Becoming Teddy Roosevelt by Andrew Vietze is an interesting examination of President Theodore Roosevelt’s relationship with his former Maine Guide, Bill Sewall. It chronicles both men’s lives in the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing specifically on their adventures together and extended communication through letters.

I knew little about Roosevelt and nothing about Sewall prior to this book, and to learn so much about both was much more intriguing than I suspected. It’s hard to believe that some of the events that occurred were nonfiction. “TR,” as the author refers to him, tracked down bandits with his guide in North Dakota for 3 weeks, climbed the tallest peak in Maine with only moccasins on his feet, and challenged multiple men to fights when called out by them. It’s crazy to think these were the times and possible adventures that befell such people who were to become Presidents of the United States.

It led me one of my biggest takeaways with this book: each person lives a unique, full life. People have adventures in their youth, they battle through hardships, their friends and relatives die, they succeed and fail at various things, and they are sad and happy. Both Sewall, a woodsman who lived in the northernmost county in Maine from 1845-1930, and Roosevelt, a son from a posh family in New York, experienced these things. These events are not limited to people of a certain time, a certain nation, or a certain creed. We all struggle, we all bustle, and we all love those we come into contact with. Both of these men are long gone, but it’s evident they lived fulfilling lives in which they expended their souls. It’s important for us to strive to do the same. Live each day, don’t take it for granted. Do what you’ve always wanted or dreamed of—the worst that will happen is you’ll fail. And life will go on. It’s truly a powerful realization, and this book spurred it within me.

I was also impressed by the volume of reading done by both men, irrespective of their class or social roles. They were both ‘learned’ men, who cared about the world and wanted to know about it. That thirst for knowledge seems to have eluded us in recent years, when any given fact is available at our fingertips through our mobile devices. It’s evident that studying, just for the sake of learning, bettered both of these peoples’ lives.

Finally, the book moved me deeply throughout. Friendship is a miracle that transcends time and place. These two men definitely loved each other, and both their lives were better for the other being in it. It’s consoling to know that you don’t have to face the big bad world alone. Even though these men were separated by hundreds of miles and a slow postal system, they thought about one another, shared with each other, and felt each other’s presence. Perhaps the most emotionally powerful lesson of the book was also its simplest: that true friendship is one of life’s greatest treasures.

Becoming Teddy Roosevelt is a quick read that gives one insight into the two human’s experiences in the world that they lived in, and it just so happens that one of them was President of the United States.