A01=Emily Meg Weinstein
adventure memoirs
alex honnold
ariel levy
Author_Emily Meg Weinstein
Category=DNBA
Category=DNC
Category=JBSF1
Category=SZG
cheryl wild
climbing community
climbing memoir
climbing subculture
el cap
empowerment through climbing
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
eq_sports-fitness
feminist adventure
glynnis macnichol
melissa febos
overcoming trauma
pam houston
personal memoirs
rock climbing
rockmonkey
self-discovery
stonemasters
the gunks
the sierras
trail of the lost
wild
women in climbing
Product details
- ISBN 9781668047859
- Weight: 433g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 18 Jun 2026
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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A memoir of sex, angst, and rocks, Turn to Stone chronicles one woman’s ascent—on walls of stone and within herself—as she faces her demons and finds freedom and power in the raw and wild adventure of rock climbing.
Down on the ground, it was hard to connect, hard to attach, hard to untangle, hard to let go. But up here, I understood. Up here, I could make it good.
Broken by an abusive relationship, Emily Meg Weinstein impulsively tries rock climbing on a California road trip, following strangers into the vertical world. Soon, she is consumed by her addiction to the freedom she feels when she’s up on the wall. Holding on to the rocks, she is free from societal constraints and expectations, free from her own sorrows and longings.
Raw and dark, but also funny, Weinstein describes the steep learning curve of becoming a climber, spending weeks at a time sleeping in the back of her Subaru, and a long, dark night stuck on top of a mountain. As she ascends, Weinstein faces her demons, finding power and grace in risk and adventure. Like Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, but in the vertical, or William Finnegan’s Barbarian Days, if lived by a Jewish woman from Long Island, Turn to Stone tells the story of a journey into nature that becomes a crucible of self-discovery.
Against a tapestry of van-dwellers, anarchists, and Jedi-like Stonemasters, Weinstein explores a world where each leap of faith is an existential lesson. From living on the edge, stepping into the unknown, and falling through thin air, Emily learns to forgive her own failures, heal her deepest wounds, and find courage in the face of fear. Throwing herself at walls of stone, she learns what it means to be human. Fitting her body into the rocks’ broken places, she makes herself whole.
Down on the ground, it was hard to connect, hard to attach, hard to untangle, hard to let go. But up here, I understood. Up here, I could make it good.
Broken by an abusive relationship, Emily Meg Weinstein impulsively tries rock climbing on a California road trip, following strangers into the vertical world. Soon, she is consumed by her addiction to the freedom she feels when she’s up on the wall. Holding on to the rocks, she is free from societal constraints and expectations, free from her own sorrows and longings.
Raw and dark, but also funny, Weinstein describes the steep learning curve of becoming a climber, spending weeks at a time sleeping in the back of her Subaru, and a long, dark night stuck on top of a mountain. As she ascends, Weinstein faces her demons, finding power and grace in risk and adventure. Like Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, but in the vertical, or William Finnegan’s Barbarian Days, if lived by a Jewish woman from Long Island, Turn to Stone tells the story of a journey into nature that becomes a crucible of self-discovery.
Against a tapestry of van-dwellers, anarchists, and Jedi-like Stonemasters, Weinstein explores a world where each leap of faith is an existential lesson. From living on the edge, stepping into the unknown, and falling through thin air, Emily learns to forgive her own failures, heal her deepest wounds, and find courage in the face of fear. Throwing herself at walls of stone, she learns what it means to be human. Fitting her body into the rocks’ broken places, she makes herself whole.
Emily Meg Weinstein was born in New York and raised in Queens and Long Island. An essayist, educator, activist, and founding member of Climbers for Palestine California, she lives, writes, and teaches on a houseboat in the San Francisco Bay, roams in her minivan, and roots for the New York Mets.
