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Recommended Reading
- The
market is saturated with books on Nepal.
Good general books include Peter Matthiessen's
The Snow Leopard, a beautifully written
account of the author's pilgrimage to Dolpa
to track the elusive cat; and Peter Somerville-Large's
engagingly dotty To the Navel of the
World, which chronicles his adventures
through Nepal's uncharted lands. Try also
Pico Iyer's Video Night in Kathmandu,
a collection of essays which has a chapter
on the collision between Nepalese tradition
and Western culture.
- Recent
histories are limited but Fatalism &
Development - Nepal's Struggle for Modernisation
by Nepalese anthropologist Dor Bahadur Bista
is a good place to start. There are more
up-to-date books on the country's natural
history, including K K Guring's The Heart
of the Jungle, George Schaller's Stones
of Silence - Journeys in the Himalaya
and Robert Fleming Sr et al's Birds of
Nepal.
- Good
introductions to Nepalese art can be found
in Lydia Aran's The Art of Nepal
and Hallvard Kare Kuloy's Tibetan Rugs,
while facets of the country's culture are
revealed in the classic People of Nepal
by Dor Bahadur Bista and Festivals of
Nepal by Mary Andersen.
- Mountaineering
breeds either writers or braggarts, judging
by the number of publications written after
every first ascent of a Himalayan peak.
Often choosing which account to read can
become one's own personal Everest, but H
W Tilman's Nepal Himalaya, Chris
Bonington's Annapurna South Face
and Mark Anderson's On the Big Hill
should steady the nerves. Otherwise, try
The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W E Bowman
- a classic mountaineering tall story.
- Kingdoms
beyond the Clouds, by Jonathan Gregson
is a delightful and thought-provoking read
about the Himalayn kingdoms.
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