A wonderful first hand account of the first ascent of Everest in 1953, when Jan Morris (then James) accompanied Sir John Hunt’s team of mountaineers drawn from across the Empire as The Times’ official correspondent.
Succinct, insightful, beautiful.
Publisher page: Coronation Everest – Jan Morris
The subtitle says it all “Exploration of the Western Himalayas, 1820-1875”.
Slow to start, the later chapters – from Gardiner onwards – were a speedier read.
Lots of looking at the handy maps at the start of the book, and cross referencing with my Hindu Kush Adventure, Central Asia Overland, Himalayan Journey from Lhasa to Kashgar and Autumn in Ladakh trips.
Part of what makes this a fascinating period of history is that, as John Keay concludes, none of these explorations would feasible today given the borders and accompanying tensions between India, Pakistan and China. I’d love to be able to trek from Leh to Yarkand…..
AbeBooks page: When Men And Mountains Meet – John Keay
If you can ignore the very bloke-ish blurb on the covers and the fact that Fergus Fleming is Ian Fleming’s nephew, this is a thorough set of biographical snippets on an Arctic, Antarctic and Saharan explorer theme. After all, what is a desert but a hot dry version of the icebound wastes at the poles.
I still delight in the fact that one of the earlier and most astute explorers was William Scoresby. For a long time I’d assumed Philip Pullman had made up the name Lee Scoresby. Perhaps he did – although I doubt it – but I like the idea that aëronaut explorer Lee and and arctic explorer William share a surname and a sense of decency.
Back to the book – worth a read if you’re interested in 19th Century English Explorers.
Publisher page: Barrow’s Boys – Fergus Fleming
I gave up on Alexandra David-Neel’s account of her exploration – philosophical and physical – of Tibetan Buddhism in the early 20th Century.
The writing style’s so dated it’s difficult to discern what’s accurate and what’s orientalist interpretation.
Abebooks page: Magic & Mystery in Tibet – Alexandra David-Neel
Alternating chapters of newspaper articles by or about Maud West and Susannah Stapleton’s slow and steady sleuthing to uncover the life and times of ‘London’s Leading Lady Detective’.
Makes me wish I could ask my nanas about their lives, growing up at the start of the 20th century, a couple of decades behind Edith Maria Barber aka Maud West.
Publisher page: The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective: Secrets and Lies in the Golden Age of Crime: A Remarkable True Story – Susannah Stapleton