2016 read #45: Mountains of the Mind by Robert Macfarlane.

Mountains of the Mind: How Desolate and Forbidding Heights Were Transformed into Experiences of Indomitable Spirit by Robert Macfarlane
282 pages
Published 2003
Read from May 22 to May 26
Rating: ★★★½ out of 5

After several false starts and abandoned novels in the second half of this month (so much for that splendid pace I'd been setting!), I was more than eager to get started on this one. I've been trying to obtain Mountains of the Mind for well over a year now, probably ever since I finished The Old Ways and felt myself hankering for more from Macfarlane. I'm somewhat impressed by his works, primarily The Wild Places, and everything I knew about Mountains suggested it would be a worthwhile read. A sociological history on how people (well, Western Europeans, at any rate) conceptualize and respond to mountainous terrain intrigued both my anthropological side and my outdoorsy side; Macfarlane's byline promised the cachet of his often-fluent nature writing. That extra year or so while I waited for the library network to act upon my book request only added to my anticipation.

For all that buildup, Mountain proves to be... pretty much alright? The thesis statement of the bold opening chapter, promising nothing less than a history of landscape perception across several centuries, is the best part of the book -- an appropriate parallel to Macfarlane's theme of the romantic pull of the unknown, mystery and suggestion rendering to the imagination scenes to which reality is a disappointing substitute. He covers the West's progression of concepts and ideas regarding mountains well enough, chapter by chapter, but the book as a whole feels somewhat lacking, little serving to distinguish it from any number of history books. Macfarlane's later prose brilliance is only suggested here in the occasional bit of wordplay.