The Second Mountain
The Quest for a Moral Life
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4.1 • 222 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Everybody tells you to live for a cause larger than yourself, but how exactly do you do it? The author of The Road to Character explores what it takes to lead a meaningful life in a self-centered world.
“Deeply moving, frequently eloquent and extraordinarily incisive.”—The Washington Post
Every so often, you meet people who radiate joy—who seem to know why they were put on this earth, who glow with a kind of inner light. Life, for these people, has often followed what we might think of as a two-mountain shape. They get out of school, they start a career, and they begin climbing the mountain they thought they were meant to climb. Their goals on this first mountain are the ones our culture endorses: to be a success, to make your mark, to experience personal happiness. But when they get to the top of that mountain, something happens. They look around and find the view . . . unsatisfying. They realize: This wasn’t my mountain after all. There’s another, bigger mountain out there that is actually my mountain.
And so they embark on a new journey. On the second mountain, life moves from self-centered to other-centered. They want the things that are truly worth wanting, not the things other people tell them to want. They embrace a life of interdependence, not independence. They surrender to a life of commitment.
In The Second Mountain, David Brooks explores the four commitments that define a life of meaning and purpose: to a spouse and family, to a vocation, to a philosophy or faith, and to a community. Our personal fulfillment depends on how well we choose and execute these commitments. Brooks looks at a range of people who have lived joyous, committed lives, and who have embraced the necessity and beauty of dependence. He gathers their wisdom on how to choose a partner, how to pick a vocation, how to live out a philosophy, and how we can begin to integrate our commitments into one overriding purpose.
In short, this book is meant to help us all lead more meaningful lives. But it’s also a provocative social commentary. We live in a society, Brooks argues, that celebrates freedom, that tells us to be true to ourselves, at the expense of surrendering to a cause, rooting ourselves in a neighborhood, binding ourselves to others by social solidarity and love. We have taken individualism to the extreme—and in the process we have torn the social fabric in a thousand different ways. The path to repair is through making deeper commitments. In The Second Mountain, Brooks shows what can happen when we put commitment-making at the center of our lives.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In this inspiring work, New York Times columnist David Brooks shifts his focus from politics to philosophy. The Second Mountain is a metaphor Brooks created to argue that the search for stronger family bonds, a diverse and inclusive community, and deeper spirituality often comes after—and is far more important than—an earlier quest for material success. In the book’s second half, Brooks is uncharacteristically revealing, discussing the personal life changes that led to his own newfound focus, including the end of his first marriage, political readjustments, and his turn from Judaism to Christianity.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this ardent follow-up to The Road to Character, New York Times columnist Brooks explores his thinking about factors that form a moral life. He confesses that he wishes to "in part compensate for the limitations of" his previous book, as he no longer believes that character formation is based entirely on individual achievements. Instead, Brooks now professes that one builds character by giving oneself away to a community or to a cause out of love a premise that manifests itself in his theory of "the two mountains." For Brooks, the summit of the first mountain is traditional success based on one's achievements. Along the way, one can expect failure or setbacks. Through the ensuing stage of suffering (the valley), one gets the strength and life experience to commit to climbing the second mountain, where Brooks believes true joy can be found. Enjoying one's work, getting married, studying philosophy or religion, and establishing community helps to form the path between the mountains, Brooks writes. As he teases apart his metaphor, Brooks relates his own experiences: a newfound love after divorce and a religious awakening that has brought him to the cusp of Christianity from Judaism. While some readers will find his revelations obvious, Brooks's melding of personal responsibility with respect for community will have broad appeal.
Customer Reviews
Pperfectly summarized the crossroads of 2020
This book perfectly summarized the crossroads that was 2020—and how we can each choose better. It spoke to a deep longing in my soul and explained why I cannot reach so many who are simply pursuing things and merit badges.
A Truly Beautiful Book
Reading this book (more than once) has been a gift. It’s filled with heartfelt stories and practical wisdom on how we can respond to the brokenness of our age with faith, hope, and love. We can be broken open in the valleys of our lives. Thank you, Mr Brooks. The view from the Second Mountain is so much better.
Nope
Sad and pathetic realizations page after page. Not that I disagree with the ideas I found the author fairly immature and cliché in his process. He gets brownie points for his honesty and eloquence but I don’t think this deserves a book. If you want to hear something like this just talk to your neighbor, give compassion and attention to real people rather that loosing a couple hour on this.