Michael Buckley is no newcomer to the field of Tibetan guidebooks. He was joint author of the first edition of the Lonely Planet guide to Tibet, published in early 1986.His new book is undoubtedly the one I would recommend first for reading before a visit to Tibet. For a visit to central or western Tibet it may also be the best single book to take.
The qualifications I have for commenting on guidebooks to Tibet are just that I have travelled to Tibet a number of times, always independently, that I have visited many of the regions of Tibet, that as a travel advisor for a major Tibet-support organization I have consulted with hundreds of western travellers to Tibet, and that I have read just about every guidebook to Tibet published in recent years.
Michael has a most attractive, easy style, speaking (he seems to be speaking) as one traveller to another. He is never patronising or pompous, he does not pretend to know what he doesn't know, and he does not flaunt his knowledge; among writers of guidebooks, those are rare achievements. Despite them, Michael is knowledgeable (there are many quite surprising bits of information) and is forthright in expressing his own considered opinions about cultural and political matters; but he seems to be sharing those opinions and his reasons for holding them, rather than preaching.
"What think ye of Tibet?" is a profound and important moral question, and it is one that any serious visitor should work on, and continue working on. Tibet is not the fantasy land that it was so often (by way of a kind of intellectual rape) supposed to be. But it is a country whose long isolation and whose unique approach to national priorities and polity have made it a priceless pearl, analogous to a genetic pool, whose destruction is occurring at the world's peril. Michael's book understands this, and includes an eloquent summary of the moral issues with which Tibetan politics confront and challenge the world. They are clearly matters on which Michael has thought long and deeply.
Some guidebooks use a fair amount of hearsay and guesswork for the sake of appearing complete in their description of places and travelling conditions. Michael seems to avoid that. If his information is sometimes incomplete, perhaps it is more reliable.
Every Tibet guidebook must answer the question, What are the boundaries of Tibet? Some guidebooks do not admit to asking it, but give their answers furtively, by what regions they speak about. Tibet is assuredly larger than the "Tibetan Autonomous Region" (of China), which alone the People's Republic means when it speaks of Tibet (Xizang). The territorial claims of the exile Tibetan government are, to say the least, ambitious; but it is a curious fact that they do not include a great deal of territory outside the "T.A.R." which China does not also classify as "Tibetan Autonomous" prefectures or counties in Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu or Yunnan provinces.
Michael does acknowledge a Tibet wider than the "T.A.R.": he includes a twenty-page chapter on "The Tibetan World outside the TAR, Tibet in exile, former kingdoms". Within that chapter, only a very few pages deal with Tibet outside the "T.A.R." but inside the People's Republic. But the chapter also includes welcome, if brief, sections on Tibetan regions of India, Nepal and Bhutan, as well as on Outer Mongolia - historically within the Tibetan cultural and religious sphere. Perhaps almost of necessity all the detailed travel information in the book concerns the "T.A.R.", and there is scope in future editions for more extensive information about the rest of Tibet.
Michael understands the importance of good maps, and this is reflected by the quality of the maps in his book. The inclusion is very welcome of town maps of Sakya, Nyalam, Ali, Zanda (Tholing) and Tsaparang, among others.
The book includes good descriptions of the main tourist routes in the T.A.R., including the route from Lhasa to Kathmandu with the main detours, an excellent section on trekking near Everest, and the western Tibet circuit. Welcome additions would include the circuit to the Kongpo east of Lhasa (through Bayi and Tsedang) with detours to Basum Tso and down the Tsangpo to Pe, the circuit through Nagchu to Chamdo and Bayi, and the route from Tsedang south of Yamdrok Tso to Gyantse. An index is needed.
All this means that this is a most valuable book, but that I hope Michael will persevere in making it even better, and considerably larger, in future editions.
