Above All Else - Review
Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld describes his own story as an extreme athlete. Dan chronicles his journey to conquer the world championship of skydiving from an early age. His professional teams face great challenges and seem to be on the verge of a breakthrough. But the dream of competition becomes a nightmare when a tragic plane crash shatters their hopes and steals away the lives of many on board. Dan faces a life threatening disability and is warned to never jump again. But with inspiriting conviction and determination he is able to compete for the goals and inspires his team mates to do the same.Brodsky-Chenfeld is a confident story teller. He describes his experiences scene by scene, from beginning to end. It is, without doubt, an inspiring tale of determination and focus. The presence of the book, however, rests solely on the author and feels one dimensional and plane. The book is appended with insights from the author. Dan shares his thoughts about success based on his own experiences as a skydiver. Did I mention that Dan is a skydiver? He does; and every lesson to be learned is milked from the milieu of skydiving, skydiving, skydiving.
I would not recommend reading this book. It is an example of an amazing story written in simple prose. Dan's school of hard knocks offers lessons in trite, circumstantial, autobiography. There are no outside sources or external examinations. It is a vacuum of "success" cliches. This book has incredible reviews on Amazon and I can see why: Dan is an incredible individual who overcome exceptional challenges to become the best. But as book, Above All Else is mediocre.