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In the Land of Giants: Hunting Monsters in the Hindu Kush
A true story about an enigmatic adventurer who lost his life in on a quest for the yeti.
400 pages, Paperback
First published September 21, 2011
2 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
About the author
Gabi Martínez
31 books26 followers Su último trabajo publicado es En la Barrera (Altaïr, 2012), sobre la Gran Barrera de Coral australiana. Es también autor de Sólo para gigantes (Edit. Alfaguara, 2011), Només per a gegants (Ámsterdam, 2011), que será adaptada al cómic a finales de noviembre de 2012 y al cine en fechas recientes.
La obra Sudd, escogida por El Periódico y la revista Qué Leer entre las diez mejores novelas del año 2007. Antes de escribirla, recorrió el Nilo, desde las fuentes en el lago Victoria, hasta el delta de Alejandría. Sus anteriores novelas Hora de Times Square y Ático, fueron acogidas con excelentes críticas que han subrayado su carácter renovador.
Ático fue seleccionada por la crítica de los Estados Unidos como una de las cinco obras más representativas de la vanguardia española de los últimos años en la antología que publicará Palgrave MacMillan.
Como autor de libros de viajes, se le señala entre los más destacados impulsores del género. Con Diablo de Timanfaya levantó una gran polémica cultural y política. Su libro Una España inesperada le ha convertido en referente del nuevo periodismo literario en español. Su última obra publicada es Los mares de Wang, un viaje por la costa China que inaugura su proyecto Anfibia.
Es coguionista de Ordinary Boys, una docuficción sobre el barrio de Tetuán de donde salieron cinco terroristas del 11 M.
La obra Sudd, escogida por El Periódico y la revista Qué Leer entre las diez mejores novelas del año 2007. Antes de escribirla, recorrió el Nilo, desde las fuentes en el lago Victoria, hasta el delta de Alejandría. Sus anteriores novelas Hora de Times Square y Ático, fueron acogidas con excelentes críticas que han subrayado su carácter renovador.
Ático fue seleccionada por la crítica de los Estados Unidos como una de las cinco obras más representativas de la vanguardia española de los últimos años en la antología que publicará Palgrave MacMillan.
Como autor de libros de viajes, se le señala entre los más destacados impulsores del género. Con Diablo de Timanfaya levantó una gran polémica cultural y política. Su libro Una España inesperada le ha convertido en referente del nuevo periodismo literario en español. Su última obra publicada es Los mares de Wang, un viaje por la costa China que inaugura su proyecto Anfibia.
Es coguionista de Ordinary Boys, una docuficción sobre el barrio de Tetuán de donde salieron cinco terroristas del 11 M.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 4, 2025
Magnífica construcción poliédrica de la vida y vocación de Jordi Magraner, que muestra no sólo un conocimiento profundo de sus circunstancias personales y profesionales como zoólogo internacional en busca del yeti, sino una recreación vívida y cotidiana del pueblo kalash en el Hindu Kush pakistaní, con sus particularidades tan llamativas y siendo paganos rodeados de musulmanes integristas.
Y de paso demuestra un estilo limpio, ameno y riguroso con un lenguaje preciso para la narración de hechos reales, en lo que se ha dado en llamar como "no ficción", llena los espacios sin documentación de una forma creíble, y enlaza con maestría las distintas perspectivas de una misma vida.
Se puede leer como un relato de aventuras, como una trama de novela negra en la investigación de un asesinato, como una lección de geopolítica que recoge la llegada de los talibanes, y desde luego como un magnífico homenaje a la libertad de defender unos valores propios.
Y de paso demuestra un estilo limpio, ameno y riguroso con un lenguaje preciso para la narración de hechos reales, en lo que se ha dado en llamar como "no ficción", llena los espacios sin documentación de una forma creíble, y enlaza con maestría las distintas perspectivas de una misma vida.
Se puede leer como un relato de aventuras, como una trama de novela negra en la investigación de un asesinato, como una lección de geopolítica que recoge la llegada de los talibanes, y desde luego como un magnífico homenaje a la libertad de defender unos valores propios.
August 4, 2017
So much potential in this book, but the writing lets it down.
Indeed, this multi-faceted story has all the prerequisites of a great book: a very complex main protagonist, an exotic setting, plenty of intrigue and mystery (the yeti, the murder), as well as fascinating secondary topics such as the threat of radical Islamism on minorities, or the grief of losing a son and a brother.
Unfortunately the writing is rather confusing.
First of all: location. I found it hard to follow the geography of the place. One moment the main protagonist, Jordi Magraner, is headed to Islambad, but ends up going to Peshawar and Rawalpindi instead with no further explanation. Similarly, it is hard to keep track of the differences between Bumburet (the valley), Shekhanandeh (the Nuristani village) and Krakal (the Kalash Village), especially as the author uses them more or less interchangeably at times. A simple map would have made it much easier to visualise it all.
There are also temporal oddities: one minute Jordi is inside a refuge, and two sentences later he's walking towards it.
Or Jordi will set off on an expedition with two friends, and pages later we learn there is a third friend with him. It goes on and on.
There are quite a few photos, none of which are captioned. This is important as one of them shows what I can only guess are the two domestics, one of which is a suspect in the murder. But there is now way to know which of the two he is!
Finally, the author, Gabi Martinez, uses a lot of creative license to relate Jordi's inner thoughts, but it comes off very forced and just doesn't work. Although Martinez gives a short explanation of why he's chosen to do this, I would've much preferred it if he had stuck more closely to what was actually known. Both Jon Krakauer ( Into the Wild ) and Eric Blehm ( The Last Season ) did an amazing job of exploring the personality of their subject without voicing their inner thoughts. If only Gabi Martinez could have done the same...
3.5 stars
Indeed, this multi-faceted story has all the prerequisites of a great book: a very complex main protagonist, an exotic setting, plenty of intrigue and mystery (the yeti, the murder), as well as fascinating secondary topics such as the threat of radical Islamism on minorities, or the grief of losing a son and a brother.
Unfortunately the writing is rather confusing.
First of all: location. I found it hard to follow the geography of the place. One moment the main protagonist, Jordi Magraner, is headed to Islambad, but ends up going to Peshawar and Rawalpindi instead with no further explanation. Similarly, it is hard to keep track of the differences between Bumburet (the valley), Shekhanandeh (the Nuristani village) and Krakal (the Kalash Village), especially as the author uses them more or less interchangeably at times. A simple map would have made it much easier to visualise it all.
There are also temporal oddities: one minute Jordi is inside a refuge, and two sentences later he's walking towards it.
Or Jordi will set off on an expedition with two friends, and pages later we learn there is a third friend with him. It goes on and on.
There are quite a few photos, none of which are captioned. This is important as one of them shows what I can only guess are the two domestics, one of which is a suspect in the murder. But there is now way to know which of the two he is!
Finally, the author, Gabi Martinez, uses a lot of creative license to relate Jordi's inner thoughts, but it comes off very forced and just doesn't work. Although Martinez gives a short explanation of why he's chosen to do this, I would've much preferred it if he had stuck more closely to what was actually known. Both Jon Krakauer ( Into the Wild ) and Eric Blehm ( The Last Season ) did an amazing job of exploring the personality of their subject without voicing their inner thoughts. If only Gabi Martinez could have done the same...
3.5 stars
August 7, 2017
This was an intriguing book. While it began as an account of Jordi Magraner, a Spaniard, who became obsessed with searching for the Baramanu (Yeti) in the Hindu Kush (Pakistan border near Afghanistan) it shifted to an exploration of the local Kalash people and the impact of the Taliban in this region. While Jordi's lifestyle was somewhat complicated, his motives not always clear and his mental state obsessive he obviously cared deeply for this minority group; that remains largely unknown, destitute and persecuted. Parts of this book were a bit slow and repetitive and I think a detailed map of the region would have been invaluable in understanding the geography of this region. Thanks to Goodreads and Scribe for my copy of this book.
Read
May 18, 2018Enthralling from beginning to end, In the Land of Giants is an inspired telling of an uncommon story.
West Australian
When reading this book, one gets gusts of the best of Kipling, and also of Chatwin, even of Robert Byron. It’s the story of an obsessive trip, of a murder, of several love affairs, of a journey, of an adventurer who got lost forever, of the danger latent in trying to uncover an elusive truth and a truth only meaningful for he who wants it told (and then also, of course, for the fortunate reader). Fascinating from start to finish, In the Land of Giants is the kind of incredible story only an excess of reality can provide.
Javier Marías
Martinez ably conjures the scent of juniper, the taste of black, salty tea and the sight of a 40-donkey convoy heading to Panjsh.
Spectator
A murder mystery more intriguing than anything you could make up.
Sunday Territorian
West Australian
When reading this book, one gets gusts of the best of Kipling, and also of Chatwin, even of Robert Byron. It’s the story of an obsessive trip, of a murder, of several love affairs, of a journey, of an adventurer who got lost forever, of the danger latent in trying to uncover an elusive truth and a truth only meaningful for he who wants it told (and then also, of course, for the fortunate reader). Fascinating from start to finish, In the Land of Giants is the kind of incredible story only an excess of reality can provide.
Javier Marías
Martinez ably conjures the scent of juniper, the taste of black, salty tea and the sight of a 40-donkey convoy heading to Panjsh.
Spectator
A murder mystery more intriguing than anything you could make up.
Sunday Territorian
August 3, 2021
Really fascinating exploration of the life and death of Jordi Magruder, a Moroccan-born Spaniard who spent years in the Hindu Kush hunting for yetis and was ultimately murdered. Has the feel of Into The Wild, but in Pakistan - with yetis and markhors and malamutes, basically everything I love. The writing is a little clunky and confusing at times, unfortunately; there’s no map, and while there are a ton of photos, none are captioned.
August 28, 2013
…Creio que o orgulho de um jovem que sonha é, para ele, uma maneira de sobreviver. E, quando digo que sonha, não falo dos sonoros que povoam nossas noites, que as encantam, as exaurem, às vezes as perturbam. Nem das fantasias do dia a dia que são as perambulações do espirito. Falo dos sonhos despertos que se apoderam do nosso ser, que penetram nosso coração, abraçam nossa alma e nos devoram, deixando-nos sem sossego.
Erik l'Homme, pág. 101
Os mais velhos, os mais difundidos relatos do mundo são os relatos de aventuras, sobre heróis humanos que se aventuraram por regiões míticas arriscando a própria vida, e trazem de volta histórias do mundo para além dos homens … a arte da narrativa por si mesma vem da necessidade de contar uma aventura; esse homem que arrisca ajuda em perigosos encontros constitui a definição original do que merece ser contado.
Paul Zweig, pág 192
Quem serei eu quando deixar de ser a pessoa que acreditava ser e que passava por ser? E então a resposta mais correta à minha pergunta será: um ser humano. E é assim, pura e simplesmente, como um puro e simples ser humano, que se deveriam enfrentar esses seres humanos primitivos e obscuros.
Para mim, essa experiência foi uma espécie de revelação, e não só do mundo, mas de mim mesma. E devo acrescentar que foi uma sorte grande e inesperada, uma libertação. Este é o momento de mandar, finalmente, para o inferno todos os convencionalismos; eis uma nova classe de liberdade que até agora apenas em sonhos se tinha tido. É como sair de um mergulho e poder esticar à vontade, como dar um salto e sair voando, como ter a impressão de ter deixado para trás a lei da gravidade. Pode der que a pessoa se sinta meio enjoada, pode ser, afinal de contas, que tenha sido um pouco perigoso; a coragem é necessária, é sempre necessária quando se trata de reconhecer a verdade.
Karen Blixen, pág 273
Erik l'Homme, pág. 101
Os mais velhos, os mais difundidos relatos do mundo são os relatos de aventuras, sobre heróis humanos que se aventuraram por regiões míticas arriscando a própria vida, e trazem de volta histórias do mundo para além dos homens … a arte da narrativa por si mesma vem da necessidade de contar uma aventura; esse homem que arrisca ajuda em perigosos encontros constitui a definição original do que merece ser contado.
Paul Zweig, pág 192
Quem serei eu quando deixar de ser a pessoa que acreditava ser e que passava por ser? E então a resposta mais correta à minha pergunta será: um ser humano. E é assim, pura e simplesmente, como um puro e simples ser humano, que se deveriam enfrentar esses seres humanos primitivos e obscuros.
Para mim, essa experiência foi uma espécie de revelação, e não só do mundo, mas de mim mesma. E devo acrescentar que foi uma sorte grande e inesperada, uma libertação. Este é o momento de mandar, finalmente, para o inferno todos os convencionalismos; eis uma nova classe de liberdade que até agora apenas em sonhos se tinha tido. É como sair de um mergulho e poder esticar à vontade, como dar um salto e sair voando, como ter a impressão de ter deixado para trás a lei da gravidade. Pode der que a pessoa se sinta meio enjoada, pode ser, afinal de contas, que tenha sido um pouco perigoso; a coragem é necessária, é sempre necessária quando se trata de reconhecer a verdade.
Karen Blixen, pág 273
July 4, 2017
It’s taken me ages to read this book, nearly three weeks, and it’s only 390 pages long. It’s partly because I’m also reading other things as well but it’s also I kept getting distracted by the other issues the book raises. It’s not just a memoir of an eccentric adventurer who was murdered in a remote area of Pakistan, and it’s not just a travel book. It’s also a book that plays with the conventions of these genres.
Jordi Magraner was an adventurer who fell in love with the Hindu Kush, and, it seems to me, at different times varied his reasons for being there. He was a student of the natural world, and heard stories about the legendary barmanu – known to most of us as the yeti – and he set off to see if he could find it. But for quite long periods of time, he got involved in other quests as well…
The author would have his readers believe that the quest for the barmanu/yeti is not as crazy as it seems.
I was immediately distracted by the thought that in this era of fake news, would we believe it if there were reports of a yeti being found in the mountains of the Hindu Kush? Perhaps that would depend on where the reports came from. If trusted sources like the ABC and the BBC reported it, would we believe it? Or would we think that they were sincere but had been hoodwinked? Would we disbelieve it altogether or would we accept the revelation that the mythical creature had turned out to be real?
How you respond to this idea depends on whether you think we have mapped our world fully or whether you think that just as other species have been found in remote uncharted places, a yeti might possibly exist.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/07/04/i...
Jordi Magraner was an adventurer who fell in love with the Hindu Kush, and, it seems to me, at different times varied his reasons for being there. He was a student of the natural world, and heard stories about the legendary barmanu – known to most of us as the yeti – and he set off to see if he could find it. But for quite long periods of time, he got involved in other quests as well…
The author would have his readers believe that the quest for the barmanu/yeti is not as crazy as it seems.
One day in 1949, a doctor of zoology called Bernard Houvelmans opens the Saturday Evening Post and reads an article entitled ‘There May Be Dinosaurs’. He’s wary when he sees that it’s signed by a writer he trusts. Then, amid the claims made in the text, he reads the names of researchers he also considers serious, and by the end he has found that he needs to look into the information.
Seven years later, he publishes On the Track of Unknown Animals, introducing a series of animals discovered to date in the twentieth century. Most of them are pretty big. There you’ll find the okapi, the coelacanth, the Paraguayan peccary, the pygmy hippopotamus, the Cambodian wild ox, and the Komodo dragon.
Heuvelmans is a scientist, he considers himself a scientist, the animals he writes about exist ‘in reality’, but he has demonstrated that many of them were only located after conversations with indigenous people who gave assurances of their existences by recounting stories, describing them. Before they were discovered, these animals were no more than legends to westerners, or the victims of extinction. In which case why should we not believe other stories told about fugitive beings? (p.32)
I was immediately distracted by the thought that in this era of fake news, would we believe it if there were reports of a yeti being found in the mountains of the Hindu Kush? Perhaps that would depend on where the reports came from. If trusted sources like the ABC and the BBC reported it, would we believe it? Or would we think that they were sincere but had been hoodwinked? Would we disbelieve it altogether or would we accept the revelation that the mythical creature had turned out to be real?
How you respond to this idea depends on whether you think we have mapped our world fully or whether you think that just as other species have been found in remote uncharted places, a yeti might possibly exist.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/07/04/i...
November 9, 2020
Yo, de mayor, quiero escribir como Gabi Martínez. Quiero meterme en las historias como se mete él. De cabeza. Y vivirlas como las vive él. Si hay alguien que represente ahora mismo en España el Nuevo Periodismo de los años 60, ése que nos vuelve locos a los que amamos este maltratado oficio en vías de extinción, es él. Periodismo que es casi novela. Investigaciones, casi persecuciones a veces, de historias. Y una forma de contar de las que te atrapa. Y eso es exactamente lo que hace en Sólo para gigantes, en la que cuenta la historia de Jordi Magraner, un zoólogo de origen valenciano al que asesinaron en el Hindu Kush pakistaní, donde llevaba quince años buscando al yeti.
La historia comienza en un avión, sobrevolando esas montañas siempre cubiertas de nieve en las que Magraner encontró su paraíso y donde la muerte le encontró a él. En su silla, en su casa, en un refugio al que no hubiera dejado entrar a un extraño. Allí lo degollaron. Lo mismo que, unos días más tarde, al niño kalash al que estaba educando. Allí lo encontró Shamsur, el anterior niño al que había educado. Alguien con quien había compartido esos quince años y que inevitablemente está también en el saco de los posibles asesinos del zoólogo. Un saco bien nutrido, ya que durante todos esos años explorando la fauna de la zona si algo se había granjeado eran algunas enemistades. Vehemente, convencido de tener siempre la razón, un líder nato... Magraner había pisado callos y levantado ampollas en una zona cada vez más caliente en la que, con el estallido de los talibanes, el extranjero amante de los kalash (una etnia de origen indoeuropeo, se dice que descendientes de los soldados del propio Alejandro Magno, que practica el paganismo y que vive rodeada, casi acosada, de musulmanes) se va convirtiendo en un sospechoso. Sobre todo cuando a pesar de las amenazas y de la falta de recursos para sus investigaciones, decide resistir. Quedarse. Seguir en esas montañas. En su edén. A la búsqueda del barmanu, ese ser, mezcla de primate y humano, que aparece en las leyendas. Que muchos lugareños afirman haber visto. Del que hay huellas. Y que el propio Magraner y algunos de sus compañeros de aventura aseguran, incluso, haber oído.
Gabi Martínez descubre a Magraner en un libro. Y ve ahí una historia que... http://dorothycontacones.blogspot.com...
La historia comienza en un avión, sobrevolando esas montañas siempre cubiertas de nieve en las que Magraner encontró su paraíso y donde la muerte le encontró a él. En su silla, en su casa, en un refugio al que no hubiera dejado entrar a un extraño. Allí lo degollaron. Lo mismo que, unos días más tarde, al niño kalash al que estaba educando. Allí lo encontró Shamsur, el anterior niño al que había educado. Alguien con quien había compartido esos quince años y que inevitablemente está también en el saco de los posibles asesinos del zoólogo. Un saco bien nutrido, ya que durante todos esos años explorando la fauna de la zona si algo se había granjeado eran algunas enemistades. Vehemente, convencido de tener siempre la razón, un líder nato... Magraner había pisado callos y levantado ampollas en una zona cada vez más caliente en la que, con el estallido de los talibanes, el extranjero amante de los kalash (una etnia de origen indoeuropeo, se dice que descendientes de los soldados del propio Alejandro Magno, que practica el paganismo y que vive rodeada, casi acosada, de musulmanes) se va convirtiendo en un sospechoso. Sobre todo cuando a pesar de las amenazas y de la falta de recursos para sus investigaciones, decide resistir. Quedarse. Seguir en esas montañas. En su edén. A la búsqueda del barmanu, ese ser, mezcla de primate y humano, que aparece en las leyendas. Que muchos lugareños afirman haber visto. Del que hay huellas. Y que el propio Magraner y algunos de sus compañeros de aventura aseguran, incluso, haber oído.
Gabi Martínez descubre a Magraner en un libro. Y ve ahí una historia que... http://dorothycontacones.blogspot.com...
August 27, 2022
This book feel like it needed a bit more editing. 380+ pages feels like way too many.
This might be because of how many pages were taken up by quotes or slightly unrelated topics. Did I need to know about one of the people who spent their life looking for the Loch Ness monster in a book about a guy looking for the Yeti? If I did I’d read a book about that guy instead.
And speaking of the main subject, I expected this to be slow in places due to the expeditions that would be mentioned not from all the stuff in between them. Yes I understand that needed to happen but I came to this book wanting to follow a monster hunter not follow a guy who’s trying to organise a holiday (I know it wasn’t a holiday but that’s how it felt at times).
So I was not a big fan of this book and from about 75% through I found myself wanting to just give up more and more. But I got through it. I just won’t be rereading it again I think.
This might be because of how many pages were taken up by quotes or slightly unrelated topics. Did I need to know about one of the people who spent their life looking for the Loch Ness monster in a book about a guy looking for the Yeti? If I did I’d read a book about that guy instead.
And speaking of the main subject, I expected this to be slow in places due to the expeditions that would be mentioned not from all the stuff in between them. Yes I understand that needed to happen but I came to this book wanting to follow a monster hunter not follow a guy who’s trying to organise a holiday (I know it wasn’t a holiday but that’s how it felt at times).
So I was not a big fan of this book and from about 75% through I found myself wanting to just give up more and more. But I got through it. I just won’t be rereading it again I think.
December 3, 2019
Ce n'est pas très bien écrit, et je ne sais pas si c'est l'auteur ou la traductrice qui en est responsable, mais le style pataud dessert une histoire qui aurait dû être a minima intrigante. À mes yeux, Martínez n'a pas su trouver la bonne distance avec son personnage et son récit syncopé rend difficile de se passionner pour la quête obsessionnelle d'un homme pour une créature légendaire.
Livre abandonné.
Livre abandonné.
October 23, 2022
Interesante historia de un tipo interesante. La búsqueda del Yeti en una zona de belleza tan brutal como los peligros que la rodean. Escuché la historia de Jordi Magraner hace ya años en un programa de Milenio 3 y me quedé flipado. El libro aporta muchísimo más y es muy recomendable por cómo está escrito. Gran descubrimiento de este autor.
August 19, 2024
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake up in the day to find it was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerously men. For they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.
T. E. Lawrence.
T. E. Lawrence.
December 4, 2021
If you're looking for any details about the preperation and undertaking and of a hunt for the yeti, do not read this book. It provides nothing but mention of the main characters desire to search for anything, but money.
April 30, 2018
even a top translator struggled to make this readable
May 30, 2018
I enjoyed this travelogue that followed an adventurer. So much history to know, tragic or not.
September 15, 2014
Jordi Magraner decidió vivir conforme a su idea del mundo, aunque ésta se ajustase poco a la cruda realidad. Para ello se enfrentó a los intransigentes pero también pisoteó a algunos que sólo quisieron ayudarle para que esa realidad no le golpease demasiado fuerte. Encontró su camino en el límite mismo de lo que la mayoría entenderíamos como lo aceptable, fue más allá incluso, y por ello se granjeó demasiados enemigos.
Read
June 15, 2018When reading this book, one gets gusts of the best of Kipling, and also of Chatwin, even of Robert Byron. It’s the story of an obsessive trip, of a murder, of several love affairs, of a journey, of an adventurer who got lost forever, of the danger latent in trying to uncover an elusive truth and a truth only meaningful for he who wants it told (and then also, of course, for the fortunate reader). Fascinating from start to finish, In the Land of Giants is the kind of incredible story only an excess of reality can provide.
Javier Marías
A dark and hypnotic book … which leads us to the most remote and sinister side of the human soul.
El Pais
Martinez ably conjures the scent of juniper, the taste of black, salty tea and the sight of a 40-donkey convoy heading to Panjsh.
Spectator
Javier Marías
A dark and hypnotic book … which leads us to the most remote and sinister side of the human soul.
El Pais
Martinez ably conjures the scent of juniper, the taste of black, salty tea and the sight of a 40-donkey convoy heading to Panjsh.
Spectator
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