Vintage Voyages

The Ascent Of Rum Doodle

VINTAGE VOYAGES: A world of journeys, from the tallest mountains to the depths of the mind

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.

I just love this book. Everything about it is nearly perfect... hugely enjoyable and brilliantly sustained.

Exceedingly funny... as if the hero of Diary of a Nobody had, in a mood of abandon, turned to mountaineering.

it is an epic. It is Homeric. It is inspiring. It is very, very funny... Read it and be moved.

W. E. Bowman (1912-1985) was a civil engineer who spent his free time hill-walking, painting and writing (unpublished) books on the Theory of Relativity.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.

An outrageously funny spoof about the ascent of a 40,000-and-a-half-foot peak, discover this laugh-out-loud cult favourite. 
 
 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. 
 
 
VINTAGE VOYAGES: A world of journeys, from the tallest mountains to the depths of the mind

The Cruise of the Talking Fish

W. E. Bowman (1912-1985) was a civil engineer who spent his free time hill-walking, painting and writing (unpublished) books on the Theory of Relativity.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.

Having brought the highest mountain in the world to its knees, Binder, leader of the expedition to conquer Rum Doodle, soon sets off on a new adventure, aboard the raft Talking Fish. With only two cats, one frog, one oyster and five fellow-adventurers as crew, he is determined to master the challenges of the deep.

W E Bowman

Bill Bryson

I just love this book. Everything about it is nearly perfect... hugely enjoyable and brilliantly sustained.

An amazing book about mountain climbing from 1956. Laugh-out-loud literature

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

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

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

A veritable feast... incredibly enjoyable... a marvellous romp

A hilarious spoof and perfect parody of Britishness...it shames what now claims to be comedy

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BILL BRYSON 
 
‘An amazing book… Laugh-out-loud literature’ Tim Key 
 
‘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’ Sunday Times 
 
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. 
 
Though a ‘hilarious spoof and perfect parody’ (The Times), The Ascent of Rum Doodle has become one of the most celebrated cult classics of mountaineering. 
 
‘I just love this book. Everything about it is nearly perfect... hugely enjoyable and brilliantly sustained’ Bill Bryson (from his introduction)

W E Bowman

Praise for The Ascent Of Rum Doodle

I just love this book. Everything about it is nearly perfect... hugely enjoyable and brilliantly sustained.

An amazing book about mountain climbing from 1956. Laugh-out-loud literature

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 hilari ...

I just love this book. Everything about it is nearly perfect... hugely enjoyable and brilliantly sustained.

An amazing book about mountain climbing from 1956. Laugh-out-loud literature

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 hilari ...

I just love this book. Everything about it is nearly perfect... hugely enjoyable and brilliantly sustained.

An amazing book about mountain climbing from 1956. Laugh-out-loud literature

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 hilari ...

Books by W E Bowman

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