In Second Summit, a septuagenarian former soldier and lawyer discusses his drive to continue achieving late in life and offers advice to men who wish to do the same.
In 1964, 13-year-old John Timothy moved with his family from Nova Scotia to Deerfield, Florida. He drifted through school, then enrolled halfheartedly at Palm Beach Junior College. After finishing Palm Beach, he took a solo motorcycle ride from Florida to Nova Scotia, enrolling at Saint Mary’s University, before returning to Florida in 1973 to finish a bachelor’s degree in psychology. After that, he enlisted in the Army, leaving active duty in 1981 to become a CPA and then a tax attorney.
Timothy calls this his “First Summit”: the initial mountain everyone must scale to achieve success, however it’s defined. Once that peak is reached, then what? Does a person settle into a quiet retirement? Or does that person begin a “Second Summit” of, say, deploying to Kuwait at age 50, bench-pressing 315 pounds at age 70, flying airplanes, riding jet skis, and taking his Harley across three continents?
Timothy offers advice to those seeking the latter. In the Second Summit, he writes, you must “dismantle what no longer serves” and rebuild “something truer.” He describes the process, recommends solutions, and even gives homework (chapters end with a “Summit Assignment”).
Timothy’s book is directed solely to men, and the tone is highly masculine. For example, one chapter concerns the “warrior-scholar,” who “does not allow the intellectual without the physical.” Throughout, he offers some solid suggestions, such as: “stop waiting for clarity before you begin. Begin, and let the clarity come from the movement.”
Unfortunately, the narrative is wordy and stylistically repetitive. For example, noting he had zero margin for error at one point, he writes: “Not nearly zero. Not very small. Zero.” About his feelings at another point, he writes: “Not despair. Not ingratitude. Not crisis.” Additionally, the first lines of paragraphs aren’t indented, making the text hard to read.
Second Summit is a mixed bag. Readers will find some intriguing thoughts and real motivation here but will need patience to wade through extraneous text.