When I heard about this Elder and the fact that he lived to be 125 years old, I was quite intrigued to read about his life and the kind of asceticism he must have practiced. While there is certainly a lot of this in there, the book also covers Elder Melchizidek's interactions with other monastics of the day. It seems to me that most of the information about Elder Melchizedek was recorded from sources talking about other Elders, Monks, Ascetics, etc. That's not to say that this book isn't interesting, its just not all that I had hoped it to be. The book does warm the heart though, especially when one reads of the 95 year old monk going to live in solitude...especially when that meant that he had another 30 years to live! It is good to see that his biography/life is available although not a lot is known (the book is a mere 70 pages, forwards and indexes included.)...the book is definately worth reading.