Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
11th out of 331 books
—
198 voters
The Snow Leopard
When Matthiessen went to Nepal to study the Himalayan blue sheep and, possibly, to glimpse the rare and beautiful snow leopard, he undertook his five-week trek as winter snows were sweeping into the high passes. This is a radiant and deeply moving account of a "true pilgrimage, a journey of the heart."
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
August 4th 1987
by Penguin Books
(first published August 30th 1978)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
May 09, 2012
Lisa (Harmonybites)
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Those Who <i>Love</i> Pop Mysticism
Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard is his account of his two months in Nepal. He was invited along by field biologist George Schaller on his expedition to study Himalayan Blue Sheep--and perhaps catch a glimpse of the elusive snow leopard. (Said in the book to consist of only 120 remaining individuals. Thankfully, at least according to the Wiki, the current population is estimated to be in the thousands.) So on September 28 of 1973 "two white sahibs, four Sherpas, fourteen porters" assembled to make...more
Read this, which I've had for years, in 3 days. Brilliant, vivid account of Matthiessen's journey with a biologist and a team of porters and sherpas through the quiet, snow-covered and strange Himalayas. The biologist is seeking to observe the rutting of the region's unique blue sheep. Matthiessen is seeking an encounter with the more secret snow leopard, a not-so-vieled metaphor to the real substance of the journey, which is a quest for enlightenment. Interwoven are reflections on the history o...more
Nov 19, 2008
Patricia
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
travelers, hikers, explorers, Buddhists
I discovered a lot about myself by reading this book; one, I love learning about the spiritual experiences of authors, two, I love learning about people that culturally different than me, and three, I don't particularly like reading about the particulars of the terrain. I don't think I would have had the same response has I read this book thirty years ago. I know a little about spiritual development and Buddhism, so I appreciated the author's comments about both. However, I was, as usually, disa...more
I really took my time with this book. I didn't want to be disturbed by the sounds of subway trains, interrupted by phone calls or daily trivialities. This wasn't a read I just 'fit in' but truly savored. And oh, my heart hurts a little now that it is over. It is a slow book, and thus may not appeal to those looking for action or conclusion even. It is a book that celebrates the spark of life that propels us towards transcending our heavy human existence in pursuit of something...more. Here, the...more
FIVE STARS AND BEYOND! This memoir chronicles, in the form of a daily log, the months-long trek Matthiessen took in the Himalaya with legendary wildlife biologist George Schaller. GS had planned the expedition to observe montane wildlife - primarily the snow leopard and its prey, the blue sheep. PM, a student of Buddhism, made the journey as a kind of pilgrimage after the death of his wife. Their ultimate destination was a range so remote it was nearly impenetrable by travelers and its villages...more
I started reading this book, expecting to enjoy it. I love travelogues, natural history and animal discoveries, studying animal behavior... and I put this book down. Matthiessen's tone drove me bonkers. I may try it again later. He is not a lens through which to observe a part of the world...it's all about him, and, quite frankly, I found him boring.
May 19, 2008
Carolanne
marked it as probably-not
Brandon read a little of this out loud to me and I really liked it and maybe one day if I am stuck on a deserted island, I will read this! Although, I don't know if my mind is deep enough for all the Buddhist philosophy! But I feel like this is the type of books I should be reading, instead of….oh lets pretend that I am re-reading the whole Flowers in the Attic series and I know it is really trashy but yet I can’t put it down. See! Instead of filling my mind full of perverted brother/sister rela...more
For those who read this book a long time ago, when it won the National Book Award in 1978, and for those who have never availed themselves of the pleasure, I must break my lame habit of not reporting and encourage you to read (or re-read) this book. Peter Matthiessen treks with his biologist friend, GS, to the inner Dolpo region of the Himalaya - GS, to study the mating habits of the bharal ( a rare breed of "blue" sheep), and Matthiessen, to find himself after the death of his wife, nine months...more
Cliches become cliches because of their truth. So noting that the journey is more important than the destination fits here, in a book whose title refers to the author's quest to view the snow leopard in its Himalayan habitat during a perilous late fall journey to the remote Dolpo region of Nepal, an area so far from the rest of the world that the author's traveling companion notes the total absence of machine sound, even the engine noise of a plane. Matthiessen fails to see the snow leopard, but...more
I heard a recent interview with Peter Matthiessen, which inspired me to read the classic that made him revered among nature enthusiasts and spiritual seekers-of-meaning. I have found the book to be more of a meditation than an objective account of a journey, and I'm slowly absorbing it, a few passages at a time.
It's interesting, sometimes even inspiring, but in terms of holding interest, I find it less than compelling. A stream-of-consciousness chronicle, it's a series of closely related observ...more
It's interesting, sometimes even inspiring, but in terms of holding interest, I find it less than compelling. A stream-of-consciousness chronicle, it's a series of closely related observ...more
To set my context: I read this book a long time ago (about 1980) with interests in Nepal and Pakistan for travel and going climbing. I had rough geography and history "lessons" reading Herzog (acquaintances went there), Everest accounts, and Karakorum expeditions. I grew up in a US community where Buddhism is quite common (typified by my friend Alan, now a dentist).
Matthiessen sounds whiny. I'm almost unable to fathom why readers like this book. Sure, I'm sorry he lost his wife. My opinion of th...more
Matthiessen sounds whiny. I'm almost unable to fathom why readers like this book. Sure, I'm sorry he lost his wife. My opinion of th...more
I don't want it to seem like I didn't enjoy this book. I did. You do get a feel for the how liberating, calming, centering, that it would be to walk out of the modern world to the cold and quiet mountains and let it all go…all the complications and illusions of life. He is a student of zen Buddhism and is trying to write a zen Buddhist book. I think if this were a different book I would like it better…but these people, this place…his attempt to be 'zen' all the time, it just feels detached and t...more
In his first summers, forsaking all his toys, my son would stand rapt for near an hour in his sandbox in the orchard, as doves and redwings came and went on the warm wind, the leaves dancing, the clouds flying, birdsong and sweet smell of privet and rose. The child was not observing; he was at rest in the very center of the universe, a part of things, unaware of endings and beginnings, still in unison with the primordial nature of creation, letting all light and phenomena pour through. Ecstasy i...more
The author journeys across the Himalaya into Tibet facing the mountains and his true self. High in the mountains, awesome in their stillness and silence and yet vibrating with energy, Emptiness is only an illusion that contains all Life. Looking through clear air at a landscape of snow and rocks shimmering in the sunlight the author perceives his own reflection as he takes part in the perpetuating life, but realizes that he’s unable to completely abandon his thought habits and freely follow the...more
This one was sitting on a free book shelf for a while, but I eventually took a look, and it seemed interesting, so I snagged it. Glad I did! Mountain trekking + "Eastern" religions. Good stuff.
12: Himalaya - the alaya (abode, or home) of hima (snow).
42: Amazingly, we take for granted that instinct for survival, fear of death, must separate us from the happiness of pure and uninterpreted experience, in which body, mind, and nature are the same. And this debasement of our vision, the retreat from...more
12: Himalaya - the alaya (abode, or home) of hima (snow).
42: Amazingly, we take for granted that instinct for survival, fear of death, must separate us from the happiness of pure and uninterpreted experience, in which body, mind, and nature are the same. And this debasement of our vision, the retreat from...more
Traversing the mountainsides in the relative warmth of the huddle of human bodies in a closed vehicle, I heard the wind whipping outside. The valleys were green after the onset of the rains and the water in the river had a shade of turquoise to it. Far away on the mountainsides appearing and re appearing in the mist were the herds of Yak. There were dwellings of men scattered among the valleys and it always surprised and excited me to know of humans who lived amidst so much silence. On the slick...more
Peter M. has a way with words. Some of his descriptions are magical. But two things get in the way. One is that he seems to say that he was high (not in the altitudinous sense) throughout the trip, and did not enjoy coming down. This, in a travel writer, from whom we require truth above everything else, is a negative: what was real? The other is that he is overly attached to mysticism. He seems to not know what is, ultimately, obvious: he is the core of the story and the rest is dross. Yes, we s...more
A non-fictional account of a memorable trek through the Himalayas and Nepal by a celebrated writer. This book was highly recommended to me by my older brother, a practising Buddhist and connoisseur of great books so I took his word for it. Matthiessen tells an incredible story that gets off to a rough but quickly shifts into a gear suited to the icy terrrain he treks through. Each step, each vista, each village charts the author's spiritual progress as he ascends higher and deeper into a remote...more
I read this in Laos but lost it somewhere in Muang Khua, so had to wait until returning home to read the last 100 pages. Reading this while eating alone in restaurants gave the impression of a conversation with Matthiessen that stopped and started with my meals, and also lying in bed. Such an ideal way to read this book. It taught me some about Buddhism, about which I am extremely ignorant, and motivated me to learn more from different sources. In Nong Khiaw, a roach as big as a mouse crawled un...more
I was so excited about reading this while in Mongolia- not far from where snow leopards used to be seen. But, I was disappointed to find that the book, although celebrated during the 1960's, was a really self-centered account, I thought, about one man's travels and his struggles with his divorce and estranged child, his feeling of having missed too many important years through drug experimentation, and so on. He took off on tangents, which took on a strained quality, in trying to associate them...more
An honest and often moving account of travel in the mountains of Nepal, and of the journey inward. The challenges of the physical trek are nicely interwoven with pertinent accounts of the author's personal epiphanies while journeying, his own lessons with a Zen master, the history of Hinduism and Buddhism - including the B'on tradition - and a prophetic scientific grounding that warns of erosion of the fragile environment and lifestyle of this region.
He also speaks frankly about his young wife'...more
He also speaks frankly about his young wife'...more
Having glanced down some of the other reviews it is wonderful to imagine how different readers view the quality of a book through the varied prisms of their own interests.
I saw this book as a travelogue and bought it and read it on those terms. The philosophical passages on Buddhism in its myriad form were a mild impediment that I soon learned to skip so as to immerse myself in the physical splendour of the mountains. That did not mean that I missed the spiritual essence; it is, in the end, an i...more
I saw this book as a travelogue and bought it and read it on those terms. The philosophical passages on Buddhism in its myriad form were a mild impediment that I soon learned to skip so as to immerse myself in the physical splendour of the mountains. That did not mean that I missed the spiritual essence; it is, in the end, an i...more
This book was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a book about the biology, behavior and ecology of the snow leopard. What it was actually about was, first, a travelog, second, a popularized survey of the anthropology of the people who live in the range of the snow leopard and, a distant third, some mention of the wildlife of the Himalayas and there was more discussion of Himalayan goats than of snow leopards. This is not necessarily a bad thing because I might very well have read it anywa...more
Few authors I've read describe natural surroundings as well as Matthiessen. I frequently felt as if I were on the journey, experiencing the views and events of the author and his party. The narrative here is light; events are few and far between. There are no close scrapes with death and disaster. Rather, this is a book of spiritual journey enveloped by marvelous descriptions of the mountains and people of parts of Nepal rarely visited by Westerners, or most Nepalese for that matter. The book wo...more
This is a wonderful book! Originally published in 1978 and republished a couple of years ago, it follows the author's journeys through Tibet and Nepal to find the snow leopard. The writing throughout is beautiful and full of delightful details of the countryside, people and wildlife, as well as with observations on the erosion and deforestation often found. The journey is hard, days are spent trekking through snow and along narrow ledges on the side of impossibly vertiginous mountains. The journ...more
I read this book years ago based on a friend's recommendation. He is a science teacher who travels with students to many countries, and he has recommended good books to me in the past. I found this book fascinating- it's historical and mystical/metaphorical. I still don't fully grasp the Buddhist way and the search for enlightenment, etc., but this book certainly helped me understand that more. I like that the book is much more than searching for a VERY rare leopard; it's really about searching...more
The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen, is a story of a man searching for himself. After leaving his wife and child, he sets out to find the elusive titular animal which only a few living humans had, at that time, had the privilege of seeing. However, the book is much more than a travelogue or memoir for form follows function as Matthiessen explores the mountains with the same zeal as he does Eastern thought. As he rises up the mountain, his understanding of Buddhism comes closer to crystallizat...more
Best book I've ever read.
Most of my reading list has stemmed from Adventure Mag's top 100 Adventure books of all time list (where I found this one). And while this is a wonderful tale of hardship, endurance and adventure, it's much more than that. Since reading this book, I have been on a quest to finish the rest of the Matthiessen collection, but so far this one remains my favorite.
If, like me, you are equally interested in natural history, the Himalayas, hiking, and religion, this book is for...more
Most of my reading list has stemmed from Adventure Mag's top 100 Adventure books of all time list (where I found this one). And while this is a wonderful tale of hardship, endurance and adventure, it's much more than that. Since reading this book, I have been on a quest to finish the rest of the Matthiessen collection, but so far this one remains my favorite.
If, like me, you are equally interested in natural history, the Himalayas, hiking, and religion, this book is for...more
Per my book club, I brought a copy of this on a rainy back packing trip with only a week to finish. He bounces from spiritualism to nature travel throughout the book. I learned a lot - firstly that summer rain in the sierras is not rough mountain weather, and a lot about religious history. I also learned that goats and sheep have different preference when it comes to sucking their own genitalia and drinking their lovers urine (water sports!). Finally I learned that in the 70s it makes sense to s...more
Every snowflake falls in its own place.
I read this book in 1983 or 1984 and it has remained with me, albeit in bits, flashes and small memories, ever since. I suspect it would lose some of its impact if I reread it, particularly since it was read in the 1970s, in the shadow of the 1960s. In my recollection, it is representative of the zeitgeist of the times.
Having said that, it is a truly monumental book and is easily included in my top 10 list of all time. I recommend it frequently, and marvel...more
I read this book in 1983 or 1984 and it has remained with me, albeit in bits, flashes and small memories, ever since. I suspect it would lose some of its impact if I reread it, particularly since it was read in the 1970s, in the shadow of the 1960s. In my recollection, it is representative of the zeitgeist of the times.
Having said that, it is a truly monumental book and is easily included in my top 10 list of all time. I recommend it frequently, and marvel...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Peter Matthiessen was born in New York City in 1927 and had already begun his writing career by the time he graduated from Yale University in 1950. The following year, he was a founder of The Paris Review. Besides At Play in the Fields of the Lord, which was nominated for the National Book Award, he has published six other works of fiction, including Far Tortuga and Raditzer. Mr. Matthiessen's...more
More about Peter Matthiessen...
Share This Book
1 trivia question
More quizzes & trivia...
“And only the enlightened can recall their former lives; for the rest of us, the memories of past existences are but glints of light, twinges of longing, passing shadows, disturbingly familiar, that are gone before they can be grasped, like the passage of that silver bird on Dhaulagiri.”
—
14 people liked it
“Figures dark beneath their loads pass down the far bank of the river, rendered immortal by the streak of sunset upon their shoulders”
—
7 people liked it
More quotes…
May 09, 2012 04:13am
Matthie...more
May 09, 2012 07:43am