Human beings have apparently always treasured scenic outdoor beauty, and this tendency has only increased as the world has become a more urban place. One of the benchmarks of the English Romantic movement of the early 19th century was the belief that nature had an uplifting, comforting, and beneficial effect on us. Romantics, who were almost all city dwellers, sought out natural settings and painted and wrote about the magnificent feelings those settings inspired.

The most dramatic aspects of nature, especially mountains and the sea, have long induced a mixture of awe, fear, and reverence in people. According to the geographer Yi-Fu Tuan, virtually every society has had a sacred mountain that served as a focal point in its cosmology: Mounts Olympus (Greece), Meru (India), Tabor (Israel), and Fuji (Japan) are but a few examples. The legends from different cultures are particularly revealing. Moses received the Ten Commandments on a mountaintop, and it was on a mountain that Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac,........

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