Imaginary Peaks
The Riesenstein Hoax and Other Mountain Dreams
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Imaginary Peaks
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Narrated by:
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Petrea Burchard
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By:
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Katie Ives
About this listen
Using an infamous deception about a fake mountain range in British Columbia as her jumping-off point, Katie Ives, the well-known editor of Alpinist, explores the lure of blank spaces on the map and the value of the imagination. In Imaginary Peaks she details the cartographical mystery of the Riesenstein Hoax within the larger context of climbing history and the seemingly endless quest for newly discovered peaks and claims of first ascents. Imaginary Peaks is an evocative, thought-provoking tale, immersed in the literature of exploration, study of maps, and basic human desire.
©2021 Katie Ives (P)2021 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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5 out of 5 stars
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5 out of 5 stars
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5 out of 5 stars
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4 out of 5 stars
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Adventure, Science, Advocacy
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3 out of 5 stars
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- By: Robert Macfarlane
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 724
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 637
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 641
In this exquisitely written book, Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge, England, home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads, and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond. The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths, of the stories our tracks keep and tell, and of pilgrimage and ritual. Told in Macfarlane’s distinctive voice, The Old Ways folds together natural history, cartography, geology, archaeology, and literature.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A perfect pairing of prose and narrator
- By chris on 11-05-12
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The Ice at the End of the World
- An Epic Journey into Greenland's Buried Past and Our Perilous Future
- By: Jon Gertner
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders, Jon Gertner
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 153
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 133
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 132
In The Ice at the End of the World, Jon Gertner explains how Greenland has evolved from one of earth’s last frontiers to its largest scientific laboratory. The history of Greenland’s ice begins with the explorers who arrived here at the turn of the 20th century. Their original goal was to conquer Greenland’s seemingly infinite interior. Yet their efforts eventually gave way to scientists who built lonely encampments out on the ice and began drilling - one mile, two miles down.Their aim was to pull up ice cores that could reveal the deepest mysteries of earth’s past.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Adventure, Science, Advocacy
- By EM Goodkind on 09-08-19
By: Jon Gertner
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The World Beneath Their Feet
- Mountaineering, Madness, and the Deadly Race to Summit the Himalayas
- By: Scott Ellsworth
- Narrated by: Scott Ellsworth
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 41
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Story5 out of 5 stars 41
While tension steadily rose between European powers in the 1930s, a different kind of battle was raging across the Himalayas. Contingents from Great Britain, Nazi Germany, and the United States had set up rival camps at the base of the mountains, all hoping to become recognized as the fastest, strongest, and bravest climbers in the world. Climbing the Himalayas was the Greatest Generation's moonshot - one shrouded in the onset of war, interrupted by it, and then fully accomplished.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Near fatal flaws
- By A. Hill on 04-23-20
By: Scott Ellsworth
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Island on Fire
- The Extraordinary Story of a Forgotten Volcano That Changed the World
- By: Alexandra Witze, Jeff Kanipe
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 250
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 214
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 213
Laki is Iceland's largest volcano - and its most fearsome. Its eruption in 1783 is one of history's great untold natural disasters. Spewing out sun-blocking ash and then a poisonous fog for eight long months, the effects of the eruption lingered across the world for years. It caused the deaths of people as far away as the Nile and created catastrophic conditions throughout Europe.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting and Pertinent Topic!
- By Catherine Puma on 01-23-22
By: Alexandra Witze, and others
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The Last of His Kind
- The Life and Adventures of Bradford Washburn, America's Boldest Mountaineer
- By: David Roberts
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 59
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
In The Last of His Kind, renowned adventure writer David Roberts gives readers a spellbinding history of mountain climbing in the twentieth century as told through the biography of Brad Washburn, legendary mountaineering pioneer and photographer. Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air, has praised David Roberts, saying, “Nobody alive writes better about mountaineering” - and nowhere is that truth more evident than in this breathtaking account of the life and exploits of America’s greatest mountain climber.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great introduction to Washburn & climbing elites
- By Geoffrey on 04-27-22
By: David Roberts
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The Smoky God or A Voyage to the Inner World
- Esoteric Classics: Occult Fiction
- By: Willis George Emerson
- Narrated by: Shea Taylor
- Length: 2 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 157
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 139
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 139
The Smoky God is a classic tale from the genre of hollow Earth or subterranean literature. A once-favorite tale of Amazing Stories publisher Ray Palmer, The Smoky God is the (purportedly true) tale of two Norwegian fishermen Jens and Olaf Jansen, who sailed their fishing vessel into the inner Earth in the year 1829. While in the center of the Earth, they find an entire society and meet a race and of advanced giants.
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5 out of 5 stars
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great story
- By Rodney C Kilgore on 07-25-21
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The Whisper on the Night Wind
- The True History of a Wilderness Legend
- By: Adam Shoalts
- Narrated by: Adam Shoalts
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 44
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 44
Traverspine is not a place you will find on most maps. A century ago, it stood near the foothills of the remote Mealy Mountains in central Labrador. Today it is an abandoned ghost town, almost all trace of it swallowed up by dark spruce woods that cloak millions of acres. In the early 1900s, this isolated little settlement was the scene of an extraordinary haunting by large creatures none could identify. Strange tracks were found in the woods. Unearthly cries were heard in the night. Sled dogs went missing.
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1 out of 5 stars
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This book should’ve been billed as a travel log quote we put up the tent we slept weird noises we took down the tent”
- By S. Harms on 10-29-21
By: Adam Shoalts
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Legends of the Nahanni Valley
- By: Hammerson Peters
- Narrated by: Hammerson Peters
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 64
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
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Story5 out of 5 stars 58
A nonfiction exploring some of Northern Canada's greatest forgotten mysteries - the stories and legends surrounding the watershed of the South Nahanni River. Deep in the heart of the Canadian North lies a mysterious valley shrouded in legend. Lured by tales of lost gold, prospectors who enter it tend to lose their heads or vanish without a trace. Some say that the valley is cursed - haunted by an evil spirit whose wailings echo in the canyons
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5 out of 5 stars
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Read this book
- By brian on 12-05-21
By: Hammerson Peters
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On the Ridge Between Life and Death
- A Climbing Life Reexamined
- By: David Roberts
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 32
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 24
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 24
What compels mountain climbers to take the risks that they do? Is it the thrill in the physical accomplishment, in managing to defy the odds, or both - and why do they continue to do what they do in the face of such great danger? In On the Ridge Between Life and Death, David Roberts confronts these questions head-on as he recounts the exhilarating highs and desperate lows of his climbing career.
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2 out of 5 stars
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The same book as Deborah and Mountain of My Fears
- By joe on 02-16-22
By: David Roberts
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Earth
- An Intimate History
- By: Richard Fortey
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 18 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 66
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
Beginning with Mt. Vesuvius, whose eruption in Roman times helped spark the science of geology, and ending in a lab in the West of England where mathematical models and lab experiments replace direct observation, Richard Fortey tells us what the present says about ancient geologic processes. He shows how plate tectonics came to rule the geophysical landscape and how the evidence is written in the hills and in the stones. And in the process, he takes us on a wonderful journey around the globe to visit some of the most fascinating and intriguing spots on the planet.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Random Geology Verbose History Jumbled Tours
- By Herbert S. on 12-10-21
By: Richard Fortey
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Wilderness Essays
- By: John Muir
- Narrated by: Steven Brand
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 138
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 120
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 120
Part of John Muir's appeal to modern audiences is that he not only explored the American West and wrote about its beauties but also fought for their preservation. His successes dot the landscape and are evident in all the natural features that bear his name: forests, lakes, trails, and glaciers. Here collected are some of Muir's finest wilderness essays, ranging in subject matter from Alaska to Yellowstone, from Oregon to the High Sierra.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful writing, but fairly shallow narrative
- By Lauren on 07-26-20
By: John Muir
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Desert Notebooks
- A Road Map for the End of Time
- By: Ben Ehrenreich
- Narrated by: David Bendena
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
Layering climate science, mythologies, nature writing, and personal experiences, Desert Notebooks offers a vital and necessary chronicle of our past and our present - perfect for fans of Robert Macfarlane and Elizabeth Rush - that’s unflinching, urgent, and yet timeless and profound.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Not about the desert, Not about Joshua Tree
- By Steve on 07-12-20
By: Ben Ehrenreich
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Wanderlust
- A History of Walking
- By: Rebecca Solnit
- Narrated by: Liisa Ivary
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 377
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 318
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Story4 out of 5 stars 319
Drawing together many histories - of anatomical evolution and city design, of treadmills and labyrinths, of walking clubs and sexual mores - Rebecca Solnit creates a fascinating portrait of the range of possibilities presented by walking. Arguing that the history of walking includes walking for pleasure as well as for political, aesthetic, and social meaning, Solnit focuses on the walkers whose everyday and extreme acts have shaped our culture, from philosophers to poets to mountaineers.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Walking as politics
- By Jason V on 06-04-18
By: Rebecca Solnit
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In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond
- In Search of the Sasquatch
- By: John Zada
- Narrated by: Pete Cross
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 123
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 107
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 105
On the central and north coast of British Columbia, the Great Bear Rainforest is the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world, containing more organic matter than any other terrestrial ecosystem on the planet. The area plays host to a wide range of species, from thousand-year-old western cedars to humpback whales to iconic white Spirit bears. According to local residents, another giant is said to live in these woods.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not a relatable book
- By RJK on 07-14-19
By: John Zada
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The Third Pole
- Mystery, Obsession, and Death on Mount Everest
- By: Mark Synnott
- Narrated by: Steve Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 476
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 407
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 409
A hundred-year mystery lured veteran climber Mark Synnott into an unlikely expedition up Mount Everest during the spring 2019 season that came to be known as “the Year Everest Broke”. What he found was a gripping human story of impassioned characters from around the globe and a mountain that will consume your soul - and your life - if you let it.
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3 out of 5 stars
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This is not a book about the search for Sandy Irvine
- By erik on 09-15-21
By: Mark Synnott
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Into the Silence
- The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest
- By: Wade Davis
- Narrated by: Enn Reitel
- Length: 28 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 465
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 402
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 402
In this magisterial work of history and adventure, based on more than a decade of prodigious research in British, Canadian, and European archives, and months in the field in Nepal and Tibet, Wade Davis vividly re-creates British climbers’ epic attempts to scale Mount Everest in the early 1920s. With new access to letters and diaries, Davis recounts the heroic efforts of George Mallory and his fellow climbers to conquer the mountain in the face of treacherous terrain and furious weather.
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4 out of 5 stars
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He wrote exquisite Eel-agies?
- By Florence on 11-29-12
By: Wade Davis