Many readers will be drawn to this book because of their own history of family addictions as well as to learn how people actually meet the incredible challenges of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. While the intended audience is clearly people with a 12 Step connection, other readers will also be intrigued by the author's solutions and his amazing journey. What may feel to some readers as compulsive confessional repetition may well be positive reinforcement for the author's fellow AODA recovering men and women.

Robert P.'s Kili works the strongest when he uses NEW experiences as "pole, pole" becomes his guide.
He rightly and forcefully advocates for the spirits and secret lives of elephants and for drastic changes in the mountain's current farming practices to prevent further destruction of the soil and loss of land for the farmers.

It would be welcome to learn that part of the profits of this book or an alternative strong advocacy funding program will bring money to help the animals and people of Kilimanjaro. ( )

I received a signed print copy of this book through a give the author had on LibraryThing and the following is my honest opinion.

After we’ve been born, we’ve been raised by our parents to be healthy, hopefully wealthy, and supposedly wise. However, unfortunately some of us along the way have strayed from that path due to either an inherit weakness in wanting to be part and parcel of the so-called in-crowd, or simply falling victim to an indulgence which we well known to be definitely inappropriate/unhealthy, whether it be overeating [which I hate to say I’ve occasionally been guilty of], shopping and of course, drinking.

While the journey into the abyss of our addiction seems to have come about feeling quite natural, the journey back out can be and is quite challenging since like gravity the obsession with our craving keeps pulling us back down into chasm we’re attempting to get out of.

Although the author of this book, Robert P, willingly takes his readers on his transformational journey to share his experiences; like those friends of Bill W [Alcoholics Anonymous] he desires to have some anonymity as to who he really is.

Each of the 12 days the trek ascending to Kilimanjaro’s peak took, is symbolic of each of the 12 steps it takes to reach the desired achievement of being rid of the addiction which has been destroying an individual’s body for an unspecified period of time. The transformation of the 12-step process does not occur instantaneously, it’s a slow process which gives the recovering addict a sense that his life is beginning to heal and it can return to being a full and satisfying one. ( )

"Taking the 12 Steps Up-and Down-Kilimanjaro" is a compelling and vivid memoir of a recovering addict's challenging trek to the summit of Kilimanjaro-and back down and across the famous Serengeti Plain. Robert P. describes with humor and humility the trials and triumphs of his 12-Step journey. He was taught compassion by the generosity of his Tanzania "tough guys." His Higher Power brought him face-to face with his own mortality by a lion print in the ashes of a campfire. This is a must-read guide to how to face life's toughest challenges by living the 12-Step way of life-one step at a time. ( )