An outrageously funny spoof about the ascent of a 40,000-and-a-half-foot peak, discover this laugh-out-loud cult favourite.
Led by the reliably under-insightful Binder, a team of seven British men including Dr Prone (constantly ill); Jungle the route finder (constantly lost), Constant the diplomat (constantly arguing) and 3,000 Yogistani porters, set out to conquer the highest peak in the Himalayas.
VINTAGE VOYAGES: A world of journeys, from the tallest mountains to the depths of the mind
W. E. Bowman (1912-1985) was a civil engineer who spent his free time hill-walking, painting and writing (unpublished) books on the Theory of Relativity. He was married with two children.
Title: The Ascent Of Rum Doodle: Vintage Voyages
Author: Bowman, W E
ISBN: 9781784875299
Binding:
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Publication Date: 2019-06-06
Number of Pages: 192
Weight: 0.1600 kg
Wonderful. Rum Doodle does for mountaineering what Three Men in a Boat did for Thames-going or Catch-22 did for the Second World War. It is simply an account of the leader of an expedition up Rum Doodle, a 40,000 and a half foot peak in the Himalayas, in the same way that Scoop is simply a tale about newsgathering in Africa. The tone is nearer to Pooter than anyone else I can think of, but the flavour is all W.E. Bowman's own. * Sunday Times *
I just love this book. Everything about it is nearly perfect... hugely enjoyable and brilliantly sustained. * Bill Bryson *
Exceedingly funny... as if the hero of Diary of a Nobody had, in a mood of abandon, turned to mountaineering. * Dublin Magazine *
it is an epic. It is Homeric. It is inspiring. It is very, very funny... Read it and be moved. * Books of the Month *
Amazing -- Tim Key * Guardian *