Risky business - A. Alvarez

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. As the Observer'spoetry editor he introduced British readers to the new poetry of the fifties and sixties, most famously of course to the poetry of Sylvia Plath. But Alvarez has also been a passionate amateur of risky pursuits - poker playing, mountaineering, flying in old aeroplanes - and he has written about these subjects with a rare depth, liveliness and perception.

Risky Businessis a selection of Alvarez's finest essays. Ranging from trenchant literary criticism to accounts of polar expeditions and poker championships, it is a sparkling and eclectic collection from our most unusual man of letters.