The Final Summit – by Andy Andrews

The Final Summit (Subtitle: A Quest to Find the One Principle That Will Save Humanity)  is the second book in a series beginning with “The Traveller’s Gift”. You do NOT need to read the first book in order to enjoy the second though, as I found out unwittingly.

The story is essentially a fantasy wherein main character is David Ponder, a man chosen by God to head up a summit (conference) -- of people comprised of hundreds of notable characters from world history – to attempt to use their collective knowledge, insight, wisdom, and faith to answer a question put to them by God. The task is crucial because only if they find the correct answer will humanity be saved. The question asked is: What must humanity to, both individually and collectively, to restore itself to the path of successful civilization?

After reading this book I felt compelled to look up some of Andrews’ other titles from the library and read them as well and I can tell you, his writing has improved by leaps and bounds between The Traveller’s Gift and this book, The Final Summit. But he’s still got a long way to go. In addition to some awkward points, I found that a lot of his content from other books was repeated word for word in this one. But I would suggest you give this book a chance because I would say the best presentation of his insights are found in this book and they ARE really great insights. They’ve been helpful to me and to the others I recommended the book to immediately after reading.

Two things about the book bothered me though. First, although this book has  a Christian lean, the message of the gospel is conspicuously absent. And that surprised me since it plays right into the “ultimate question” that is posed.

Second, the end is a little…anti-climactic? I can’t really say anything more than that without spoiling. But beware – you will be absolutely blessed through reading through the book until you get to the end…then you may be a little disappointed…but you’ll still be able to go back to what you learned in reading it in the first place and it will still have been worth it.

I suppose one thing to keep in mind is that this book is unique in that it seeks to be a self-help book first and good fiction second. And I think that’s an awesome way to get a message across. You’re intrigued by the characters, but what they’re teaching you about yourself is what Andrews wants you to focus on, so sometimes he sacrifices on plot in order to focus on that.

All in all an excellent read. And you’ll learn a lot about some pretty amazing figures throughout history along  the way.