Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination is a book by British writer Robert Macfarlane published in 2003 about the history of human fascination with mountains. The book takes its title from a line by the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins and combines history with first-person narrative. He considers why people are drawn to mountains despite their obvious dangers, and examines the powerful, and sometimes fatal, hold that mountains can come to have over the imagination. The book's heroes include the mountaineer George Mallory, and its influences include the writing of Simon Schama and Francis Spufford.[1] In the end, Macfarlane criticizes Mallory for devoting more time to the mountain than his wife and notes that he has personally sworn off high-risk mountaineering. The New York Times's John Rothchild praised the book, writing "There's fascinating stuff here, and a clever premise, but Mountains of the Mind may cause recovering climbaholics to trace their addiction to their early homework assignments and file class-action lawsuits against their poetry teachers."[2]
 | |
| Author | Robert Macfarlane |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Geography |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Granta Books |
Publication date | 8 May 2003 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| Pages | 306 pp (hardcover 1st ed) |
| ISBN | 9781862075610 (hardcover 1st ed) |
| Followed by | The Wild Places |
Reception
editThe Daily Telegraph reported on reviews from several publications with a rating scale for the novel out of "Love It", "Pretty Good", "Ok", and "Rubbish": Times and Spectator reviews under "Love It" and Guardian, Independent, Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, Observer, New Statesman, Literary Review, and TLS reviews under "Pretty Good" and Daily Telegraph review under "Ok".[3]
Awards
editMountains of the Mind won the Guardian First Book Award and the Somerset Maugham Award.[4][5]
| Year | Award | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature | Nominated | |
| Guardian First Book Award | Won | [4] | |
| 2004 | Somerset Maugham Award | Won | [5] |
| Sunday Times/Peters Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award | Won |
References
edit- ^ "O Altitudo!: An Interview with Robert Macfarlane". Cabinet Magazine. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
- ^ Rothchild, John (13 July 2018). "Fatal Attraction". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
- ^ "Books of the moment: What the papers say". The Daily Telegraph. 21 June 2003. p. 164. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
- ^ a b Ezard, John (5 December 2003). "Mountain man wins Guardian book prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
- ^ a b "Previous winners of the Somerset Maugham Awards". The Society of Authors. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
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