No comments about The Travels of an Alchemist - The Journey of the Taoist Ch'ang-Ch'un From China to the Hindukush at the Summons of Chingiz Khan.

5 comments about The Kid Who Climbed Everest.

1. An excellent book. Bear Grylls recounts his experience starting with his overwhelming desire to raise the funds to climb Mount Everest, his training in order to fulfill his dream and then the ultimate struggle for survival in climbing the world's tallest peak. I admire Bear for not only recovering from a parachuting accident that should have claimed his life (and indeed broke his back) but for having the sheer willpower and determination to face his fears and scale Mount Everest. I almost felt like I was on the mountain with him as he describes his treachorous accent.



2. Great book. 5 stars from me.
   
   The editor should be fired though. I think all he did was run spell check and loaded it into the press.



3. I watch Bear on his show Man vs Wild and so I wanted to learn more about him. I learned a lot about Everest and its relationship to the people who climb it. Bear wrote in a journal-like format, and I loved that! I felt like I was there with him going through this experience too. It has inspired me to take up hiking. The man is amazing and I want to read more of his experiences. I definitely recommend this book.



4. Read the book in 2 days, I could not put it down. Exciting, dramatic, laws of brotherhood and courage. I have always been into mountain climbing (never been at high altitudes) and pushing myself to the limit and farther and this book is just a reminder to never give up until you have made it home. Great motivator--5 out of 5



5. I have just finished TKWCE and I am totally blown away. I have been a fan of Bear Grylls ever since I saw my first episode of Man vs. Wild and this book has elevated him greatly in my eyes. He is a man to be admired.
   
   Bear's storytelling style made the entire book sound as though it was his interior monologue from Man vs. Wild which made for a quick and entertaining read. As a military man myself as well as an amateur mountaineer, I had no trouble identifying with Bear and his team as he described the pain, fear, exhaustion, and sense of adventure intrinsic to an assault on Mt. Everest. I enjoyed the humor, humility, and introspection throughout the book.
   
   Obviously since Bear wrote this at age 23, it is not Into Thin Air as many previous reviewers have mentioned. However, I enjoyed it a great deal more than ITA as Krakauer had a MUCH different climb and was surrounded by a great deal more controversy than Bear Grylls. Additionally, I think that the editor should be roundly thrashed for merely spellchecking and submitting the manuscript to the publisher!
   
   For somebody new to mountaineering or in the lower age bracket, this is a great book to start you off into Mountain Literature. It is not the flowing epic of Into Thin Air by Krakauer, nor is it the intensity driven, nihilistic assault of Kiss or Kill by Twight. This book is very simply about "A Kid" with a young man's perspective and worldview talking about scaling Everest. Bear makes no secret of the fact that he is a church going man, true, so if that turns you off, this might not be the book for you. However, all would do well to remember that there are no atheists on battlefields,...or in deserts,...or across oceans,...and certainly not on mountaintops!

2 comments about Laos: Culture and Society.

1. Despite the growing need for flexible overviews of this part of the world, and, taking into account that the editor is an accomplished writer, this volume does not fill the need for even an undergraduate readership (let alone tourists!). It's poorly compiled and suffers from what must have been "old buddies" wanting in. A case in point is Trankell's paper. I've read it through twice and although I've spent two years of field work in the area (Trankell claims to have spent two weeks) I can't recognize any of the "data" she draws on to support point that escapes any sound mind. His paper is not the only bad one, but it does reflect badly on the entire composition of the volume.



2. There are some great essays in here that have not been published elsewhere. Original research

2 comments about Memoirs of a Political Officer's Wife: in Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan (Wisdom Tibet Book. Yellow Series).

1. Under what circumstances should a bride on honeymoon learn to shoot a rifle? The answer? If she was marrying a Political Officer in 1933. In her book " Memoirs of a Political Officer's Wife in Tibet, Sikkim and and Bhutan" Margaret Williamson describes her two years spent travelling with her husband who was working on behalf of the British Government in this remote part of the world.

   To say she descibes a world that is lost to us is an understatement. She describes Tibet when it was ruled over by the previous Dalai Lama who died in 1935. Long before the Chinese invaded. She talks of Sikkim a tiny state that was invaded by India as recently as the 1970s. It is only in Bhutan where life is still recognisable from the decsriptions in this book.

   Her description of a long lost life style in this mostly barren part of the world together with her observations of colours, fabrics and the minutiae of life provides a colourful view of life at a political level in these countries. Her marraige lasted two short years, her husband was buried in Tibet where his grave was eventually washed away by floods. She remains convinced to the end that " if I were to be offered the chance of lilving that all too brief period over again, I would do so without a moment's hesitation - even if I knew at the same time what the final outcome would be"

   A fascinating view of life in the Himalayas in the 1930s where women travellers were the exception. And a way of life that is apart from anything we shall ever experience .




2. I'm researching a trip to Bhutan this fall, and have found that memoirs like this are few and far between. This book describes a world that is far gone--especially Tibet, where all vestiges of the Buddhist culture have been stamped out by the Chinese, except for a few carefully preserved sites for tourists. The book is fascinating for its picture of a culture that was totally accessible to a rather low level British foreign service officer--the Dalai Lama, the Bhutanese Royal Family welcome these well-meaning British into their midst with great ceremony and real friendship. The book itself suffers from a lack of immediacy, which I attribute to the fact that it was written many years later and undoubtedly based almost solely on diaries. I wish there were descriptions of the journeys themselves--the author speaks of crossing 17,000 foot passes as if they were a walk in the park---didn't the pack animals stumble, wasn't she ever out of breath? I would love to have read a description of a small village casually passed--were the children healthy? the people hostile or curious? Having said that, the book presents an interesting picture of a relatively benevolent British Empire reaching out to an independent Tibet--and Bhutan--untouched by the West.

5 comments about Among Insurgents: Walking Through Burma.

1. A BOOK OF THE YEAR! (The Sunday Telegraph, UK)

   "For near-lunatic courage and a unique mine of information, [this book] by Shelby Tucker might belong to another century. At the age of 53, Tucker, a maverick American lawyer, decided to cross North Burma, entering illegally from China and departing illegally into India. He was captured by Burmese Communist guerrillas, passed on to Christian Kachin rebels (with whom he was soon consorting), was arrested by the Indian army, and six months later emerged to write this astonishing book: a surreal mixture of "Boy's Own" derring-do and expert knowledge of an almost unknown region."

   --Colin Thubron, for The Sunday Telegraph (UK), in "Books of the Year" Column




2. AN EXCERPT FROM THE SCOTSMAN: Thursday, 30 November 2000:

   "Shelby Tucker's Among Insurgents: Walking Through Burma is the account of an American adventurer who entered Burma illegally from China, was captured by Communist guerrillas, passed on to Kachin freedom-fighters and was eventually arrested by the Indian Army. A hugely informative book of near-lunatic courage."




3. This book is different than most other books of a similar subject. In one way, the author has written a very detailed description of World War 2, the history of Burma, and so forth. On the other hand, the author has written a book about a brave and crazy journey through Burma. What has resulted is a book that is too detailed and boring for a reader who is interested in the journey across Burma and not professional enough for a historian or researcher.

   The author does however seem to present what happened honestly, which allows the reader to form an opinion of the author himself. I have traveled through "insurgent controlled" areas of Burma, and as such understand some of the "issues" that he faced. My personal opinion of the author's character is not good, but this may be due to the fact that we are very different people. The way in which he dealt with certain situations made me feel like he was arrogant and did not consider the needs and feelings of the people risking their life to help him, nor did he consider the way that he was representing the western world to the Kachin people.

   I feel that there is a small audience of readers who would greatly enjoy this book. These are people who like great detail, and who can relate to the thoughts and views of a person such as the author. The authors companion on the journey, Mat, would have described the things that happened very differently, and providing that his literacy is good, I feel he would have produced a much more enjoyable book for a larger audience of readers.

   Reviewers email: meabs24 AT hotmail . com




4. Shelby Tucker nursed a long-time ambition to walk across Burma. Unlike most people with eccentric ambitions, he was able to realize his as a middle aged man. His traveling companion was a young Swede who had recently completed his military service. They were taken on by members of indigenous militias and travelled with with them through the Kachin State in northern Burma to India, with a brief detour through Yunnan, China. Tucker is a previously unpublished writer and a non-practicing lawyer. Although his story focuses on the people he met and the things he saw on his journey, it also becomes apparent that he is a well-connected scion of the Mississippi Delta who has probably managed to enjoy an adventurous life (and professional failure as an author) thanks to family money. He eludes the Burmese Army, but is quickly captured and treated as a spy in India. His and his wife's various connections to a host of foreign service officers and Republican politicians (as well as a journalist who had done a similar trek) ultimately lead to his freedom. Tucker has done his homework in terms of regional history and subsequent events (including the fates of various people and groups he encountered). He returned to the US and UK (where he was living) and acted as an advocate for the Kachins (and perhaps over-estimates his influence, although it probably was timely).
   
   The prose is servicable, but not inspiring. The book drags in places through the middle and is strongest at the beginning and end of the journey. Tucker is obviously a bit self-absorbed and sometimes arrogant---eccentric adventurers are not necessarily the most avuncular of people, afterall. He also seems a bit to taken in by the point of view of Protestant missionaries and their proteges. Oddly, one hears nothing about Catholic missions in the same area and there is little understanding of Theravada Buddhism and its formal or cultural relationship to the Burmans. There also seems to be little curiosity how Christianity and beliefs about spirits and nats manage to coexist. These drawbacks aside, it is an ultimately engaging look at a place that few Westerners have seen.



5. I haven't finished the book but I'm still reading. Blocks of history are patched into the narrative. The narrative actually doesn't seem to tell you what really happened. The writer omits what he actually saw in my opinion. Or, maybe nothing interesting happened. So, it has been a bummer so far. Tons of detail on the hill tribes. Only their names are different and can not be pronounced in Idaho. When I read, I don't feel like I'm in Burma. I haven't stepped on one snake nor have I been snarled at by a crocodile. I think it was in Burma where 1000 Japanese soldiers were eaten by crocs.
   
   John
   John T. Jones, Ph.D.

No comments about Beijingwalks (Henry Holt Walks Series).

No comments about Beijing Complete Residents' Guide.

No comments about Ancient Khotan: Detailed report of archaeological explorations in.

2 comments about Out of this world; Across the Himalayas to forbidden Tibet.

1. A trip through Himalaya for Lowell Thomas Sr. and Jr. -the latter wrote this book of memories. They've reached the capital Lhasa, met His Holiness the Dalai Lama, but especially experienced and documented the tibetan life, before the Chinese invasion. Lowell jr. clearly has been forever marked by this priviledged experience. As well as by the meeting with Henrich Harrer, the man who spent Seven years on the roof of the world, tibetan among tibetans. Many pictures, diary-style. It's not a scientific book. However, not too brief explanations on tibetan life are given. I got the original version (early fifties) thanks to Amazon/Big Star Books. Fully satisfied for rapidity and quality of the item. I do suggest it for those who want to travel tasting the thrill of discovery. A taste of adventure, heroism, human solidariety. All things that made Thomas and Harrer never be the same again.



2. The nation of Tibet is an anomaly in the history of the world. No other country is so isolated, and so controversial in its quest for independence and existence. The nation on "the roof of the world" was independent for many years, became at least partly a vassal of China, then independent again with the fall of the emporer, and was finally invaded and assimilated by the Red Chinese after the fall of the Nationalist government in 1949. The Communists who now run Tibet insist that everyone in the country is happy that their nation is now a vassal of China, and most maps don't show Tibet as a separate country. Most Americans don't know who the Dalai Lama is, beyond that he's a holy man in the Buddhist pantheon.
   
   Lowell Thomas, the famous journalist, visited Lhasa (the capitol of Tibet) in 1949 with his son. This book is the son's account of their adventure into Tibet, their meeting with the Dalai Lama, and their impressions of Tibetan life, customs, food, culture, and society. It is, frankly fascinating. My book was the edition from the late 50s, and it contains numerous photographs (at times there's a picture every other page) and three sections of color photographs besides. The book is written from a late 40s perspective, so there are differences between it and the way a book like this would be written now, but those differences are easy to overlook: this is one of the few looks we have at pre-Communist Tibet, and you can't be a chooser when things are so scarce.
   
   I enjoyed this book a great deal. The story is interesting, and the people of Tibet appear to be an interesting race, with fascinating belliefs and customs. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the subject.

No comments about Ennin's Travels in T'ang China.