The story Touch the Top of the World is told by a man who tries to climb farther than the eye can see. This story talks about Erik Weihenmayer in his words on how he is a mountain climber and climbs some of the words tallest mountains. It is basically a memoir of his life and his struggles, which lead up to his dream of mountain climbing. One important factor to add is that Erik is blind. The story was very intriguing, inspirational and motivational as well. It makes you think more about life itself and shows you views you never have seen before. Climbing mountains while blind is an extremely tremendous feet and something many would look up to.

Erik Weihenmayer’s story starts off with him as a child and how he was born with a rare eye disease. At first Erik was only thought to have bad eyesight, so he was given glasses. But as he grew older his eyes would only worsen and eventually he would become blind. By the time Erik was fifteen or sixteen he had lost complete vision in both of his eyes. Yet from early on he was determined to rise above his disability. He speaks of the role his family played in his battle to break through the barriers of blindness: the mother who prayed for the miracle that would restore his vision, the father who encouraged him to strive for the unreachable.

While training to become as person who would walk around with his cane or dog he attended a center for the blind. There he was able to do several activities. But the one that intrigued him the most was rock climbing. While rock climbing he felt that he could escape from the real world that was always surrounding him. However when he seemed to resolving his problems more would come up, like the death of his mother. It devastated Erik. After some time Erik was about to recuperate and become determined to climbing. Fewer than one hundred mountaineers have climbed all Seven Summits- the highest peak on each of the seven continents. Erik Weihenmayer has reached four of the seven.

Weihenmayer tells his extraordinary story with honesty and vivid detail, and his resilience and enthusiasm are sincerely inspiring. Touch the Top of The World is more than a book about mountain climbing. It is an autobiography that poignantly describes Erik's gradual loss of sight and his determination to overcome all obstacles to live life to the fullest as a blind man. Erik first developed a sense of strength when he first discovered rock climbing.

Never again would I thunder down a basketball court on a fast break or jump a dirt bike over a ramp: the past was dead, and no matter how much I fought, there was no reclaiming the dead. But one hundred feet above tree line with the sun in my face and a sound of openness all around me, none of that seemed to matter as much, because, I had just discovered, I could climb.

Through the entire struggle she encountered in his childhood, he finally found something he could enjoy and escape to with fear. Erik is able to speak with the reader openly and through vibrant detail. He says, "My heart burned with the memory of my heroes, people like Helen Keller, who took the world's perception about the disabled and shattered them into a million pieces, people whose stories made me hunger for the courage to live in their image." Here we are able to see why Erik wants to make a difference in his life. He wants to make something great out of something most other people wouldn’t know how to handle. It shows his definite flexibility and eagerness he has towards succeeding in his life. Characteristics, which many will feel once they read this compelling story of willpower. Erik wants to show everyone that he isn’t a sorry case. He doesn’t want o be a charity for others. Want he can do and fulfill he will do and succeed in doing. He says, “I am only one, but still I am one. I can not do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” Erik will never back down from a challenge, which he feels he is fully capable of doing it. If many would think he is insane or ludicrous then why would Erik choose to do this for a living? He just stated he would do all the things he is capable of doing. If he is fully competent in the challenge, then he will try to accomplish it with hard work.

I didn’t want my life to be a conquest. Goals seemed like false summits: you reach what you thought was the top, only to discover a higher summit. So, you continue to climb higher and higher, always finding another summit a little higher, and you never find what you are looking for. The magic of life had to exist beyond a perpetual series of summits…as we moved up the rolling terrain, my brother Eddi not seeing the top, asked, “When will we be on the mountain?” “We are on the mountain!” the Balti replied, a little puzzled. “WE have always been on the mountain.” Why id people including myself, envision a mountain as only a summit? It was like looking at an iceberg and only recognizing the part above the water’s surface.

Erik sums up his success and courage with language that prepare you to reflect more on life and not take anything for granted. It is obviously easy to look at the end of the road. Bur Erik wants to show how you must walk down to road to reach the end in any situation.

If there was anything horrible to say about his story it would be that I never really got the sense of extreme danger that many would have thought would happen. Though extremely hard, the sense of imagery wasn’t always there. Though it may have been there in the eyes of Erik I may have missed it and didn’t pick up on it through his wording. But his story was very well told and enjoyable for many.

Erik’s story is truly one of having the vision to dream big: the courage to reach for near impossible goals: and the grit, determination, and initiative to alter out lives into something wondrous. I would recommend this story to nearly everyone above the age of fourteen or so. Unless you are an experienced reader, then I would tell you to reader it also. This story isn’t just about a man who is blind and climbs mountains. Though a tremendous feet and dangerous it shows more than just climbing. You do not to be into climbing a man against nature realism to read this story. You can learn so much more than just climbing. With this story you receive the excitement and dangers of climbing with the courage and determination to overcome your biggest barriers.