Two Planks and a Passion

Rezensionen / Stimmen

Our choice - pick of the paperbacks ... Huntford tells the ski story straightforwardly and simply * Sunday Times * Huntford has also undertaken the monumental task of tracing and explaining the development of the sport of skiing outside Scandinavia, particularly in Alpine Europe. As such, he has provided us with a much richer and more complex picture than was previously available from Arnold Lunn's highly partial The Story of Skiing. * oxfordjournals.org * In his early books, Huntford chronicled the race to the South Pole (The Last Place on Earth) and wrote biographies of Ernest Shackleton and Fridtjof Nansen. Two Planks seems a natural progression for him ... Huntford deserves praise for bringing together a lot of rich material. * New York Times Book Review * This will be skiing's definitive history for years to come... * Times Literary Supplement * [A] fine, erudite history of the sport * The Independent * Roland Huntford's book is an amazingly detailed history of skiing's Scandinavian origins. * BBC History Magazine * Huntford's book will be a perfect stocking present for piste fantasists like me. * Sunday Times * This is a compelling account, and definitive history, of an activity that has evolved over time into one of our most thriving leisure industries. * Sunday Telegraph * An engaging and insightful work * Sport Magazine * The most in-depth study of skiing currently in the English language and it will no doubt remain the defining record for some time. * The Guardian * This is a deeply scholarly work ... Fortunately scholarly in this instance is not synonymous with dull ... Huntford manages to to bind a wealth of material together with a strong narrative thread. * The Independent on Sunday * The breadth of his scholarship, which includes an easy familiarity with Scandinavian texts, is extraordinary. * Literary Review * What elevates Huntford is his comprehensive approach ... accessible and enjoyable, even to the most armchair bound of 'schussers'. * Paul Watkins * Could the outcome of the Second World War have been decided by the humble ski? That's the bold but surprisingly convincing claim made by Roland Huntford in Two Planks and a Passion. * The Scotsman *