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Mountains of the Mind
- Author
- Robert Macfarlane
- Narrator
- James A. Gillies
- Publisher
- Tantor Media, Inc
- Publish Date
- 18 June 2019
- Run Time
- 9 hours 3 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
Combining accounts of legendary mountain ascents with vivid descriptions of his own forays into wild, high landscapes, Robert Macfarlane reveals how the mystery of the world's highest places has come to grip the Western imagination—and perennially draws legions of adventurers up the most perilous slopes.
His story begins three centuries ago, when mountains were feared as the forbidding abodes of dragons and other mysterious beasts. In the mid-1700s the attentions of both science and poetry sparked a passion for mountains; Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Lord Byron extolled the sublime experiences to be had on high; and by 1924 the death on Mount Everest of an Englishman named George Mallory came to symbolize the heroic ideals of his day. Macfarlane also reflects on fear, risk, and the shattering beauty of ice and snow, the competition and contemplation of the climb, and the strange alternate reality of high altitude, magically enveloping us in the allure of mountains at every level.
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Details
- Author
- Robert Macfarlane
- Narrator
- James A. Gillies
- Duration
- 9 hours 3 minutes
- Release Date
- 18 June 2019
- ISBN
- 9781515919162
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Tantor Media, Inc
- Genre
- Nature and the natural world: general interest, The Earth: natural history: general interest, Mountains, Sport: general, The Earth: natural history: general interest, Physical geography and topography, Climbing and mountaineering
Synopsis
The basis for the new documentary film, Mountain: A Breathtaking Voyage into the Extreme.Combining accounts of legendary mountain ascents with vivid descriptions of his own forays into wild, high landscapes, Robert Macfarlane reveals how the mystery of the world's highest places has come to grip the Western imagination—and perennially draws legions of adventurers up the most perilous slopes.His story begins three centuries ago, when mountains were feared as the forbidding abodes of dragons and other mysterious beasts. In the mid-1700s the attentions of both science and poetry sparked a passion for mountains; Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Lord Byron extolled the sublime experiences to be had on high; and by 1924 the death on Mount Everest of an Englishman named George Mallory came to symbolize the heroic ideals of his day. Macfarlane also reflects on fear, risk, and the shattering beauty of ice and snow, the competition and contemplation of the climb, and the strange alternate reality of high altitude, magically enveloping us in the allure of mountains at every level.
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