false 764165 20 In the autumn of 1973, the writer Peter Matthiessen set out in the company of zoologist George Schaller on a hike that would take them 250 miles into the heart of the Himalayan region of Dolpo, "the last enclave of pure Tibetan culture on earth." Their voyage was in quest of one of the world's most elusive big cats, the snow leopard of high Asia, a creature so rarely spotted as to be nearly mythical; Schaller was one of only two Westerners known to have seen a snow leopard in the wild since 1950.<p> Published in 1978, <I>The Snow Leopard</I> is rightly regarded as a classic of modern nature writing. Guiding his readers through steep-walled canyons and over tall mountains, Matthiessen offers a narrative that is shot through with metaphor and mysticism, and his arduous search for the snow leopard becomes a vehicle for reflections on all manner of matters of life and death. In the process, <I>The Snow Leopard</I> evolves from an already exquisite book of natural history and travel into a grand, Buddhist-tinged parable of our search for meaning. By the end of their expedition, having seen wolves, foxes, rare mountain sheep, and other denizens of the Himalayas, and having seen many signs of the snow leopard but not the cat itself, Schaller muses, "We've seen so much, maybe it's better if there are some things that we don't see."<p> That sentiment, as well as the sense of wonder at the world's beauty that pervades Matthiessen's book, ought to inform any journey into the wild. <I>--Gregory McNamee</I> 1824318 4 8 1978 The Snow Leopard (Penguin Nature Classics) total:768|5:329|4:277|3:121|2:29|1:12| 768 3186 1198 133 5 2 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 04 08:30:09 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 04 08:36:20 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Nov 19 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Sep 23 09:25:12 -0700 2008 Wed Nov 19 11:42:37 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Aug 09 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 28 10:48:23 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 09 19:35:50 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue May 27 08:02:30 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 18 19:48:45 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 08:21:38 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 08:52:38 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 19:48:48 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 21:21:33 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 05:02:27 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 05:53:25 -0800 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 25 18:21:07 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 25 18:21:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jun 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 12 04:00:53 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 13 08:49:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Apr 11 05:31:35 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 11 05:37:20 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 29 12:27:05 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 29 12:32:26 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 11:10:37 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 11:15:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Aug 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 26 14:13:59 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 26 14:25:24 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Mar 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 10 09:00:59 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 23 09:11:24 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Aug 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 07 06:23:15 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 22 07:00:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 24 10:19:46 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 06 12:54:33 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 30 16:01:10 -0700 2009 Sat May 30 16:10:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 true false Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Feb 22 13:31:39 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 22 13:55:14 -0800 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Feb 15 08:56:02 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 08:58:47 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1980 Sun May 17 16:26:52 -0700 2009 Sun May 17 16:41:41 -0700 2009 more...]]>