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.


It's not all about ropes and rucksacks -- that's the point   June 5, 2004
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

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.


magic mountain   February 12, 2004
 16 out of 22 found this review helpful

This is both an intelligent and a very beautiful book, and you rarely find both qualities united. Macfarlane takes a risk by writing a book with several voices; the scholar, the traveller, the adventurer, the historian; which might have trodden on each others toes, but in fact work otgether to create a very unusual and distinctive effect. For me, the highlight was the personal writing about the landscapes, which was never precious or cliched, always meant to illuminate his theory of history, always beautiful. And for such a serious book, it's surprisingly easy read. Definitely Worth the Guardian prize, and my number 1 book of the year so far (thought it's only February...)


Recommended   February 4, 2004
 16 out of 22 found this review helpful

I enormously enjoyed this book and it elucidated the sometimes suicidal desire to climb mountains to this 'lowlander'. Macfarlane personalises his narrative with accounts of his own climbing experiences, but manages to stay away from the 'crevasses' of overt machismo. This adds an important personal immediacy to balance the historical and literary accounts.

'Mountains of the Mind' is in many ways a companion piece to Francis Spufford's superb cultural history of polar exploration "I May be Some Time". Macfarlane acknowledges Spufford, although my major criticism would be the close similarity the structure of his book to Spufford's. There is the echo of Spufford's imagining of Scott's last days in Macfarlane's description of Mallory.

A meditative, well-written book that I would recommend to any one with the slightest interest in the lure of mountaineering or exploring.


Superb   December 21, 2003
 11 out of 19 found this review helpful

Contrary to what my fellow customer claims, this is neither old-fashioned nor sentimental, but a genre-busting tour de force, elegant and thoughtful, and written not in a hackneyed style, but with intelligence and sensitivity. Thoroughly worthy of its Guardian prize, and a very readable essay in cultural history, blending personal anecdotes with shrewd critique. The best part of the book is its description of mountains: the experience of altitude, the colours and textures of high latitudes, the exhilarated inadequacy of the mountaineer, the triumph of the senses. A very original book; its author is an exciting new talent.