Risky Business

Book excerpt: 'In a book this good, in the company of a mind this judicious and fine, the reader is left wanting more' Telegraph Poetry, poker, mountaineering, novels - a sparkling collection of essays from Britain's best-loved man of letters ________________________ Al Alvarez's writing career has come in many guises. One of the most influential post-war critics, he has written profoundly and eloquently about writers and their craft for over fifty years. But Alvarez has also been a passionate amateur of risky pursuits - poker playing, mountaineering, flying in aeroplanes - and he written about these subjects with a rare depth, liveliness and perception. This is a collection of his finest essays. Ranging from trenchant literary criticism to accounts of polar expeditions and poker championships, Risky Business is a sparkling and eclectic anthology from our most unusual man of letters.