Blog Tour
Review and Author Interview
This is my post during the blog tour for Through Dangerous Doors by Robert Charles Lee.
This blog tour is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours and the tour runs from 4 till 17 October. You can see the tour schedule here.
Through Dangerous Doors
By Robert Charles Lee
Genre: Non-fiction Memoir
Release Date: June 15, 2021
Blurb:
In a life defined by risk, Robert Charles Lee experiences a poor and free-ranging childhood in the racist South of the 1960s. After his father dies, the family grows dysfunctional. As a result, teen-age Robert seeks sanity and solace by rock climbing solo and driving cars fast. He wins a scholarship and graduates from university, but still seeks to escape the South.Moving to Alaska and the Western US, Robert works in a series of dangerous and brutal jobs. He meets and marries Linda, who enjoys climbing and skiing difficult mountains as much as he does. Simultaneously, Robert trains in the science of risk to become a respected professional risk scientist.
Robert shares his remarkable story as he guides the reader through a series of dangerous but rewarding doors, culminating in a vivid journey of adventure and risk.
My Thoughts
This book took a little bit to digest and think about before reviewing. Though it is written in a chronological, memoir style, it is a little unusual. Each chapter has an introduction and then ends with a door closing: thus the book title, which I didn’t fully understand until I started reading.
I liked this “door” concept. It felt original and creative. The first chapters were under the heading First Movement: Solo (1957 to 1987). Then the last part of the book was Second Movement: Duet (1987 to Present). As you might guess, the second part is life with his wife. And under each heading are chapters such as
The Free-Range Door
The Mountain Door
The Partner Door
The Ice Door, etc.
Interspersed throughout the book are a few pictures, which I really appreciated.
Why did I have to consider this before writing a review? I needed to think about each section and what it had to offer. By allowing my mind to ponder, the good parts rose to the top. And there were plenty.
Robert Lee lived an early life, from childhood to twenties, that many of us can’t imagine. At least I hope not. Yet even if you, like me, find some of these open and closed door chapters hard to read, the upside is that he manages to know when to shut doors and move on.
His extraordinary life is one some will envy (at least parts of), and others will shake their head and wonder what he was thinking. Either way, most will find this an inspirational story of survival. A story of a man who managed to find a satisfying path in life even with a rocky start.
For two risk-takers to find each other and become interested in taking the same life journey has to be looked upon as a blessing. And it was enjoyable to experience some of their adventures in this memoir.
What Concerned Me
Because a good portion of the book is recalling and sharing climbing and skiing experiences, it has a chance of losing some reader’s interest.
Final Thoughts
This is definitely an interesting, unique memoir. Lee took me on a detailed journey of his life in this well written book. The descriptions are extremely well constructed and the chapters flow continuously.
If you’re a fan of adventure and memoirs. I would definitely recommend this book.
Though I received a gifted copy it did not influence my review or rating.
Rating: 4 Stars ☆☆☆☆
About the Author and Interview
Robert Charles Lee is a retired risk scientist with over twenty-five years of academic and applied risk analysis, decision analysis, and risk management experience. He and his wife Linda have climbed hundreds of technical and non-technical mountain, rock, ice, and canyon routes, and hiked thousands of miles in several countries. Lee is also an avid musician and photographer.
Interview
- When did you realize that you were a risk-taker?
I’ve always been one, so I never realized this in a conscious fashion.
- Is there anything that particularly scares you?
I assume when you say “scare” you mean something causing a strong fear reaction. If so, I can’t think of anything that scares me. It’s just the way I am. A reviewer of an early draft of the memoir found this unbelievable, but I’ve known and talked to plenty of people who aren’t afraid of anything. I don’t think lack of fear is uncommon, at least among people who choose to live risky lives. In fact, I find it unbelievable some people can even do the jobs they do if they feel fear or scare easily.
This doesn’t mean I have a rare brain condition, or I’m stupid. There are plenty of things I’d rather not be involved in or do, but they don’t scare me in the usual sense of the word. For example, I recently discovered a large wasp nest under the roof of my house. Just because I’m not afraid of wasps doesn’t mean I’m going to climb up a ladder and stick my face in their nest! I wouldn’t jump on a motorcycle and drive a hundred miles per hour, because I’ve never driven a motorcycle, and I’d probably die. I get vaccinated against serious diseases not because they scare me, but because I really don’t like being sick.
Fear may be a basic primal emotion in most people, but I think it’s pretty much useless. In fact, it causes many people to act really weird. Fear drives a lot of irrational and dangerous human behavior. And of course many politicians, the media, and so on feed on people’s fears and exacerbate them. There’s a lot of scared people out there, and being scared doesn’t address the problems causing the fear. It makes them worse.
Having said all that, there are plenty of large-scale risky things that concern me. I wrote a blog post on my website a few years ago that’s a good summary:
https://robertcharleslee.com/f/a-ranked-list-of-things-to-worry-about
- Are pets a big part of your life?
Yes. I consider dogs a symbiotic species with humans. I don’t have children, but for most of my life dogs have been family members. The only sad thing that causes me to cry is the death of a dog. If I had the money and an appropriate living situation I’d probably have a family of many animals, including horses.
- Is your wife a risk-taker?
Yes. For example, we climbed difficult mountains together for over a quarter-century, and after retiring from this we continue to enjoy the wilderness. She just started a new and important job at an age when many people are ready to retire from work.
- What do you hope readers will take away from this story?
Taking risks can be highly fulfilling as long as the risks are properly managed.
- What was your scariest activity or adventure?
As I described above, I don’t feel fear, so I’m not sure how to answer this. I discuss many examples of “close calls” in the memoir. All of these could have involved death or serious injury. Perhaps readers can help me out with regard to the relative “scariness” of these events.
I thought the following review of an advance copy was funny: “This is a memoir like few others, in that the author is intent on beseeching his readers not to follow the example of his own life. The story he tells shows that this is very good advice indeed, but nevertheless his tale of improbable escapes from one looming disaster after another is both instructive and entertaining.”
- Any advice for people who are trying to overcome something scary?
Sorry, but I’m not a good person to offer such advice. However, I realize most people feel fear, and indeed “overcoming fear” is a big business. At some point while writing the memoir I searched for books on Amazon using the search terms “self-help”, “fear”, and so on. There appear to be thousands. I think it’s difficult however for anyone – even professionals – to offer general advice to fearful people, because different people are afraid of different things. For example, someone may be afraid of heights, but not afraid of dogs. So, this person wouldn’t buy a book on overcoming fear of dogs.
In general, I think the concept of “facing one’s fears” is reasonable, unless one is actually doing something dangerous. For example, in the memoir I wrote:
“Some [mountain] climbers relate they find themselves ‘conquering their fear,’ or similar sentiments. This confuses me, and I ask the question: ‘Then why the hell do you keep climbing?’ It seems mighty risky to me to be conquering strong emotions during a difficult climb, rather than focusing on the tasks at hand.” I wouldn’t have started climbing mountains at all had I been afraid of them. Intentionally doing something dangerous that scares you doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. In the same vein, I don’t understand “adrenaline junkies.” If at all possible I avoid adrenaline release.
- Tell us something about you that would make us laugh.
My wife married and still puts up with a drummer!
For more information, please visit https://robertcharleslee.com.
Thanks so much for taking time to answer these questions and helping us get to know you a little better. Obviously, had I read the book before creating the questions, I could have eliminated a few of them. Yet, for readers who haven’t read your book yet, I think they’ll find all of them interesting. I did read your Guest Post on Jazzy Book Reviews which I found very enlightening. Readers may want to click here to read it. Thanks again ~ Debbie
Author links:
– Website
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