Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination is a book by British writer Robert Macfarlane published in 2003 about the history of human fascination with mountains.

The book takes its title from a line by the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins and combines history with first-person narrative.

The book's heroes include the mountaineer George Mallory, and its influences include the writing of Simon Schama and Francis Spufford.

[1] In the end, Macfarlane criticizes Mallory for devoting more time to the mountain than his wife and notes that he has personally sworn off high-risk mountaineering.

The New York Times's John Rothchild praised the book, writing "There's fascinating stuff here, and a clever premise, but Mountains of the Mind may cause recovering climbaholics to trace their addiction to their early homework assignments and file class-action lawsuits against their poetry teachers.