From the Publisher
Excellent … both Himalaya and Erika Fatland's High are ideal books for armchair travelers, packed with information and entertaining anecdotes. You will learn a lot from them-though not, of course, the way to reach fabled Tralla La. That must remain a secret.” —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
“A fascinating assemblage of anecdotes, crisscrossing deep gorges and mountain passes, visiting exotic retreats with unfamiliar names, and leaping back and forth across the centuries, true to the unique mix of nature and culture that is Himalaya…Keay's narrative, compellingly complex as the Himalaya itself, touches on all these subjects, offering, as if from highest ground, exhilarating vistas in every direction.” —Natural History Magazine
“A panoramic overview of the history, archaeology, geology, politics, religions, and cultures of the storied mountain range, highlighting the individuals who have aspired to reach its peaks, visited its sacred sites, investigated its flora and fauna, and created its vivid mythology … A wide-ranging adventure into rugged terrain.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A singularly unique and seminal study…impressively informative, exceptionally well written, and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation. An inherently fascinating and thought-provoking read from cover to cover, Himalaya is especially and unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists for anyone with an interest in Central Asian History.” —Midwest Book Review
“An important work on an imperiled land, best suited to collections with an emphasis on geography, geology, or environmentalism.” —Library Journal
“A lively, wide-ranging primer on the towering mountain ranges known collectively as the Himalayas … timely, authoritative.” —Booklist
“I started this book thinking a better understanding of Himalaya would merely augment my knowledge of the area. But I ended believing I'd stumbled upon a wholly unique, hidden region with a surprisingly central role in our history, especially regarding climate change and the religious impulses that buttress its natives. It's also a place that could not be subdued by Europeans. It stands apart, mystified and demystified in Keay's Himalaya, challenging our assumptions about the planet and its peoples.” —Washington Independent Review of Books
Library Journal
09/01/2022
Keay (Explorers of the Western Himalayas; The Tartan Turban: In Search of Alexander Gardner) takes readers on an exploration of a vast and ecologically varied region, following in the footsteps of (primarily European) adventurers, administrators, climbers, sportsmen, and scholars who ventured into its interior beginning in the early 19th century. Gradually chipping away at the mysteries of Himalaya's fluid borders and disputed territories through the pursuit of trade routes and antiquities, Keay shows how these explorers laid the groundwork for the modern forces of commercialization and resource exploitation that threaten the region's natural and cultural heritage. From the plate tectonics that created Himalaya's mountain ranges to the influence of successive waves of Buddhist thought, the book's necessary broad scope covers such a diverse range of topics that none are afforded the depth of examination they are due. Yet by highlighting how much there is still to understand about Himalaya and its peoples, Keay has deftly underscored the dangers posed by development, conflict, and climate change. VERDICT An important work on an imperiled land, best suited to collections with an emphasis on geography, geology, or environmentalism.—Sara Shreve
Kirkus Reviews
2022-08-31
An exploration of the history and possible future of the Himalayas.
Since the 1960s, historian and journalist Keay has been traveling to and writing about the Himalayas. Now, in his 22nd book, he offers a panoramic overview of the history, archaeology, geology, politics, religions, and cultures of the storied mountain range, highlighting the individuals who have aspired to reach its peaks, visited its sacred sites, investigated its flora and fauna, and created its vivid mythology. Among an international cast of intrepid, sometimes eccentric characters are the German polar explorer Alfred Wegener, who theorized the idea of continental drift; the flamboyant Italian Giuseppe Vincenzo Tucci, whom Keay deems the greatest Tibetologist of the 20th century; linguists and folklorists David and Emily Lorimer; and opera diva and devout Buddhist Alexandra David-Néel, whose memoir My Journey to Lhasa (1927) “offers a wealth of fantasy, anecdote and domestic detail,” including “hallucinations, divinations, mystic encounters, feats of endurance, family disputes, miracles galore and some leaden humour.” The Himalayas are a vast, young range, notes Keay. Mount Everest grows a few centimeters per year, and the area is so seismically active that it experiences an earthquake every week. “Seen from afar,” writes the author, “with the snows of their dragon’s-back skyline snagging the clouds, they epitomise permanence and eternity; but geologically speaking they are neither permanent nor eternal.” Paleontologists have discovered remains of mastodon and hippopotamus, porcupine and rat, among species that could not have survived in the current climate. Culturally and politically, the region has undergone dramatic changes as well. Leay examines the fraught conflicts that have beset much of the region: Nepal, home to 129 languages, struggling “to assert a distinct identity”; Tibet, coveted by China; and Kashmir, a Muslim-majority state in a Hindu-dominated Indian republic. Ecologically vulnerable, the region is in need of environmental safeguards—not least, against defilement from climbers’ trash. Pair this one with Ed Douglas’ Himalaya: A Human History.
A wide-ranging adventure into rugged terrain.
