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Simon Thompson - Unjustifiable Risk? (2nd Hand Paperback)
SKU B002930
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1 available
Original price
£3.95
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Original price
£3.95
Original price
£3.95
£3.95
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£3.95
Current price
£3.95
Synopsis
Subtitled : The Story of British Climbing.
Unjustifiable Risk was shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker prize in 2011.
To the impartial observer Britain does not appear to have many mountains. Yet the British invented the sport of mountain climbing and for two periods in history British climbers led the world in the pursuit of this beautiful and dangerous obsession.
Unjustifiable Risk is the story of the social, economic and cultural conditions that gave rise to the sport, and the achievements and motives of the scientists and poets, parsons and anarchists, villains and judges, ascetics and drunks that have shaped its development over the past two hundred years.
The history of climbing inevitably reflects the wider changes that have occurred in British society, including class, gender, nationalism and war, but the sport has also contributed to changing social attitudes to nature and beauty, heroism and death.
Over the years, increasing wealth, leisure and mobility have gradually transformed climbing from an activity undertaken by an eccentric and privileged minority into a sub-division of the leisure and tourist industry, while competition, improved technology and information, and increasing specialisation have helped to create climbs of unimaginable difficulty at the leading edge of the sport.
But while much has changed, even more has remained the same. Today's climbers would be instantly recognisable to their Victorian predecessors, with their desire to escape from the crowded complexity of urban society and willingness to take "unjustifiable" risk in pursuit of beauty, adventure and self-fulfilment.
Details
- Format : Thicker 2nd Hand Paperback
- Condition : Very Good (Almost As New)
- Category : Non-Fiction - Sports & Pastimes
- Published : 2010 (This Edition 2012 - Cicerone)
- ISBN : 9781852846794
- SKU : B002930
- PPC : SP500gm
- RRP : £9.99
- Quantity Available : 1 only.
External Reviews
"Brilliantly compelling history of British climbing, from the early rash of peak-bagging in the Alps to the development of competitive rock-climbing and the professionalisation of the sport. Everyone who enjoys high places, and getting to them, will enjoy this." - Amazon Review.
The Author
Simon Thompson is Chief Executive of the Chartered Banker Institute. He leads the UK's Green Finance Education Charter initiative and is a former Vice President of the European Bank Training Network. He has lived in seven different countries and currently sits on the boards of companies headquartered in Sweden, the UK and the US, but he continues to escape to the mountains whenever time permits.