Mountains Of The Mind: A History Of A Fascination

Description

WINNER OF THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD 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.

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.

A truly inspiring read -- Sir Ranulph Fiennes A marvellous, distinguished book that jolted my heart ... It simply fizzes with insights into the sublime madness of mountaineering -- Roger Deakin A gripping history of man's irresistible and sometimes fatal attraction to big hills -- Sunday Times A magnificent book * New Scientist * A brilliant book, beautifully written -- Guardian Macfarlane's writing is exquisite and so evocative of his surroundings. As a reader it's difficult not to be drawn into his excitement for his subject matters. The books don't just make you want to keep reading, they make you want to climb or lose yourself or roam or hike, and experience some of what he's experiencing * Bath Life *