The Highest Mountain

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Walton, Bryce, 1918-1988

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource : multiple file formats

Place of Publication:

Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg,

Summary:

"The Highest Mountain" by Bryce Walton is a science fiction story originally published in the early 1950s. The book explores themes of human conquest versus spiritual enlightenment, set against the backdrop of Mars and its highest mountain, an enigmatic and towering peak that challenges the crew of the spaceship Mars V. The narrative examines the psychological state of the characters as they grapple with their motivations for exploration and the consequences of their actions in a desolate and alien landscape. The story follows Bruce, a reluctant participant in a mission to conquer the highest mountain in the solar system. As the descent into madness claims members of his crew, Bruce grapples with feelings of guilt and the weight of a violent past marked by colonial conquest. Simultaneously, he experiences vivid dreams of an idyllic Martian civilization that contrast sharply with the crew's aggressive motivations. The mountain becomes a symbol of humanity's destructive tendencies, leading to confrontation and self-discovery. Ultimately, Bruce's journey culminates in a profound realization about the nature of existence, as he finds himself detached from the harsh realities of the physical world and embraced instead by the dreamlike, peaceful reality of the Martian landscape liberated from the mountain's tyranny. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Credits:

Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Notes:

Reading ease score: 85.6 (6th grade). Easy to read.

Release date is 2016-01-07