Welcome!

Enrich Your Travels with Longitude

We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.

SIGN UP FOR

Longitude News

Get our monthly e-mail update

GET A

Catalog

BEST OF 2011

Wild Coast

John Gimlette

SEE ALL >

FOR THE HOLIDAYS

To the Arctic

Florian Schultz

SEE ALL >

OUR FAVORITES

Arctic Dreams

Barry Lopez

SEE ALL >

GLOBES

The Pioneer

Replogle

SEE ALL >

China & Tibet

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

  • E-MAIL
  • PRINT

Enrich your travels with reading! Here's a hand-picked list prepared for your journey in conjunction with the book experts at Longitude.

Essential Reading

Item EXCHN107. Buy these 4 items as a set for $70 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

ADD SET
TO BOOKBAG
Fodor's Exploring China

Fodor's Exploring China

by Christopher Knowles

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES
  • CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE
    • >

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)

Bradt Guide Tibet

Bradt Guide Tibet

by Michael Buckley

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

A practical, detailed overview of Tibetan history, culture, attractions and natural life. Includes color photographs, local maps and excellent travel information. (TBT74, $22.95)

Understanding China

Understanding China

by John Bryan Starr

  • HISTORY
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

The Yale professor brings us up to date in this third edition of his succinct and refreshingly forthright best-selling guide to China's economy, history and politics. (CHN196, $17.95)

China Map

China Map

by International Travel Maps

  • 2006
  • MAP

A double-sided shaded-relief map of China, at a useful scale of 1:3,800,000, indexed with an inset map of central Beijing. (CHN06, $11.95)

 
The Chinese Kitchen

The Chinese Kitchen


by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo

  • FOOD
  • 1999
  • HARD COVER
  • 452 PAGES

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 Wakes, The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power

China Wakes, The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power


by Nicholas Kristoff | Sheryl WuDunn

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 501 PAGES

The authors journeyed from Tibet to Tiananmen, reporting in depth on contemporary China and its cultural dissidents. An engrossing portrait of a nation struggling to hold onto tradition while modernizing its economy. (CHN33, $16.95)

China, A New History

China, A New History


by John Fairbank | Merle Goldman

  • HISTORY
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 546 PAGES

A sweeping history of China from the Paleolithic to Tiananmen, revised with a new chapter by Merle Goldman. A standard for history buffs. (CHN11, $26.50)

Essential Tibetan Buddhism

Essential Tibetan Buddhism


by Robert Thurman

  • RELIGION
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 317 PAGES

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)

Tibet, An Enduring Civilization

Tibet, An Enduring Civilization


by Francoise Pommaret

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 160 PAGES

This pocket-size encyclopedia, packed with hundreds of full-color illustrations and photos, highlights the culture and history of Tibet. Pommaret, who has written widely on the Himalayas, devotes a section to Tibet today, titled Invasion and Colonization. (TBT69, $12.95)

World Religions: Eastern Traditions

World Religions: Eastern Traditions


by Willard G. Oxtoby

  • RELIGION
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 515 PAGES

A clear and insightful introduction to Eastern religions by a team of scholars, covering Hindu, Jain, Sikh, Buddhist and East Asian traditions. Scholarly, but still rewarding for the general reader. (ASA07, $79.95)

Search for Ancient China

Search for Ancient China


by Corinne Debaine-Francfort

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 160 PAGES

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

The Arts of China


by Michael Sullivan

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

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)

Red Dust, A Path Through China

Red Dust, A Path Through China


by Ma Jian | Flora Drew

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 324 PAGES

An astounding memoir by an urban poet, painter and writer on the road to Tibet. A vagabond, rebel and Buddhist, Jian abandons his Beijing life for a 3-year southwestern journey through Tibet, Burma and Guizhou Province. (CHN150, $16.00)

The River at the Center of the World

The River at the Center of the World


by Simon Winchester

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 410 PAGES
  • 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 the Edge of the Sky

To the Edge of the Sky


by Anhua Gao

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2003
  • HARD COVER
  • 398 PAGES

The autobiography of a Chinese woman whose hopes and health were wrecked by the Cultural Revolution. (CHN190, $27.95)

Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China

Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China


by Jung Chang

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 524 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

In this 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. (CHN04, $16.99)

Tales of Tibet: Sky Burials, Wind Horses and Prayer Wheels

Tales of Tibet: Sky Burials, Wind Horses and Prayer Wheels


by Herbert J. Batt | Tsering Shakya

  • LITERATURE
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

A collection of short fiction by contemporary Tibetan authors. The stories, many imbued with a Buddhist perspective, depict traditional ritual and rites. (TBT57, $33.95)

Wild China

Wild China


by John MacKinnon | Nigel Hicks

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1996
  • HARD COVER
  • 208 PAGES

A beautiful oversize book of photographs featuring Chinese wildlife and natural history. This informative, up-to-date survey of the wildlife of China also features excellent maps and detailed explanatory text. (CHN19, $39.95)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.