Travail So Gladly Spent

Rating:
Summary: fellow travailer
Review: This is a highly original book, illustrated with a light and lucid touch by the author himself. One of Britain's most respected outdoor educators, Tom followed Eric Shipton into direction of the flagship Outward Bound Mountain School at Eskdale where he hired me green and not golden right out of university. I found his leadership rare, extraordinary and illuminatory then. Reading his book now, I see a reflection of that unforgotten intellectual clarity, fresh as a Lakeland tarn on a cool spring morning. My mother assured me that a book is best read in short bursts. She left little volumes of `thoughts for the day' on the bathroom stool to reinforce the habit. Although Tom's book meets this tough criterion easily for the reader -it is organized burst-wise around discrete and memorable wanderings - there is an honourable purpose to the pilgrimage. He gives an inspiring new twist to the quizzical pilgrim as travailer, as enquiring fellow-wanderer through this mysterious dance we call life. It's a privilege not only for us to share his travail, but also to reflect on his observations. `I have always been an associate, rather than a full member of society, ready to cooperate, but not to belong.' This from an acknowledged and respected leader, who has walked the walk, run the run. This is someone whose perceptiveness we can trust..... as did so many firms, organizations, young people, and, yes, parents during those early risk-taking Outward Bound days. The book is full of quietly startling reassessments, cerebral and stimulating to those who find solace in the wild.