Climbing to the Top: Exploring the Mental Challenges of Mountain Climbing

María Teresa Velázquez Gutiérrez: ¡Una belleza de libro! No volverás a ver las montañas de la misma manera. Las piedras tampoco. ¡Me encantó este libro
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Mexico on Aug 18, 2023

Paola Hanna: Absolutely brilliant. I am left breathless and stunned by the beauty of this book, and by the determination and heroism portrayed in it.

United Kingdom on Mar 12, 2023

Dragonflyfuzz: Robert McFarlane wrote the script for "Mountain," the documentary narrated by Willem Dafoe and orchestrated the ACO. I can't tell you how wonderful the bonus materials are, which include the director's endorsement of this book, and an interview with McFarlane. I've loved mountains all my life, and he speaks to the same experiences of awe, respect, wonder, humility that accompany the love of rock and snow. It's gratifying to recognize the script in the book itself, where he took his own words for the film.
I have to say that the film script is a condensed version of this narrative, so don't expect to be reading the script for "Mountain." You'll be disappointed. But, read it as a love story that may mirror your own.

United States on Mar 06, 2023

Chris Prange: Just read this wonderful piece of writing. It will reawaken in you just why mountains captivate the human soul. A wonderful reflection for all those who have wandered into the mountains.

United States on Jan 31, 2023

A. G. Young: In Macfarlane's Mountains of the Mind, he sets out to explain what drives people to the mountains in their droves, and especially what drives those who are prepared to risk their lives in pursuit of a particular summit.

The premise of this book is, potentially, a difficult one. It's one thing to be a lover of the mountains and just 'get' what it's like being amongst the peaks, but it's entirely another to try to explain that over the full length of a book. Hence the mix of climbing history, geology, personal memoir and religion which makes up 'Mountains of the Mind', subtitled 'A History of a Fascination'.

I must admit that when I bought this book I missed the subtitle*, so I probably went into this read on the wrong foot. I was expecting (and looking for) a travelogue that would sweep me back up amongst the mountain peaks in this tiresome year of non-travel, but if I'd read the full title properly I'd have realised that this is more of a history of mountain attraction. Some of the history had me riveted (for example the chapter on Mallory's fatal attraction to Everest), but in other places I feel he got too caught up in trying to give a fully comprehensive...

United Kingdom on May 01, 2021

Terri: mountains of the mind tries to answer that old famous question asked to every explorer or mountaineer , why go there? from mallorys off hand remark to the psychology of risk taking this book will attempt to answer why. also would have to say this book has more highlighted parts in it after reading it than any book i have previously read. in other words its chock full of inspiration and great quotes that you will find enlightening

United States on Feb 04, 2021

phcesq: MacFarlane's first book is a winner. I have recommended it to friends and relatives. Part history of mountaineering, we learn of the cultural biases towards the mountains themselves. His personal experience in the mountains and adventures reveal his expertise, which are matched by his literary powers and philosophical reflections. His interest in the details of natural phenomenon compliments those attributes. Reading Mountains of the Mind motivated me to read his second book, The Wild Places (of Britain and Ireland), and I am not disappointed. I expect to continue reading each of his subsequent books, enjoying his evolution as a writer of great interest.

United States on Aug 18, 2020

Podiceps cristatus: Well, having finally got round to reading Mountains of the Mind, I wasn't left disappointed and never have been by any of Robert Macfarlane's works. This one is written in typical Macfarlane style. The sub title of the book is 'A History of a Fascination' and that is very much what it is, a history of humankind's fascination with mountainous areas. It is of course much more than a history, containing many interesting facts about individuals and their idiosyncratic behaviors adventures and discoveries, geological interest and information about the author's own treks into the mountains. The prose is wonderful and especially so when describing wilderness and mountainous areas. The chapter concerning George Mallory's failed attempts on Everest is especially good and brings the book to a fascinating climax. The reader can decide if Mallory was a selfish adventurer or as legend has it, a heroic explorer.

Although I have always enjoyed fell walking I am no mountaineer, and I tend to frown upon some of the risk takers, but I did find that this book helped me understand better why so many are tempted to the heights. Great read, and I look forward to receiving Robert Macfarlane's...

United Kingdom on Apr 08, 2019

Guy: 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. It would be much more accurate to call it a cultural history of the role of mountains and mountaineering in Western Europe, and even that description wouldn't really inform anyone about the sort of thing to expect.

The book ranges from scholarly examinations of how various literary luminaries reacted to and thought about mountains, to geology and natural history, to highly personal accounts of expeditions McFarlane has taken part in, interwoven with some thrilling tales of first ascents, desperate rescues, and the like. As a whole, it does hold together well, and some of the source material he uses from past writers is really interesting. McFarlane's literary background shines through as he elucidates on Shelley, Coleridge, Byron, and Goethe's responses to the Alps, as well as more expected Naturalists and travellers' accounts, before a final lengthy chapter where he recounts George Mallory's doomed attempts on Everest in the 1920s in the light of what he's already explained about mountains in the Western imagination.

If...

United Kingdom on Feb 20, 2013

J. Brunner: I liked the book for all the reasons the first reviewer did not.

"Unfortunately, MacFarlane doesn't make major points or build an argument around these themes,
leaving unanswered the great question of mountaineering (and of this book): why?"

This is plain nonsense. Again and again the author tells us - or hints strongly - that what draws people to the mountains is the unknown and the extra-ordinary and the sublime. People are drawn to mountains who long to get away from the 'why and wherefore' of everyday banality. This is a yearning that has never tugged on this reviewer, clearly.

Mountain adventure books, are, for the most part, adrenaline hits (after which you throw away the needle).
This book is unique as far as I am concerned, and its pleasures can be drawn out deeply and pondered on at leisure in repeated readings.

Yes, it is an uneven experience, and, as such, is consistent with the subject matter of the book. There is serendipity and pot-boiling and fascinating discovery, meandering and an occasional breathtaking views.
You get a rich cross-section of MacFarlane's writing styles, from historical to biographical, but the mixed diet and...

United States on Jun 22, 2012