In this breathtaking volume from Dorling Kindersley's Eyewitness Books series, readers experience the majesty of mountains, from the forces in the earth that create them to the animals, vegetables, and minerals that inhabit them to the history of the many driven people who have climbed them. Spectacular photos and illustrations depict the awesome power of avalanches, the amazingly adaptive lives of mountaintop dwellers, the beauty of an Alpine spring, and much more. The book progresses from "Mountains of the world" through "Wind and weather," "People of the Himalayas," "Gods, myths, and legends," and "Early days of mountaineering" and concludes with discussions of mountain sports, the winter Olympics, and the environment. Only a few chapters focus on the granddaddy of them all, Mount Everest; still, the broad range of information the book provides on all things mountainous will rivet anyone with an interest in Everest.
