Edwin Bernbaum, Ph.D. is a mountaineer and scholar of comparative religion and mythology whose work focuses on the relationship between culture and nature. His book Sacred Mountains of the World won the Commonwealth Club of California’s gold medal for nonfiction and was the basis for an exhibit of his photographs at the Smithsonian Institution. An updated second edition was recently published by Cambridge University Press. He is currently a senior fellow at the Instituto de Montaña and co-chair of the IUCN Specialist Group on the Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas, having worked with US National Parks and UNESCO World Heritage Sites.