One night we had The Daily Show on while getting ready for bed. John Stewart was interviewing a guy about being the first American to summit the world’s fourteen 8,000 meter peaks without the aid of bottle oxygen. I was going about preparing for the next day casually following the interview when Stewart asked, “You used to be a veterinarian or something like that right?” This really peaked my interest, as I’m always fascinated by the differing backgrounds and paths people take, particularly those in my own chosen field.

This comment hooked me for the rest of the interview, and the next day I was at Barnes and Noble buying the book to read up on the adventures of Dr. Viesturs. The book is absolutely fascinating, and this is from someone with no real interest in mountain climbing, outside of admiration for such a crazy pursuit of testing human will and physical bounds.

The book is essentially about Viesturs life to this point, following a kid growing up in Illinois (yep, our best mountaineer is from the flattest part of the country), and how he ended up on the West Coast, in veterinary school and eventually became a professional climber. His philosophy, while climbing, can aptly be applied to life, and is vividly illustrated against the philosophies of other climbers, many who have not met such successful fates.

This book was truly an enjoyable read with the only drawback being that he does jump forward and backward in time at will and following the progression can be just a little confusing at times. That being said this book gets a very, very high recommendation.

Do you have a book you'd like to recommend to others? Send your suggestions to gundogdoc@gundogdoc.com.