From the Himalayas and the Andes to the little-known Altays of Central Asia, mountains are objects of admiration, awe and legend. "Mountains: Wonders of the Natural World" tours the world's mountain ranges and reveals the origins - and futures - of these natural wonders. Beginning with the tremendous forces that create and develop mountains, the books explores the secrets of a mountain's endurance against erosive wind, rain and snow, as well as the fate of a mountain in the twilight of its existence, millions of years after its formation. The book firstly discusses the most interesting ranges now in the world, the Himalayas. These are young, growing mountains and natural phenomenon like Tsunami 2004 and South Asia Earth Quake 2005 are actively making them grow. Secondly, the book explains different mountain landscapes like plateaus, volcanoes, etc, and shows how mountains 'die'. This is what has happened to the Rockies and the Alps, where the activity in the earth is dead and glaciers are eating them away. The third and last part of the book is about the people who live in the mountains, again mostly in the Himalayas, because there you can find places and habits that have virtually remained untouched for centuries.