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Summary: True Beauty
Review: In one word, this book is beautiful. From the first page, it is clear the Matthiessen is a talented writer. Each sentence is poetic, its words bringing to life this journey. While the writing is enjoyable, the content makes this book incredible. Matthiessen brings to life the beauty of Nepal, with its vast mountain ranges as well as the animals that inhabit the country. This book of exploration and nature has a philisophical side in which Matthiessen experiences Nepal in a spiritual way. This too is describe in a beautriful writing style. This book is a joy to read.
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Summary: One of the BEST books ever written.
Review: It has touched many lives, including my own
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Summary: Self-Indulgent but Compelling
Review: Let's get some things straight. This is not a nature book. Except for a few pages of description, it is not about snow leopards. It is not a book about mountaineering or even about the environment and ecology of mountains. It is about human ecology and the landscape of the mind. It is a narrative of a personal journey of self-discovery set against an exotic backdrop. The author comes in search of the snow leopard, enduring months of privation, exhausting mind and body along the way. Not once does he glimpse a snow leopard, but he is satisfied merely to have made the trek and to have known someone who did see the snow leopard. That is the thesis, plot, denouement and summation of the book. And while the author claims to have discovered the meaning of life, it is not a book about family values. The recently widowed author abandons his eight year old son to the care of relatives in the United States in order to make this three month trek through the remotest heart of Asia, promising the boy that he'll be home for Thanksgiving. The trek soon stretches beyond Christmas to five months or more, throughout which the author remains out of voice or mailed contact with his own now motherless child. And, while the author pines away in the Himalaya about failing to meet his promised date of return, one gets the sense that this is said only to impart the unrequited personal sacrifice incurred by the author in pursuit of a deeper understanding of his own interior life, for not once does he acknowledge the pain of abandonment his son might be feeling in the wake of the mother's death. The author's voyage of personal discovery in the ways of Tibetan Buddhism, and the acceptance of whatever may come or not come one's way, is the real subject of the book. It was not the author's fate to meet the snow leopard, and he accepts it. It was not his son's fate to accompany him on this journey, and the author accepts that, too (never mind the son). Once the realization sets in that this is about the author's own narcissitic journey of the mind--and nothing more--the book rewards even the most skeptical of readers. The book is fascinating for its depiction of the social and material conditions of the mountain people of western Nepal, living beyond the reach of modern medicine, plumbing, telephone, radio, public sanitation, internal combustion, pasteurization or democracy. From the descriptions of the rough accommodations of the villagers, the rough commerce by yak train through the high Himalayan passes, the uneasy negotiations between the westerners making the trek and the Nepalese Sherpas who accompany them and bear (or refuse to bear) their luggage, and the impoverished hermits and monks ensconced in their crude rock hovels in the most remote, least accessible mountain sanctuary on the flanks of the Crystal Mountain, one gains an intimate acquaintance with the social meaning of trekking and the interior meaning of Buddhism. It is a moving, engrossing piece of writing.
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Summary: A powerful inner voyage during a fascinating wilderness trek
Review: Matthiessen travels to important places in his mind and spirit as he treks the Himalaya with the noted naturalist George Schaller. Schaller's account of this same trek appears in his book, Stones of Silence, and the contrast between the two men is striking.
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Summary: An Important Book, and a Pleasure To Read
Review: Matthiessen's wonderful exploration of life in Nepal along the way to study Himalayan blue sheep with the zoologist George Schaller, and thrown into the bargain is a deep reflection (a la Matthiessen's Buddhism) on what it means to search for something we never find.
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Summary: journey to self
Review: Mattiessen journals a difficult trek through the Himalayan mountains and reflects on daily life and how being alone connects you with everything
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Summary: I have read it...Then I saw it !
Review: Maybe you can't believe it, but I have read it during a trekking in Dolpa. And the day after I finished the book, I saw a snow leopard, about 2 days of walk from the place where the events related in this book occured (no, I don't smoke, and yes, I am used to altitude...)
Fred, French Alpine Club in Annecy.
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Summary: Who paid for this self-indulgent trek?
Review: Mr. Matthiessen is obviously very intelligent, well-read, and a philosopher. In addition, his descriptions of Nepal transport the reader to a land and lifestyle that are so different from our own. But, I stopped reading halfway through the book, because I never understood why he was there, or what he hoped to achieve by writing the book. Perhaps it all comes together at the end, but that's too late for the reader.Those who revel in self-inspection and the Meaning of Life will enjoy this book and the many passages devoted to Buddhism. One can also admire the fortitude and conditioning of these people slogging through rain and snow on trecherous trails (I couldn't survive those conditions). I kept wondering, though, why/if he was invited, since he appeared to be on a personal journey of self-discovery and didn't have anything to contribute to GS's scientific expedition. Too much space was devoted to himself (even though he's spent so many years trying to rid himself of "I"). I also tired of his ecological comments (this place, too, will be gone in a few years because of man's overuse). It's easy to complain, but harder to come up with solutions. If you like introspection or reading about one person's life journey towards spiritual wholeness, you may enjoy this book. If you are looking for a book with a well-defined story line or a book devoted to the natural history and sociology of the Himalaya region, this isn't it.
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Summary: A Book, A Mountain
Review: My brother casually lent me this book some years ago, but I only had the chance to read it recently. In a word I was stunned- in both Mathiessen's honesty and the force and beauty with which he renders all things he chooses to write about. Framing a period of great loss and confusion in his personal life, Matthiessen sets out on a scientific trip through Nepal with preeminent zoologist George Schaller. Their aim is to study and observe the Himalayan blue sheep, but in the back of their minds is the rare chance to see the mythic cat of the mountain cathedrals, the snow leopard. What makes Matthiessen's storytelling so rich is his ability to blend all his interests throughout the odyssey (philosophy, anthro, biology, history) in a way that magnifies the simple art of walking a path, observing. Throughout the book, we share that image with Matthiessen: walking a path surrounded by mountains ringing in light. With these surroundings he initiates an ongoing conversation with himself. Passing him and falling behind him on the path are a motley group of guides and sherpas. Some are quiet and resourceful, some opportunistic and cunning, and there is one who we never fully understand. This one, the enigmatic Tukten, is the one whom Matthiessen is the most drawn to. Perhaps because he feels he himself is a mystery, and that the world is a mystery. And to acknowledge this, is also a direction. After finishing the book, I called my brother to tell him how much I enjoyed the book. I mentioned a favorite passage, where George Schaller exchanges a haiku with Matthiessen, one that he had written during a long hike up to one of the villages. Unfailingly, my brother recited the haiku from memory after which must have been years since reading it. Maybe you too will find yourself saying it on a path of similar space: Oh cloud trails I go Alone, with chatting porters. There is a crow.
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Summary: All can learn from this journey
Review: Oh boy, I cannot believe the ignorance of those who don't understand buddhism, and make shallow, insipid comments on the book because they didn't want to learn about something that doesn't fall within the McDonald's viewpoint of the world.
This is a nature book, self-discovery, and about the humility of the human spirit. It is also a look at the Himalayas and what makes them so magical. Buddhism, with its gentle view of nature, is covered in this book as a means to describe what Matthiesen is going through. I do highly recommend this book; I have been to Nepal twice, and read it during a hiking trip in the himalayas. It was neat to read this book on that trip, as it helped me see things I normally wouldn't have picked up on.
As for those who don't understand Buddhism, or anything about Zen, please don't read this book, and please don't even comment on it. You have no business reading about this part of the world if you are not open to learning about different cultures and religion. It can be done (speaking as a Roman Catholic).
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