The Snow Leopard (Penguin Classics)

I've loved this book since I read it for the first time years ago. Poignant & touching.

Beautiful story of nature and political history of region. Great read! Adventure awaits! Classic!

Thoreaux: Where in all the world is the literature that gives expression to Nature?Here it is, in Peter Matthiessens's National Book Award Winning "The Snow Leopard". Peter Matthiessen is now a living legend, a prophet of ecological thought and a long time American Buddhist, but in 1973, when the book was conceived he still wasn't so famous. At the age of 46 he decided to trek through the Inner Dolpo region of Nepal with his friend and co-explorer G. Schaller (well known for his studies on the Mountain Gorillas) to study the bharal (Himalayan blue sheep) and to try to get a glimpse of the mysterious and rare snow leopard. From September to December the two men traveled with sherpas and porters from Pokhara, around the Annapurna, the Dhaulagiri, through the Jang-La Pass, to Phoksumdo Lake to the Crystal Mountain and the Shey Gompa Monastery and back, studying the wild life and rutting habits of bharal. While G. Schaller was basically interested in animals, Matthiessen in that period a Zen scholar, utilized the travel expedition to expose his thoughts, exercise his meditation abilities, recall his memories of past experiences (drugs, deaths, remorse and expectations) but most of all to paint with lyrical pen and great descriptive talent his surroundings and the people he met.This book is a little dated, and while reading it I was reminded of that great chapter of American writing that ties together Pirsing, Castaneda and many others, but none the less it is fascinating and gratifying because it resonates with a transcendent religious feeling of nature. In "The Snow Leopard" the ecological thought that weaves its way in all Matthiessen's works is still not full blown, but this makes the book even more incisive because the perception of his convictions lends a magic atmosphere to the travelogue. The reader has an intuition of the importance of respect of wildlife independently from modern day recriminations on its destruction.The philosophical/religious aspect is also very interesting, because we can see the fascination of an intellectual American with Buddhist thought. Peter Matthiessen is very generous of his knowledge an puts all his rich Buddhist experience in the text, explaining history, traditions and customs of the Tibetan culture.Matthiessen is also a very good interpreter of characters, as is evident from his novels. All the people he empathically describes jump out of the page and come to life. The canny and mysterious Tukten (maybe a guiding figure like Dante's Virgilio or a true Bodhisattva) and the naïve and faithful Dawa become our friends as well, but also the many minor encounters like the Lama of Shey pass forever into literary history to be remembered.Two points of highlight are how the Author manages to convey the pleasure and the fatigue of the physical trip. I could actually feel his boots and the joy of having broken them in, the discomfort of the sun glaring on the snow and the beauty of the birds, flowers and landscapes he describes. The second is the excellence of the prose. Selected paragraphs are poems of beauty and the perfect use of the English language is in itself a reason to rejoice.This book is also a very personal and introspective diary. It talks about the man and his problems and probably this is the single most touching point of this great nature classic. At a distance of 30 years, people are taking guided trekking tours to Shey Gompa and its protected Natural Park, and much of the mystery has dissolved, however still few have seen the snow leopard, and discussion is still raging on the existence of the Yeti or Bigfoot.Read and reread this nature classic to capture all its merits. It is landmark of the American perception of Buddhism, ecological thought and one of the best travelogues around.

I had an extraordinary spiritual experience reading Peter Mathiessen’s book The Snow Leopard. It’s about a journey he took to Nepal and Tibet with other people, but his journey is really solitary as he ostensibly seeks a glimpse of the elusive snow leopard. The book is written like a diary, and, for me, it was rather like a mind-altering experience—a kaleidoscope of vivid descriptions of mountains, snow, ice, sky, water, sun, stars, moon, stupas, architecture, prayer stones, huts, caves, trees, slopes, physical sensations, wild animals, plants, fossils, ledges, rivers, monasteries, thoughts, personalities, faces, lamas, peril, porters, and arduous endeavor—all jumbled together with Tibetan names, terms, and words against a backdrop of Tibetan history and Buddhist beliefs. Reading it made me as giddy as the climbers at 18,000 feet on a foot-wide path.Experiencing all these things changes Mathiessen as he slowly undresses his psyche before us. I found the whole account exhilarating and strangely familiar—so familiar, in fact, that I felt genuine grief when he left Crystal monastery and headed back to Kathmandu. It was as though I were leaving, too.Somehow, I experienced a bit of enlightenment reading this book (or maybe it was grace). As I journeyed with Mathiessen, I found myself slowly separating from the politics over-engaging me and most of the world. I began to regard our situation as irrelevant, something to be brushed off lightly or observed with mild interest from a height. All the terrible things that politicians could visit upon us somehow didn’t matter. It could cause serious physical and psychological pain for us, yes, but the physics and spirit of our world would go on—just as Mathiessen and the porters had to go on—just as we must go on. I felt strangely comforted by the idea that no matter what happened, we would remain like the Tibetan peaks, part of something beyond comprehension and far larger than we. I felt “settled”—that something turbulent within me had been settled. I highly recommend this book.

Très bien écrit et un voyage extraordinaire ❤️

I loved this, though it took a while to adjust to the style and get my bearings.If you're down to reading my review you know what this is about. I'd say if you have any interest in travel writing, zen or Tibet you will enjoy the book. Matthiessen's style is dense and opaque but here I think it really helps to transmit his central message - which is that age old thing about actually paying attention to the here and now. You can't rush on with this book, the punctuation won't allow it, and once you get over that hurdle, it's all for the better.I'd never heard of the author before (though I had heard of the book) and when I looked him up early on in the reading, the fact he'd been a CIA spy gave me a nice double-read, meta-take on everything he said for the rest of the text.

Un libro di una bellezza incredibile

He valorado positivamente porque el formato es agradable,facil de llevar,buena imprenta y un tamaño adecuado. Ideal para llevartelo y disfrutar su lectura en cualquier parte.

prodotto bello grazie ora devo ancora scrivere 17 parole, ma non mi viene niente in mente.. grazie buona giornata :)