Dave Baldwin tells the story of his life and the relationships he has formed.

I’m not a big fan of biographies. I prefer books that take an idea and run with them. I also didn’t expect to like this book very much because I never really got along with Dave, who was my aviation doctor. The way he slings a phrase doesn’t do much for me and I struggled to gel with him.

The first time I met Dave was during my initial aviation medical. Dad drove me to Palmerston North, as I hadn’t yet got my license, and we walked into his hangar-cum-medical-centre. The first ten minutes were Dave animatedly telling us about the energy in the room, his son, and the events that happened on the mezzanine. I remember his metaphysical way of thinking and my teen self was deeply allergic to that. I wanted checklists, blood pressure readings, and a signed form. He wanted to talk about the afterlife.

That tension grew and never really resolved. Dave is a charismatic hard-case who warms to people quickly and I would take awhile to warm up to people. I’d sit down wanting to get through it efficiently, and Dave would take the scenic route while cracking jokes the whole time.

I was gifted his book years later, and read through it not expecting to enjoy it (sorry Dave!)

The standout relationship in the book is the one Dave had with his son, Marc. They were close in a way that made me reflect on my own relationship with my Dad, and I envied it. Marc took his own life in 2012. I knew this going in; everyone who knows Dave knows about Marc. What I didn’t know, though, was how Dave writes about it. While there’s grief and despair, there’s no collapse and no bitterness. He just keeps describing the world through connection and with humour. The worldview I dismissed as fluff was load-bearing. Dave’s way of seeing the world is a tested philosophy that enabled him to endure and thrive and spread his message of mental health awareness around the country.

I didn’t like Dave much when I was a teenager, and I’m not sure I’d like him much more now. But I respect the hell out of how he lives. This book made me reconsider the difference.