The Trail to Kanjiroba: Rediscovering Earth in an Age of Loss

by William deBuys

A revitalizing new perspective on Earthcare from Pulitzer Prize finalist William deBuys.

In 2016 and 2018, acclaimed author and conservationist William deBuys joined extended medical expeditions into Upper Dolpo, a remote, ethnically Tibetan region of northwestern Nepal, to provide basic medical services to the residents of the region. Having written about climate change and species extinction, deBuys went on those journeys seeking solace. He needed to find a constructive way of living with the discouraging implications of what he had learned about the diminishing chances of reversing the damage humans have done to Earth; he sought a way of holding onto hope in the face of devastating loss. As deBuys describes these journeys through one of Earth's remotest regions, his writing celebrates the land’s staggering natural beauty, and treats his readers to deep dives into two scientific discoveries—the theories of natural selection and plate tectonics—that forever changed human understanding of our planet.

Written in a vivid and nuanced style evocative of John McPhee or Peter Matthiessen, The Trail to Kanjiroba offers a surprising and revitalizing new way to think about Earthcare, one that may enable us to continue the difficult work that lies ahead.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Travel

272 pages, Hardcover

First published August 17, 2021

About the author

William deBuys is the author of seven books, including River of Traps: A New Mexico Mountain Life, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in general non-fiction in 1991; Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range; The Walk (an excerpt of which won a Pushcart Prize in 2008), and Salt Dreams: Land and Water in Low-Down California. An active conservationist, deBuys has helped protect more than 150,000 acres in New Mexico, Arizona, and North Carolina. He lives and writes on a small farm in northern New Mexico.

Reviews

[Mira Akbar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous book that looks at the climate crisis through the lens of the Himalayas. With through lines Including Mathesson's Snow Leopard, Joan Halifax, Charles Darwin, and Tectonic PlateTheory, there's no shortage of connecting points. Great and fitting pen illustrations are interspersed throughout. Overall, the tone is extremely contemplative and heartbreaking with thin lines of hope.

It paired extremely well with On Time And Water by Andri Snær Magnason, and I consider them as circling and enriching one another.

[Philip Reari · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting meditation on climate, geology and how to stay positive as an earth-lover in the anthropocene. Also with a nice narrative about hiking and helping others in the Himalayas. Found it to be a bit repetitive at times.

[Kathryn]

This is a gentle, though-provoking look at climate change and interactions between Westerners and people from a remote culture in Nepal. deBuys proposes approaching climate change from a hospice-like perspective, moving from "cure to care." I made it about halfway through before turning my attention to other books, but I do hope to finish this at some point. I recommend reading it as an e-book if you can, because the typesetting on the printed copy I tried is uncomfortably tiny.

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I figured out I had initially added this to my read list last summer based on learning of it from Tricycle. However...I wish I hadn't. Out of approx 10.25 hour audiobook, I think saying an hour of it was hope producing would be generous.

While this may be harsh, I also believe it was a good book and certainly challenging.

[Murat · Rating 5 out of 5]

"My delight in the beauty of the world had been joined to sorrow at its destruction, and the two emotions were like cellmates who refused to get along. Their ceaseless argument soured the taste of life. I hoped that a long walk — about 150 miles in this case — might cure the resultant moral ache." The latest book by William DeBuys is his chronicle of that walk on our planet's crown, the Himalaya Mountains, as he takes part in a medical expedition to numerous Nepalese villages at dizzying altitudes. His topics range widely from evolution (those captivating detours to Darwin alone make the book worthwhile), the biography of the Earth (how did that seafloor get to the top of Everest? Long story, literally,) how to wash feet (not having any medical expertise, that is indeed his assignment), incisive reflections on Earth-care (the potential of prioritizing care over cure—or detaching oneself from outcomes—for Earth-care, but also for self-care), a reckoning with the legacy of Sapiens (the problematic species that stopped co-evolving with the rest), and finally and most importantly to how to lead an ethical life in an era of irrevocable loss. This book couldn’t be more timely, and if you share any of that moral ache he is talking about, you will find invaluable guidance and perspective in its pages.

[David Rudin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really a prayer and a meditation. It is the introspective journal of deBuys who joins a buddhist oriented cadre of physicians putting on medical clinics in remote Nepal.

deBuys muses on geology, plate tectonics, the life and insights of Charles Darwin and underlying it all, he searches for a way of surviving in a world of ongoing environmental destruction. Anyone who connects to the planet can feel his pain.

While his musings were insightful and at times moving, he seems like he’s left with the same burning questions even after the trip, but with a few scraps of wisdom he tries to carry with him.

[Cody]

DeBuys offers up a potentially more durable form of meaning amid the carnage of climate change by reframing our efforts as a kind of palliative care. For all that we've destroyed, this planet remains abundant with wonder and awe, and, so, "defending the beauty of the world [is] a calling that will never go silent."

[David L Brandau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ancient paths bring perspective to the climate crisis

this story captures the feeling of trekking through Dolpo Nepal on a medical mission to its remote villages and contemplates Darwin, Buddhism and the human conditions in our world today.

[Bob Wainess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Travelog on trek through Himalayas with a medical group. It's Buddhist country so there's a lot in that, and meditation on the unfolding environmental disaster of global warming, comparing caring for earth to caring for the dying in hospice.

[Karin Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautifully written short chapters that weave together Darwin, continnental drift and the climate crisis all in the context of a pilgrimage in Nepal that provided medical care.

[Nancy Dardarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Combining Buddhism, the Himalayas and environmentalism with a medical trek to help isolated people made for an interesting but slow paced book.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stars for what the book stands for
2 stars for how it was written - went on tangents excessively

[Gail Burchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

More about the earths changes, climate change and seeing it unfold in Nepal.

[jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one's for Andy <3
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"The right way of walking is the right way to carry the grief." (208)