From the Himalayas and the Andes to the little-known Altays of Central Asia, mountains are objects of admiration, awe and legend. "Mountains: Wonders of the Natural World" tours the world's mountain ranges and reveals the origins - and futures - of these natural wonders. Beginning with the tremendous forces that create and develop mountains, the books explores the secrets of a mountain's endurance against erosive wind, rain and snow, as well as the fate of a mountain in the twilight of its existence, millions of years after its formation. The book firstly discusses the most interesting ranges now in the world, the Himalayas. These are young, growing mountains and natural phenomenon like Tsunami 2004 and South Asia Earth Quake 2005 are actively making them grow. Secondly, the book explains different mountain landscapes like plateaus, volcanoes, etc, and shows how mountains 'die'. This is what has happened to the Rockies and the Alps, where the activity in the earth is dead and glaciers are eating them away. The third and last part of the book is about the people who live in the mountains, again mostly in the Himalayas, because there you can find places and habits that have virtually remained untouched for centuries.

Author Biography

Paul Tapponnier is a professor and Director of the Tectonics Laboratory at the Institut de Physique du Globe in Paris. In 2005, in recognition of his work in Asia, he was the only French person to become a member of the American National Academy of Sciences. Paul lives in Paris. Kevin Kling is a Franco-American photographer, and has travelled thousands of miles over the past 25 years, crossing isolated, barely accessible regions of India, Africa, South America and Asia. Her photographs have been shown in museums and galleries in Paris, London, New York and Tokyo and she is a member of the Royal Geographical Society. Kevin lives in Paris.