Roof of the World   |   READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

Here's a page from Longitude, the specialty bookseller for travelers. To order online, and to see the latest, most comprehensive selection of books and maps, go to http://reading.longitudebooks.com/SB11081. You may also call 800-342-2164 to order or request a catalog.


Essential Books These 6 items are available for $101, including
U.S. shipping, a 15% discount (Item no. EXCHN381)		  
Fodor's Exploring China  •  Christopher Knowles
GUIDEBOOK •  2007 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES
This excellent guidebook, featuring maps and color photos, brings old and new China to life, with sections on places to visit, a useful language guide and practical information. (CHN25, $22.00)		   Fodor's Exploring China
My Journey to Lhasa  •  Alexandra David-Neel
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2005 •  PAPER  • 317 PAGES
A reprint of the 1927 classic by the indomitable Buddhist scholar Alexandra David-Neel, with a new preface by the Dalai Lama. Tibet was still closed to the West in 1923, the year that David-Neel and her adopted Tibetan son set out on their wintry trek to Lhasa. Dressed as humble pilgrims and traveling under cover of night, the duo climbed mountains, fooled soldiers and ultimately reached the capital, where they joined the pilgrim throng. David-Neel was not altogether without the prejudices of her European contemporaries, but she was markedly better-educated; and as a result her travelogue is an informed, informative portrait of early twentieth-century Tibet. (TBT26, $14.99)		   My Journey to Lhasa
Understanding China  •  John Bryan Starr
HISTORY •  2010 •  PAPER  • 400 PAGES
Yale professor John Bryan Starr brings us up to date in this just published third edition (the last one was ten years old) of his succinct and refreshingly forthright best-selling guide to China's economy, history and politics. With all the frothing over the role of China in the world, this is the essential primer. (CHN196, $17.95)		   Understanding China
Before the Deluge, The Vanishing World of the Yangtze's Three Gorges  •  Deirdre Chetham
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2004 •  PAPER  • 306 PAGES
A vivid portrait of the Three Gorges region of the Upper Yangtze River by the Director of the Asia Center at Harvard -- and veteran lecturer on study trips to China. Chetham offers a personal, detailed glimpse into the daily life along the river, its spectacular natural beauty and checkered history. She also considers the recent efforts to tame the river, culminating with the massive Three Gorges dam. Highly recommended. (CHN132, $25.00)		   Before the Deluge, The Vanishing World of the Yangtze's Three Gorges
Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China  •  Jung Chang
BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2003 •  PAPER  • 524 PAGES • FAVORITE
A riveting tale of three generations spanning the end of Old China, Mao's regime and the Japanese occupation. Chang chronicles the enormous changes in China since 1929 through her family's story, which includes arrest during the Cultural Revolution, exile to the Sichuan wilderness and coming to terms with the bewildering state of China today. It's quite a tale, wonderfully told without a trace of rancor or bitterness. Living in London since 1978, Chang visits her mother back in China every year. You can imagine Chang with notebook in hand back in the family apartment absorbed in the stories of her much-loved mother. The book opens with the statement, "At the age of 15 my grandmother became the concubine of a warlord general. It was 1929 and China was in chaos." (CHN04, $16.99)		   Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China
China Map  •  International Travel Maps
2006 •  MAP
A fine, double-sided map of China, at a useful scale of 1:3,800,000, featuring colorful shaded relief, indexed with an inset map of central Beijing. Fifth edition. It also shows parts of Korea, Mongolia, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and Burma. Two Sides. 39x27 inches. (CHN06, $11.95)		   China Map



Also Recommended

Tibet Map  •  Gizi Map    •  A colorful map of Tibet at a scale of 1:2,000,000. (TBT17, $16.95)
 		  
Yangzi River Map  •  Richard Perry Hayman    •  Double-sided, this full-color map guide features photos and 10 maps showing the Yangzi from the Himalayas to the East China Sea. (CHN177, $14.95)
 		  
Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook  •  Hua-Yuan L. Mowry  •  Justin Ben-Adam Rudelson   • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS  •  A handy phrasebook for basic Mandarin, focusing on pronunciation, grammar and essential vocabulary for the traveler. (CHN72, $8.99)
 		  
Lonely Planet Tibetan Phrasebook  •  Sandup Tsering   • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS  •  A brief guide with place names, pronunciation and common phrases. (TBT52, $8.99)
 		  
Three Gorges of the Yangtze River  •  Raynor Shaw  •  Judy Bonavia   • GUIDEBOOK  •  Compact, illustrated and up-to-date, this Odyssey Guide focuses on the most popular 120-mile cruise from Chongqing to Wuhan. (CHN368, $22.95)
 		  
The Chinese Kitchen  •  Eileen Yin-Fei Lo   • FOOD  •  An authoritative compendium of Chinese recipes and food-oriented cultural practices. Eileen Yin-Fei Lo's cookbook doubles as an introduction to China itself. (CHN134, $39.95)
 		  
China, Inc. How the Rise of the Next Superpower Changes America and the World  •  Ted C. Fishman   • HISTORY  •  An economist and former commodities trader, Ted Fishman draws on statistics, case studies and interviews in this lively economic history and guide to understanding China's spectacular economic growth and future prospects. (CHN305, $17.00)
 		  
Essential Tibetan Buddhism  •  Robert Thurman   • RELIGION  •  The foremost Western scholar of Tibetan Buddhism, Thurman has chosen well from that tradition's sacred literature and helpfully includes suggested further reading, explanatory notes and a directory of sacred sites. (TBT15, $14.99)
 		  
Life and Death in Shanghai  •  Nien Cheng   • HISTORY  •  A plainly told account of the horrors of the Cultural Revolution in Shanghai, from an author who was a six-year political prisoner. (CHN42, $17.95)
 		  
My Tibet  •  Galen Rowell   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  Rowell captures the spirit and powerful allure of Tibet in these striking color photographs of the people and landscapes. (TBT58, $49.95)
 		  
Oracle Bones  •  Peter Hessler   • HISTORY  •  In this fine portrait of tumult and tradition, Hessler (River Town) finds clues to modern China's realities in the personal stories of peasants, scholars, day laborers and activists. (CHN316, $15.99)
 		  
Shanghai, The Rise and Fall of the Decadent City 1842-1949  •  Stella Dong   • HISTORY  •  A riveting portrait of "the most pleasure-mad, rapacious, corrupt, strife-ridden, licentious, squalid and decadent city in the world." (CHN128, $15.99)
 		  
The Art of Happiness, A Handbook for Living  •  Dalai Lama XIV   • RELIGION  •  Tenth anniversary edition. Drawing on Buddhist tradition and teaching, His Holiness the Dalai Lama shows how to confront negative emotions, stresses, and obstacles of everyday life in order to find the source of inner peace. (TBT124, $25.95)
 		  
The Open Road, The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama  •  Pico Iyer   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  Travel writer Pico Iyer, who has known the Dalai Lama since his days as a graduate student in Britain, draws on his long association with the man and his ideas for this remarkable portrait of the Tibetan people and the aspirations of their leader. He includes chapters on daily life in Dharamsala, travels with the Dalai Lama and incisive commentary on the history and future of Tibet. (TBT118, $14.95)
 		  
Tibet, A Culture on the Edge  •  Phil Borges   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  Borges focuses on the people of Tibet in this new collection. (TBT139, $45.00)
 		  
Tibet, An Inner Journey  •  Matthieu Ricard   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT • COMING IN OCTOBER  •  Ricard draws on his long association with the region and Buddhism for this collection of 191 vivid color photographs of the people and landscapes of Kham, or Eastern Tibet. (TBT113, $19.95)
 		  
Tracking Bodhidharma, A Journey to the Heart of Chinese Culture  •  Andy Ferguson   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT • COMING IN MAY  •  Ferguson's evocative journey on the trail of Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism, takes him deep into the heart of Chinese culture old and new. (CHN707, $26.00)
 		  
Tragedy in Crimson  •  Tim Johnson   • HISTORY  •  Based on extensive on-the-ground reporting in China, Nepal, India, and the United States, this hard-hitting account of the status of Tibet travels from isolated Tibetan villages and monasteries to the heart of the exile movement in Dharamshala, on tour with the Dalai Lama, and to Hollywood and Washington, where the Tibet issue gets the most public exposure. (TBT138, $26.99)
 		  
Trespassers on the Roof of the World  •  Peter Hopkirk   • HISTORY  •  Hopkirk's spellbinding history of the uninvited exploration of Tibet from the 19th century to the present, including a fantastic array of Victorian adventurers. His wild tale has as its centerpiece the 1949-1951 invasion by China. (TBT08, $16.00)
 		  
Visions of Tibet: Outer, Inner, Secret  •  Brian Kistler  •  Robert Thurman   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  Kistler's photographs, taken over a 15-year period, celebrate Tibet, its monuments, people and places. (TBT95, $49.95)
 		  
Art of Tibet  •  Robert Fisher   • ART & ARCHITECTURE  •  A concise survey of the culture and religion of Tibet as expressed through its art. With 200 illustrations of monasteries, painting and sculpture throughout the country. (TBT13, $21.95)
 		  
Search for Ancient China  •  Corinne Debaine-Francfort   • ARCHAEOLOGY  •  With information on everything from jewelry to emperors' tombs, the Great Wall and the dazzling 400-year Han empire, this shirt-pocket survey of discovery features 150 illustrations. (CHN69, $15.95)
 		  
The Arts of China  •  Michael Sullivan   • ART & ARCHITECTURE  •  A lively survey of Chinese visual arts and culture through the ages, thoroughly illustrated and accessible. With a new chapter on the 20th century and beyond, this fifth edition covers bronzes, ceramics, painting and architecture from the Neolithic to now. (CHN16, $39.95)
 		  
Mao Zedong  •  Jonathan Spence   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  Yale Sinologist, writer and historian Spence tracks the life of the Chinese ruler from his provincial upbringing through his powerful rule. (CHN66, $14.00)
 		  
Mr. China, A Memoir  •  Tim Clissold   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  An excellent portrait of contemporary China. Clissold writes with humor and insight in this entertaining account of his encounters with the Chinese and the Chinese way of doing business. (CHN306, $14.99)
 		  
Seven Years in Tibet  •  Heinrich Harrer   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  First published in 1953, this is the riveting account of a young Austrian adventurer and mountaineer who became tutor to the Dalai Lama. (TBT02, $14.95)
 		  
Sky Train, Tibetan Women on the Edge of History  •  Sam Canyon   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  Winner of the 2010 Pen American Center Open Book Award. The Dalai Lama provides the forward for this affecting odyssey, which artfully mixes stories of four remarkable Tibetan women with the author's first visit to Tibet as a youth and return thirty years later for the inauguration of the Beijing-Lhasa high speed train. (TBT140, $24.95)
 		  
The River at the Center of the World  •  Simon Winchester   • EXPLORATION • FAVORITE  •  Winchester writes about the character of Yangtze and people and places along its banks with easy grace in this absorbing portrait of the great river flowing through the heart of China. (CHN31, $16.00)
 		  
To a Mountain in Tibet  •  Colin Thubron   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  The intrepid, soulful Thubron journeys from Nepal to Kailas, the revered mountain, "source of the universe, created from cosmic waters and the mind of Brahma." (TBT134, $25.99)
 		  
Why the Dalai Lama Matters  •  Robert Thurman   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  With knowledge, depth and compassion (Thurman was ordained as a Buddhist monk by the Dalai Lama 40 years ago), Thurman offers not only a sympathetic portrait of the Tibetan leader but also a succinct overview Tibetan Buddhism and his hope for peace with China. (TBT122, $14.00)
 		  
A Single Pebble  •  John Hersey   • LITERATURE  •  A haunting novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winner. Hersey writes, with deceptive simplicity, of an American engineer looking for a dam site on the Yangtze. Think Hemingway on the Yangtze. (CHN03, $14.00)
 		  
Empire of the Sun  •  J. G. Ballard   • LITERATURE  •  Ballard's widely acclaimed novel of an English boy in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation, drawn from his own experiences. It's a powerful tale of the upheaval and trauma of war. (CHN265, $14.00)
 		  
Empress Orchid  •  Anchee Min   • LITERATURE  •  In this novel of the glorious, decadent last days of 19th-Century Imperial China, Min (Red Azalea, Becoming Madame Mao) combines her tale of a young girl from the provinces who marries an emperor -- and then improbably becomes the Last Empress -- with a lovingly re-created portrait of life in the Forbidden City. (CHN267, $14.00)
 		  
The Good Earth  •  Pearl Buck   • LITERATURE  •  The modern classic that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1931. Drawing heavily on Buck's personal experience as a young newlywed in rural China, it is the plainly told story of a poor farmer and his stalwart wife. (CHN15, $15.00)
 		  
Waiting  •  Ha Jin   • LITERATURE  •  A spare, haunting story of a military doctor who tries for 18 years to divorce his peasant wife so he can marry a more sophisticated nurse at his hospital. Greatly evocative of quotidian life in China during the Cultural Revolution and after. (CHN80, $15.00)
 		  
 
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