Ararat By Westerman, Frank

Mount Ararat in Turkey is where, as biblical tradition has it, Noah''s Ark ran aground and God made his covenant with mankind. Now it stands astride the fault-line between religion and science, a geographical, political and cultural crossroads, bound up with the centuries-old history of warfare between different cultures in this region. Frank Westerman takes a pilgrimage from the mountain''s foot to its highest slopes, meeting along the way geologists, priests and an expedition in search of the Ark''s remains, as well as a Russian astronaut who observes that ''there is something between heaven and earth about which we humans know nothing''.

Ararat is a dazzling, highly personal book about science, religion and all that lies between, by one of Europe''s most celebrated young writers.