Customer Reviews

The Old Man of the Mountain

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As a native of New Hampshire, I grew up with the "Old Man" and enjoyed our visits throughout the changing seasons. I bought this book because of the beautiful photography. As a trained geologist, I am absolutely delighted with the geological information presented, and the detailed descriptions of the efforts made to preserve him. I truly had no idea. Thank you for this book.

Last May, after the New York Times reported--on its front page, no less!--that the Old Man of the Mountain was no more, I was as dismayed as if an old family friend had died. My wife has family in southeast New Hampshire, and during several visits we and our two young children had oohed and ahhed over the Old Man's craggy profile, which I found remarkably similar to that of the Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots of my youth. My family's sorrow over the gruff bluff's collapse has been ameliorated by this splendid tribute. I can't imagine a more apt eulogizer than Robert Hutchinson, a geologist and historian who has literally imagined himself into the Old Man's head, creating a narrative in which heaps of geological and historical arcana are lashed together with turnbuckles of wit and sympathy. The photographs, both archival and contemporary, are also superb, and captioned with fascinating mini-essays by Mr. Hutchinson. (One beneath a reproduction of the first known photograph of the Old Man notes that it was taken in 1841 by an eccentric, reclusive dentist named Samuel Bemis, once described as "not as odd as might be expected, yet sufficiently so to distinguish him from other men.") If only we all could be so fondly and entertainingly memorialized!

This was of interest to me, but of super importance to my mom who lived back in MA when she was young. Because this feature of geography doesn't exist any longer it is significant to remember how it really was..

Nice bit of background information with lots of really nice color photos.
After reading it I felt like it was a real personal loss. Created by nature and removed by erosion. Sad fate, but inevitable.