The Ascent of Rum Doodle (Vintage Classics)

The Ascent of Rum Doodle (Vintage Classics)

by Bill Bryson (Introduction), W.E.Bowman (Author), Bill Bryson (Introduction), W E Bowman (Author)

Synopsis

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BILL BRYSON An outrageously funny spoof about the ascent of a 40,000-and-a-half-foot peak, The Ascent of Rum Doodle has been a cult favourite since its publication in 1956. 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.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Publisher: Vintage Classics
Published: 01 Apr 2010

ISBN 10: 0099530384
ISBN 13: 9780099530381
Book Overview: 'A hilarious spoof and perfect parody of Britishness...it shames what now claims to be comedy' The Times

Media Reviews
I just love this book. Everything about it is nearly perfect... hugely enjoyable and brilliantly sustained. * From the introduction by Bill Bryson *
An amazing book about mountain climbing from 1956. Laugh-out-loud literature -- Tim Key * Guardian *
This wonderfully funny parody of adventure stories was first written in the 1950s but is just as fresh today with a truly brilliant comic narrator whose commentary on the expedition members is unintentionally hilarious. Buy it * Sunday Mirror *
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 *
This gentle, deadly parody of the tight-arsed old school of British exploration narratives is seemingly a cult book among mountaineers, but it has been virtually unknown to the reading public since its first publication in 1956 * Guardian *
Author Bio
W. E. Bowman was a civil engineer who spent his free time hill-walking, painting and writing (unpublished) books on the Theory of Relativity.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 and died in 1985.