Download or read book Frank Kingdon Ward s Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges written by Francis Kingdon Ward and published by Antique Collectors Club Dist. This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1926, this is the fascinating account of plant-hunter and explorer Frank Kingdon Ward's most important epedition. Kenneth Cox, Kenneth Storm, Jr., and Ian Baker have spent the last fifteen years retracing Ward's route.

Download or read book Frank Kingdon Ward s Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges written by Francis Kingdon Ward and published by ACC Distribution. This book was released on 2001 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This new edition contains the original Kingdon Ward text (with about fifty of his own photographs from the archive at the Royal Geographical Society) and extensive additional material including a new Foreword by Kingdon Ward's widow, Jean Rasmussen, a brief biography of Kingdon Ward, a history of the exploration and geography of the region, an account of the religious significance of the area as a a place of pilgrimage, a note on the geology and more than 250 colour photographs with detailed captions on the plants of the area, most of which are described by Kingdon Ward in the original text." "There are first person accounts of recent expeditions to the area by Ken Cox and Ken Storm, Jr. and a photographic essay documents for the first time in a book the 'new' Hidden Falls located in the portion of the gorge left unexplored by Frank Kingdon Ward and Lord Cawdor in 1924."--BOOK JACKET.

Download or read book The Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges written by Francis Kingdon-Ward and published by . This book was released on 1926 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges written by Francis Kingdon Ward and published by . This book was released on 1924 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Himalaya written by Ed Douglas and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2022-01-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A magisterial history of the Himalaya: an epic story of peoples, cultures, and adventures among the world’s highest mountains. For centuries, the unique and astonishing geography of the Himalaya has attracted those in search of spiritual and literal elevation: pilgrims, adventurers, and mountaineers seeking to test themselves among the world’s most spectacular and challenging peaks. But far from being wild and barren, the Himalaya has been home to a diversity of indigenous and local cultures, a crucible of world religions, a crossroads for trade, and a meeting point and conflict zone for empires past and present. In this landmark work, nearly two decades in the making, Ed Douglas makes a thrilling case for the Himalaya’s importance in global history and offers a soaring account of life at the "roof of the world." Spanning millennia, from the earliest inhabitants to the present conflicts over Tibet and Everest, Himalaya explores history, culture, climate, geography, and politics. Douglas profiles the great kings of Kathmandu and Nepal; he describes the architects who built the towering white Stupas that distinguish Himalayan architecture; and he traces the flourishing evolution of Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism that brought Himalayan spirituality to the world. He also depicts with great drama the story of how the East India Company grappled for dominance with China’s emperors, how India fought Mao’s Communists, and how mass tourism and ecological transformation are obscuring the bloody legacy of the Cold War. Himalaya is history written on the grandest yet also the most human scale—encompassing geology and genetics, botany and art, and bursting with stories of courage and resourcefulness.

Download or read book The Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges written by Francis Kingdon-Ward and published by . This book was released on 1926 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Courting the Diamond Sow written by Wickliffe W. Walker and published by National Geographic. This book was released on 2002 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The harrowing account of the pioneering descent of Tibets Tsangpo River one of modern explorations greatest challenges which ended in tragedy with the death of Olympic Paddler Doug Gordon. A COMPELLING AND DRAMATIC EXPEDITION ACCOUNT set in one of the worlds most beautiful and remote regions. The Tsangpo is one of the last great uncharted rivers in the world. It's the Everest of whitewater, except unlike Everest, it's never been done. -- Arlene Burns, the Washington Post ROMANCE OF THE WORLD'S FORBIDDEN AND SECRET PLACES: Mysterious and sacred, Tibet has fascinated explorers for more than a century. The stretch of the Tsangpo attempted by Walker and his team is the source of the legend of Shangri-la, and the model for James Hiltons novel, Lost Horizons. CONTROVERSY OVER THE 'DISCOVERY' OF TSANGPO'S HIDDEN FALLS: In 1924 British explorer Frank Kingdon-Ward observed what he believed to be the highest waterfall on the Tsangpo, a waterfall to rival Niagra. His observations led to a race to document these falls, which has attracted generations of explorers.FILM TIE-IN: The Walker expedition is the subject of a National Geographic Explorer special that will re-air at the time of publication. In 1926 botanist F. Kingdon Ward described one of modern explorationIs greatest challengesUtracking the course of the Tsangpo River of Tibet. In a mysterious region called Pemako, the Land of Flowers, the mighty Tsangpo loops around the eastern anchor of the Himalayan Range, cutting the deepest canyon on earth and emerging more than nine thousand feet lower on the plains of Assam, India, renamed the Brahmaputra. He and others added pieces to the puzzle he called Ithe riddle of the Tsangpo gorges, O but no one has yet followed the river throughout its course. For almost four decades on several continents, a small group of American companionsUWick Walker, Tom and Jamie McEwan, and Doug Gordon were privileged to participate in the emergence of a new and thrilling sport, whitewater racing. Moving from World Cup and Olympic levels to expeditions around the globe, Wick Walker and his companions were drawn to an area of Tibet where the highest and deepest of the EarthIs recesses come together.Perhaps no place in the world is more dramatic (or less known and explored) than the magnificent series of gorges that lie in far southeastern Tibet. In late September 1998, after years of planning, including a month-long reconnaissance into the gorge in 1997, and garnering support from the National Geographic Society, Malden Mills Industries, and a host of other sponsors, the expedition finally launched into the treacherous gorges for a first descent. Four whitewater paddlers, perhaps the best possible team in the world, would descend the Tsangpo, supported and resupplied at intervals by a team of four trekkers accompanied by two sherpas, local guides and porters, and a videographer from National Geographic. The descent, which began with difficultiesUa huge river swollen by a season of Ififty-year floodsO ended in tragedy with the death of renowned chemist and Olympian, Doug Gordon, who perished on October 16th while running a small put powerful waterfall. Although his teammates searched for his body for four days, his remains were never found, vanishing into the treacherous waters. The expedition was immediately abandoned.Courting the Diamond Sow is a compelling expedition account shaped by the first-hand diary accounts of the kayackers as they passed through the gorges; the history of this mysterious corner of the world some refer to as Shangri La and the attempts to explore it; and a cultural profile of this remote Tibetan region.

Download or read book In the Land of the Blue Poppies written by Frank Kingdon Ward and published by Modern Library. This book was released on 2012-10-17 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Modern Library Paperback Original During the first years of the twentieth century, the British plant collector and explorer Frank Kingdon Ward went on twenty-four impossibly daring expeditions throughout Tibet, China, and Southeast Asia, in search of rare and elusive species of plants. He was responsible for the discovery of numerous varieties previously unknown in Europe and America, including the legendary Tibetan blue poppy, and the introduction of their seeds into the world’s gardens. Kingdon Ward’s accounts capture all the romance of his wildly adventurous expeditions, whether he was swinging across a bottomless gorge on a cable of twisted bamboo strands or clambering across a rocky scree in fear of an impending avalanche. Drawn from writings out of print for almost seventy-five years, this new collection, edited and introduced by professional horticulturalist and House & Garden columnist Tom Christopher, returns Kingdon Ward to his deserved place in the literature of discovery and the literature of the garden.

Download or read book The Heart of the World written by Ian Baker and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 2020-08-13 with total page 658 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The legend of Shangri-La emerged from the Tibetan Buddhist belief in beyul, or hidden lands. Tibetan prophecies proclaim that the greatest of these mythical sanctuaries lies at the eastern edge of the Himalayas, veiled by a colossal waterfall at the heart of the forbidding Tsangpo gorge. After years of research and investigation, Buddhist scholar and world-class climber Ian Baker and his team made worldwide news by reaching the bottom of the Tsangpo gorge and finding a magnificent 108-foot-high waterfall the legendary grail of both Western explorers and Tibetan seekers. The Heart of the World recounts one of the most captivating stories of exploration and discovery in recent memory an extraordinary journey into one of the wildest and most inaccessible places on earth, a meditation on our place in nature, and a pilgrimage to the heart of Tibetan Buddhism.

Download or read book Tales of the Rose Tree written by Jane Brown and published by David R. Godine Publisher. This book was released on 2006 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "From the towering Burmese magnificum, with its three-foot-diameter trunk and its masses of sweet-smelling purple flowers, to the potted pink azalea, glowing like a burning bush on the backyard garden patio, Rhododendron is a genus of infinite variety and beauty. There are 1,025 known species: it is a native of the snows of the Himalayas and the swamps of the Carolinas, the jungles of Borneo and the island inlets of Japan. It is also one of the oldest of plants - many believe the dove that returned to Noah's ark was carrying a rhododendron sprig - although it has been known to western horticulture for only 300 years. The curious history of Westerners and rhododendrons is full of swashbuckling plant collectors and visionary gardeners, colonial violence and ecological destruction, stunning botanical successes and bitter business disappointments. And it is here related with consummate skill by Jane Brown, an English garden writer."--BOOK JACKET.

Download or read book The Brahmaputra Basin Water Resources written by Vijay Singh and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2004-02-29 with total page 634 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Brahmaputra River represents nearly 30% of India's water resources potential and 41% of its total hydropower. No sustainable future for this underdeveloped region can occur without a plan combining social, political, economic, cultural, and legal considerations with scientific paradigms. This book pools the talent, knowledge and experience of a wide range of water resource professionals to provide an exhaustive study of the Brahmaputra River basin, present and future.

Download or read book The Pundits written by Derek Waller and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-07-11 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On a September day in 1863, Abdul Hamid entered the Central Asian city of Yarkand. Disguised as a merchant, Hamid was actually an employee of the Survey of India, carrying concealed instruments to enable him to map the geography of the area. Hamid did not live to provide a first-hand count of his travels. Nevertheless, he was the advance guard of an elite group of Indian trans-Himalayan explorers—recruited, trained, and directed by the officers of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India—who were to traverse much of Tibet and Central Asia during the next thirty years. Derek Waller presents the history of these explorers, who came to be called "native explorers" or "pundits" in the public documents of the Survey of India. In the closed files of the government of British India, however, they were given their true designation as spies. As they moved northward within the Indian subcontinent, the British demanded precise frontiers and sought orderly political and economic relationships with their neighbors. They were also becoming increasingly aware of and concerned with their ignorance of the geographical, political, and military complexion of the territories beyond the mountain frontiers of the Indian empire. This was particularly true of Tibet. Though use of pundits was phased out in the 1890s in favor of purely British expeditions, they gathered an immense amount of information on the topography of the region, the customs of its inhabitants, and the nature of its government and military resources. They were able to travel to places where virtually no European count venture, and did so under conditions of extreme deprivation and great danger. They are responsible for documenting an area of over one million square miles, most of it completely unknown territory to the West. Now, thanks to Waller's efforts, their contributions to history will no longer remain forgotten.

Download or read book Lady of the Lotus Born written by Gyalwa Changchub and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2002-02-12 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first Tibetan to attain complete enlightenment was in all probability the woman Yeshe Tsogyal, the closest disciple of Padmasambhava, the master who brought Buddhism to Tibet in the eighth century. This classical text is not only a biography but also an inspiring example of how the Buddha's teaching can be put into practice. Lady of the Lotus-Born interweaves profound Buddhist teachings with a colorful narrative that includes episodes of adventure, court intrigue, and personal searching. The book will appeal to students of Tibetan Buddhism and readers interested in the role of women in Buddhism and world religions.

Download or read book Microchiropteran Bats written by Anthony Michael Hutson and published by IUCN. This book was released on 2001 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book North East India Land People and Economy written by K.R. Dikshit and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-10-21 with total page 828 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: North-East India, comprising the seven contiguous states around Assam, the principal state of the region, is a relatively unknown, yet very fascinating region. The forest clad peripheral mountains, home to indigenous peoples like the Nagas, Mizos and the Khasis, the densely populated Brahmaputra valley with its lush green tea gardens and the golden rice fields, the moderately populated hill regions and plateaus, and the sparsely inhabited Himalayas, form a unique mosaic of natural and cultural landscapes and human interactions, with unparalleled diversity. The book provides a glimpse into the region’s past and gives a comprehensive picture of its physical environment, people, resources and its economy. The physical environment takes into account not only the structural base of the region, its physical characteristics and natural vegetation but also offers an impression of the region’s biodiversity and the measures undertaken to preserve it. The people of the region, especially the indigenous population, inhabiting contrasting environments and speaking a variety of regional and local dialects, have received special attention, bringing into focus the role of migration that has influenced the traditional societies, for centuries. The book acquaints the readers with spatial distribution, life style and culture of the indigenous people, outlining the unique features of each tribe. The economy of the region, depending originally on primitive farming and cottage industries, like silkworm rearing, but now greatly transformed with the emergence of modern industries, power resources and expanding trade, is reviewed based on authentic data and actual field observations. The epilogue, the last chapter in the book, summarizes the authors’ perception of the region and its future.

Download or read book Knowing the Salween River Resource Politics of a Contested Transboundary River written by Carl Middleton and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-08-12 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book focuses on the Salween River, shared by China, Myanmar, and Thailand, that is increasingly at the heart of pressing regional development debates. The basin supports the livelihoods of over 10 million people, and within it there is great socio-economic, cultural and political diversity. The basin is witnessing intensifying dynamics of resource extraction, alongside large dam construction, conservation and development intervention, that is unfolding within a complex terrain of local, national and transnational governance. With a focus on the contested politics of water and associated resources in the Salween basin, this book offers a collection of empirical case studies that highlights local knowledge and perspectives. Given the paucity of grounded social science studies in this contested basin, this book provides conceptual insights at the intersection of resource governance, development, and politics of knowledge relevant to researchers, policy-makers and practitioners at a time when rapid change is underway. - Fills a significant knowledge gap on a major river in Southeast Asia, with empirical and conceptual contributions - Inter-disciplinary perspective and by a range of writers, including academics, policy-makers and civil society researchers, the majority from within Southeast Asia - New policy insights on a river at the cross-roads of a major political and development transition

Download or read book Himalayan Enchantment written by Francis Kingdon Ward and published by Serindia Publications, Inc.. This book was released on 1990 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The last of the great plant hunters, Frank Kingdon-Ward undertook 25 major expeditions over a period of nearly 50 years, and collected and numbered more than 23,000 plants. English gardens are still enriched by the poppies, lilies, primulas, rhododendrons and many other plants that he introduced.