The Living Mountain: A Celebration of the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland - Tapa blanda

Most works of mountain literature are written by men, and most of them focus on the goal of the summit. Nan Shepherd's aimless, sensual exploration of the Cairngorms is bracingly different. -- Robert Macfarlane The finest book ever written on nature and landscape in Britain. -- Jim Perrin * * Guardian * * the re-publication of the Living Mountain is long overdue * * The Herald * * she deserves to be remembered more than she is * * The Herald * * one of the masterpieces of 20th century nature writing * * The Herald * * writing strongly and insightfully about the lives of young women -- Robert Crawford * * Scotland's Books * * as bracing as water from a mountain stream -- Nicholas Lezard * * The Guardian * * I was giddy with something halfway between delight and vertigo... a work of the highest calibre -- Nicholas Lezard * * The Guardian * * making magic before your eyes with the English language -- Nicholas Lezard * * The Guardian * * I read it and was changed * * Robert McFarlane * * This is sublime... language that is almost incantatory, like a spell -- Nicholas Lezard * * The Guardian * * I will fight anyone who says this book is nonsense. It's common sense, cubed -- Nicholas Lezard * * The Guardian * * you are going to read it at least 10 times and find something different in it each time. It's like Shephard's landscape, constantly renewed -- Nicholas Lezard * * The Guardian * *

The Living Mountain is a lyrical testament in praise of the Cairngorms. It is a work deeply rooted in Nan Shepherd's knowledge of the natural world, and a poetic and philosophical meditation on our longing for high and holy places. Drawing on different perspectives of the mountain environment, Shepherd makes the familiar strange and the strange awe-inspiring. Her sensitivity and powers of observation put her into the front rank of nature writing.