"In this vivid memoir, Heinrich Harrer recounts his adventures as one of the first Europeans ever to enter Tibet. After escaping from a British internment camp in India during World War II, Harrer trekked across Asia, ending up in the Forbidden City of Lhasa, penniless, and without proper permission to be in the area. But tibetan hospitality and his own curious appearance worked in Harrer's favor, allowing him unprecedented acceptance among the tibetan...

"The Art of Patience is an account of an expedition to the mountains of Tibet in search of the elusive snow leopard. After recovering from an accident, adventurer Sylvain Tesson and his traveling companions embraced the virtues of patience and silence, and were rewarded when the snow leopard revealed itself."--

As one of the world's leading field biologists, George Schaller has spent much of his life traversing wild and isolated places in his quest to understand and conserve threatened species--from mountain gorillas in the Virunga to pandas in the Wolong and snow leopards in the Himalaya. Throughout his celebrated career, Schaller has spent more time in Tibet than in any other part of the world, devoting more than thirty years to the wildlife, culture,...

"Born in Paris in 1868, Alexandra David-Neel spent some thirteen years traveling though China and Tibet, walking unknown routes, discovering and photographing new cultures and people, and exploring their traditions and religious beliefs. "The land of the gentleman brigands" was the name she gave to an area in the far west of China, populated by fierce and dangerous tribes, through which she traveled several times in her attempts to reach Lhasa, the...