Himalaya: Exploring the Roof of the World

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'John Keay is the master storyteller and historian. This grand narrative of Himalaya is as epic as the mountains and peoples he describes' Dan Snow

'Adds the human element to the hard rock. And what a rich vein it is' Michael Palin

History has not been kind to Himalaya. Empires have collided here, cultures have clashed. Buddhist India claimed it from the south, Islam put down roots in its western approaches, Mongols and Manchus rode in from the north, and, from the east, China continues to absorb what it prefers not to call Tibet. Hunters have decimated its wildlife and mountaineers have bagged its peaks. Today, machinery gouges minerals out of its rock.

Roughly the size of Europe, the region is one of the most seismically active on the planet. Summers bring avalanches, rainfall triggers landslides and winters obliterate trails. Glaciers retreat, rivers change course and whole lakes quietly evaporate.

To some, Himalaya is an otherworldly realm, profoundly life-changing, yet forbidding and forbidden. It has mesmerised scholars and mystics, sportsmen and spies, pilgrims and mapmakers who have mingled with the farmers and traders on the 'Roof of the World'.

Himalaya is the story of one of the last great wildernesses and, in particular, of the bizarre discoveries and improbable achievements of its pioneers. Ranging from botany to trade, from the Great Game to today's geopolitics, John Keay draws on a lifetime of exploration and study to enlighten and delight with this lively biography of a region in crisis.

Review

Wonderful . In prose that feels as effortless as it is entertaining, Keay paints a fascinating picture of this magical region, covering everything from geology, glaciers, tectonic plates and botany to the spiritual and religious evolutions of humans -- C P W Gammell ― Literary Review

There cannot be any current anglophone writer more knowledgeable about the region. -- Jonathan Buckley ― Times Literary Supplement

Adds the human element to the hard rock. And what a rich vein it is -- Michael Palin

Excellent -- Michael Dirda ― The Washington Post

John Keay is the master storyteller and historian. This grand narrative of Himalaya is as epic as the mountains and peoples he describes -- Dan Snow

From palaeontology to mysticism, from the East India Company to mountaineers, this is dazzlingly wide-ranging, brilliantly researched and elegantly told -- Ranulph Fiennes

The guru of modern writers on Himalaya. Here, after a lifetime's travel and reflection, is the story of the most important region on earth -- Michael Wood

A dazzling collision of storytelling and scholarship, and the culmination of a lifetime's research and experience, this is surely John Keay's masterwork. He tackles the epic subject of the entire Himalayan region, through human history, and brings to it his own distinctive style - at once authoritative and colourful, stirring and droll, ambitious yet humble. A compelling portrait of a uniquely vulnerable region -- James McConnachie

Let John Keay be your guide: he has decades of first-hand experience in the region, he wears his extensive learning lightly and he is a magnificent storyteller -- Chris Bonington

John Keay's stunning book is meticulously researched and a gripping read. It lays out the long-standing allure of Himalaya, from the geographical and environmental to the archaeological and cultural. -- Kavita Puri

A compendium of centuries of outsiders' quests for scientific understanding of every aspect of the Himalayas - from its geology, topography and natural history to questions of anthropology and social history. No potential angle is left unexplored -- Amy Kazmin ― Financial Times

The term 'tour de force' doesn't do Keay's Himalaya justice. A beautiful work by one of the world's foremost historians, the book is meticulously researched and written with Keay's particular flair. Comparable in its page-turning addiction to a fictional thriller, this will go down as a seminal work on the Himalaya. -- Kenton Cool

Poetically written ... A wonderfully digressive read, with rich portraits and stories of those who made their careers and fame from Himalaya -- Maximillian Morch ― Asian Review of Books

A wonderful book about an extraordinary place ... Keay's undertaking in print is as vast in its scope as the area it seeks to enclose between the covers of this single, handsomely illustrated volume ... Truly a place of wonder, wonderfully caught -- Peter Stanford ― Church Times

A book that is meant to be savoured, not to be conquered. Enjoy the ride -- Mandira Nayar ― The Week, India

The appropriate crown for John Keay's writing on Asia. His study of the Himalaya marks the grand finale to his prodigious twin histories of India and China. Roll over Edward Gibbon. The powerful reimagining of the Himalaya from the structural perspective adds to the mountaineering and mythological lore, while the magisterial style is lightened by marvellous one liners. One of the best and easily the most informed books on the Himalaya -- Bill Aitken, author of Seven Sacred Rivers

Book Description

A groundbreaking exploration of Himalaya: one of the world's most extraordinary geophysical, historical, environmental and social regions

From the Back Cover

About the Author

John Keay has been writing about Himalaya and traveling there since the 1960s. He wrote the two-volume Explorers of the Western Himalayas and wrote and presented a major BBC R3 documentary series on the Himalayan kingdom; other works include India: A Historyand China: A History. He has contributed to about a dozen anthologies and multi-authored works on the region and written the text for several photographic studies. He reviews for the Literary Review and the TLS. The Royal Society for Asian Affairs awarded him its Sykes medal for his "literary contribution to Asian studies" in 2009. He has been a Royal Literary Fund fellow since 2010. Himalaya, his twenty-second book, will be the summation of a lifetime's study. He lives in Scotland.

Review:

4.6 out of 5

92.00% of customers are satisfied

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent background to this vast region

A.M.M. · 29 November 2022

The book’s sub-title, “Exploring the roof of the world” tells you more about the focus of this excellent book than does the one word title. The author considers the activities of numerous incomers exploring this vast and varied area, from deep in pre-history to the post-WW2 era, invaders and would-be colonisers, ascetics, explorers, plant-hunters and many more who have been attracted to the Himalaya. Using this format, Keay gives the reader an insight into the history, geomorphology, political and economic developments, and the effects of climate change in the region.I had previously enjoyed several of this author’s books about this mountain area, and “Himalaya” is a very welcome addition to my collection.

3.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting indeed in parts

N. · 21 September 2022

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. 3.5/5My thanks to the author and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes

p.s. · 31 December 2022

Good service and very good book.

This is a great book for those who know and love those mountains

C. · 16 January 2023

For anyone who has done high altitude trekking or climbing in the Himalayas, this is a great historical review of the country. The history is rich and the author is at times, incredibly funny. I wish the maps were larger, but they are adequate. The history of the geology there is also interesting and adequate. The author's plea in the last chapter to save the ecology of some of the last wild areas reminds me of the wish/plan of the Dalai Lama to declare all of Tibet a a national park. Reading is more satisfactory if the reader brings some prior reading/experience in the Himalayas to it.

Highly recommended!

d.i. · 10 September 2023

Very good communication, fast shipment, highly recommended!

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Himalaya: Exploring the Roof of the World

Name: Himalaya: Exploring the Roof of the World
Brand: Bloomsbury Publishing
SKU: K1408891166
Price: 8.87 BHD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)

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