Running to the Mountain: A Midlife Adventure

I first read A Dog Year (because I have a Border Collie too) and really enjoyed Jon Katz style....so I ordered Running to the Mountain not knowing what to expect. I was more than entertained, enlightened and even "introspected" (if that's a word). I just wish I had read it first, before A Dog Year, as I would have appreciated all the references and time spent at the cabin with the dogs. Can't wait to read his latest.

Perhaps it helps to be a "fifty-something" person, for by this time in one's life you start to seriously evaluate where you want to go in the (shortening) time left, and one of the ways you do this is to sift through your life's adventures so far. Jon Katz heeds a "call" to get away (not so much from "urban life" as from the "routine" of life). While each person must find his or her own way (and some are admittedly far more adept at others at gaining meaningful perspective throughout their lives), what Jon Katz did resonated with me. It really is important to take some "time out", to give yourself a chance to see yourself anew, to remember/recall the dreams you once had and to wonder why you have achieved some, failed at others, and given up on still others. Connecting with nature is another reminder, too, that we are all inter-connected (this perspective seems particularly acute when one is both young and old, but harder to maintain in one's "middle years" when scrabbling for career paths and building a family take up so much time). This book lets us share Mr. Katz's adventure and, in so doing, gives us encouragement to do something similar in our own manner. It IS good to remember that we really are on a sacred journey. It is never too late to readjust the course.

OK, I admit it! This book is the one that finally hit home with me! I have been saying to my wife and kids, as I approach 50 (being beyond 48 but not yet 50) tha I would like to just chuck it all and move to the mountains just like Jon Katz did...in upstate NY or Vermont or New Hampshire...anywhere away from the craziness of New York, away from the routine with diminishing return, away from the fast paced world without purpose. But then "reality" sets in...bills, obligations, organized religion, making a living...and I just stop dreaming about such a major change. So I seek out psychiatry to find where I belong at this point in my life, and it goes around and around. What a book to find! Someone has done what I want to , and I have found a new perspective on what my reasons for going on are, why my family needs me and what I can do to think differently. Does this book stop me from wanting to get away to a simpler life? No, but it helped me to think about it in a more sane way. Thanks you Jon for getting there first and helping me out in my life. Read this one if you are searching but finding no answers. It will definitely help.

I first encountered Jon Katz through his mystery novels about a downsized Wall Street type turned suburban private investigator. I liked his stuff. Then, I discovered the Jon Katz who writes on internet and freedom issues for slashdot.org and the Freedom Forum. I like him even more.Then I read his latest book, Running to the Mountain. It's about aging and spirituality written around his purchase of a cabin in upstate New York and an attempt to write a book on Thomas Merton while there.Books on these topics are often more preachy than insightful. Running to the Mountain isn't preachy at all. In fact, it's hysterically funny in places. In between the laughs, it got me to think more than I have in years about parenting and other relationships, where I'm going with the last third of my career, and, of course, the last half of my life.It is by far the best book I've ever read on spirituality and personal growth and is a must for all us aging boomers.