Mountains of the Mind made for a great start to this course. It is a wealth of knowledge in all things surrounding mountaineering. It also contains a great many introductions to other mountaineering stories in which one can start their own research. The book meshes history, philosophy, and science in a way that makes it near impossible to deny the brilliance of mountains and tenacity of the people who climb them.

The imagery in the book is so captivating, fresh, and entertaining, especially in the second chapter. This chapter is most synonymous with Imperial Eyes, both of which give an excellent synopsis of the evolution of man’s theories explaining how our world works. The scientists whom Macfarlane discusses’ were ahead of their time. They broke the mold when everyone assumed that the world was as The Bible dictates, they chose to do their own research and proposed seemingly impossible and improbable theories. These men were visionaries and do not get the respect that they deserve. It is exciting to know that in modern western society, the drive for exploration of the unknown, and testing the vertical limits, has progressed side by side with the exploration of science. It was fun to read of the evolution of geology and science in such a concise way.

Further concerning the second chapter, it is not uncommon for a person to look out during moments of solitude and imagine the world before man, yet I have never thought as deeply as Robert Macfarlane claimed to have done. I heavily relate to him as he tells of how his imagination takes hold of him as he sits outdoors. He can see the various eons pass by him as he gazes out. For me, the thrill for adventure is what gets me into the mountains, but it is this daydreaming that keeps me at the destination.

I found it both interesting and suspicious that Macfarlane suggests that Mount Everest cannot get much taller than it already is, because “gravity won’t tolerate such a structure. Something will give…”(Pg. 64). Does this mean that Mount Everest is the largest Mountain that ever was or ever will be? If this is correct then this nullifies the thought of Mount Analogue ever existing, in the physical sense. Knowing the size of Everest on an epoch scale gives me a deeper respect for those who have attempted and climbed Mount Everest. Taking into account Earths billions of years of existence, Everest is literally the quintessence of Mountaineering. It is liken to a hunter conquering the biggest and most dangerous predator ever to roam the Earth.

By the time I got through chapter 7, I was thoroughly convinced that mountains are the ultimate landscape on which to explore. The dangers that exist on mountains far exceed the dangers of any other landscape on Earth. This chapter, specifically page 214, explains that even the sun’s rays in such regions are more dangerous than that Earths deserts. At that point I was convinced that Mountaineering truly is the most apotheosis of the human spirit.