Tintin and Milu were created in 1929 by Georges Remi (a.k.a. Hergé). In 1934 Hergé met a young Chinese student, Chang Chong-Chen, at which point Tintin's creator became convinced of the importance of having a soundly built storyline and getting the facts straight. In short, Hergé started taking his soundtrack very seriously. After the Communists took over China, Hergé and Chang lost touch. In 1960 the English version of "Tintin in Tibet" was published and it was immediately clear that this was a very personal story for Hergé, who was writing about his friendship with a friend he had not seen in decades.

Tintin has a dream about Chang, the boy he made friends with in China in "Il Drago Blu" ("The Blue Lotus"). Chang is lying in the snow, half buried, holding out his hands and calling to Tintin to help him. When Tintin gets a letter from Change he is surprised at the remarkable coincidence, but then he reads in the newspaper that Chang's plane has crashed in Tibet. Tintin, convinced his friend is not dead, goes off to save his friend.

There are none of the traditional villains in this rather special Tintin story in which our hero is aided only by Milu and Captain Haddock (with a brief appearance by Professor Girasole). This is arguably the most poignant Tintin adventure, focusing on the power of loyalty and hope overcoming all obstacles and Hergé places a lot of obstacles in Tintin's way. I think what I like most about this story is about how Hergé keeps what are essentially a series of cliffhangers going and going but in a realistic manner, while still working in the series trademark humor with Milu and the Captain. "Tintin in Tibet" is an atypical Tintin adventure, but that just makes it all the more special.

By the way, in 1981 Hergé and Chang Chong-Chen were happily reunited.

March 14, 1999 Review of Hoetzlein Rose, Warren's Living Tibet: The Dalai Lama in Dharamsala

I was fortunate enough to read Living Tibet recently while doing research work on Tibetan refugee schools in northern India. Happily I can say that the Warren, Hoetzlein Rose book is beautiful to look at, thanks to the excellent photographs of Bill Warren, and easily read. Warren's photos give the reader a true feeling for the Dharamsala landscape, while the prose of Hoetzlein Rose are as good as I've ever read - not overly personal, but rather intelligent and engaging. I particularly enjoyed their chapters on Tibetan Children's Village in Dharamsala, and their chapter on Tibetan nuns.

I have visited Dharamsala and was brought back to the Himalayan hills that I've come to love by this book. I strongly recommend Living Tibet to anyone who has interest in Tibetan refugees and refugee culture/communities generally, or desires to expand their awareness of Dharamsala.

My research interests include Tibetan refugee schools in India and refugee education as a worldwide phenomenon. If you have any information, including web-sites, that may be useful please contact me. I'll enjoy hearing from you. Thanks.

What a lovely book! Engrossing illustration of a way of life destroyed by the Chinese conquerors. I love reading Buddhist writings, but I think this would appeal even to those who are not interested in Buddhism, as Harrer seems to be not particularly religious and he concentrates on the everyday life of Tibetans in Lhasa.

In unskilled literary hands, a stolen Tibetan manuscript would be no more than a macguffin, the monk who seeks to recover it a stereotyped Oriental and the exotic background of lamaistic Buddhism a mere swatch of distracting "color". What makes this "fair play" detective novel exceptional - well worth reading six decades after its original publication - is its use of all of these elements as integral parts of an expertly constructed story.

Clason's detective, Prof. Theocritus Lucius Westborough, is perfectly matched to this case. A fussy, unworldly scholar - when we first meet him, he is correcting proofs of his new monograph and puzzling over the publisher's decision to title it "Heliogabalus: Rome's Most Degenerate Emperor" - he is believably capable of tackling the mystical teachings of an Eighth Century sage and discerning their role in a Twentieth Century murder. In a more mundane setting, he might be a bit of a caricature; here, he shines.

The central plot is strong enough to withstand weaknesses of a kind not unexpected in a genre novel of its era. Westborough's police detective friend is more than a bit of a caricature. An insipid romantic subplot serves no apparent purpose except to give the one young female among the dramatis personae something to do. The mechanism by which the foul deed is carried out makes Rube Goldberg look like a master of simplicity. And the ending comes abruptly as soon as the murderer is unmasked, leaving the reader to wonder (it is a tribute to the book's qualities that the reader does wonder) what afterwards befell the lama Tsongpun Bonbo and the alluring but dangerous writings of Padma Sambhava.

Clason wrote half a dozen other detective novels before abandoning the field to concentrate primarily on nonfiction. According to the publisher's afterword, he has continued to hold a high reputation among a very small segment of mystery readership. On the evidence of "The Man from Tibet", that segment deserves speedy enlargement.

excellent, lovingly written book on Tibet. Full of maps and descriptions to pour over. Although clearly written with a pilgrim reader in mind, this actually helps since Tibet is quite a incredibly religious nation. I could wish for some photographs to back up the lovely descriptions, but nonthaless an excellent introduction to the culture of Tibet and a wonderful read.

This book was fast paced and very well written. Numerous characters yet all individual and very real. Really enjoyed learning about Tibet and some of its fables and history. A good story, you won't want to put the book down!! I'm so glad there is a sequel "Last Refuge" so I can continue reading more about this facinating culture!

An excellent book in that rather small group of books on women explorers. An entertaining read. Could be read by high school or possibly middle school readers but does not talk down to them. Discusses English lady travelers (Nina Mazuchelli, Annie Taylor, Isabella Bird Bishop), the American Fanny Bullock Workman and the French Alexandra David-Neel. Contains the amusing incident of competition between Fanny Bullock Workman and Annie Smith Peck. Since Peck's entire story is not told, she looks a bit like a doofus in this conflict. I suspect modern readers would find her more sympathetic if they knew the whole story. (Fanny looked down on Annie because she wore bloomers to climb mountains. Modern readers would find Fanny's insistence on mountain climbing in long skirts bizarre.)

The stories are told concisely but with sufficient detail for most readers. Appropriate maps and black and white photos increase the enjoyment of the text. I would recommend it to anyone interested in women's history or the history of Tibet or the history of mountain climbing.

If you've read Pamelea Logan's book Among Warriors you'll love The Outer Path. Jim under goes a bike trip on a single speed Chinese clunker that was bought for 40.00! Ditching the bike and hitching proved more of a faster way to travel. The over all tone of the book was great and I found it hard to put down and Jim describes things very well to the point you see the events as if you were there. Smoky tents,thick hot buttered tea, blisters,blowing sand all of this and no complaining as Jim takes it all in stride considering it part of the path to enlightenment. The picture perfect mountains and breath taking landscape is all here - even a trip to Lhasa and doing it back handed too - you'll see. Unlike Pamela Logan who chickens out when it comes to meeting Khampa Warriors, Jim walks right up to them and strikes up a conversation. Later on he will share a long slow truck ride with them and watch as they drain the truck's rad to get enough water to make tea! Get ready for it people the ride of your life and you won't find a better guide any where but here.Get it while you can as this book is out of print.There are photo's all through the book not just bunched up in the middle as an after thought.Enjoy!

Path to the Middle is a presentation of the teachings of a great Tibetan scholar and monk, Kensur Yeshe Tubden. Formerly abbot of the Drepung Loseling monastery, Kensur-la displays amazing erudition in his explication of the most complicated philosophical topics in Tibetan Buddhism. His wisdom is clearly marked with a penetrating feeling of compassion, and this is mirrored by the gentle and moving account of his life Professor Klein provides in her introduction.

This book is ostensibly a commentary on a few stanzas from the Perfection of Wisdom chapter from Je-Dzong-ka-ba's commentary of Chandrakirti's Madhyamakavatara. The book does not limit itself to the specific passages under analysis, however, but instead ranges freely and gracefully through numerous difficult questions that arise when closely analyzing the Prasangika-Madhyamika interpretation of emptiness.

Kensur Yeshe Tubden's analysis is unique among Western works on emptiness in at least two counts. Firstly, this is a close and careful analysis of this material at an extremely high level. For those who have already looked into the basics of Prasangika-Madhyamaka, this book will raise many questions about the real meaning of numerous stock phrases, like dependent-arising and valid cognition. Most valuable to me was a rare, in-depth discussion attempting to pin down what is meant by nominal designation or valid imputation.

The second unique point about this book is that Kensur-la is willing to freely discuss points of doctrinal contradiction and conflict and to report different positions that have been held be different scholars. He is also willing to frankly state his own opinions, and admit when he feels his understanding is not clear. Many presentations of Madhyamaka give the impression that its interpretation in Tibet is monolithic and unproblematic, but this book clearly shows this is not the case. It is an exciting foray in into the jungle of reasoning and argument that brings these ideas to life.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Anne Klein who, as editor, clearly spent hundreds of hours sifting through material in order to make this book what it is, a precious, unique, fluid narrative revealing the dazzling inner life of one of the great Tibetan teachers of this century.

Donald S. Lopez, Jr.'s newest volume in the Princeton Series is Religions of Tibet in Practice. It includes translations of all sorts of interesting texts in the Tibetan tradition from bits of Gesar of Ling to a Gelug vinaya-type text. Contributions are by various scholars including Shambhala's Nalanda Translation Committee, and others such as Matthew Kapstein, Per Kvaerne, Toni Huber and Janet Gyatso. The introductions by Lopez, Norma E. Levine, Francoise Pommaret and others from around the world, provide a clear context for all readers ranging from the merely curious to students of history, religion and the humanities, and, of course, to inquiring Buddhists. These introductory essays serve to explain the purpose or use of each selected text and so do much to dispel the prevalent notion that the religious practices of Tibetans, educated or not, Buddhist or not, are a confused, though gorgeously exotic mish-mash of animism/shamanism lightly touched with sexual imagery from Tantric yoga and incursions from the Graeco-Roman, even Christian,West.

I found this volume to be like a walk through a scented market. There are booths and stalls to appeal to every taste, yet they are not laid out in random fashion. Lopez has carefully arranged the selections around various themes. There are items to please the connoisseur as well as the tourist. The stroll, itself, is delightful whether one intends to buy or not. There are tasty samples here and there: The introduction makes a good argument against the prevalent contemporary notion that the Bon tradition is but a mere reaction to Buddhism derived from ancient "primitive" beliefs. Since the selections range over a thousand years, I was reminded of the changing fortunes of the various sects, as this or that monastery found favour in the eyes of the Mongolian or Chinese, Indian or local Tibetan kings and princes.

One can enjoy Tibetan culture and daily life seen as the life-journey as we all experience it, the bodhisattva's path, the mystical experience, the lama-student relationship or the worship of and devotion to specific deities. In fact, it ends splendidly with a new translation of the 21 Praises to Tara.