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You can see he mellows with age, but is intense at the same time. You come away with a few things from this collection of Mark Twight's writing, he is a no BS kind of guy, fearless on a couple levels, and of the old saying "it's better to be lucky than good" he is both. He is fearless, but not reckless, in his climbng. You have to respect that he would put it all out there for public consumption and expose himself to the guile of his "peers."Twight is also deep and reflective. This is not light reading and slightly dark, so my suggestion is to read it slow; put it down, think about it and come back to it. He is also fearless for putting his essays out there.
The underlying theme as I understood it was a philosophy of respect for pushing yourself as hard as you can and then giving more - even if you are not a world class climber or athlete, you get respect if you give maximum effort to your endevor and you need to develope the mind to know when you did and not let external factors affect your self analysis - you do it for you and you are your own toughest competion.The people who critique this collection or Twight as ellitest or an egomaniac aren't digesting it. His climbing resume and writings on how he lived his life show that he is a put up or shut up kind of guy. His losses in the mountains -friends, climbing partners, relationships- affected him and gave him perspective; his admission that he never expected to live past 26 shows how looking back, he is happy he has. His early work is clearly ruff, full of youthful bravado and angst. As he progress, he becomes a damn fine writer. The essay on the weekend warrior mentality is very insightful and can be applied to anything you do in life.Twight is a facinating guy, with interesting insights.
The climbing essays are good, but be aware that much of the book expouses his philosophy.
Mark Twight is a very passionate man, one who shows how much not only climbing means to him, but also gives a glimpse into his own life and background. We get to see his tortured soul as it was in his early climbing days, from when he quit to climbing at the highest level in the world. He shows his fears, his thoughts, and also gives a great series of stories that add the the climbing genre. If you care about climbing and history, or want to see a man who lives life existentially, Kiss or Kill is for you.
I thoroughly enjoyed this read. It puts you in his mind and gives you the feelings from routes conquered and failed, as well as the entire world that surrounds the life of a climber, including the scrutiny climbers receive, the close-nit bonding of climbers, and the loss of comrades to mistakes made or mere harsh conditions. If you're looking for info and direction on how to climb, this is not for you. This book is a personal account of years' experiences from an obsessed climber. I loved this book, the insight it offers, and the manner in which it was written. Often as he describes the climbs my hands were sweating, and other times when he tells of friends lost and funerals, I was holding back tears.
In compilation of his articles written over a period of 20 years, Twight provides a harsh and bittering look to an extreme alpinist's , a punk's, and a man's world who keeps losing friends, year by year. One can really figure out inner development of Twight, who sought more and more complex, unrepeated routes every year, which have been crowned by 63 hour ascent of Czech Direct on Denali. On his way to alpine perfection, Twight sees experiences near death situations, success, loss of friends, breaking up from intimate ones, the trust amd the alchemy of partnership, dysfunctional family, etc. As his rage gets calmer, but the passion gets deeper, he shaves more and more of his attitude to alpinism for perfection, just like a samurai who keeps fighting not anymore for war, but the way of the sword and inner peace gained looking for it.The book, which can mean much to any alpinist or a climber, may present an interesting account to read for anyone on armchair.
In short, extremely Twight. Doom over time and place.
It was laced with profanity and although it was entertaining at times, it was also so dependant upon proving that Mark was different, better, more intense and more. Long, long ago, I saw Mark give a show in Boulder.
Yes, he has mellowed, but that is not to suggest that he is mellow.Kiss or Kill has a similar flavor to it, showing the change of Dr. Twight, than any of us could ever be, and ultimately, that made the whole seem less than the sum of the parts.
Over the years, I've read his articles and have seen more of his talks, all of which were a testament to the Mellowing of Mark. I found it extremely funny, extremely sad, extremely entertaining and sometimes extremely overcooked.
It belongs on any committed climber's bookshelf.
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