Book Club #3: “The Second Mountain” by David Brooks

Today’s book club review is David Brooks’ bestselling “The Second Mountain”, a powerful read that sets out to find meaning in life. Some light-hearted reading for your summer holidays!

Brooks takes us on a journey through his struggle to find meaning in his own life. The title comes from the book’s major theme - that the second mountain we climb in life is where we find meaning, often after having reached the peak of the first.

That first mountain is concerned primarily with individualistic pursuits and achievements. Status, wealth, trophies; the sort of things that society tells us matter. The things that we tell ourselves will make us happy when we tick them off, only for them to shortly be supplanted by some loftier goal once we have achieved them (the Hedonic Treadmill, in psych terms). 

For a while - and sometimes, a lifetime - we can tell ourselves that the old goal was not really the thing after all, and in fact this new, bigger, shinier goal is the thing that will really bring us happiness. That is, until something shakes the foundations. It could be a bereavement, financial catastrophe, or as in many cases, actually reaching the undeniable summit of the first mountain, only to realise the view is not what you thought it would be. There are many stories of athletes winning world cups or gold medals who, standing on the podium, their life’s dream achieved, is the most melancholy moment of their life to that point. They feel… nothing? So what now?

And so to the titular Second Mountain. The one concerned not with individual accolades, but connection with others and service to something greater than yourself, in short.

This might sound familiar to the point of banality but in my opinion it is worth reading on. Brooks takes stock of his own Second Mountains, and doesn’t pull any punches when taking stock of his life up to this point. He talks of four commitments - to vocation, to marriage, to faith (or philosophy if you’re secular) and to community, with deep dives into how they’ve shaped his later life.

Brooks also makes the argument that the problem is societal, that since we are pushed to strive for individualistic goals, we are all stranded, trying to consume our way toward the peak of that First Mountain. Whilst the idea of “leaving the Rat Race” is nothing new, Brooks does at least provide some kind of roadmap - to him, the first step is commitment.

The Second Mountain is by no means a gentle bedtime page-turner, but the themes in it are important. We all know what’s really important in life, but it is all too easy to lose sight of that in the day-to-day grind. 

Should you read this book? You probably already know! If you’re not in the market for this kind of thing then it’s unlikely to win you over. But it’s one you probably should read at some point.