A collection of essays written over 30 years by Sydney Lea, representing what he refers to as the persistence of preoccupations and the absence of theory - a group of speculations, each one a single Himalaya, together a great elevation achieved in small increments. His musings on Robert Frost, his own approach to literary criticism, imagination, the American nature essay, rural life, the process of writing a poem, and fitting writing into everyday life all combine to create a picture of the things that interest him.