Ski-running

Furse, Katharine, 1875-1952Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 196K words
Chapters: 20

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Ski-running by Katharine FurseAuthor: Furse, Katharine, 1875-1952,Language: English, Class: GV: Geography, Anthropology, Recreation: Recreation, Leisure, Release Date: Feb 1, 2004

Editor's review

This little book on ski-running by the British author Katharine Furse (1875–1952) is a free electronic edition prepared by Project Gutenberg. Its value lies not in technical progress but in its portrait of early skiing: equipment, posture, methods of moving over snow, and the safety ideas of the time all bear the clear stamp of their era. The book's beginner's account of snow sports is direct and plain, making it suitable as primary material for the history of sport or leisure. A caveat: this is the original English text, written early, and some terminology and training methods are far removed from contemporary ski instruction. Read it as a "sports manual from an older age," attentive both to how the author describes the pleasures of moving over snow and to the details of social life it reflects. For general readers it is short enough for an afternoon; for researchers it can be read alongside outdoor-sport literature of the same period.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in early skiing and the history of winter leisure
Self-learners and researchers seeking primary English material on sports history
Readers who enjoy Project Gutenberg public-domain books and short English originals
General readers curious about early twentieth-century European outdoor life

Not a good fit for

Advanced skiers seeking contemporary technical instruction
Readers who find English difficult and need a Chinese translation
Beginners who want a heavily illustrated sports tutorial

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and opening first to grasp the structure, then choose technical or scene chapters as interest dictates.
Prepare a short glossary of English sports terms; mark old-fashioned expressions and look them up later.
Read alongside a modern beginner's skiing book to observe how technical ideas have changed.
After finishing, write a short note recording the period details of daily life reflected in the book.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for someone who has never skied?

It can be read as history, but not as a technical primer. It was written long ago, and its terminology and training methods differ from contemporary ski instruction. Readers who have never skied and want to learn technique should choose a modern textbook; those who want to understand early snow sports will still find it readable.

What English level does the book require?

This is the original English text. Sentences are generally not complex, but it contains many old-fashioned sports terms and period background words. General English reading ability is enough to get through it, with a dictionary for technical words; if English is a struggle, consult Chinese materials on sports history first.

Is this a complete work or an excerpt?

According to the Project Gutenberg entry, this is the public-domain electronic edition of Katharine Furse's Ski-running, a complete text rather than an excerpt or introduction. Version details can be checked on the Project Gutenberg page for the book.

Are the skiing techniques still applicable today?

They should not be copied directly. The book reflects the equipment conditions and training ideas of early skiing, which differ markedly from modern gear and teaching systems. Its value is mainly historical and cultural; the technical content serves as a reference, not an operating guide.

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About the author

Furse, Katharine, 1875-1952 Author · British · 1875–1952

Katharine Furse (1875–1952) was a British leader of voluntary aid and a lifelong advocate of wartime nursing and women's voluntary service. She was born in 1875 and died in 1952; other details of her life are limited in publicly available sources. One work by her is held in this collection, Ski-running, which, judging from the available information, deals with skiing and belongs to the practical literature on sport and outdoor activity. As an organizer of women's voluntary service, she wrote in a pragmatic, practice-oriented manner, turning experience into usable knowledge. Although she is little known in the Chinese-speaking world and her output is modest, her public work and this book on skiing still offer a concrete glimpse into early twentieth-century British women's involvement in public service and outdoor sport.