Sports & Recreation

"Outstandingly good … It may be the single most insightful book about climbing ever written."  Paul Sagar, Climber, writer, thinker

What do Zen masters, sixteenth-century Samurai, and the world’s elite climbers have in common?

They have perfected the of awareness, of being in the moment, of trusting the process.

Climbing is a sport of perception, and our successes and failures are matters of mind as much as body.

Written by philosopher, essayist, and lifelong climber Francis Sanzaro, The Zen of Climbing explores the fundamentals of successful climbing, delving into sports psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and Taoism. Awareness, he argues, is the alchemy of climbing, allowing us to merge mental and physical attributes in one embodied whole.

This compact volume puts the climber’s mind at the forefront of practice.

Nominated for Reading the West Awards 2025

From the author of The Zen of Climbing, this enlightening and essential book is an inspired collection of concise essays and reflections on the art of bouldering.

More than a sport, bouldering is a craft that demands equal fine-tuning of the mind and body. It calls for total commitment and attentiveness.

Climber, writer, and philosopher Francis Sanzaro brings the discipline into conversation with other sports and arts including architecture, dance, skateboarding, painting, parkour, martial arts, and gymnastics.

Sanzaro shows how the pursuit of bouldering is akin to developing a philosophy—something that can be nurtured and strengthened like a muscle, benefiting both body and soul. He explores all aspects of the craft and gives boulderers a voice of their own.

A treasure trove of fascinating stories, little-known places and hidden gems of history, Westering is a coast-to-coast British journey from Norfolk to the Welsh coast, by an established travel writer.

From Great Yarmouth to Aberystwyth, Westering takes us across England from the Fens, Leicester, the Black Country and central Wales. It connects landscape, place and memory to evoke a narrative unravelling the deep topography, and following a westerly route that runs against the grain of the land, its geology, culture and historical bedrock.

With the industrial Midlands sandwiched between bucolic landscapes in East Anglia and Wales, here we explore places too often overlooked. Along the way we encounter deserted medieval villages, battlefield sites, the ghosts of Roman soldiers, valleys drowned for reservoirs, ancient forests, John Clare's beloved fields, and the urban edgelands. Notions of home and belonging, landscapes of loss and absence, birds and the resilience of nature, the psychology of walking, and the psychogeography of liminal places all frame the story.