An informative but emotionally remote journey through modern-day Nepal.
A writer recounts his spiritual trek through a remote region of the Himalayas.
In 2017, with his 40th birthday soon approaching, Italian writer Cognetti was inspired to embark on an expedition in the Dolpo in northwestern Nepal. Accompanying the author was a team of nine travelers, including a childhood friend from Italy, a painter he had recently met, and several local Sherpa guides along with their mules. Their plan was to trek hundreds of kilometers across often uninhabited mountains, ascending to heights over 5,500 meters. “There is a whole region,” he writes, “above four thousand meters untouched by the monsoons or paved roads—the most arid, remote, and least populated part of the country. Perhaps up there, I said to myself, I could see the Tibet that no longer exists, that none of us can see anymore. This was the journey I wanted for my fortieth birthday, a fitting way to celebrate my farewell to that other lost kingdom: youth.” Cognetti’s journey was also greatly inspired by the Peter Matthiessen classic The Snow Leopard. Throughout, he liberally references and quotes Matthiesen, and while following a similar path, he revisits memorable locations from that book. The emerging parallels in their stories unfortunately expose Cognetti’s weakness as a storyteller. The author is a fine travel writer, investing his narrative with vivid insights into the present-day Nepalese region and sharing the often grueling physical effects of traversing through these high altitudes. Yet his personal context for the undertaking is vague. Matthiessen’s physical and spiritual journey is deeply enhanced by the intimate and emotional experiences of his past; his spiritually enlightening memoir is often moving. Readers unfamiliar with Cognetti’s previous work may come away from this slender narrative feeling they know little about him.
An informative but emotionally remote journey through modern-day Nepal. (illustrations)Pub Date: June 23, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-297831-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: HarperOne
Review Posted Online: March 21, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A treasure trove of information for readers seduced by the drowned land.
Since the fourth century B.C.E., the fabulous island of Atlantis has invited avid curiosity and speculation.
Kershaw (Classics/Oxford Univ.; A Brief History of the Roman Empire, 2013, etc.) ranges widely and deeply to create a comprehensive overview of the origins, meaning, and legacy of Atlantis, described by Plato in two dialogues. Besides translating and analyzing Plato’s texts, Kershaw draws on geophysical, archaeological, and historical sources to investigate the tale and respond to still-unresolved questions: Was Atlantis a real place? What did Plato mean to convey by his story of the rich and powerful island that disappeared into the Atlantic Ocean? Those questions have spawned responses from historians and archaeologists as well as from many who “have taken the discussion, quite literally, to another world.” Theosophy founder Madame Helena Blavatsky, for example, claimed that Atlantis arose about 850,000 years ago and was the home of the “Fourth Root Race,” one of seven human Root Races corresponding to seven eras in world history. According to Blavatsky and other occultists, Atlantis “had the type of extraordinarily advanced scientific knowledge that has become a standard feature of Atlantological books.” Mystic Edgar Cayce, who said that he connected with spirits of individuals who had once lived on Atlantis, similarly claimed that the island “had some astonishingly advanced technology, much of it driven by energy derived from the power of crystals.” A 17th-century Swedish scholar argued that Atlantis—located in Sweden—was peopled by the descendants of one of Noah’s sons. In addition to presenting assorted bizarre theories, Kershaw explores Greek and Egyptian mythology, Homeric works, and mid-fifth-century Athenian culture to conclude that Atlantis was “an amalgamation of a variety of places and events that Plato would have been aware of from his own upbringing, reading and life experiences.” He believes Plato’s message is “a timeless one about the pernicious effects of wealth on the ruling class,” with lasting appeal because of the “brilliance of Plato’s story-telling.”
A treasure trove of information for readers seduced by the drowned land.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68177-859-4
Page Count: 428
Publisher: Pegasus
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
A slim, mildly inspirational book suggesting that you have to risk getting lost in order to find yourself.
A memoir about living in the wilderness, withstanding the elements, seeing no one, and doing almost nothing but running.
Swedish author Torgeby was always an indifferent student beset by anxiety and itching to get outside. “I don’t understand why I should be stuck inside doing something I don’t want to do,” he writes of that boyhood. “I don’t bother with my homework and always have the lowest marks in my class in every test. I just want to run.” His life got worse when his mother was diagnosed with a serious illness and he undertook her care. Though he had begun running competitively early on, he was always better in training than he was in a race, for reasons his coach said were all in his head. When he was 20, he left his home and family to live in the woods and run. Though he would interrupt this seclusion for a six-month training sojourn in Tanzania, he ended up spending four winters battling the elements, running daily, and taking odd jobs in the countryside when his money ran low. A journalist wrote some articles about him, but he wondered why people were interested. Some readers may be tempted to agree with him, as he doesn’t come across as particularly perceptive or reflective. Yet the articles sparked the attention of a documentary filmmaker, toward whom his subject was also ambivalent, not wanting the bother of attention but enjoying a bit of celebrity (the book was a bestseller in Sweden). Other runners found inspiration in his story, and he made his re-entry into civilization, with a wife, a family, and a message about how little you need to live life to the fullest. You don’t need expensive shoes or special socks or any consumer trappings. “You only need to put on your shoes and get going,” he writes. “Let the blood circulate. Then everything becomes much clearer.”
A slim, mildly inspirational book suggesting that you have to risk getting lost in order to find yourself.Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4729-5497-8
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Bloomsbury Sport
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
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