Himalaya: Exploring the Roof of the World

by John Keay

"Excellent ... packed with information and interesting anecdotes."-- The Washington Post

A groundbreaking new look at Himalaya and how climate change is re-casting one of the world's most unique geophysical, historical, environmental, and social regions .

More rugged and elevated than any other zone on earth, Himalaya embraces all of Tibet, plus six of the world's eight major mountain ranges and nearly all its highest peaks. It contains around 50,000 glaciers and the most extensive permafrost outside the polar region. 35% of the global population depends on Himalaya's freshwater for crop-irrigation, protein, and, increasingly, hydro-power. Over an area nearly as big as Europe, the population is scattered, often nomadic and always sparse. Many languages are spoken, some are written, and few are related. Religious allegiances are equally diverse. The region is also politically fragmented, its borders belonging to multiple nations with no unity in how to address the risks posed by Himalaya's environment, including a volatile, near-tropical latitude in which temperatures climb from sub-zero at night to 80°F by day.

Himalaya has drawn an illustrious succession of admirers, from explorers, surveyors, and sportsmen, to botanists and zoologists, ethnologists and geologists, missionaries and mountaineers. It now sits seismically unstable, as tectonic plates continue to shift and the region remains gridlocked in a global debate surrounding climate change . Himalaya is historian John Keay's striking case for this spectacular but endangered corner of the planet as one if its most essential wonders. Without an other-worldly ethos and respect for its confounding, utterly fascinating features, John argues, Himalaya will soon cease to exist.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Travel, India, Geography, Nature, Adventure

432 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2022

About the author

John Stanley Melville Keay FRGS is an English journalist and author specialising in writing popular histories about India and the Far East, often with a particular focus on their colonisation and exploration by Europeans.

John Keay is the author of about 20 books, all factual, mostly historical, and largely to do with Asia, exploration or Scotland. His first book stayed in print for thirty years; many others have become classics. His combination of meticulous research, irreverent wit, powerful narrative and lively prose have invariably been complimented by both reviewers and readers.

UK-based and a full-time author since 1973, he also wrote and presented over 100 documentaries for BBC Radios 3 and 4 from 1975-95 and guest-lectured tour groups 1990-2000. He reviews on related subjects, occasionally speaks on them, and travels extensively.

Reviews

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly this is just not for me and I didn’t finish it. I enjoyed the prologue which describes the Younghusband expedition of 1903/04 (see Daren’s recent review of Bayonets to Lhasa), an incursion that did not cover the British and their allies in glory. It did, however, open up more of Tibet to the western world. As Edmund Candler, a journalist whose account Keay relates to us, wrote Tomorrow, when we enter Lhasa, we will have unveiled the last mystery of the East. There are no more forbidden cities which men have not mapped and photographed.

Chapter 1 is about the geology of the Himalayas and it’s interesting to learn how the mountains were created. The wealth of fossil remains to be found there indicates that the mountains are young and were underwater at one time. Keay then turns to the history of geological theories and, for what seems like an interminably long time, the history of the identification of continental drift. This goes on much too long and in too much detail for me, if not for most lay readers.

Chapter 2 focuses on palaeontology, more fossil finding, and the antiquity of man. While the findings are interesting, this is just as much a history of the science as it is about the Himalayas and I found it very dry. Sadly, for me, the rest of the book continues in the same vein -potentially interesting topics bogged down in complex detail. It was just too dry for me and I gave up well before the end. There is no doubt that Keay knows his subject and it may be that I would find other works of his more readable but this one is just not for me.

With thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for a review copy.

[Nigel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Briefly - Very interesting in parts, rather "dense" and strangely organised at times to me.

In full
The Himãlaya region is an area that has always fascinated me. I was very pleased to get the opportunity to read this book about the area from an author with an obvious knowledge about this area and regions close by. The book is very wide ranging covering diverse aspects of this region including geology, history including religion and legends, social issues and trade. Mountaineering is also included. The region includes all of Tibet as well as adjacent areas, most of the world's mountains highest peaks and over 50,000 glaciers. The mountain range is the youngest on the planet and still growing. The area is nearly as big as Europe with diverse languages and religions.

One thing struck me immediately as very strange was that this vast region has no protection compared to other places on earth. Indeed it is an area that has often been abused rather than preserved. From invading armies of a number of nations through to modern environmental indifference and exploitation. The creation of the region by continental drift (and that subject it looked at in some detail) means the geology of the region is important. This leads to the geography of the area. I don't think I was aware that the top of Everest is marine limestone! Erosion and important rivers (and the valleys) are vital to understanding the area. This also leads to consideration of the wildlife and environment. This information often comes from hunters. Evidence of very varied past flora and fauna comes from fossil remains. The story of some of these finds really interested me.

Over the course of the book the ebb, flow and changes of power, religion and access crop up in a number of chapters. Invasion or occupation by others - China and the UK would be examples - led to changes in other aspects. Religion in the area grows, Buddhism particularly though Bonpo is looked at too, and then wanes or is suppressed. Pilgrimage and "sacred sites" is covered with some focus on Kailas & Manasarowar. The sheer scale of this book is akin to that of the region. Some places or topics crop up in the narrative in a number of chapters. Examples would be mountains, Lhasa and pilgrimage.

The abundance of things I knew very little or nothing about surprised me somewhat. Namcha Barwa would be a good example of a place this. I've heard the term "inaccessible" but this place and some others take that term beyond most of what I've come across. Of interest to me was the topic of mountains & mountaineering. The information on the exploration of the K2 area and the Karakoram more widely was extremely interesting. The scope of trade and commerce was more surprising to me that some other topics. The mineral exploitation of the area, equally the idea that animal products were important to trade were fairly obvious. However I confess I had no idea at all that caterpillar fungi (!) might crop up and certainly not as a valuable product.

The narrative here introduces us to a number of people who have journeyed in the region over centuries. Some of these I found so interesting. The story of Alexandra David-Néel for example was fascinating. She was the first European female to spend time in and explore the region - I knew nothing at all about her. I found parts of this book just so interesting and could have happily read more about them. By way of example the stories of specific explorers Vigne and the Karakoram was extremely interesting.

There are some pictures in this book however I guess I would have liked more. Equally there are some maps however these were simply inadequate for me. I have some broad understanding of the geography of the region but places were quite often mentioned that I had no clear idea about; again Namcha Barwa was an example of this. The maps there were seemed very general rather than specific to chapters. That said some chapters had extremely broad coverage too which might have made a better level of mapping harder.

I did find the epilogue a little strange. It was quite long and for the most part it seemed to contain material that could have been incorporated in other chapters quite happily. Having said that I confess that I'm actually not quite sure how this book is organised. The chapter headings are fine however I found some topics/characters spread over more than one chapter. In fairness to the author it is hard to write a compact review of this book so the difficulties in the planning and creation of this tome I realise are far larger. The spread of this book almost seems to reflect the spread of the area it refers too not unreasonably. This is probably not a book for the "person in the street". To get the most out of this a real interest in the area would be a minimum. However I would suggest that some reasonable level of knowledge would make the read far more rewarding. I found myself looking up aspects of this book that I simply knew very little or nothing about.

Note - I received an advance digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review

[Michael Hassel Shearer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Himalaya by John Keay I believe this book is best suited for a reader with a serious interest in the Himalaya region. Mr. Keay covers an expansive range of topics from explorers, rivers, the unusual plant life, political issues, and of course the mountains themselves. I enjoyed parts of this book and learned quite a few new details such as there are “male” and “female” glaciers and that if you mix a bit of both you can create a new growing glacier. Odd indeed. If the book suffers, it is because it is like climbing a mountain. It is a long, slow climb because the book is so full of detail. I kept searching the maps in the book as well as a map I have of the region to try to orient myself to the location and flow of rivers unknown to me or the routes taken by explorers. This book could even be considered a text book for someone studying this area of the world either from a geography point of view of political development. All in all an excellent read on a very interesting subject but still I was lacking oxygen plodding slowly through this book.

[Anand · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this hard to get through. It got better in the second half, but overall screamed out for an editor. The author names far too many people, doesn’t seem to have any discernible structure, and the chronology is erratic. That said, the material is rich and lively, and I’m glad I worked through it.

[Mike Mikulski · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Himalaya, a vast mountainous land including all of Tibet, surrounded by India and China, spanning from Afghanistan to the highlands of Myanmar, cradle to Buddhism, towering above the silk road between China and the West, site of the highest mountains in the world, some of it still not fully explored. An author who has been travelling to and writing about the region since the 1960's with 23 books to his credit. Sounds like a good read.

What a frustrating read! Keay offers up a natural history of the Himalaya. Chapter One explores the geographical origins of the area with Keay drawing heavily from John McPhee's Annals of the Former World. If only Keay could write like McPhee. In his preface Keay admits he has taken liberties with chronology, but the combination of a text that jumps about randomly in time and place, filled with facts over-written in a British academic prose style, reliant on tiny maps that are difficult to read, led me to stop reading a third of the way through this book. I'll wait for another author who may plumb Keay's library and other sources to develop a clearer picture.

I was looking over a list of Keay's past work and saw The Honourable Company: A History of the British East India Company. In hindsight I remember starting to read that book several years ago and bowing out of that read as well. Wish I had made that connection sooner.

[Sajith Kumar · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Himalayan mountain range is as prominent as a global geographical unit as the Pacific Ocean, Australian continent or the Sahara Desert. Science deduces that this mountain range was formed several billions of years ago when the Indian tectonic plate rammed into the Asian plate causing the impact edges to bend upward as the Himalayas. The compression on the line of contact is so huge that the earth’s crust thickened near the mountains and it became the Tibetan plateau. Whatever may be the nitty-gritty of its formation, Himalaya is sacred to Hindus, Buddhists and other tribal religions alike as the abode of gods. When India succumbed to colonial expansionism in the nineteenth century, the British officials were intrigued by the sheer presence of the Himalaya mainly because of its high peaks which are unparalleled in the world, the indigenous people who valued exclusionism and the prospects of trade. The notion of Himalaya as a halfway haven to the stars blessed with idyllic valleys and other-worldly values took root in Western minds as a result of early explorations. This book offers a mishmash of facts and legends, mainly about Tibet and the Pamirs. It talks about early explorations, invasions, arm-twisting of native Tibetans both by the British earlier and later by the Chinese, mountaineering and how the region became a point of contention in the Great Game of colonial expansion sought by the British and the Russians. John Keay is a noted British historian whose style is very elegant. Reviews of several of his works such as India – A History, The Honourable Company and The Spice Route can be found in this series and can be accessed by clicking on the titles.

Keay begins by establishing Himalaya’s immense significance to dictating geography in this part of the world. The fragility of this eco-zone needs hardly to be explained. Himalaya is here compared to continents like Australia or Antarctica, where the latter is demilitarised and apportioned into national study zones by universal agreement. Himalaya also is as fragile and globally significant and would benefit from such a consensus. Towards the end of the book, the author laments that Himalaya cannot be protected by treaties due to political causes, but the concerns of the indigenous people ‘should not be allowed to deter global anxieties’ (p.337). This is a serious assertion and implies a colonial mindset expressed variously as White Man’s Burden. This long-discarded racial theory implies that the coloured people does not know how to mind their affairs in modern societies and it was the white man’s duty to civilize them. This implied suggestion to override national boundaries and bring the region into a supra-national protectorate administered by international bureaucracy is an outrageous one. As part of the history of the origin of Himalaya, this book explains the development of the concepts of plate tectonics and the contributions of Alfred Wegener whose ideas were ridiculed, discredited at first and then grudgingly accommodated. However, plate tectonics conveys such profound knowledge and is comparable to what evolution was to natural sciences and what relativity and quantum mechanics were to physics. The Himalayan peaks were once ocean floor. The uplifting of all this rock was the result of tectonic collisions at extremely low speed.

Keay often exhibits an unnecessarily accommodative posture to local beliefs and myths which may sometimes run counter to established scientific wisdom or even common sense. The reasons which prompt him to do so are flimsy and unconvincing for general readers. Palaeontologists discovered fossils of an enormous tortoise called Colossochelys atlas in the nineteenth century from Sivalik mountains. This species is speculated to have gone extinct after humans colonized the region and is stretched as an explanation to a similar concept in Hindu myths which suppose a giant tortoise on whose carapace the earth rests. There is a similar tale in native American societies too. The author drives the point a little too far and makes the earlier claim vulnerable to critical scrutiny when he suggests that the ogres and ogresses referred in Tibetan myths may represent an ancestral memory of contact with Neanderthals or other hominins (p.73). To scientifically buttress this point, he postulates that the genes adapted to oxygen deficiency in the high altitudes were obtained by mixing with Denisovan Man – another hominid. Another curious piece of folk wisdom relates to Hunza whose people believe that the glaciers are gendered and if ice from a male and female glacier is mixed together and is covered in snow at a suitable place and if certain ceremonies are gone through, then a baby glacier will grow there. Though the author does not back it unhesitatingly, he gives a nuanced description which hints that it is likely to happen or that he has met at least a few people who had seen it happen.

Most of the narrative revolves around Tibet and its geographical and political landscapes. Explorations into Tibet’s prehistory are narrated and concludes that prehistoric archaeology of the region is still in its infancy. China forcefully annexed Tibet and reconfigured it in the 1960s and prevented any meaningful enquiries. The Tibetan autonomous region was renamed Xizang and roughly corresponded to Outer Tibet. Most of Inner Tibet is now not recognized as Tibetan at all and is incorporated into neighbouring Chinese provinces. Tibet was being dismantled just as its name was being erased. China is brutally exploiting its resources. The ores and aggregates of the plateau all flow east into China. Those benefitting from all this bounty are Han Chinese plus a few foreign investors. The machinery, the expertise and most of the labour come from China. Stories of several Western explorers who travelled in Tibet are given in the book. They got into different regions of the Himalaya after 1850 and exposed several aspects of the geography or culture. While acknowledging Chinese aggression in Tibet, the author is extremely reluctant to admit the cultural ties that exist between that country and India. He insinuates that Indian pilgrimage to Kailas Manasarovar originated only in the 1930s because there are no ashrams, dharmasalas or statuary nearby or at least the British patronage in the 1920s led to a dramatic increase in the number of Indian pilgrims to Kailas region (p.215). The object of this British ploy was to impress on the Chinese that India too had a legitimate interest in Tibet – a case of pilgrimage serving politics. When China invaded and occupied Tibet, Indian pilgrimage was abruptly terminated which was resumed only in the late-1970s. The book also harps on the inconclusive character of the border line separating India and Tibet and called the McMahon Line. The wriggling course taken by the McMahon Line through the eastern Himalayas match exactly with the explorations of Bailey and Morshead in 1913. The 1914 Simla conference between Britain, China and Tibet would formalise the line, but it remained a dead letter as the convention was never ratified because the World War I intervened before any progress could be marked.

The book provides many curious bits of information that may challenge the incredulity of readers. It talks about a welcome piece of news regarding climate change and global warming called the Karakoram Anomaly. When the basic postulate of the warming gang is that glaciers are melting away to extinction, the glaciers in Karakoram are said to be actually growing! Compare this with the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland where it is shrinking. The travels of Swami 1108 Pranavananda Maharaj prove very interesting. The number 1108 in his honorific corresponds to a sacred numeral in Hindu and Buddhist thinking. He semi-resided in Kailas Manasarovar region for 23 years and made 25 circuits around both on foot. He compiled a record enveloping everything that could pertain to the region even including ornithology, mineralogy, cultivation and zoology. Keay also mentions about a historical event that defined Tibet’s cultural affinity towards India, at the cost of China. A religious conclave was held there in the eighth century CE, to decide and choose between Zen Buddhism of China and the orthodox Indian variety. The reigning Tibetan monarch made a clincher that only the doctrine maintained by Indians was to be recognized in Tibet. Thereafter, it was to India that Tibet looked for religious inspiration and direction. Even then, the author makes a crafty observation later that Ladakh is ethnically and culturally Tibetan and virtually regrets its annexation in the nineteenth century to Kashmir under the Dogra king Gulab Singh (p.272).

The author is a colonial apologist of the milder variety. A faint astonishment is clearly discernible in the narrative which confounds the author as to why today’s Indians are not properly ‘grateful’ for the services rendered by their British taskmasters in the nineteenth century by opening up the Himalayan hinterland. He conclusively disregards Indian efforts in this direction. To the British explorers and possibly to Keay also, those Indians hired for the explorative journeys counted little more than cattle they collected as pack animals for the trip. In some places, the book unfortunately smacks of colonial hangover. It is as if the Europeans had not come and ‘prised up’ the mountain fastness, the Chinese and Indians would not have known that Himalaya existed! Keay’s disdain about Indians is exceeded only by his near-contemptuous disregard for Nepal and its people whom he likens to a destitute, failed state. The author does not consider Kashmir to be a part of India in his wily observation that ‘Nanda Devi was the highest peak wholly within India because Kangchenjunga being half in Sikkim and Nanga Parbat in Kashmir’ (p.305). He also accuses India of stripping Kashmir of its autonomy, isolated it by all manner of restrictions and subjected to occupation by half-a-million troops (p.267). Through this blatantly hostile comment, he is referring to the abrogation of Article 370 in the Indian constitution.

The book seems to lack a structure or a solid timeline of narration. Sometimes the author opts for a flashback going a century or two in the past and then fast-forwards to late-twentieth century with equal gusto. A large part of the book is concentrated on Tibet but this occupied country does not elicit the much-needed sympathy and support. The author of course notes ruefully that China is exploiting Tibet by robbing it of precious minerals, but it is timid and does not heats up the argument to such a level that can lead to a refusal of a visa to China in the future. Author’s research for the work seems limited to the historical material compiled by colonial explorers. Even though the Himalaya is the subject matter of the book, it does not disclose how the mountain is known to local people in the Chinese, Tibetan or Burmese languages. Keay has simply not bothered to look. What shines through the entirety of the text is the unbreakable linkage of local religions to the sacred geography of the Himalayas, whether it is Buddhist, Hindu or the tribal Bon religion. But in the western regions of the mountain range which straddles Pakistan and Afghanistan, no such bondage is witnessed which may probably be due to the strict form of Islamic monotheism practised in these parts. The author has obviously not visited the Afghan part of Himalaya possibly due to security concerns, but limits his criticism to those regions which actually permitted him to visit them safely. The irony and ingratitude is glaring.

The book is recommended.

[Suraj Kumar · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Keay’s Himālaya: Exploring the Roof of the World is work of extensive and serious research. I have always been fascinated by the Himalayas – partly because of their proximity to my native place, and partly because of their relatively recent origin, what Keay describes in terms of their being “an orogenous zone.” In my initial views on this book, I described it as having “something for the mountain lovers, as well as history geeks, and geography and geology buffs.” To the extent that evolutionary history interests me as a reader, I found the initial parts of this book quite immersive.

I had the impression that the book is primarily about Himalayas – the mountain range. But as I dived into the book, I realized that it is centered around Tibet: the roof of the world. This was a surprise, but not a deterring factor. However, as I read on, I found the narrative too convoluted and crowded by numerous characters, whose lives despite being of interest, impeded the flow of the narrative. While this book forms an important study – comprehensive and exhaustive by all means – its target audience is not general readers interested to learn something or the other about the Himalayas or Tibet. This book amounts to something more than a beginner’s guide to Himālaya, and therefore, it is meant primarily for readers who are seriousness in this subject far exceeds the interest of a general reader.

Having said that I do feel that the book suffers from a lack of continuity in terms of its narrative. Keay does not follow a chronology, nor does he move region-wise. In his view, he has structured the book on the basis of different themes/issues – what may be termed as important aspects of the Himālaya. To name a few, these include flora and fauna, religion and mythology, folklore, trade and war, and mountain ranges of course. While Keay tries to maintain a sense of coherence by continuously referring to characters and events mentioned in the other chapters, the final result adds up to leaving the reader confused. I had to stop reading mid-way. I returned to this book after a period of about 4-5 months.

In the final analysis, despite my not-so pleasant experience with this book, I still feel that Keay has done a commendable job. His work is valuable, and I can imagine myself returning back to it, as a reference book, sometime in future.

My Rating: *** (2.5/5)

Have you read any book on the Himalayas or Tibet? What are your favourite books or movies on this subject? I watched Seven Years in Tibet, while reading this book. What are your thoughts on that? Do share your views. Thanks.

*I received a copy by the publisher in exchange fore an honest review. Views expressed are entirely personal and unbiased.*

[Anon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of western explorer stuff

[Anu Anand · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book - the Himalayas stretch across such a diverse range of South Asia, from Pakistan in the west through India, Nepal, into Tibet/China and to the east, encompassing Sikkim and Bhutan. As a journalist who's lived in the region for 10 years, I had few opportunities to explore the Himalayas and hoped this book would give me both a bird's eye sweep of the region, and an intimate glimpse into its landscape, culture and history.

John Keay's book is fascinating in parts: the geological history of the Himalayas is extraordinary: you find handfuls of tiny, pre-historic sea creatures at the tops of these lofty mountains. They were scooped along the seabed over millennia as the continental Indian plate scraped across the sea before hitting Asia, hurling them up to the tops of newly formed mountains. The cosmology of Vedic India and the history of the Sikh, Dogra, Mughal and British empires too is fascinating in parts.

But the book overall does not feel like the majestic, coherent or vivid account these incredible mountains deserve. Indeed, it's more akin to slogging along a dirt track, weighed down by superfluous detail and clouded by a lack of context. Persevering through a chapter, the reader would be forgiven for collapsing into an exhausted sleep, overtired and unable to process the journey.

The book is not organised in any discernible way - neither by geography, subject nor theme. It instead meanders between imperial history, geography, politics and religion. It is chock full of the usual colonial old boys and interminable detail about their personal quirks and exploits - but written for those already familiar with that club - its tribal syntax, histories, customs. It often felt like I was in the grip of listening to a self-obsessed old man - albeit exceptionally knowledgeable and well-travelled - droning on more for himself than for an audience, oblivious that readers aren't following his chosen narrative and uninterested in the details that seem to fascinate mostly him.

I persevered (for a year on and off) because it feels important to read what there is about South Asia and Asia. I kept hoping to learn of the actual people who inhabit the place - and I did briefly through tantalising scraps of information: Swami Pranavananda - who explored Mansarovar, early Indian heroes of the Archaeological Survey or those who mapped mountains' heights; little-known facts about places that feature in current events, like Siachen and the lesser-understood but regionally important politics of Nepal, Tibet and China.

But overall, I feel I invested more than I gained. This reads very much like a journey undertaken from a library far from its subject - dispassionate, functional, distant... than the living, breathing adventure of a lifetime I anticipated.

[Dhwani · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

John Keay’s book Himalaya offers a comprehensive and insightful look into the history, geography, and culture of the majestic Himalayan region.

Keay’s extensive research and engaging writing style make this book a must-read for anyone interested in the complex and diverse landscape of the Himalayas.

The book not only delves into the physical characteristics of the region but also explores the rich tapestry of people and cultures that call the Himalayas their home.

One of the most striking aspects of Himalaya is the author’s ability to weave together historical events, geographical features, and cultural practices into a coherent narrative. His writing is informative, transporting the reader to the rugged mountains and deep valleys of the Himalayas.

Keay’s attention to detail and his nuanced understanding of the complexities of the region make this book a valuable resource for scholars and enthusiasts.

Overall, this book is a masterful work that showcases John Keay’s expertise in the field of South Asian studies. From the origins of the Himalayan range to the modern-day political tensions that define the region, Keay covers a wide range of topics with clarity and depth. This book is a valuable addition to the literature on the Himalayas and is sure to leave a lasting impact on readers interested in this fascinating part of the world.

Himalaya by John Keay can be considered an exhaustive piece of literature for which a reader has to be ready.

P. S. It took me more than a year to finish this book. Readers with a very very keen interest in the Himalayas, this book is for you. The readers who want to briefly want to read about the same, I would suggest you explore more of your options.

[Dr. Kshitija · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very comprehensive account of the Himalayas. The author starts right at the beginning, from the movement of tectonic plates leading to formation of Himalayas and even delves into how this theory was proposed. We get a glimpse into the lives and achievements of the various people- climbers, scientists, geographers, and the local populace who explored the Himalayan region and it's biodiversity and conquered it's many high rising peaks. The author also explores the cultural nuances of the Tibetan plateau and how it influenced the geopolitics of that region. As we read on to the later chapters, we come across the more popular expeditions and learn of different countries' obsession with different peaks- Everest being prerogative of British, Nanga Parbat of Germans and K2 of Italians and Namcha Bawa of Japanese. The story continues and author mentions relatively recent events like the Assam earthquake of 1950 of magnitude 8.7 that blocked Bramhaputra due to falling of a mountain causing massive damage. The first 8-thousander tobe conquered was the Annapurna by the Frenchman Herzog. And within the decade, almost all the 14 peaks above 8000 got conquered. He talks of the commercialization of climbing expeditions and the hazards of having man-made structures lik huge dams in this region in his closing remarks.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last two chapters were nearly unreadable as I'd tired of two of the author's bad habits: skipping around the timeline and taking a long time each chapter to reveal the main idea. Many chapters were interesting, but I'm still not sure why the author chose the particular parts of Himalayan history to the exclusion of others. This isn't a general history but instead focuses on what I suspect are the author's topics of interest. Additionally, many chapters like "Swami and Swede" needed a clear map to help readers place the geography in their minds.
I recommend this book if you've read a general history of the region before. Or, read this book and supplement each chapter with encyclopedia or documentary. Otherwise, the Himalayan history initiate will become lost in all the (often unnecessary) details.

[Joel S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this book but I think it is better suited to those who already know more about the Himalayan region and its history. The book's chapters are more based around a specific topic area and then jumps around historically. This is harder to keep track of if you're more of a neophyte but I can see where it would pull together a whole host of threads by an expert in this area if you're a bit more knowledgeable.

[Jonathan Freeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

As other reviewers have said this book is disjointed and having no clear timeline is confusing, jumping back and forth. The choice of what was included is also rather idiosyncratic with a real emphasis on Tibet. There are interesting facts included but it is a difficult book to read. I wouldn't have thought it possible to make the Himalayas boring but this book gives it a go. I certainly wouldn't trust the book reviewers opinions any more. I like the book cover design.

[Veena · Rating 1 out of 5]

The title and content are a bit disconnected, writing is somewhat incoherent (similar observation as other reviewers, and similar reviews on author's other books, seems like a pattern), and a bit of insensitivity seen in forced dry humor built on religious beliefs and practices of natives.

Do not recommend.

[Kristína · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me as a non-native english speaker (4th language) it was a bit hard to comprehend.
To follow the thoughts, the names and the amounts of information included in the book, I had to re-read some sections multiple times again and again.

On the other hand, there were many facts that were interesting and thorougly researched.

[Charit · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book but was a slog to get through - covered religion, exploration, history, geography of the Himalayas comprehensively. Book needed atleast a dozen more maps and closer to the passages. So much detail - that I would like to remember - but likely won’t be able to.

[Csimplot Simplot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!!!

[Jacki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful and lovely read.

[Fay Lin · Rating 1 out of 5]

The audiobook desperately needs a PDF with images! So much narration is lost from not being able to see the glaciers and mountains.

[kate]

A history of the Himalaya region, exploration and natural history.

[Bookwoman67 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting topic, very uneven presentation.

[Gijs Limonard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was hoping for a narrative along the lines of and in the style of Robert Macfarlane (Underland: A Deep Time Journey, Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination, The Gifts of Reading) but was somewhat disappointed; it's accurate but not gripping, the endless stream of names and dates does not serve any overarching function or theme.

[N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notes
In the case of granite, durability is achieved when molten magma from within the earth’s mantle is extruded and cooled under pressure. As an igneous rock, then, granite denotes a process as much as a substance; and over time the process may be repeated with reliquefied granite

Himālaya’s frozen realms are the product of a subterranean inferno, and earth’s highest peaks consist of materials forged in its deepest depths.

In what geologists call a syntaxis, the structural grain of the range twists through 90 degrees to swing southward. On the map, the resulting appendages look like distinct ranges and are indeed so named – as the Hindu Kush of Pakistan and Afghanistan in the west, and as the mountain spine of northern Burma and South-east Asia in the east.

Persuading western Tibet’s lamas to part with the precious statuary, artworks and texts of what Tucci deemed their ancient but hopelessly doomed civilisation would mean paying handsomely for them. His original proposal to Italy’s Royal Academy had been quite candid on the subject: acquiring a stake in Tibetan culture would be expensive. The expedition had nevertheless been approved thanks to ‘the enlightened intervention of the Head of the Government’. This was Benito Mussolini.

It is of course possible that archaeological excavation will one day uncover beneath these ruins a lost city of ornate chambers and stately banqueting halls. But as things stand it’s hard to reconcile the extravagant lifestyle and heroic hyperbole found in the bonpo scriptures with this troglodyte architecture of dolls’-house dimensions.

Bailey has since acquired a certain notoriety as a do-or-die explorer. Rarely troubled by self-doubt and with a stare of disconcerting belligerence, he’s also a crack shot and an avid butterfly-collector.

One can understand why this people lives so intensely in its religion, almost entranced and lost in visions of its own. The landscape is the natural background for Lamaism, for its rites, for its demons; all is gigantic and mysterious, infinite and sad.

Mountains invite communion with the supernatural; wildernesses encourage a contemplative state of mind; isolation makes for introspection. The play of light stimulates metaphysical speculation, and the bare rock seems ready-made for the anchorite. Lack of oxygen could induce a light-headed euphoria even in impetuous imperialists like Younghusband.

Prayer was so repetitious it could be left to wind-fluttered flags, revolving prayer wheels and a single muffled mantra of mind-numbing inconsequence. In Tibet the Buddha himself had somehow become one of many Buddhas, most of whom could be depicted as hideous monsters. Superstition and witchcraft had eclipsed meditation and compassion. Tibetan Buddhism was just ‘a priestly mixture of … mysticism, magic and Indo-Tibetan demonolatry overlaid by a thin varnish of Mahayana Buddhism’.

Known as ‘caterpillar fungus’ or in Tibetan as yartsa gambu (‘summer grass, winter worm’), this is not a mineral but an epiphytic fungus whose spores infect the larvae of a species of upland ghost moth. In spring, after consuming all but the yellowish outer shell of the moth larvae, the spores produce a dark fungoid spike which, growing from the head of the larva, eventually protrudes from the ground cover just enough for keen eyes to detect it. Prised from the soil intact (that is, with the spike still attached to the remains of the larva) this least prepossessing of the vegetable kingdom’s productions has the distinction of being ‘the world’s most valuable parasite’. Its medicinal and restorative properties may not be universally recognised but that only inflates its mystique in the Chinese market. ‘The biggest and most attractive pieces sell for $140,000 per kilogram,’

[Savannah Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting read. I really enjoyed this book.