Unjustifiable Risk?: The Story of British Climbing by Simon Thompson
Signed by the author on the publisher's label affixed to the half-title page (without dedication - affixed to the front cover is a sticker stating: "Signed Copy")); Cicerone 2010 1st ed., 388pp., text generally in decent order albeit with creasing & a couple of tears to the bottom left hand side of the front free end paper, an old erased pencil price & date to the top of the same page & bumping/rubbing/scuffing to the bottom right hand side of the front end paper, rubbing to the internal hinge between these two pages & creasing (+ slight staining) to the identical places on the subsequent 13 pages (no text affected in any instance), slight browning to the pages in the photo sections (also visible to the corresponding page extremities at the very top, side & bottom), slight staining & rubbing, also, to the page extremities at the very top, side & bottom, spine very slightly cocked & rear board somewhat warped, slight bumping & rubbing to board corners & to the top, bottom & sides of boards - heavier to the base of the spine & adjacent corners & considerably heavier to the top of the spine & adjacent corners, some bumping & rubbing to the spine edges on front & rear, elsewhere some marking & bumping to both boards & spine, the dust jacket has slight internal browning plus some rubbing & creasing to the top of the inside blurb front & rear, externally the jacket is rubbed & creased at top & bottom (especially to the top & bottom of the spine & adjacent corners) with scuffing to the corners & more so to the top & bottom of the spine, slight creasing to the front left hand/rear right hand sides, both covers & spine are marked & scratched.
To the impartial observer Britain does not appear to have any 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 200 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 specialization 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 recognizable 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.
Simon Thompson is a corporate businessman and lifelong mountaineer whose career background heavily influences his analytical approach to writing about climbing history. He is a former director of Anglo American and former chairman of Tarmac. He has lived in seven different countries and served on corporate boards across the UK, US, and Sweden.