Falling : how our greatest fear became our greatest thrill : a history / Garrett Soden.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Soden, Garrett.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Daredevils--History.

Daredevils.

Jumping--Psychological aspects.

Jumping.

Extreme sports.

Psychological aspects.

History.

Physical Description:

viii, 342 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : W.W. Norton, [2003]

Summary:

Anyone who has gone over the crest of a roller coaster should wonder why that terror is so much fun. In Falling, Garrett Soden tells the astonishing story of how taking a fall has evolved from an experience that the ancients used as a metaphor for damnation to one so prized that today millions crave its intense rush. Beginning with the tree-climbing lessons of our earliest ancestors, Soden takes us on a hairraising tour through the fascinating legacy of nineteenth and twentieth-century gravity pioneers -- high-divers who became folk legends; Niagara Falls tight-rope walkers who drew thousands; parachutists who challenged the "certainty" of suffocation during free-fall. It's a story filled with surprising twists and unlikely heroes, from the drunken British carousers who invented bungee jumping to the California street punks who launched skateboards skyward. With in-depth interviews of personalities such as BMX bike star Mat Hoffman and stuntwoman Nancy Thurston, Soden offers firsthand views of those who have taken falling to the absolute extreme.

Soden also details the extraordinary impact falling has had on human evolution, culture, mythology, religion, and language. We learn how sixty-five million years of treetop living turned our ancestors into acrobatic prodigies, jump-starting our tool-making future with the gifts of an opposable thumb, a larger brain, and perhaps even consciousness itself. We discover why falling is a universal metaphor for failure; why some people love falling while others hate it (blame it on our genes); and what this says about our tastes in food, music, politics, religion, and sex. Mixing riveting storytelling and enlightening reporting, Soden delivers a fascinating tale that explains the mass appeal of today's extreme sports and thrill-seeking technology -- from roller coasters to virtual reality. This is a book that will change forever the way you think about this most common of experiences -- the tug of the earth beneath your feet.

Contents:

Introduction: Birth of the Bungee Jump 1

Part I Daredevils, Heroes, and Madmen

Chapter 1 The Gravity Century 19

Chapter 2 Terrified Imagination 43

Chapter 3 Trouble in the Theaters of Gravity 69

Chapter 4 Sirens of Height 97

Chapter 5 Fall of the Noble Daredevil 111

Part II Rebels, Cults, and Primates

Chapter 6 Rise of the Gravity Bums 143

Chapter 7 Young Gods Bronzed with Sunburn 167

Chapter 8 Wall Rats 187

Chapter 9 The Arborealists 205

Chapter 10 Got Air? 221

Chapter 11 Falling for All 239

Chapter 12 Sensation Seekers 257

Chapter 13 The Metaphor of Falling 275

Chapter 14 Falling Today and Tomorrow 289.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 325-327) and index.

ISBN:

0393054136

OCLC:

51330541