Cover Image: Himalaya

Himalaya

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Member Reviews

Definitely a fascinating subject, and Keay explores it through a variety of angles such as geology, history, and climate change. He does go into minute detail over the numerous British expeditions into the region in the 19th and 20th centuries, and so all this might be a bit much for the average reader.

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Himalaya by John Keay I believe this book is best suited for a reader with a serious interest in the Himalaya region. Mr. Keay covers an expansive range of topics from explorers, rivers, the unusual plant life, political issues, and of course the mountains themselves. I enjoyed parts of this book and learned quite a few new details such as there are “male” and “female” glaciers and that if you mix a bit of both you can create a new growing glacier. Odd indeed. If the book suffers, it is because it is like climbing a mountain. It is a long, slow climb because the book is so full of detail. I kept searching the maps in the book as well as a map I have of the region to try to orient myself to the location and flow of rivers unknown to me or the routes taken by explorers. This book could even be considered a text book for someone studying this area of the world either from a geography point of view of political development. All in all an excellent read on a very interesting subject but still I was lacking oxygen plodding slowly through this book.

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