I was a fan of The Road to Character by David Brooks and was pretty excited to get this book as an eARC from the publisher through netgalley, but it took me a long time to get through this book. I was very interested in the core focus of a relationist society being more sustainable than an individualistic society and this book explores this theme pretty extensively with a mixture of quotations and summaries of various texts from history & religion, anecdotes, some memoir type episodes and a lot of almost-manifesto (the end is an actual manifesto). While definitely intellectually stimulating in Brooks' signature style, the book also wanders a fair bit, with a lot about Brooks' search and growth through religion and in general, a number of theses on how people ought to live, without the connections between sections being quite clear. I may try reading again in a different period in life to see what else I can glean.

I enjoy listening to David Brooks on NPR every Friday afternoon and read "The Road to Character." However, this book seemed awfully preachy, so I have put it down halfway through. I think he has good points, but comes off as a bit full of himself. I did not find that to be the case as much with Road to Character.

While this book did drag in some places, it was a fantastic look at the way society has changed (and needs to continue to change). The chapters on how students are being sent out into the world with no idea of who they are and what to do with that (lack of) knowledge really hit home for me, both from personal experience and from sending my students out after graduation.

This was a really interesting read that really lays out a path to living a more meaningful life. I liked that the author broke up the milestones many of us have in life and laid out the commitments that each require. It was a fascinating and eye-opening read!

THE SECOND MOUNTAIN by David Brooks is a complex book that is part philosophy, part personal disclosure, and part research. It serves as an excellent source to challenge the reader’s thinking about a variety of subjects including religion, marriage, social responsibility and personal growth. It is a book that requires a great deal of thought to absorb what is being said and to time for introspection to ascertain personal reactions. For this reason, I found it easiest to read a section and then put it aside for a few hours or a day to think about what I had read.
The writing is erudite in many spots, and as such is not something one can easily skim, nor would you want to. There are many ideas put forth in terms of what David Brooks himself believes to be true. Whether or not you believe everything that is discussed in the book, it will give you an opportunity to pause and think about some important issues in society today.
Of particular interest to me was the section on becoming a servant leader, one who takes as their focus the improvement of the world around them instead of simply trying to focus on improving their own situation in life. The portions of the book that deal with the hyper-individualism we as a society have gravitated toward over the past sixty or so years. He sites the erosion of old-fashioned neighborhoods as one of the more easily seen examples of this process. He also talks about the perils inherent in becoming more isolated, more divided into groups of like individuals and his argument has a ring of truth to it as society seems to be becoming more intractable in its ability to listen to points of view other than our own.
At times I found myself wondering who was the target audience for the book as it wanders across a vast array of topics. Equal space is given to such disparate subjects as joy, social responsibility, religion, and a host of others. The quotes given in the book provide the reader with a wide range of philosophies on an equally wide range of subjects, almost compelling the reader to pause and think. Is it something with which they agree? Where do they fall philosophically on a variety of topics. Because of this, the reader may find this a longer than average read for them to complete.
While I would recommend this book as something to read for stimulating thought and defining personal philosophies, I would not recommend it as something the reader would pick up for light reading. In places it reads more like a textbook, and there were times when my brain simply would not absorb what was being said. For that reason, I chose not to read this as my “late evening” read when winding down for the night, but saved it for times when I had a fresher brain and enough time to carve out a section to complete before being called to do something else.
This book may be helpful for people who are seeking to define their own values or learn about how others have moved through that process. It is a book that also offers hope for finding “joy” to put in your life in addition to fun and purpose. There is also caution regarding where society is heading if it continues on its current isolationist path. Perhaps the best thing that can be said for this book is that it will encourage you to think, and possibly to act, in ways that may be new to you. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing me with an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the first 30-40% of this book. I found the main theme intriguing - it goes without saying that David Brooks is a deep thinker and strong writer. He intersperses interesting statistics, quotes, philosophical and literary references to defend and support his positions and conclusions. However, I don't think he does a good job of answering the main question of the book of how to find your second mountain. By the second half of the book I felt it simply became a rambling on topics that he wanted to write about as he attempted and was unsuccessful at tying them together into one theme. This book would have served the reader better as a book of essays.