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. It is rich with literary and historical references, and punctuated by beautifully written descriptions of the author's own climbing experiences.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. "Mountains of the Mind" is a beautifully written synthesis of climbing memoir and cultural history.
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Robert Macfarlane's Mountains of the Mind is the most interesting of the crop of books published to mark the 50th anniversary of the first successful ascent of Everest. Macfarlane is both a mountaineer and a scholar. Consequently we get more than just a chronicle of climbs. He interweaves accounts of his own adventurous ascents with those of pioneers such as George Mallory, and in with an erudite discussion of how mountains became such a preoccupation for the modern western imagination.
The book is organised around a series of features of mountaineering--glaciers, summits, unknown ranges--and each chapter explores the scientific, artistic and cultural discoveries and fashions that accompanied exploration. The contributions of assorted geologists, romantic poets, landscape artists, entrepreneurs, gallant amateurs and military cartographers are described with perceptive clarity. The book climaxes with an account of Mallory's fateful ascent on Everest in 1924, one of the most famous instances of an obsessive pursuit. Macfarlane is well-placed to describe it since it is one he shares.
MacFarlane's own stories of perilous treks and assaults in the Alps, the Cairngorms and the Tian Shan mountains between China and Kazakhstan are compelling. Readers who enjoyed Francis Spufford's masterly I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination will enjoy Mountains of the Mind. This is a slighter volume than Spufford's and it loses in depth what it gains in range, but for an insight into the moody, male world of mountaineering past and present it is invaluable. --Miles Taylor --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'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
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
82 of 84 people found the following review helpful
By "tomridley1"
Format:Hardcover
I came on line to write an independent review of this brilliant book, but then I saw the review by the reader from Fort William, and it made me rethink what I was going to say. First of all, it's important to say that this is top-class book; a totally new kind of writing about mountains. Second off, it's not just a book about mountains, but about how history works, why people behave the way they do towards different types of landscapes, how we think the world into being, and what issues like guilt, love and betrayal mean when looked at in historical and not just individual terms. in many ways, this is a book of philosophy and poetry, rather than a history of mountaineering, which is perhaps why some people - including the reviewer from Fort William - have been disappointed. It's obvious that Macfarlne isn't a top-drawer climber; he never says that he is in the book, and anyone who knows anything about serious mountaineering could tell he's not. So there's no secret, or misdescription there. The point is, I think, that eveyrone who goes to the mountains goes to them because, in some sense, they love the way they look, and so this book does answer the big WHY question.
This is all a bit jumbled. But, in conclusion: this is a very special book, in the tradition of writers like Bruce Chatwin and Barry Lopez in the way it works simultaneously with adventures and ideas, and in the way it thinks about the wild, physical world. READ IT if you love history, language or, indeed, mountains.
36 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This IS one of the most absorbing books I have read for a long time. What is it with our fascination with mountains?
Macfarlane traces western man's fascination with mountains, charting the history of mountains and of the men and women who sought to conquer them. The book is worth the cost alone for the description of Mallory's three expeditions to Everest, here portrayed as a love affair that completes take over his life with disastrous consequences.
But this is more than just a history. This is an examination of fascination and obsession, a journey through the mountains of the imagination.
For anyone who walks or climbs in mountains this book is as Rebecca Solnit's Wanderlust: a history of walking.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Every time there is a spectacular death in the hills, the old question starts up a babbling again: WHY DO THEY (mountain climbers) DO IT? The answers lies less in ``because the mountains are there'' -- and more, from the deepest psychological quandaries of ``who am I?''. Adventure jocks rarely talk in such metaphysical and existstential terms -- and clearly a good number of them have no time for MOUNTAIN OF THE MIND which has rightly turned to poetry and philosophy for both the language and cultural parrallels that ultimately humanises mountain mystique. I say humanizes... because the game itself is full of people wjho see themselves as more than human, superhuman, separate from the rabble. This is a terrific book.
The other great book that readers either love or hate becauise of its literary and philosophical references and explorations is Peter Hillary's surprisingly brilliant IN THE GHOST COUNTRY (written with philosopher and poet John Elder). It goes even further than MOUNTAIN OF THE MIND by adopting a powerful and sometimes intimidating language of myth and dreams to articulate powerfully the psychological and emotional frailties and motivations of men driven to the edge. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mind Blowing
Further to reading other R Macfarlane books, I found this an inspirational read. Macfarlane has the ability to describe landscapes, both physical and metaphorical, with such... Read more
Published 15 hours ago by John O'Connor
5.0 out of 5 stars
sublime
A wonderful read. Robert Macfarlane's lyrical style captures a different and deeply informative history of mountains, our attitudes to them and the tragic outcomes of some... Read more
Published 8 days ago by G. F. Underwood
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Happy Find
I bought this book on the basis of a TV programme of the author going on a trip to Essex and visiting Walnut Tree Farm,having just read Roger Deakins books I thought I might have... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Ancient gardener
4.0 out of 5 stars
An unusual but enjoyable read
First thing to say is that this book is billed as a 'history of mountaineering' in some of the spiel on the cover, which is totally misleading. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Guy
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful and inspiring history of the impact of mountains on how we...
This is a fabulous book, thoroughly entertaining. It is factually very interesting, presenting a synopsis of the history of mountains from prehistoric times to the modern age. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Dr. Jane M. Mckenzie
5.0 out of 5 stars
The wild places of the world as seen by those who go there
A fascinating analysis of the motivation that drives humans to pursue the high places of the world, knowing that death accompanies every step.
Published 3 months ago by J. Grindle
5.0 out of 5 stars
An exceptional read
This is an excellent read- examining the changing attitudes to mountains as a cultural phenomenon. Superbly written, it culminates in Mallory's gripping assaults on Everest.
Published 3 months ago by Mr. M. W. Rieser
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great for anyone who loves being out in the hills
Excellent book. Well written & interesting to anyone who loves hiking in the hills. The geology and history were also very interesting
Published 3 months ago by M HEPWORTH
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dad loves it!
Bought this on the back of 'forgotten footpaths', if mountaineering/ hiking and evocative accounts are your bag then this is the book for you.
Published 4 months ago by caroline harvey
5.0 out of 5 stars
What more can you say?
It is hard to know what more to say when the reviews already posted are so full of praise, and rightly so. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Vallance Vet
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