Stepping Through

I'm close to halfway through and I already want a lot more people to read this. The man has already had an absolutely fascinating life - certainly an adventurous one - that is abundant with personal insights about the significance of freedoms granted in capitalist countries (as opposed to those that were behind the Iron Curtain and those that are more impoverished in general), about the rapture of being alive (as the great philosopher and mythologist Joseph Campbell famously stated), and especially about the truly impressive power that the human spirit is capable of - especially in the face of overwhelming adversity (in his case, multiple times). The man has experienced so many things from so many parts of the spectrum of our modern society that it's truly enriching - both intellectually and spiritually - to pour through the pages of this book.

In regards to the quality of the writing itself, the book is remarkably well-done. The writing almost seamlessly blends the pithy story you might hear from him in person (and I did learn about some from my dad, who went on a kendo trip with him to Hungary and Austria) with very deep insights about human nature and life in its totality. I gained a MUCH deeper appreciation for what this man has done, what he has accomplished, what he has learned, and especially what he has spiritually obtained from his great odyssey first to get to the United States from behind the Iron Curtain and then to become successful (both of which seem like almost heroic trials, hence the allusion to Homer's epic - which I especially want to emphasize even at the risk of redundancy like right now).

I might have rambled on a little and sometimes I can over-intellectualize something, so I apologize for that. In all fairness I could say a lot more right now about how interesting, enlightening, gripping, evocative, inspiring, and truly remarkable this book is. And I will probably have the capacity to write EVEN MORE after I finish the entire book; nonetheless, I just wanted to recommend this, hoping that someone might skim through this review and decide to buy the book even if you don't know the guy in person.

ps, I don't know if I'm allowed to do this, but there's one very short excerpt that I thought accurately proved what I just said (in regards to my comments about his meditation on the significance of freedoms granted in capitalist versus communist countries). Let me remind you that there is so much more in the book than just this part when he arrives in Austria:

"There I stood on the land of freedom, and I didn't know what I should do with this liberty. The uncertainty of my life sat heavily on my shoulders, and every moment it felt more ponderous and unmanageable. Luckily I believe that this very exercise is what life is all about: problem solving."

SteppingThrough is a unique tale of one man's life. Attila Nemeti exposes the American reader to experiences that seem unimaginable. The story of his struggle is engaging and eye-opening to many things I've taken for granted by being born in the USA. A great "fast"reading story.

Never has a story moved me to being my best and giving my all. I constantly hear my friends complain how life is so difficult or unfair when their computer crashes or their phone dies, but these seem frivolous compared to what the author has lived. Traveling to a different country without knowing the language, persisting through failures, hardships, and bumps in the road merely touches the surface of the things Mr. Nemeti had to endure through his life. But regardless of what challenges he faced, he kept going and overcoming any obsticle put in his path.