Readings Nepal Trekking

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Readings for Ttrekking

Background Information
A trek is not a guided tour. The sherpas who accompany you are there to show you the trail, take care of problems, cook, set up tents, and do other camp chores. Most sherpas can speak and understand simple English, but it's rate to find a trekking sherpas that is fluent in English. They will not be able to give you detailed information on religious practices, culture and natural history, although the trek itself will provide a good opportunity to observe these things and to learn about them.

If you wish to learn more about a particular subject, you should research it yourself. There are many good books covering every aspect of life in Nepal. Many of these are suggested in the reading list below. If you are seriously interested in a particular subject or just want to prepare yourself further for the trek, it will be useful to visit your local library armed with our reading list and spend a few hours gaining some background about Nepal and its people. If you want to get the most out of your travel experiences and make the journey more than just an exercise in following an itinerary, then your research has just begun. A trek operator can provide just so much information about a trip. Researching an adventure beyond that level can mean the difference between just a vacation and an unforgettable experience. The unexpected will still happen; but the better prepared you are, the more you'll be able to understand and appreciate during the trek.

Recommended Reading
Many of these books are out of print or available only in Nepal. You may be able to find them at Pilgrims Book House in Kathmandu.

General Background

* Nepal, Tony Hagen
* Trekking in the Nepal Himalaya, Stan Armington
* Nepal Namaste, Robert Reiffel
* People of Nepal, Dor Bahadur Bista
* The Festivals of Nepal, Mary Anderson
* Kathmandu Valley, Robert and Linda Fleming
* Sherpas of Nepal, Christoph von Furer Haimendorf
* Gurungs of Nepal, Donald Messerschmidt
* Himalayan Traders, C. von Furer Haimendorf
* The Wildest Dreams of Kew, Jeremy Bernstein
* Mount Everest, the Formation, Population, and Exploration of the Everest Region, T. Hagen, G.O. Dhyrenfurth, and E. Schneider
* The Snow Leopard, Peter Matthiessen
* National Geographic Magazine: Check the index under Nepal
* Tibet, Thubten J. Norbu and Colin Turnbull
* Seven Years in Tibet, Heinrich Harrer
* My Life and My People, His Holiness the Dalai Lama
* Tantric Mysticism of Tibet, J. Blofeld
* Magic and Mystery in Tibet, Alexandra David Neel
* Tibet: Land of the Snow, G. Tucci

Mountaineering Expeditions

* Everest: Mountain Without Mercy, Broughton Coburn
* Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster, Jon Krakauer
* Mount Everest National Park: Sagarmatha Mother of the Universe, Margaret Jefferies
* Everest; The West Ridge, Thomas Hornbein
* Americans on Everest, James Ramsey Ullman
* The Ascent of Everest, John Hunt
* Forerunners to Everest, R. Dittert
* Annapurna, Maurice Herzog

Natural History

* The General Ecology, Flora, & Fauna of Midland Nepal, R. Fleming
* Natural History and Economic Botany of Nepal, D.D. Bhatt
* Birds of Nepal, R. Fleming
* Maneaters of Kumaon, Jim Corbett
* The Book of Indian Mammals, S. Prater