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INDIAN HIMALAYA
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Aami in America, A Pilgrimage of the Heart • Broughton Coburn TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 1996 • PAPER An account of a coast-to-coast tour in the company of an 84-year-old Nepalese woman and his girlfriend, Coburn -- who fell in love with the Himalayas during a stint as a Peace Corps worker in the 1970s -- is a thoughtful, often entertaining guide. You can imagine the tremendous possibility inherent in traipsing across the country with a village elder on her first voyage away from the Himalayas. (USA11, $14.95)
Altitude Illness: Prevention and Treatment, How to Stay Healthy at Altitude • Stephen Bezruchka REFERENCE • 2005 • PAPER • 128 PAGES A pocket reference to both preventing and the treatment of altitude sickness. Bezruchka, a mountaineer and M.D. includes case studies, a section of frequently asked questions, and simple methods of diagnosis and treatment when things go wrong. Travelers to high altitudes will devour this little book, dedicated "To all those who have died of altitude sickness." (REF02, $8.95)
Ancient Futures, Learning from Ladakh • Dalai Lama • Peter Matthiessen • Helena Norberg-Hodge BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 2009 • PAPER • 226 PAGES With introductions by the Dalai Lama and Peter Matthiessen, this book comes with a good pedigree -- and its author has lived and worked in Ladakh since 1975. Norberg-Hodge documents her community work and changes from traditional ways of life. (HML24, $16.95)
Annapurna Map • Nelles MAP A map of the Annapurna hiking region at scale of 1:100,000 with major features, color shading and contour lines. One Side. 33x35 inches. (NPL32, $17.95)
Annapurna, A Trekker's Guide • Kev Reynolds GUIDEBOOK • 2012 • PAPER • 288 PAGES • COMING IN OCTOBER Seen from the lakeside town of Pokhara in central Nepal, a tremendous wall of snow and ice-capped mountains dominates the northern Horizon; the Annapurna Himal. With no less than twelve 7000m (23,000ft) summits rising above a foreground of intricately terraced foothills, this is one of the most beautiful and ethnically diverse landscapes on earth. Around this impressive block goes the classic Annapurna Circuit -- without question, one of the great walks of the world. Into the heart of the mountains leads a trail to the Annapurna Sanctuary. (NPL29, $22.95)
Annapurna, A Woman's Place • Arlene Blum EXPLORATION • 1998 • PAPER • 247 PAGES This account of the historic 1978 climb celebrates the first American ascent of Annapurna by a team of 13 women. The climbers were also, notably, the first women to scale any of the world's 8,000 meter-peaks. Two of the women died in the process. This illustrated 20th anniversary edition, with a preface by Maurice Herzog, includes an afterword. Much of the book takes the form of an illustrated journal. (HML30, $19.95)
Annapurna, The Epic Account of a Himalayan Conquest and its Harrowing Aftermath • Maurice Herzog EXPLORATION • 2010 • PAPER • 256 PAGES • FAVORITE This new edition of Maurice Herzog's classic, with a new forward by Conrad Anker, is published in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Annapurna on June 3, 2010. Expedition leader Herzog dictated this masterful account of the first-ever ascent of an 8,000-meter peak and extraordinary rescue from his hospital bed in Paris. The American Women's Himalayan Expedition, led by Arlene Blum, became the first American team to summit this 10th highest mountain in 1978, and no team repeated Herzog's feat until 1970. Now 101 years old, Herzog, who was French Minister of Youth and Sport in the 1960s and the former mayor of Chamonix, recovered nicely! (HML07, $16.95)
An Area of Darkness • V.S. Naipaul BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 2002 • PAPER • 267 PAGES A classic of modern travel writing, An Area of Darkness is Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul's profound reckoning with his ancestral homeland and an extraordinarily perceptive chronicle of his first encounter with India. Traveling from the bureaucratic morass of Bombay to the ethereal beauty of Kashmir, from a sacred ice cave in the Himalayas to an abandoned temple near Madras, Naipaul encounters a dizzying cross-section of humanity: browbeaten government workers and imperious servants, a suavely self-serving holy man and a deluded American religious seeker. An Area of Darkness also abounds with Naipaul's strikingly original responses to India's paralyzing caste system, its apparently serene acceptance of poverty and squalor, and the conflict between its desire for self-determination and its nostalgia for the British raj. The result may be the most elegant and passionate book ever written about the subcontinent. (IDA13, $14.95)
The Art and Architecture of Islam 1250-1800 • Sheila Blair • Jonathan Bloom ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1996 • PAPER • 368 PAGES An illustrated survey of the great monuments and art produced by Muslim peoples from the 13th to 19th centuries, including the Taj Mahal and the Alhambra. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the art and architecture of the Medieval Arab world. (ISL27, $40.00)
Lonely Planet Trekking in the Indian Himalaya • Garry Weare GUIDEBOOK • 2009 • PAPER • 300 PAGES This guide, now in its fifth edition, is great for both practical trail information and general historical and cultural background on the region. Filled throughout with maps and detailed descriptions of treks. The guide covers Arunchal Pradesh, Eastern and Western Himalayas of India (including Sikkim and Ladakh). (IDA241, $24.99)
The Art of the Imperial Cholas • Vidya Dehijia ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1990 • HARD COVER This introduction to Chola art is adapted from a series of lectures and organized chronologically. (IDA104, $41.50)
The Ascent of Rum Doodle • W. E. Bowman LITERATURE • 2010 • PAPER • 192 PAGES Firmly in the school of offhand, bumbling British exploration, this book is hardly handicapped by the fact that its author had never been near the Himalayas. It's a spoof, a hoot -- and called the funniest book he's ever read by Bill Bryson (which may give you some idea of Bowman's brand of scathing humor). Originally published in 1956. The publisher says Bowman was inspired by Tilman's escapades on Nandi Devi. Regardless, you'll be rolling with his send up of the oh-so-British, isn't-suffering-grand, stiff-upper-lip. A comic masterpiece, deliciously deadpan. (HML55, $15.95)
The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian • Nirad C. Chaudhuri BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 2001 • PAPER • 560 PAGES An acclaimed memoir, first published in 1951, which launched Chaudhuri's literary star (he was dubbed "Honorary Commander of the British Empire" in 1992). It's at once the story of Chaudhuri's youth in rural Bengal and Calcutta and the story of modern India's origins -- a book with a powerful intellectual kick which is steeped in time and place. A "masterpiece", says Salman Rushdie. Chaudhuri died in 1999 at the age of 102. This handsome paper edition is one in a great series by the New York Review of Books. (IDA196, $19.95)
An Autobiography, Or the Story of My Experiments with Truth • Mohandas K. Gandhi BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1995 • PAPER • 480 PAGES There is no substitute for reading Gandhi in his own simple, direct prose. A highly recommended glimpse into the personal life of this remarkable figure. (IDA163, $10.95)
Banaras • Diana L. Eck HISTORY • 1999 • PAPER • 448 PAGES This history of the holiest and oldest of Indian cities, the home of Shiva, encompasses many millennia of Buddhist and especially Hindu practices along the Ganges. (IDA211, $29.50)
Beyond the Sky and the Earth • Jamie Zeppa TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 1999 • PAPER • 303 PAGES Tales of travel and discovery in a remote Himalayan kingdom, Zeppa's memoir of her two years as a teacher in a remote village details her growing love and commitment to the Bhutanese culture and people. She records her transformation from wide-eyed neophyte to falling in love with a Bhutanese man (with whom she has a child). (BHU08, $16.00)
Bhagavad Gita, A New Translation • Stephen Mitchell LITERATURE • 2000 • PAPER • 176 PAGES A poetic introduction and re-invention of the Gita, an ancient Hindu poem. Mitchell's lyrical translation aims for the literary qualities of the original. (IDA170, $14.00)
Bhubaneswar: From a Temple Town to a Capital City • Ravi Kalia HISTORY • 1995 • HARD COVER • 256 PAGES Intended primarily for city planners, this scholarly analysis of the design and planning of the new capital of Orissa is of much interest to the socially concerned traveler. The author looks closely at how plans for the city were modified in response to local concerns. (IDA135, $45.00)
Bhutan Map • ITMB 2008 • MAP A double-sided traveler's map of Bhutan at an excellent scale of 1:380,000. With insets of Paro and Thimphu, trekking routes, key monasteries and visitor attractions, index and notes. One Side. 25x38 inches. (BHU06, $12.95)
The Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives, An Illustrated Guide to Their Evolution and Natural History • Alan Turner • Mauricio Anton NATURAL HISTORY • 2000 • PAPER • 256 PAGES A thoroughly researched and accessible guide to modern felines and their prehistoric ancestors. From the sabertooth tiger to the average house cat, this far-reaching natural history finds links between present-day species and fossil evidence to form an account of the anatomy, behavior and evolution of cats. Includes almost 200 amazingly detailed drawings. (BST50, $26.95)
Birds of Northern India • Richard Grimmett • Carol Inskipp FIELD GUIDE • 2003 • PAPER • 304 PAGES A regional field guide by the authors of the masterful five-pound handbook to birds of the region (FG31) with 120 stunning color plates and condensed descriptive information, integrated on facing pages for easy reference in the field. The book covers the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat and Delhi. It does not cover northeast India (IDA222, $35.00)
Blue Guide Southern India • George Michell GUIDEBOOK • 1998 • PAPER • 576 PAGES A comprehensive guide to the region, including Bombay, with 90 maps and site plans and detailed information on the archaeology, culture and history of major attractions throughout South India. (IDA94, $25.95)
The Book of Indian Birds • Salim Ali FIELD GUIDE • 1997 • PAPER • 412 PAGES • COMING IN The 12th editon of this classic field guide to the birds of the plains, foothills, wetlands, and seacoast of the Indian subcontinent, published in India and authored by one of its pre-eminent ornithologists. Organized by bird family, each species is illustrated in color. (IDA45, $34.50)
Buddhist Himalayas • Olivier and Danielle Follmi • Mattieu Ricard CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 2008 • PAPER • 424 PAGES A big, beautiful celebration of the Himalayas, featuring 185 richly colored, often double-page photographs, and accompanying text on religion and culture. The Follmis, who are the Dalai Lama's official photographers, have lived and worked in the Himalayas for 25 years. Colleague Ricard Matthieu is a monk and French translator for the Dalai Lama. (HML53, $32.95)
Calcutta Map • Bharat Graphics MAP A folded map of Calcutta, shown at a scale of 1:85,000. (IDA155, $6.95)
The Camphor Flame, Popular Hinduism and Society in India • C.J. Fuller RELIGION • 1992 • PAPER • 306 PAGES A clear and comprehensive study of contemporary Hinduism as it is practiced in Indian society. Ethnographic, anthropological and historical in approach, Fuller explores the polytheistic religion, its rituals, and how its adherents relate to each other and the deities themselves. An interesting scholarly read that illuminates many aspects of the culture. (IDA90, $24.95)
The Child and the State in India • Myron Weiner CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1991 • PAPER • 213 PAGES A thought-provoking no-nonsense evaluation of education and child labor, important social issuesn. (IDA40, $32.95)
City of Joy • Dominique La Pierre CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1985 • PAPER • 544 PAGES An epic of love, heroism, and hope set among the dispossessed, and those who have sacrificed all to help them, in the slums of Calcutta. (IDA25, $7.99)
The Climb, Tragic Ambitions on Everest • Anatoli Boukreev EXPLORATION • 1998 • PAPER • 297 PAGES An eyewitness account of the 1996 tragedy on Everest by the Russian mountaineer Boukreev, in part a response to criticism by John Krakauer in the best-selling Into Thin Air regarding climbing safety and ambition. Boukreev, an experienced guide, defends his actions on that day. (HML29, $7.99)
Come with Me to India, On a Wondrous Voyage through Time • Sudha Koul HISTORY • 1997 • PAPER • 225 PAGES • HARD TO FIND ELSEWHERE An informal -- and brief -- survey of Indian cultural history, written with the author's very American(ized) daughters in mind. Koul covers in these few pages geography, flora and fauna, languages, politics, social class, clothing, cuisine, pastimes, religion, the educational system and economics. (IDA47, $15.50)
Conflict Unending • Sumit Ganguly HISTORY • 2002 • PAPER • 200 PAGES An in-depth study of the turbulent relationship between India and Pakistan since independence in 1947, with a focus on Kashmir. (IDA223, $29.00)
Nanda Devi, Exploration and Ascent • Eric Shipton • H. W. Tilman EXPLORATION • 2000 • PAPER • 288 PAGES • COMING IN A single-volume edition of two classics of mountaineering literature: Eric Shipton's "Nanda Devi" and H.W. Tilman's "Ascent of Nanda Devi." Shipton cracked the mystery of how to climb the peak in the early 1930s, and Tilman used Shipton's findings to make the first ascent of Nanda Devi in 1936 (while Shipton was climbing Everest). The two men, friends and frequent climbing partners, wrote a slew of books between them, most available in omnibus editions by the same publisher (EXP13, EXP12). (HML54, $18.95)
Culture Shock! India • Gitanjali Susan Kolanad CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 2008 • PAPER • 296 PAGES Written for the businessman or resident, this guide is a lively introduction to modern Indian culture and manners. Its focus is on customs and business etiquette. (IDA141, $17.99)
The Dancing Girl • Hasan Shah BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1993 • PAPER • 112 PAGES Written 200 years ago, originally in Farsi, later rendered into Urdu, "The Dancing Girl" is India's first modern novel. The author, a clerk, portrays the social and economic milieu of India in 1790 at the beginning of British colonial rule. The writer falls in love with a member of a troupe of dancers hired to entertain British officers, a common practice of the day (along with riding, hunting and shooting). This translation is by the Urdu novelist, Qurratulain Hyder. (IDA61, $9.95)
Darsan, Seeing the Divine Image in India • Diana L. Eck ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1998 • PAPER • 115 PAGES A fascinating and rigorous guide to deciphering Hindu symbolism, this book will help you understand and appreciate religious art in India. Despite its scholarly paraphernalia and language, the book (whose title translates as "seeing") is tremendously useful for the traveler. It's an eye-opening book for the intellectually curious. With a useful glossary and some not-very-good photographs. (IDA75, $25.00)
Delhi Map • Bharat Graphics 1999 • MAP A folded map of Delhi, shown at a scale of 1:200,000. Imported from India. (IDA150, $6.95)
Dharma's Daughters: Contemporary Indian Women and Hindu Culture • Sara Mitter CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1991 • PAPER • 198 PAGES An American woman's insightful attempt to understand the place of women in the culture of her adoptive country. The American daughter-in-law of a Bengali family, Mitter writes of the everday life of diverse women of Bombay in Pat One. In part Two she discusses Hindu myth and culture. Part Three is a survey of the women's movement in India since the 1970s. (IDA38, $25.00)
The Dragon in the Land of Snows • Tsering Shakya HISTORY • 2000 • PAPER • 606 PAGES A comprehensive account of the history and political development of Tibet since 1947, which includes eye-opening details of the American, British and Indian players involved in Tibet's struggle for sovereignty. Tibet has had a mighty struggle to maintain its culture and independence since Chinese occupation in 1950, as demonstrated in this richly detailed book. Shakya, a British-educated Tibetan historian, treats heart-breaking events with balance and insight. (TBT32, $18.00)
Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras • Diana L. Eck RELIGION • 2003 • PAPER • 259 PAGES Written by a professor of comparative religion at Harvard, this book reflects the author's intellectual and personal tussles with the world's great religions. A well grounded Methodist from Montana, she explores sacred texts and rituals of Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Jewish traditions. With its wide geographic and spiritual scope, and combination of the personal and scholarly, this book is a fascinating introduction to religion, and the author. (IDA78, $20.00)
The End of a Trail, The Cheetah in India • Divyabhanusinh Chavda NATURAL HISTORY • 2007 • PAPER • 272 PAGES A historical study of the cheetah in India, where it is now extinct. Expert Divyabhanusinh Chavda looks back into prehistory and studies interactions between humans and the cat through the years, and shows what conditions and practices led to its extinction in the subcontinent. He concludes with a discussion of a possible reintroduction of the cheetah into India. Complemented by 32 color photos, and 47 halftones and line drawings. (IDA140, $75.00)
Epic, Stories of Survival from the World's Highest Peaks • Clint Willis ANTHOLOGY • 1997 • PAPER • 342 PAGES A greatest-hits collection of mountaineering literature, Willis excerpts 15 stories, including Mathiessen's classic "The Snow Leopard," and harrowing passages from Everest, the West Ridge, K2, The Savage Mountain, Annapurna and others. Not just the Himalayas, he also includes the tale of the first-traverse of South Georgia by Shackleton. Each excerpt is satisfying long, as interesting for the quality of the writing as the adventure depicted. (HML37, $17.95)
Escape from Kathmandu • Kim Stanley Robinson LITERATURE • 2000 • PAPER • 320 PAGES Clueless in Kathmandu. The four interconnected stories in this laugh-out-loud novel include the (mis)adventures of two young Americans with a Yeti, international espionage, mountain climbing of the highest sort and a quest for Shangri-La. Keep this page-turner handy for inevitable travel delays and long plane flights. Originally published in 1989. (NPL41, $18.99)
Essential Tibetan Buddhism • Robert Thurman RELIGION • 1996 • PAPER • 317 PAGES A collection of recently translated texts by 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)
Everest, A Mountaineering History • Walter Unsworth EXPLORATION • 2000 • HARD COVER • 736 PAGES • COMING IN A classic history of mountaineering, updated through 1998 for this third edition. Unsworth depicts the people, personalities and challenges of Everest expeditions, including an excellent account of the much-ballyhooed expedition by Mallory and Irvine. He covers every major expedition. (NPL38, $45.00)
Everest, A Trekker's Guide • Kev Reynolds GUIDEBOOK • 2005 • PAPER • 255 PAGES A brief pocket guide to seven treks in the Everest region (including one in Tibet) with sketch maps, good general information and a few photographs. (NPL45, $22.95)
Everest, Mountain Without Mercy • Broughton Coburn NATURAL HISTORY • 2003 • PAPER • 256 PAGES Spectacularly photographed, this book is an account of the making of the IMAX film on Everest, including an account of the 1996 disaster. (HML20, $24.00)
Everest, the West Ridge • Thomas F. Hornbein EXPLORATION • 1980 • PAPER • 194 PAGES A vivid account of the 1963 American expedition to Everest, a classic of mountain climbing literature. Long thought out of reach, by Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld make a first ascent on the mountain via the spectacular West Ridge, which involved -- among other things -- an emergency bivouac at 28,000-feet. (HML10, $19.95)
Eyewitness: India • Abha Narain Lamba CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 2002 • HARD COVER • 64 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) India comes to life in this visually innovative, fact-filled survey of geography, history and culture. With pithy text and hundreds of large color illustrations, covering a range of topics including the Mughal empire, the British Raj, Independence and the modern Indian democracy. (IDA212, $16.00)
Family Matters • Rohinton Mistry LITERATURE • 2003 • PAPER • 444 PAGES An aging professor comes to live with his daughter, her husband and their two children in a cramped Bombay apartment in Mistry's moving, and often comic, tale of history, memory and familial bonds. (IDA214, $15.95)
Fasting, Feasting • Anita Desai LITERATURE • 2000 • PAPER • 228 PAGES Almost anything written by Anita Desai is worth reading. This novel tells the stories of Uma and Arun, two Indian siblings, one living in India, the other in America. It's an eye-opening view into cultural differ-ences and the Indian experience at home and abroad. Desai is one of India's best-known novelists, author, too, of "Clear Light of Day," and "Baumgartner's Bombay." (IDA172, $13.95)
Father India, Westerners Under the Spell of an Ancient Culture • Jeffrey Paine CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1999 • PAPER • 324 PAGES A lively cultural history, which explores the attraction of India on diverse visitors and intellectuals over the last 100 years, including Annie Besant, E. M. Forster, Carl Jung, William Butler Yeats, V.S. Naipaul, Christopher Isherwood, and Martin Luther King Jr. (IDA165, $14.95)
A Fine Balance • Rohinton Mistry LITERATURE • 1997 • PAPER • 624 PAGES • FAVORITE The secret to life, according to a recurring character in this sprawling tale, is "to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair." Set in 1975 in an unnamed Indian "city by the sea," which seems to bear a striking resemblance to Bombay, this tender novel follows the intermingled fortunes of a Parsi widow, a college student who is her boarder, and two Hindu tailors trying to make their way in the city. Each character is meticulously drawn, and the often harrowing background stories (including some murderous caste violence in the tailors' family) are interweaved through the main narrative, which finds the four thrown briefly, and eventually very happily, together in a tiny flat. All this is set against the background of Indira Gandhi's "emergency Raj," in which civil liberties were essentially suspended. It's all profoundly moving, a rare window into the cultural and religious maelstrom of India. One of the best things we've read on India, and a fine piece of literature. A Booker Prize finalist. (IDA92, $17.00)
Footprint India Handbook • Annie Dare • David Stott GUIDEBOOK • 2009 • PAPER • 1616 PAGES A comprehensive guide published in Britain, nicely divided between a general overview of India and practical travel detail on where to go and what to do. (IDA138, $29.95)
Freedom Song • Amit Chaudhuri LITERATURE • 2000 • PAPER • 448 PAGES Chaudhuri is a spectacularly understated writer who occasionally reaches the sublime, and this three-novella omnibus contains his finest work to date -- in particular "A Strange and Sublime Address," his evocation of childhood in Calcutta. (IDA217, $14.00)
From the Mango Tree and Other Folk Tales from Nepal • Kavita Ram Shrestha • Sarah Lamstein LITERATURE • 1997 • HARD COVER • 110 PAGES • FAMILY A collection of 15 folk stories from Nepal, illustrated and with an introductory section on Nepalese history and culture. It's a good read-aloud bedtime book for a family trip to Nepal. (NPL44, $40.00)
Funny Boy • Shyam Selvadurai LITERATURE • 1997 • PAPER • 320 PAGES Building a complex portrait through detail of family, society and place, this prize-winning novel is a gay coming of age story set in contemporary Sri Lanka. Splendidly written. (SRL01, $14.00)
Gandhi, His Life and Message for the World • Louis Fischer BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1991 • PAPER • 200 PAGES A classic biography of Gandhi first published in 1950 -- and still one of the most readable, lively, and interesting books on the subject. Used by Richard Attenborough as the basis for his film. (IDA162, $7.99)
Ghosts of Everest, The Search for Mallory & Irvine • Jochen Hemmleb • Eric Simonson • Larry Johnson EXPLORATION • 2001 • PAPER • 208 PAGES • COMING IN You may have seen the pictures. This is one of several accounts of the 1999 expedition to determine the fate of George Mallory, who disappeared on Mt. Everest in 1924 (and who may or may not have been the first on Everest 29 years before Norgay and Hillary). Hemmleb, Johnson and Simonson, respected climbers all three and participants in the expedition, contribute to this book as told to hired-hand William Nothdurft. Conrad Anker wrote his own book, "The Lost Explorer (Item no. NPL35)," (HML39, $24.95)
The Glass Palace • Amitav Ghosh LITERATURE • 2002 • PAPER • 474 PAGES In this panoramic novel full of tales and anecdote, Ghosh follows the lives and fortunes of Rajkumar and his family over three eventful generations in Burma, India and Malaysia. The book opens with the British taking the Burmese royal family into custody in Mandalay in 1885. (IDA173, $15.00)
The God of Small Things • Arundhati Roy LITERATURE • 2008 • PAPER • 336 PAGES A mystery, family saga and tale of innocence lost set in Kerala during the tumult of the 1960s. The novel opens in June, at the beginning of the monsoon season, when "The countryside turns an immodest green ... Pepper vines snake up electric poles. Wild creepers burst through laterite banks and spill across the flooded roads." Winner of the Booker Prize. (IDA31, $16.00)
The Great Hill Stations of Asia • Barbara Crossette TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 1998 • PAPER • 272 PAGES A modern tour of the mountain enclaves of colonial Asia -- appreciative, magnificently researched and engaging. Crossette, an Asia correspondent for the "New York Times," criss-crosses the continent visiting Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. (ASA13, $16.00)
Heaven's Command: An Imperial Progress • Jan Morris HISTORY • 2002 • PAPER • 554 PAGES • HARD TO FIND ELSEWHERE First of the famed "Pax Brittanica" trilogy, concerning the British colonial rule in India, Central Asia, Africa and elsewhere. Morris weaves historical accounts, character studies, and much imagination into this readable, compelling tale. It covers the rise of British rule to 1897; the second two volumes, on British dominance and its decline respectively, are also available. (IDA20, $38.95)
Himalayan Voices, An Introduction to Modern Nepali Literature • Michael Hutt ANTHOLOGY • 1991 • PAPER • 280 PAGES A collection of 20th-century Nepali poetry and short fiction, much of it translated into English for the first time. This anthology offers insight into Nepal's literary traditions, society and culture. (HML35, $28.95)
Hindi, Start Speaking Today! • Educational Services Corporation LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS • CASETTE TAPE A 90-minute crash course in Hindi featured in two audio tapes and a phrasebook packaged in a vinyl sleeve. Geared for travelers, the course follows the foreign service method -- which focuses on dialogues and useful sentences instead of individual words. In each case, an English phrase is spoken once, and repeated in Hindi twice. Topics include introductions, transportation, business and health. (IDA142, $24.95)
Hindoo Holiday • J.R. Ackerley TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 2000 • PAPER • 300 PAGES Ackerley traipses across India as the English tutor to a handsome and extravagantly homosexual maharajah in this comic, beautifully-written novel masquerading as a travelogue. (IDA115, $17.95)
Hindu Art • T. Richard Blurton ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1993 • PAPER • 239 PAGES A beautifully illustrated large paperback of excellent quality, this book is a good introduction to the complexities of Indian painting, sculpture and sacred architecture. The author is a curator at the British Museum. (IDA35, $35.00)
The Holder of the World • Bharati Mukherjee LITERATURE • 1994 • PAPER • 304 PAGES A daring novel of ideas, travel and history. Mukherjee interweaves the story of a modern American researcher with the travels of her 17th-century ancestor who roamed through Mughal India. (IDA190, $15.00)
The Idea of India • Sunil Khilnani CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1999 • PAPER • 263 PAGES A provocative survey of India since independence, presented as four essays: Democracy, Economics, Cities, and Who is an Indian. Khilnani confronts the complexities, paradoxes and challenges of the nation in this short, elegant book. He teaches politics at Birkbeck College at the University of London. (IDA160, $17.00)
India East Map • Nelles MAP A detailed regional map of eastern India, from just east of Delhi through all of Nepal, at a scale of 1:1,500,000. Two Sides. 20x31 inches. (IDA123, $13.95)
India Map • ITMB 2009 • MAP A double-sided shaded relief map of India at the excellent scale of 1:2,100,000, printed on tear and waterproof paper. With an index, it shows major roads, rivers, and locations of national parks. Two Sides. 27x40 inches. (IDA18, $12.95)
India North Map • Nelles MAP A colorful regional map of northern India at a scale of 1:1,500,000 with excellent topographic detail. It includes a detailed map of Zanskar & Ladakh at a scale of 1:650,000 Two Sides. 20x36 inches. (IDA124, $13.95)
India Northeast Bangladesh Map • Nelles MAP A regional map (1:1,500,000) covering Northeast India in detail, including Arunchal Pradesh, Assam and adjoining Tibet, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Burma. Two Sides. 20x31 inches. (IDA98, $13.95)
India Northwest Adventure Map • National Geographic 2011 • MAP A double-sided full color map of Northwest India at a scale of 1:1,400,000 with good shaded relief, topographic detail, roads, waterways and basic travel information. Printed on waterproof, tear-resistant paper. Two Sides. 20x31 inches. (IDA73, $11.95)
India South Map • Nelles 2008 • MAP A double-sided colorful regional map of India south of Mumbai, including Sri Lanka and the Andaman and Nicobar islands, at a scale of 1:1,500,000. With maps of Goa, Hyderabad, Bangalore (Bengaluru), Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram. Two Sides. 20x40 inches. (IDA69, $13.95)
India Unbound • Gurcharan Das BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 2002 • PAPER • 432 PAGES In this pleasant and readable narrative, acclaimed journalist and author Gurcharan Das weaves his personal story into the larger context of India's recent history, discussing at length the economic and political issues facing the nation. He argues that deeper economic and political reforms will be needed for India to take advantage of its early information technology lead within Asia, forego the need for a complete industrial revolution, and become a successful services-oriented society and economy. Das' argument relies on firsthand experience and personal contacts. (IDA144, $17.00)
India, A Concise History • Francis Watson HISTORY • 2002 • PAPER • 200 PAGES An illustrated history in the fine series from Thames & Hudson. Organized chronologically, separate chapters are devoted to the Chola Empire, impact of Islam, Moghuls, the British, and contemporary India. Hundreds of portraits, paintings and black-and-white photographs illuminate the accompanying text. (IDA139, $18.95)
India, A History • John Keay HISTORY • 2011 • PAPER • 608 PAGES A sweeping history of India from early settlement in the Indus Valley around 2000 B.C through ancient civilizations, Hindu, Christian and Muslim traditions, Mughal pomp, colonial rule, independence and the heady challenges of modern democracy. Keay marshals a huge amount of information into a lucid, beautifully written history, told with flair and balance. (IDA175, $19.95)
India, A Mosaic • Robert B. Silvers • Barbara Epstein HISTORY • 2001 • PAPER • 320 PAGES A collection of nine exemplary essays, all originally appearing in the New York Review of books, on culture, politics and society of contemporary India. (IDA153, $14.95)
India, From Midnight to the Millennium • Shashi Tharoor HISTORY • 1998 • PAPER • 392 PAGES A novelist, reporter and diplomat, Tharoor tackles religious differences, his upbringing in the south of India, his own experiences as a "Non-resident Indian," and a great deal of history in this sweeping, narrative history of the last 50 years. (IDA106, $14.95)
Indian Art • Vidya Dehejia ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1998 • PAPER • 448 PAGES A volume in Phaidon's excellent "Art and Ideas" series, this book considers the religious and intellectual contexts of three thousand years of Indian art and architecture. It's particularly commendable for its extensive coverage of modern art -- which gets short shift from many such surveys. This very readable book features 250 color illustrations. (IDA185, $29.95)
Indian Embers • Lady Rosamund Lawrence TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 1991 • HARD COVER • 397 PAGES First published in 1949, this travelogue is a classic account of a journey through India. (IDA54, $22.95)
Insight Guide India • Insight Guides GUIDEBOOK • 2011 • PAPER • 496 PAGES A volume in the award-winning Insight series, this guide is noted for its wonderful photography, full-color maps, superb production and informative short essays on contemporary topics such as India's movie industry, language, and cuisine. It includes introductions to the major temples, forts, and wildlife sites, as well as background on each region, and plenty of photos and maps. A well illustrated overview of the culture, history and attractions of the subcontinent for travelers. (IDA19, $24.99)
Insight Guide Sri Lanka • Insight Guides GUIDEBOOK • 2010 • PAPER • 296 PAGES This handsome guide gives a profusely illustrated overview of the region, featuring concise essays by well regarded authors on history, politics and culture, hundreds of photographs and maps and some limited travel information. (SRL02, $23.99)
Into Thin Air, A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster • Jon Krakauer EXPLORATION • 1997 • HARD COVER • 256 PAGES In this bestseller, climber and journalist Krakauer reconstructs a minute-by-minute account of what went wrong on the great mountain in 1996. He captures the immediacy of those few hours on Everest when disaster struck -- and the psychological complexity of surviving a tragedy. (HML08, $28.00)
Into Thin Air, A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster • Jon Krakauer EXPLORATION • 1999 • PAPER • 360 PAGES In this bestseller, climber and journalist Krakauer reconstructs a minute-by-minute account of what went wrong on the great mountain in 1996. He captures the immediacy of those few hours on Everest when disaster struck -- and the psychological complexity of surviving a tragedy. (HML13, $15.00)
An Invitation to Indian Cooking: With a New Preface by the Author • Madhur Jaffrey FOOD • 1999 • PAPER • 285 PAGES Any of Madhur Jaffrey's many books on Indian food will introduce you to the cooking techniques used in the subcontinent, and the diversity of flavors, ingredients, recipes, and styles of preparation and presentation, which vary enormously from region to region. This one is a classic. (IDA161, $27.99)
Jahanara, Princess of Princesses • Kathryn Lasky LITERATURE • 2002 • HARD COVER • 192 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) Kathryn Lasky imagines the life and diary of a Mughal princess in 1627 India in this installment in Scholastic's "Royal Diaries" series. Our diarist Jahanara's parents are none other than Shah Jahan and Mumtaz -- builder and occupant of the Taj Mahal, respectively. The book is designed to feel like a real princess's diary, with gold-embossed pages and a sturdy binding. (IDA213, $10.95)
Jaipur: The Last Destination • Samar Singh Jodha • Aman Nath ART & ARCHITECTURE • 2006 • HARD COVER • 224 PAGES • COMING IN A gorgeous tribute to Jaipur, its art, architecture and heritage, featuring stunning color photographs of citadels, palaces, theaters, art, textiles and mosaics, archival prints and drawings, and accompanying text. With in-depth information on culture and history, and a genealogy of the Rajahs. (IDA109, $95.00)
Jewel in the Crown • Paul Scott LITERATURE • 1998 • PAPER • 462 PAGES The first book in Scott's addictive Raj Quartet, set in British India in 1942, is a rousing, psychologically complex tale of English colonial rule. First published in 1966. (IDA66, $20.00)
K2, Triumph and Tragedy • Jim Curran EXPLORATION • 1997 • PAPER This is a tense account of disaster on the world's second highest mountain in 1986. The author was on the mountain when 13 climbers in 9 different expeditions died. (PKN05, $15.00)
Ka, Stories of the Mind and Gods of India • Roberto Calasso • Tim Parks LITERATURE • 1999 • PAPER • 464 PAGES A mindbending collection of stories by the Italian intellectual Roberto Calasso based on traditional Hindu myths. The "New York Times Book Review" calls this "a giddy invasion of stories -- brilliant, enigmatic, troubling, outrageous, erotic, beautiful." Not recommended for beginners. (IDA168, $16.00)
Kali's Child, The Mystical and Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna • Jeffrey J. Kripal CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1998 • PAPER • 386 PAGES A scholarly analysis of the life and thought of a 19th century Bengali mystic, marked by critical acclaim and some controversy surrounding issues of gender and sexuality. Kripal demonstrates through textual analysis and psychoanalytic theory the centrality of desire -- and homesexual desire -- in the thought of this important Tantric mystic. For those with intellectual tendencies, this is good stuff. (IDA112, $35.00)
Karma Cola, Marketing the Mystical East • Gita Mehta CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1994 • PAPER • 193 PAGES In this witty collection of short essays, Mehta critiques both those visitors who come to India looking for instant enlightenment and the gurus who exploit them. (IDA136, $13.95)
Khumbu Himal (Everest) Map • Nelles 1999 • MAP An excellent topographic map of the Mt. Everest hiking region at a scale of 1:50,000 with contour lines, color shading, popular routes and features. One Side. (NPL33, $13.95)
Kim • Rudyard Kipling LITERATURE • 1983 • LARGE PRINT • 448 PAGES For the sheer pleasure of its prose, insight into the British in India and its extraordinary sense of place, you can't do better than this classic novel. It's one of the great adventure stories -- the enduring tale of Kimball O'Hara, an orphan boy who, through happenstance, travels the Grand Trunk Road with a Tibetan Lama. A large print edition. (IDA116, $27.99)
Kim • Rudyard Kipling LITERATURE • 2011 • PAPER • 432 PAGES For the sheer pleasure of its prose, insight into the British in India and its extraordinary sense of place, you can't do better than this classic novel. It's one of the great adventure stories -- the enduring tale of an orphan boy who, through happenstance, travels the Grand Trunk Road. (IDA65, $9.00)
Kinship to Mastery, Biophilia in Human Evolution and Development • Stephen R. Kellert NATURAL HISTORY • 1997 • HARD COVER • 272 PAGES In a series of vignettes, Kellert argues that a bond with our natural environment is an "essential condition for lives of satisfaction and fulfillment." (NAT61, $25.00)
Ladakh, Crossroads of High Asia • Janet Rizvi CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1998 • PAPER • 328 PAGES An illustrated overview of the culture and history of remote Ladakh. (HML26, $35.00)
Langtang, Gosainkund & Helambu, A Treker's Guide • Kev Reynolds GUIDEBOOK • 1996 • PAPER • 256 PAGES A compact guide to treks in this region just north of Kathmandu. With route maps, photographs and concise information on preparations, what to see and do. With an overview of Nepal and the region. (NPL30, $15.95)
Life and Death on Mt. Everest, Sherpas and Himalayan Mountaineering • Sherry B. Ortner CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 2001 • PAPER • 376 PAGES A vividly written, scholarly study of the relationship between the Sherpas and the mountaineers who come to "conquer" the Himalayas. Anthropologist Ortner dissects the collision of cultures and their perceptions and preconceptions of each other. For those who like a little theory with their history, it's an important look at mountaineering from the sherpa point of view by an academic who has lived and worked among them since the 1960s. (TBT33, $29.95)
Lives of Indian Images • Richard H. Davis ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1999 • PAPER • 350 PAGES A scholarly award-winning study of the complex lives of Indian images as expressed through worship, ritual and commodification. Davis is an engaging and uncommonly literate guide, blending art history, anthropology, literary theory and religious studies. With notes, bibliography and the usual scholarly apparatus. (IDA91, $39.95)
Lonely Planet Hindi, Urdu & Bengali Phrasebook • Richard Somers Delacy LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS • 2005 • PAPER • 303 PAGES This palm-sized guide focuses on pronunciation, basic grammar and vocabulary for the traveler. (IDA82, $8.99)
Lonely Planet India • Tony Wheeler GUIDEBOOK • 2011 • PAPER • 1229 PAGES In its hallmark style, this comprehensive travel guide to India by Lonely Planet presents a wealth of practical information in addition to background on culture, history, art and language. With 200 regional sketch maps and city plans. (IDA44, $31.99)
Love and Longing in Bombay • Vikram Chandra LITERATURE • 1998 • PAPER • 272 PAGES Five transfixing stories in five different genres, united in setting and authorship by the contemporary wizard of the human condition, Vikram Chandra. (IDA216, $19.99)
Love in a Different Climate, Men Who Have Sex with Men in India • Jeremy Seabrook RELIGION • 1999 • PAPER • 184 PAGES Based largely on interviews, Seabrook explores sexual identity and politics in India focusing on middle and working class men and women. Seabrook, who is fluent in Hindi, intimate with India, a gay man and an eloquent critic of western globalization, has produced a powerful record. (IDA113, $25.00)
Mahabhrata • William Buck • B. A. Van Nooten LITERATURE • 2000 • PAPER • 451 PAGES An introduction and retelling of one of the great Hindu epics for the general reader.fMahabhrata (IDA167, $24.95)
Mahatma Gandhi and his Apostles • Ved Mehta BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1977 • PAPER • 288 PAGES A vivid, enlightening examination of the life and work of Gandhi by novelist Ved Mehta. He interviews Gandhi's disciples in five countries, revealing the man, his ideas and legacy. First published in 1977. (IDA21, $30.00)
Malgudi Days • R. K. Narayan LITERATURE • 2006 • PAPER • 272 PAGES • FAVORITE Wonderful tales about a fictional South Indian town by a beloved Indian writer. Malgudi is a composite of Narayan's two hometowns -- Mysore and Madras -- populated by quirky characters whose unique approaches to tradition and modernity are the stuff of great short stories. (IDA59, $15.00)
Man-Eaters of Kumaon • Jim Corbett BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1993 • PAPER • 214 PAGES These are the memoirs of a turn-of-the-century hunter-turned-conservationist who was much loved in India. Corbett has a park named after him and this book will help you to understand why. It is intelligently written, respectful, and great fun -- an excellent portrait of the Indian hill stations of Uttarakhand. (HML12, $19.95)
May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons, A Journey Among the Women of India • Elisabeth Bumiller CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1991 • PAPER • 220 PAGES A veteran journalist stationed in India, the author portrays Indian women from Bollywood stars to Indira Gandhi to prostitutes in this wonderfully written, fascinating book. It's an insightful portrait of the country as seen through the eyes of its women. (IDA37, $14.95)
A Meeting by the River • Christopher Isherwood LITERATURE • 1999 • PAPER • 160 PAGES Two brothers meet in India, one a bisexual capitalist and the other a Hindu monk. It's Isherwood's last novel, which brings together sexuality, spirituality and the complicated relations among brothers. (IDA114, $16.95)
Memoirs of a Political Officer's Wife in Tibet, Sikkim, and Bhutan • Margaret D. Williamson BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1987 • PAPER • COMING IN Williamson, the wife of a British political officer stationed in Gangtok in the 1930s, captures the culture, society and flavor of the region in this wonderfully personal account. With black-and-white photographs by the author. (BHU05, $18.95)
Midnight's Children • Salman Rushdie LITERATURE • 2006 • PAPER • 533 PAGES • FAVORITE Salman Rushdie's greatest book is a madcap, comic, unrestrained novel that takes as its subject the birth of modern India. The narrator, born at the stroke of India's independence on August 15, 1947, is a proxy for the nation itself, and the history of his family is also the history of India. (IDA12, $16.00)
Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy • Ayesha Jalal • Sugata Bose HISTORY • 2004 • PAPER • 253 PAGES A cogent, brief history of India from earliest times to the 1990s. Co-authored by a Pakistani and an Indian (professors of history at Tufts and at Harvard, respectively) the book is especially good on its coverage of the fractured post-Independence political landscape. Bose is a grandnephew of the renowned Indian freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose. Our friend, a doctoral candidate, directed us to this excellent history of the subcontinent. (IDA192, $37.95)
Monkfish Moon • Romesh Gunesekera LITERATURE • 1996 • HARD COVER • 140 PAGES These nine excellent short stories, all but one set in Sri Lanka, capture the spirit of the place. The author introduces us to a corpulent tycoon, an expatriate couple in London, and aristocrat turned communist, an anxious hotel clerk, and a middle-class maiden choosing between potential spouses; they all share the question "what's happened?" as Gunesekera forces them (and us) to deal with the reality of a nation embroiled in Tamil-Sinhala strife. (SRL03, $16.95)
The Moor's Last Sigh • Salman Rushdie LITERATURE • 1997 • PAPER • 435 PAGES A sweeping family epic that tackles the complex history of India and its diverse cultures. Related by the "Moor" Moraes Zogoiby, it is a tale that spans many decades as well as diverse classes, races, religions and moral positions. In his characteristically rich prose, Rushdie tells the history of India, with the precision of reality and the force of myth. Much of the book is set among the spice traders of Cochin. (IDA89, $16.00)
Mountain Light, In Search of the Dynamic Landscape • Galen Rowell NATURAL HISTORY • 2011 • PAPER • 224 PAGES The single best introduction to landscape photography and, particularly, the challenges of photographing mountains. Rowell presents 80 of his most spectacular images, divided according to visual content. Each chapter illustrates a theme or technique, supplemented by a short personal essay. Like any good workshop, the book will both inspire and instruct fellow photographers. There's no photographer more sensitive to the magic of Alpine glow than Galen Rowell. (PHT06, $29.95)
Mountaineering, The Freedom of the Hills • The Mountaineers GUIDEBOOK • 2010 • HARD COVER • 592 PAGES It's all here in this 50th anniversary edition of the essential mountaineering handbook, which covers everything from choosing equipment and tying knots to basic rappelling techniques and planning an expedition (GEN267, $39.95)
Mt. Everest • National Geographic 1998 • MAP A gloriously detailed, bird's-eye view of Everest by the cartographers at National Geographic, this 23 1/2 x 38 poster map shows the glaciers, valleys and peaks of the Mt. Everest region in beautiful shaded relief. The price includes shipping in a sturdy tube. One Side. 38x24 inches. (NPL36, $19.99)
Mughal India, Splendours of the Peacock Throne • Valerie Berinstain • Paul Bahn HISTORY • 1998 • PAPER • 159 PAGES A pocket-size encyclopedia of knowledge, this slim volume in the acclaimed "New Horizons" series presents the history, culture and splendor of the Mughal Dynasty. With hundreds of archival drawings and paintings, it provides great background to the architecture and Muslim heritage of the splendid courts of 16th-century India. (IDA50, $15.95)
My Land and My People, The Original Autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet • Dalai Lama BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1997 • PAPER • 238 PAGES The Dalai Lama recounts his life and struggle for an independent Tibet. It's one of the most remarkable stories of our time, simply and compassionately told. (TBT22, $13.95)
Nepal Map • Nelles 2008 • MAP A convenient double-sided map of Nepal, Sikkim and parts of neighboring Bhutan and West Bengal at a scale of 1:500,000, with detailed physical relief, sites of interest, including Patan and Pokhara, and insets of Kathmandu City and Kathmandu Valley. Two Sides. 20x40 inches. (NPL01, $13.95)
News from Tartary • Peter Fleming TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 1999 • PAPER • 384 PAGES A rousing, ironic account of Fleming's 3500-mile trek in the 1930s from Peking to the province of Sinkiang and onwards to India. (CAS46, $18.95)
Of Tigers and Men • Richard Ives NATURAL HISTORY • 1997 • PAPER • 304 PAGES • HARD TO FIND ELSEWHERE A haunting tale of a man's quest to encounter tigers in the wild, and to understand the meaning of the threat of the tiger's extinction. Ives visits the forests of India, Thailand, and Sumatra, and many of the "tiger-men" who have devoted their lives to saving tigers. His quest entails a growing realization that the tiger may be doomed. It is a beautifully written story, providing not only a sense of the life of tigers and those who care about them, but also describing an unusual and moving personal journey. (IDA30, $12.50)
On a Shoestring to Coorg: An Experience of Southern India • Dervla Murphy TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 2006 • HARD COVER • 261 PAGES This tough Irish grandmother has made travel something of a cottage industry. Here's the story of her first venture outside Europe, an insightful tale of her wanderings by bus and on foot with her then-five-year-old daughter through the mountainous province of Coorg in 1976. She captures the flavor of the coffee plantations, rice paddies and tropical forest that characterize this region of India near the Malabar Coast. (IDA29, $27.95)
A Passage to India • E.M. Forster 1997 • CASETTE TAPE The story of an Indian wrongly accused of assaulting an English woman. The book, an enduring masterpiece, challenged the attitudes of the British occupation of India. (IDA67, $23.95)
A Passage to India • E.M. Forster LITERATURE • 1976 • PAPER • 362 PAGES The story of an Indian wrongly accused of assaulting an English woman. The book, an enduring masterpiece, challenged the attitudes of the British occupation of India, and prophetically showed why British elistist and racist attitudes would lead to the downfall of the empire in India. (IDA26, $14.00)
A Photographic Guide to the Birds of India • Bikram Grewal • Bill Harvey • Otto Pfister FIELD GUIDE • 2003 • PAPER • 520 PAGES A comprehensive guide to 668 species of birds found from the Himalayas to Sri Lanka with good color photographs, concise text and range maps. (IDA215, $35.00)
A Photographic Guide to the Birds of India and Nepal • Bikram Grewal FIELD GUIDE • 1998 • PAPER • 144 PAGES A slim pocket guide to 252 of the most conspicuous birds of India and Nepal featuring color photographs, concise descriptions and range maps. (IDA46, $15.95)
Power Places of Kathmandu: Hindu and Buddhist Holy Sites in the Sacred Valley of Nepal • Keith Dowman • Kevin Bubriski ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1995 • HARD COVER • 130 PAGES This handsome book by two authorities on art and architecture documents, in words and pictures, the most significant spiritual sites along the pilgrim route in Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur. With 108 color photographs accompanied by the myth, legend and history of each temple or shrine. This book would make an excellent addition to the library of any traveler -- or would-be traveler -- to Nepal. (NPL12, $39.95)
Rabindranath Tagore, An Anthology • Rabindranath Tagore ANTHOLOGY • 1998 • PAPER • 416 PAGES With homage paid by authors ranging from Yeats to Isaiah Berlin and Deepak Chopra, the work of the great writer and poet Tagore has enormous appeal. This anthology is an excellent introduction to the Nobel Prize-winning author (who in 1913 was the first Asian ever to have won the prize), including travel writing, letters, poems, essays, songs and an excerpt from his novel, "The Home and the World." (IDA133, $22.99)
Raj, The Making and Unmaking of British India • Lawrence James HISTORY • 2000 • PAPER • 544 PAGES An anecdotal, engrossing mostly military history of the East India Company. (IDA87, $26.99)
Religions of Tibet in Practice • Donald S. Lopez, Jr. RELIGION • 2007 • PAPER • 421 PAGES A collection of 36 essays and translated texts by scholars of Tibetan Buddhism, including selections on prayers, pilgrimages, death and ritual. It is a scholarly overview of the culture and religion of Tibet, organized thematically and accessible to the general reader. (TBT16, $28.95)
The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760 (Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies, No 17) • Richard M. Eaton RELIGION • 1996 • PAPER • 359 PAGES A prize-winning survey of Islam and its history on the Indian Subcontinent. Written for a scholarly audience, the book gives an in-depth appreciation of the contentious history of religious pluralism in India. (IDA169, $28.95)
A River Sutra • Gita Mehta LITERATURE • 1994 • PAPER • 291 PAGES The enchanting story of a civil servant who moves to the banks of India's holy Narmada river. This fine novel weaves together history, tradition, religion, and love. (IDA43, $14.95)
Road Guide to Calcutta • Variety Book Depot 1998 • MAP (IDA154, $5.95)
The Romantics • Pankaj Mishra LITERATURE • 2001 • PAPER • 272 PAGES Though at heart a simple tale of East meets West; the sentimental education of a young Indian University student living among foreigners adrift in 1980's Varanasi, this first novel rises above the hackneyed theme of cultural collision. Mishra's beautifully nuance writing evokes the inner states of his characters, engaging the reader with subtlety and capturing the vibrancy of the Indian landscapes. (IDA143, $16.00)
The Root and the Flower • L.H. Myers • Penelope Fitzgerald LITERATURE • 2001 • PAPER • 639 PAGES A trilogy of historical novels about India in the time of the Mughals -- first published separately in the 1930s and now back in print as a single volume. Penelope Fitzgerald provided the introduction. (IDA191, $16.95)
Rough Guide India • David Abram GUIDEBOOK • 2008 • PAPER • 1456 PAGES Geared to the independent traveler, this Rough Guide combines an opinionated survey of culture and history with good information on sightseeing, food and accommodations. The writers even care about what books to read. With 135 maps and plans. (IDA86, $29.99)
Rough Guide South India • Rough Guide GUIDEBOOK • 2007 • PAPER • 840 PAGES A comprehensive travel guide in the British series, this book includes an overview of the nature, history and culture of South India and a survey of attractions by region. With maps, drawings and good advice on getting the most out of your travels, the opinionated Rough Guide series provides an insider's sense of local life. (IDA93, $23.99)
The Royal Palaces of India • George Michell • Antonio Martinelli ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1999 • PAPER • 232 PAGES • COMING IN An architectural survey of Hindu and Muslim fortresses and royal residences from the 12th century to the days of British colonial rule -- well-informed, comprehensive and handsomely illustrated. It includes not only the Mughal palace complexes of Delhi and Agra but also Hindu complexes of central and southern India. With expert commentary by Mitchell, a noted architectural historian, and 250 exceptional color photographs by Antonio Martinelli. (IDA74, $39.95)
Running in the Family • Michael Ondaatje BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1993 • PAPER • 207 PAGES This hypnotic short book powerfully evokes grand society in post-colonial Sri Lanka and, especially, Ondaatje's impressively eccentric grandparents. Written by the author of The English Patient, this book is hard to categorize: it's as much fiction as family memoir and travelogue -- and wonderful. (SRL04, $15.00)
Sacred Tibet • Philip Rawson ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1991 • PAPER • 96 PAGES • COMING IN A concise, illustrated survey of the Buddhist art of Tibet in its religious, social and cultural context. With 136 photographs and an excellent short explanation of religious iconography. (TBT18, $15.95)
Say It in Hindi • Veena T. Oldenburg LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS • 1985 • PAPER • 238 PAGES A pocket phrasebook full of key words and expressions. Highly recommended for newcomers to Hindi as well as those looking to brush up on their language skill. (IDA81, $5.95)
Scoop-Wallah, Life on a Delhi Daily • Justine Hardy TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 2012 • PAPER • 320 PAGES A wry account by an English journalist of her stint at The Indian Express in Delhi. (IDA127, $12.95)
Sherpas, Reflections on Change in Himalayan Nepal • James Fisher CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1990 • PAPER • 205 PAGES A study of Sherpa society and the change that mountaineering and trekking have brought, which combines the qualities of a memoir and anthropological study. Fisher, who participated in a 1964 expedition to build schools in the region, quotes extensively from interviews, letting the Sherpas speak for themselves. well chosen photographs document change in the region. Fisher concludes it was the airstrip that the team constructed which has had the greatest impact on tourism and, by extension, Sherpa society. (NPL13, $27.95)
The Sikhs • Patwant Singh RELIGION • 2001 • PAPER • 304 PAGES A comprehensive overview for the traveler to Punjab, the historical homeland of the Sikhs. This is the story of a people, touching on issues of history, religion, culture, prejudice, castes, surnames, war, magic, and prescriptive social policy. (IDA178, $19.00)
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker: Traveller and Plant Collector • Raymond Desmond BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1999 • HARD COVER • 286 PAGES A marvelously illustrated biography of the Victorian explorer and botanist featuring dozens of color and black-and-white photographs and engravings. In addition to plant collecting in the Himalayas, Hooker accompanied Sir James Clark Ross to the Antarctic (1839-1843), explored the Middle East and traveled to the American West. This handsome book, published in conjunction with an exhibition at Kew Gardens, includes excerpts from his "Himalayan Journals" along with many drawings, engravings and lithographs. (GEN79, $49.50)
Slowly Down the Ganges • Eric Newby TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 2011 • PAPER • 384 PAGES In 1963, the Newbys (Eric and his wife Wanda) set out an a 1,200-mile voyage down the Ganges River. The title could apply as easily to the ruminative attitude the author takes towards his journey as to the many mishaps which bedevil the quest -- invariably occasions for the author to display his wit. (IDA179, $18.95)
Snakes and Ladders, Glimpses of Modern India • Gita Mehta 1998 • PAPER • 297 PAGES Essays on contemporary India, culture, politics and personalities, by the prolific writer and thinker. (IDA68, $13.95)
The Snow Leopard • Peter Matthiessen EXPLORATION • 2008 • PAPER • 368 PAGES • FAVORITE The most perceptive, acutely observed and personal of all his books, Matthiessen's account of a five-week journey through Nepal with George Schaller combines their quest for the magnificent cat with a moving introduction to Buddhism and the people and culture of the Himalayas. (NPL03, $16.00)
The Snow Lion and the Dragon, China, Tibet and the Dalai Lama • Melvyn C. Goldstein HISTORY • 1997 • PAPER • 130 PAGES A brief history of the relationship of China and Tibet in the 20th century. Goldstein, a professor of history and expert on the region, includes a call for the United States to take an active role in mediating a diplomatic solution to the conflict. (TBT23, $21.95)
South Asia • Sumit Ganguly HISTORY • 2006 • PAPER • 256 PAGES A scholarly history of modern South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Sumit Ganguly is the Rabindranath Tagore Professor of Indian cultures and civilizations and professor of political science at Indiana University. (IDA308, $22.00)
South Asia • Sumit Ganguly HISTORY • 2006 • PAPER • 256 PAGES A scholarly history of modern South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Sumit Ganguly is the Rabindranath Tagore Professor of Indian cultures and civilizations and professor of political science at Indiana University. (IDA308, $22.00)
The Spirit of Tibet, Portrait of a Culture in Exile • Alison Wright CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1998 • PAPER • 176 PAGES A handsome pictorial essay on Tibetan culture and people in exile in the monasteries, nunneries and towns of Dharamsala and surroundings in the Dhauladhar mountain range of the Indian Himalayas. (IDA159, $34.95)
Street Graphics India • Barry Dawson CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1999 • PAPER • 112 PAGES A stunning presentation of the multi-layered images of outdoor advertising that festoon the streets of India from posters to decorated buses, furniture and buildings. It's an excellent overview of the vibrant, ever-changing culture of modern, commercial India. (IDA122, $19.95)
A Suitable Boy • Vikram Seth LITERATURE • 2005 • PAPER • 1488 PAGES A modern classic set in Calcutta, Delhi and Brahmpur after Independence. Big and unabashedly plotty, it's like a 19th-century English novel in its structure and resolution, yet its trappings are all Indian. While courtesans sing ghazals, while young men make mischief in celebration of Holi, while pilgrims bathe in the Ganges, the newly independent nation of India launches itself into history. (IDA27, $21.99)
Taj Mahal • M.C. Joshi • Jean-Louis Nou • Amina Okada ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1993 • HARD COVER • 231 PAGES An informative, photographic tribute to the great monument with accompanying essays on history, design and inscriptions by Amina Okada, curator of the Musee National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet in Paris, and M.C. Joshi of the Archaeological Survey of New Delhi. With 158 full-color photographs (including four magnificent foldout pictures) by the late Jean-Louis Nou (to whom the book is dedicated). Nou balances exterior and large-scale views with many detailed, close-up photographs of inscriptions, flora designs and sculpture. With a floor plan, quotations from the Koran and brief excerpts from travelers' accounts. (IDA108, $75.00)
This is India • Shobita Punja CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1998 • HARD COVER • 176 PAGES This book is a handsome illustrated overview of the culture, nature and scenic attractions of India. The striking color photographs, including many of wildlife, are complemented by expert commentary on the region by Shobita Punja. (IDA97, $39.95)
Tibet Map • Gizi Map 2011 • MAP A detailed traveler's map of Tibet and surrounding regions at a scale of 1:2,000,000, including Kashgar, Delhi, Katmandu, Thimphu and portions of the Xinjiang. With an index on the reverse. Two Sides. 33x49 inches. (TBT17, $16.95)
The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Liberation from Understanding the In Between • Robert Thurman CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1994 • PAPER • 275 PAGES A key text as presented by Robert Thurman for a western audience. This edition of the Tibetan guidebooks to dying or "the between" -- written in the 8th or 9th century by Padma Sambhava -- is introduced and translated by Thurman. It's is a spiritual guide to the afterlife, helpfully augmented by Thurman's commentary as well as an overview of Tibetan history and beliefs. With a chapter on Tibet, its history, Buddhist traditions and present plight. Part Two of the book is a translation of prayers. (TBT06, $18.00)
Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up, A Practical Approach for Modern Life • B. Alan Wallace RELIGION • 1993 • PAPER • 214 PAGES A straightforward primer on the essentials of Buddhism as practiced in Tibet. The book is the result of a lecture series introducing the practice of Buddhism to the general public. (TBT19, $15.95)
Tintin in Tibet • Herge LITERATURE • 1988 • PAPER • 66 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) One of Herge's masterworks, this old-fashioned adventure is the story of Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock on their journey to Kathmandu. It's a delightfully loony tale of unexpected encounters with the Abominable Snowman, yaks, saffron-robed monks and other cultural effluvia. (TBT14, $10.99)
Touching My Father's Soul, A Sherpa's Journey to the Top of Everest • Jamling Tenzing Norgay • Broughton Coburn • Dalai Lama BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 2002 • PAPER • 316 PAGES A personal account of the business of Everest, the 1996 IMAX Expedition and, most significantly, of a son who is grappling with the legacy of a famous father. The son of the man who reached the summit of Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953, Norgay has spent his entire life immersed in the culture, rituals and religion of the Sherpas. (NPL42, $15.99)
Travelers' Tales India • James O'Reilly • Larry Habegger ANTHOLOGY • 2004 • PAPER • 496 PAGES A collection of 45 descriptive and thought-provoking short excerpts on Indian life and culture, from the famous and not-so-famous. It includes Rushdie, Naipaul and Dalrymple, plus some valuable excerpts from books long out of print. (IDA05, $19.95)
Travelers' Tales Nepal • Rajendra Khadka ANTHOLOGY • 1997 • PAPER • 400 PAGES • COMING IN This anthology of travel writing on Nepal features mostly modern stories by Peter Matthiessen, Jan Morris and other great writers, local and foreign. Covering festivals, art, mountain climbing and other diverse topics, it's an excellent introduction to the country. A chapter on travel in Nepal complements the collection. (NPL16, $17.95)
Travels Along the Edge • David Noland GUIDEBOOK • 1997 • PAPER • 410 PAGES An excellent resource for anyone dreaming of their next adventure, travel writer and adventurer Dave Noland provides lively descriptions of 40 offbeat, demanding or just-plain-fun fun trips around the world, from kayaking in Greenland to cycling in Portugal's wine country and skiing to the North Pole. He includes contact information for recommended tour operators, things to consider before taking a trip, and plenty of how-to information. A world traveler himself, and frequent contributor to adventure magazines and web sites, Noland is an excellent guide to adventure. (TRV02, $19.00)
Trekking in Ladakh • Charlie Loram GUIDEBOOK • 2004 • PAPER • 288 PAGES A practical guide to trekking in this remote enclave, this book includes 50 maps, route descriptions, an overview of Leh and a section of color photographs. (HML25, $19.95)
Trekking in the Everest Region • Jamie McGuinness GUIDEBOOK • 2009 • PAPER • 322 PAGES The fully revised fifth edition of this practical guide includes 27 detailed route maps, 52 village plans and trail descriptions, covering not only the classic treks but also the wild routes. With a Kathmandu city guide and overview of Nepal. (NPL31, $22.95)
Trekking Nepal, A Traveler's Guide • Stephen Bezruchka GUIDEBOOK • 2011 • PAPER • 448 PAGES A respected guide covering, in detail, route planning for trekkers, national parks, health, where to go and what to do in Nepal. With an overview of the geography, history, religion and culture of the region. Regularly revised, the guide has been around since 1976. Invaluable for its route descriptions, the book also includes good information on cross-cultural understanding. With 16 so-so maps, elevation profiles of major treks and 76 black-and-white photographs. (NPL10, $29.95)
Untouchable • Mulk Raj Anand • E. M. Forster LITERATURE • 1990 • PAPER • 160 PAGES Referred to by some as his nation's answer to Charles Dickens, the author tackles India's caste system with urgency and conviction; in this work he paints a portrait of India's lowest caste. (IDA180, $13.00)
The Violet Shyness of Their Eyes • Barbara J. Scot CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 2005 • PAPER • 288 PAGES A heartfelt portrait of the Nepalese people and culture, resulting from the author's year teaching in Nepal. An excellent memoirist, Scot combines personal observation, thoughtful commentary and warmth in this deceptively simple book. With black-and-white photographs, orientation maps and glossary. This revised edition includes an April 2004 epilogue by the author. (HML14, $16.95)
A Woman's Asia • Marybeth Bond ANTHOLOGY • 2005 • PAPER • 310 PAGES These thirty-five personal, often hilarious accounts of women's adventures from China to Sri Lanka to Turkey to Bhutan, not only illuminating the everyday, oft-overlooked cultural practices of Asia, but also giving a glimpse into the thoughts and feelings of the female traveller. Featuring selections from Jan Morris, Pamela Logan and Alison Wright. (ASA49, $17.95)
World Religions: Eastern Traditions • Willard G. Oxtoby RELIGION • 2010 • PAPER • 515 PAGES A clear and insightful introduction to Eastern religions by a team of scholars. It's a handsomely produced concise overview of Hindu, Jain, Sikh, Buddhist, and East Asian traditions, as rewarding for the general reader as the student. This second edition features additional suggested reading, photographs, glossary and thought-provoking review questions. (ASA07, $84.95)

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