Mountains of the Mind: Adventures in Reaching the Summit (Landscapes)

"Wonderfully illuminating. . . . An exhilarating blend of scholarship and adventure, displaying dazzling erudition, acute powers of analysis, a finely honed sense of cultural history and a passionate sense of the author's engagement with his subject." -- Los Angeles Times “Fascinating stuff. . . a clever premise. . . . Goes back three centuries, showing how a few brainy opinion makers created the outdoor image.” —The New York Times Book Review "A convincing book of historical evidence alongside his own oxygen-deprived experiences in an attempt to answer the age old question, 'Why climb the mountain?' "-- San Francisco Chronicle “Early mountaineers were lost for words to describe the splendor of the mountains, but Robert Macfarlane is not; in particular, he has a gift for arresting similes.” – The Times Literary Supplement “Of all the books published to mark the 50th anniversary of climbing Mount Everest Robert Macfarlane’s Mountains of the Mind stands out as by far one of the most intelligent and interesting. . . in a style that shows he can be as poetic as he is plucky.”– The Economist “At once a fascinating work of history and a beautifully written mediation on how memory, imagination, and the landscape of mountains are joined together in our minds and under our feet.” – Forbes “A compelling meditation. . . Macfarlane is. . . the perfect mountain guide through blue crevasse fields, ice walls, prayer flags, Sherpas and Shangri Las. He’s been up there, and come back down through the foothills to offer us his thoughtful and gracious elegy, telling us eloquently the secret of it all, which is that no one can ever truly conquer a mountain.”–Benedict Allen, author of The Faber Book of Exploration “Macfarlane, a mountain lover and cli... Robert Macfarlane was born in 1976. He is a fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and he contributes to the Observer, the Times Literary Supplement , and the London Review of Books , among other publications. Mountains of the Mind is his first book. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. ies ago, mountains were considered forbidding and forbidden—the abodes of dragons and other ill-tempered grotesque beasts. But with the growing recognition that the Earth’s surface had not been created once and for all but was slowly evolving, mountains came to be seen as the unexplored text of the Earth’s story—a terrain that scientists, adventurers, naturalists, and, finally, travelers began to explore. In Mountains of the Mind , Robert Macfarlane blends cultural history, meditation, and memoir to show how early geologists helped transform our perceptions of the wild, chaotic landscapes; how the allure of height increasingly drew fearless climbers, culminating in the romantic figure of George Mallory, the passionate Englishman who died on Mount Everest in 1924; and how the elemental beauty of snow and ice coalesced into an aesthetic of the sublime.Mountains of the Mind is at once an enthralling work of history, an intimate account of Macfarlane’s own --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. From Publishers Weekly Mountains haven't always been viewed as magnificent tests of bravery or even as scenic vacation spots-only in the last few centuries have Westerners found them worthy of attention. As British writer Macfarlane (the London Review of Books; the Times Literary Supplement) points out, "until well into the 1700s, travelers who had to cross the Alpine passes often chose to be blindfolded," sparing themselves the terrors of the view. His point throughout this strangely compelling volume is that our attitudes toward mountains are very much a cultural product, a rich mix of theological, geological, artistic and social forces. With the development of geological science in the early 1800s, mountains, once viewed as "giant souvenirs of humanity's sinfulness," came to be seen as part of the earth's historical record. Recognized as "the great stone book" of history, mountains opened a window into "deep time," a glimpse of eternity. The thrill of vertigo, the infatuation with the unknown, the Social Darwinist challenge of the survival of the fittest, the march of British imperialism, even advances in cartography-all shaped the social imagination of mountains. As Western adventurers were increasingly lured from the Swiss Alps to the Himalayas, Macfarlane closes his study with the ill-fated Mallory expeditions to Everest, so mythic they almost defy analysis. The book itself is rather like some idiosyncratic, hand-drawn map of terra incognita. But for romantic, mountain-struck readers, Macfarlane's rich thoughts may make snow clouds clear, revealing new peaks and new wonders. B&w illus.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. 'Macfarlane writes very well - he loves the mountains as much as anyone - very personal - everyone should read it' Trail 'The most exhilarating history of mountaineering - less the tale of how mountains got climbed than the story of why they became objects of such fascination to us - a riveting read' Jeremy Paxman, Guardian Summer Reads 'Of all the books published to mark the 50th anniversary of climbing Mount Everest, Robert Macfarlane's Mountains of the Mind stands out as by far the most intelligent and interesting - he can be as poetic as he is plucky' Economist --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. From the Inside Flap Three centuries ago, mountains were considered forbidding and forbidden?the abodes of dragons and other ill-tempered grotesque beasts. But with the growing recognition that the Earth?s surface had not been created once and for all but was slowly evolving, mountains came to be seen as the unexplored text of the Earth?s story?a terrain that scientists, adventurers, naturalists, and, finally, travelers began to explore. In Mountains of the Mind , Robert Macfarlane blends cultural history, meditation, and memoir to show how early geologists helped transform our perceptions of the wild, chaotic landscapes; how the allure of height increasingly drew fearless climbers, culminating in the romantic figure of George Mallory, the passionate Englishman who died on Mount Everest in 1924; and how the elemental beauty of snow and ice coalesced into an aesthetic of the sublime.Mountains of the Mind is at once an enthralling work of history, an intimate account of Macfarlane?s own experiences, and a beautifully written meditation on how memory, landscape, imagination, and the landscape of mountains are joined together in our minds and under our feet. From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. Read more