Robert Macfarlane’s Mountains of the Mind is a history of mankind’s fascination with mountains. It is for ‘anyone who’s ever wondered why people climb mountains’.
I bought it after hugely enjoying his The Wild Places (which is still my favourite) and there was much to like. I also feel slightly cleverer now I’ve finished, which is always a bonus. Here’s a snippet which gives you a taste of Macfarlane’s rich use of language:
To understand even a little about geology gives you special spectacles through which to see a landscape. They allow you to see back in time to worlds where rocks liquefy and seas petrify, where granite slops about like porridge, basalt bubbles like stew, and layers of limestone are folded as easily as blankets. Through the spectacles of geology, terra firma becomes terra mobilis, and we are forced to reconsider our beliefs of what is solid and what is not. Although we attribute to stone a great power to hold back time, to refuse its claims (cairns, stone tablets, monuments, statuary), this is true only in relation to our own mutability. Looked at in the context of the bigger geological picture, rock is as vulnerable to change as any other substance.
I bought my copy second hand and although it’s in pretty good nick I’d rather not send it back to Green Metropolis. Does anyone (in the UK) want it? Leave me a comment by the end of the week.
I’m off to gaze lovingly at Rosie.
