Download or read book Matterhorn Centenary written by Arnold Lunn and published by . This book was released on 1965 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Laboratory of Progress written by Joseph Jung and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-07-29 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Laboratory of Progress: Switzerland in the 19th Century tells the improbable story of how a small, backward, mountainous agricultural country with almost no raw materials became an industrial powerhouse, a hub of innovation, a touristic mecca and a pioneer in transportation – all in the course of a single century. That a tiny landlocked country should become a dominant steamship builder for the rest of the world; that a country that had never seen a cotton plant should become the world’s second-largest textile producer; that a country with hardly any level terrain should come to boast the world’s most highly developed railway network; and that a country whose main export was impoverished emigrants should be transformed into one of the world’s major financial centres – these astonishing developments, among many others, are explored and explained, both through the specific stories of individual innovators and through a prescient analysis of the political, economic, societal and cultural structures that formed the context in which Switzerland’s astonishing transformation took place. The book is a compelling read both for professional historians and for general readers with an interest in Switzerland; it highlights the roles of transport networks and individual pioneers in industrial and political development.
Download or read book The Alpine Journal written by and published by . This book was released on 1928 with total page 650 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Fall of Heaven written by Reinhold Messner and published by Mountaineers Books. This book was released on 2017-08-15 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A classic event in mountaineering history, dramatically retold by a classic mountaineer • Ascending the Matterhorn was the 19th century equivalent of standing on Mars • A great historical story of tension and drama • Author is uniquely qualified to delve into Whymper’s complicated personality As Fall of Heaven begins, we join professional mountain guide Jean-Antoine Carrel as he tries and fails, again and again, to summit the Matterhorn—one of the most famous and iconic peaks in the Alps. Is it the “Devil’s mountain,” as the locals call it? Should he heed the village priest who warned that its summit was not meant to be climbed? Carrel is undeterred, he just needs capable climbers to join him. Enter Edward Whymper, who in 1861 at the age of 21 decided—unbeknownst to Carrel—that he would be the first to climb the Matterhorn. So the storyline is set, except that where Carrel is captivating, Whymper is utterly unsympathetic as an adventurer. He is mean and disdainful of guides, describing them as little more than porters who eat and drink too much. Despite this attitude, Whymper’s quest leads him inexorably into partnership with Carrel. The story follows their many attempts to find a route to the top of the Matterhorn, but then fate pulls them apart just as Whymper finds the line. His successful summit on July 14, 1865, in which Carrel did not take part, shocked the Victorian world with both awe and revulsion as four members of Whymper’s party died in frightening falls. Famed climber and author Reinhold Messner acknowledges that Whymper was the first man to summit the Matterhorn, the last of the great Alpine peaks to be climbed and representing the beginning of an age of alpinism based on difficulty rather than conquest. But rather than leaving a hero’s legacy, Whymper is revealed as the Captain Ahab of alpinism, a team leader who accepted no responsibility for the deaths of his teammates. Fall of Heaven is an exciting tale and an examination of the different types of men who were caught up in the adventuring spirit of the Victorian age, and the ironic fates that can follow success or failure.
Download or read book But Enough About You written by Christopher Buckley and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-05-06 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christopher Buckley at his best: an extraordinary, wide-ranging selection of essays both hilarious and poignant, irreverent and delightful. In his first book of essays since his 1997 bestseller, Wry Martinis, Buckley delivers a rare combination of big ideas and truly fun writing. Tackling subjects ranging from “How to Teach Your Four-Year-Old to Ski” to “A Short History of the Bug Zapper,” and “The Art of Sacking” to literary friendships with Joseph Heller and Christopher Hitchens, he is at once a humorous storyteller, astute cultural critic, adventurous traveler, and irreverent historian. Reading these essays is the equivalent of being in the company of a tremendously witty and enlightening companion. Praised as “both deeply informed and deeply funny” by The Wall Street Journal, Buckley will have you laughing and reflecting in equal measure.
Download or read book Women on the Rope written by Cicely Williams and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-02-09 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1973, Women on the Rope provides the first consecutive story of the ‘feminine share in mountain adventure’, a share which has grown from tiny beginnings in 1808 to a level at which women have won their place at Everest expeditions. Cicely Williams provides a book which combines exact and detailed knowledge of a little-known chapter of human enterprise with that zest for life and love of mountains that have brought her so many friends. This is a book for mountaineers, for social historians, and for the fireside connoisseur of good storytelling.
Download or read book Women of the Four Winds written by Elizabeth Fagg Olds and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 1999 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annie Smith Peck attempted seven times to climb Peru's highest mountain; Delia Akeley hunted big game in Africa; Marguerite Harrison spied in Russia for America; Louise Arner Boyd led expeditions to perilous East Greenland. Precursors of the modern Jane Goodalls and Sally Rides, these women represent a fascinating but forgotten era in the literature of exploration.
Download or read book Mountaineering Literature written by Jill Neate and published by The Mountaineers Books. This book was released on 1986 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long established as a standard reference work worldwide, this is a thorough bibliography of all mountaineering books that are of practical use to climbers or for reading pleasure or historical interest. Documenting more than 2000 books of mountaineering literature, it also includes nearly 900 climber's guidebooks, a sampling of more than 400 works of mountaineering fiction, plus journals and bibliographies.
Download or read book The Health of the Presidents written by John R. Bumgarner, M.D. and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2004-11-09 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Surrounded by well-meaning aides, physicians sworn to confidentiality, and in some cases, sycophants, the president of the United States usually keeps the state of his health well-guarded from the American public. Though the intention of the 25th Amendment is to provide for the removal of an impaired president, the level of discretion involved in such a decision has caused many to question whether it serves the national interest. In large part, the men who have served as president have been past middle age and susceptible to the dame maladies as the rest of the aged population. The complete medical history of each of the first 41 U.S. presidents, emphasizing illnesses that affected them during their administrations, is here set out for the lay reader by a physician. The presidents' health care regimens (diet, exercise, home remedies, etc.) and physicians' treatments are also discussed.
Download or read book The White Ladder written by Daniel Light and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2024-09-05 with total page 545 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of the thrill-seekers, map-makers, soldiers, occultists, artists and porters who paved the way for modern mountaineering. ‘A beautifully written and sure-footed history of mountaineering “before Everest”, full of wonderful stories and spanning continents and centuries. A splendid debut.’ Sir Ranulph Fiennes, author of Shackleton Beautiful, remote and dangerous – for generations we have looked to the mountains in awe. Yet, for most, that is where the fascination ends. For a rare few, however, the allure of the peaks proved irresistible. There are the devout Incan priests who, scaling the Andes’ icy slopes to pay tribute to each mountain’s ‘Great Lord’, travelled higher than any European would for centuries. The Gurkha riflemen who joined their commanders in canvassing the Karakoram, admiring the distant summits of Broad Peak and K2 with gleeful anticipation. The tweed-clad mountaineers who made the first serious assaults on Everest, hauling yards upon yards of battered rope through the cold. Tracing the world altitude record from the ashy slopes of the sacred volcano Llullaillaco to the icy crags and crevasses of the Karakoram, Daniel Light takes a panoramic journey through the storied history of mountaineering before Everest. Joining a cast of colourful characters, The White Ladder offers an ode to mountains’ capacity to enthral, and the fundamental human drive to climb higher and higher. *** 'Thrilling... Daniel Light delivers stories that are poetic, spiritual and astonishing in their courage and drive.' Sonia Purnell, author of A Woman of No Importance ‘Daniel Light guides the reader through a mountain-scape that stretches from the Alps to the Himalaya... with the sure footing of a serious student of climbing history, and the élan of a skilled storyteller. This is a book to curl up with on a cold dark night in a comfortable armchair before a bright fire.’ Maurice Isserman, co-author of Fallen Giants ‘Wonderful… a massive story with an enormous cast of characters, among them some of the most compelling figures of mountaineering history.’ Wade Davis, author of Into the Silence
Download or read book Nature and the Victorian Imagination written by U. C. Knoepflmacher and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-12-22 with total page 788 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1977. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived
Download or read book Summit written by Vittorio Sella and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Weighted down by heavy, 19th-century camera equipment, mountaineer and photographer Sella climbed some of the world's most mysterious, perilous peaks and photographed them, many for the first time.
Download or read book The Swiss Alps written by Kev Reynolds and published by Cicerone Press Limited. This book was released on 2014-01-08 with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive book is an excellent planning resource for those who wish to venture into the Swiss Alps. Whether you are planning a walk, scramble, climb or ski tour this larger format guide describes each mountain area throughout Switzerland - the peaks, passes, valleys and bases - to help readers identify the best destinations for their chosen mountain activity. Dozens of individual valleys are described, together with the mountains that wall them, with recommendations given for their finest walks, treks and climbs. Working eastwards across the country, this guide is divided into seven chapters: Chablais Alps, Pennine Alp, Lepontine and Adula Alps, Bernina, Bregaglia and Albula Alps, Bernese Alps, Central Swiss Alps and the Silvretta and Ratikon Alps, each devoted to a specific range or group of connecting ranges. However, this is not a route guide and detailed descriptions are not provided. The aim of the book is to inspire as well as inform; to show first-time visitors just what the Swiss Alps have to offer and provide a new perspective for those who have been before.
Download or read book Triumph and Tragedy written by Emil Henry and published by Troubador Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2011 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Triumph and Tragedy: the Life of Edward Whymper is an engrossing account of the extraordinary life of Edward Whymper (1840-1911), the best known but perhaps least understood mountain climber of the 19th century. Acclaimed as the first to scale the Matterhorn, Whymper personifies the spirited amateurism of the Golden Age of Mountaineering (1854-1865).Triumph and Tragedy accompanies a young but supremely confident Whymper on exhilarating ascents and narrow escapes amid beautiful, often dangerous Alpine peaks. The book lays bare the trauma of his companions’ deaths on the Matterhorn, and empathizes with him during the intense pressures of the accident’s aftermath. Emil Henry’s thoroughly researched biography then moves on to Whymper’s post-Matterhorn years. Following the publication of his classic Scrambles Amongst the Alps, Whymper travels first to Greenland’s unexplored interior and then to the high Andes mountains of South America where he becomes the first westerner to reach a 20,000 foot summit. In later life he is recognized as a noted explorer and the author of two best-selling books illustrated with drawings from a sketch-pad kept always in his shirt pocket. Triumph and Tragedy: the Life of Edward Whymper offers new and refreshing insights into the life of this notable Victorian personality. Spread throughout the book are examples of Whymper’s accomplishments as an author, artist, natural scientist, pioneering photographer, lecturer, and raconteur.
Download or read book In the Shadow of the Giants written by Tom King and published by A. S. Barnes. This book was released on 1981 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mountaineering Women written by David Mazel and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sixteen of their stories - sometimes published under the name of a male relative, sometimes under anonymous bylines such as "a Lady" - are here recovered and collected for the first time.
Download or read book Mountains of the Mind written by Robert Macfarlane and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2009-09-09 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The basis for the new documentary film, Mountain: A Breathtaking Voyage into the Extreme. Combining accounts of legendary mountain ascents with vivid descriptions of his own forays into wild, high landscapes, Robert McFarlane reveals how the mystery of the world’s highest places has came to grip the Western imagination—and perennially draws legions of adventurers up the most perilous slopes. His story begins three centuries ago, when mountains were feared as the forbidding abodes of dragons and other mysterious beasts. In the mid-1700s the attentions of both science and poetry sparked a passion for mountains; Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Lord Byron extolled the sublime experiences to be had on high; and by 1924 the death on Mt Everest of an Englishman named George Mallory came to symbolize the heroic ideals of his day. Macfarlane also reflects on fear, risk, and the shattering beauty of ice and snow, the competition and contemplation of the climb, and the strange alternate reality of high altitude, magically enveloping us in the allure of mountains at every level.