Many of us are drawn to the mountains - their crisp air, infinite views and undulating horizons. But this fascination with mountains is relatively new, as Robert Macfarlane argues in his book. In Europe, some 300 years ago, mountains were seen as wild, dangerous and unpredictable places that were to be avoided. Our current, more favourable, perception of the mountains is the ‘invention’ of Romantics who found them ‘sublime’ places that hold you on the verge between fear and pleasure. In this wonderfully written and engaging book, Macfarlane interlaces historical narrative with his own mountaineering experiences to explore the transformation of mountain landscapes in our collective imagination.

Once we thought monsters lived there. In the Enlightenment we scaled them to commune with the sublime. Soon, we were racing to conquer their summits in the name of national pride.

In this ground-breaking, classic work, Robert Macfarlane takes us up into the mountains: to experience their shattering beauty, the fear and risk of adventure, and to explore the strange impulses that have for centuries lead us to the world’s highest places.

WINNER OF THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD

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