Your review of bestsellers about mountains and mountaineering (”Writers with Altitude,” May 24, 2003) touches on many a sublime dimension of this literary genre, but it misses one that is quite crucial: height (and also depth, as witnessed by the likes of Cousteau) versus breadth. They are substitutes of sorts. The spirit of adventure has been stymied by all the geographic conquests of the last five-hundred years. But just imagine the joys of outer space! All the metaphors of height would quickly yield to those of distance and darkness, if only we were so lucky as to elope from our cradle. And our grave, one cannot but surmise from the lame space programs around the globe. Ours is a species thwarted.