'm going to e-mail him and offer him some shrubs for his cabin..what a lovely piece of work.
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Summary: A great trip..
Review: Take it...This is a very special book, I've got to say, and I go through a lot of books..This guy has really touched a nerve..
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Summary: Inspirational and moving
Review: Running To The Mountain is beautifully written, funny, inspiratioinal and moving. Boy,you have to love those dogs. This is the book of you're ready for a change..Thanks.
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Summary: lovely sweet read..
Review: What a fun, warm, and uplifting book.
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