Mountains Of The Mind: A History Of A Fascination

Author(s): Robert Macfarlane

Travel | Nature Writing | History

Mountains of the Mind is a beautifully written synthesis of climbing memoir and cultural history. Once we thought monsters lived there. In the Enlightenment we scaled them to commune with the sublime. Soon, we were racing to conquer their summits in the name of national pride.In this ground-breaking, classic work, Robert Macfarlane takes us up into the mountains: to experience their shattering beauty, the fear and risk of adventure, and to explore the strange impulses that have for centuries lead us to the world's highest places.        

Why do so many feel compelled to risk their lives climbing mountains? During the climbing season, one person a day dies in the Alps, and more people die climbing in this season in Scotland than they do on the roads. Mountains of the Mind pursues a fascinating investigation into our emotional and imaginative responses to mountains, and how these have changed over the last few centuries. In the 17th century, Dryden claimed that 'the sight looks up with pain on craggy rocks and barren mountains', but in the 18th century something began to change in the collective imagination that made people find mountains beautiful and enticing, and by the Victorian age they were risking their lives on them in droves. Mountains of the Mind is rich with literary and historical references, and punctuated by beautifully written descriptions of the author's own climbing experiences. There are chapters on glaciers, geology, the pursuit of fear, the desire to explore the unknown, and the desire to get to the summit, and the book ends with a gripping account of Mallory's attempt on Everest. 


 


Product Information

'The most exhilarating history of mountaineering ... a riveting read' Jeremy Paxman

Robert Macfarlane was born in Nottinghamshire in 1976. He is the author of Mountains of the Mind, The Wild Places, The Old Ways and Landmarks.Mountains of the Mind won the Guardian First Book Award, the Somerset Maugham Award and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. The Wild Places won the Boardman-Tasker Award and the Sundial Scottish Arts Council Non-fiction Award. He is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and writes on environmentalism, literature and travel for publications including the Guardian, the Sunday Times and The New York Times.

General Fields

  • : 9781783784509
  • : Granta Books
  • : Granta Books
  • : 0.226
  • : October 2017
  • : 198mm X 129mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : February 2018
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Robert Macfarlane
  • : Paperback
  • : 3
  • : English
  • : 796.522019
  • : 320
  • : WSZG