Falling - How our Greatest Fear became our Greatest Thrill

This is one of the most unusual books of the year and is akin in some ways of Robert Macfarlane's Mountains of the Mind, which I reviewed in the Spring issue. The dust jacket rightly refers to the contents of the book as 'hair-raising' with its history and tour of gravity-defying feats. Beginning with the first bungie jump off Clifton Bridge, the author traces the evolution of falling experiences from a native ritual jumping from a palm tree. He then ranges over the origins of parachuting (1796), high altitude climbing, high wires, surfing, roller-coasters (imagine how fast 40 mph was to those used to carriage transport), going over the Niagara Falls in a barrel, and various falling stunts that defy both belief and imagination. The book's descriptions bring agonising historic episodes vividly to life, for instance a failed attempt on the north face of the Eiger. Then, taking a step back, the author considers the power of the metaphor of falling (including the Fall) and even the geography of heaven and hell. A riveting read.