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Among the Tibetans Kindle Edition

by Isabella L. Bird (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 149 ratings
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Isabella L. Bird's 'Among the Tibetans' is a captivating firsthand account of her journey through the mysterious and remote region of Tibet in the late 19th century. Bird's detailed descriptions of the landscape, culture, and people she encounters are accompanied by insightful observations on the customs and traditions of the Tibetan people. Her engaging narrative style, combined with her keen eye for detail, makes this book a valuable literary resource for those interested in travel writing and exploration narratives of the Victorian era. During a time when Western knowledge of Tibet was limited, Bird's work stands out for its depth and breadth of information, shedding light on a region that was largely unknown to the outside world. The book not only serves as a travelogue but also a valuable historical document, providing a glimpse into a bygone era and a culture that was shrouded in mystery. Readers interested in travel literature, cultural studies, and historical exploration will find 'Among the Tibetans' to be a fascinating read, offering a unique perspective on a land that still holds intrigue and fascination today.
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  1. Print length
    71 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Good Press
  5. Publication date
    November 29, 2019
  6. File size
    2282 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

1831-1904

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08245JNJN
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Good Press (November 29, 2019)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 29, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2282 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 71 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ B0BD4LNKSN
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 149 ratings

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Isabella L. Bird

Isabella L. Bird

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Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
149 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Andrea
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Travelogue
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2013
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There's a Kindle edition that currently sells at $4.89 and the paperback at $7.45. I purchased the public domain edition (because it was free) and I was enthralled by Ms. Bird's descriptions of her experiences of her four month travel by horseback from India through the Himalayas in the late Eighteen Hundreds. Bird does exceptionally well in describing the rugged, impossibly difficult,and often breathtaking mountain passes that she traversed. My free edition did not have the sketches she made and which, I assume, are in the paid edition. On the otherhand, Bird has a gift for using words to paint vivid images of the Tibetans, their looks, costumes and decorations, ceremonies, music, as well as of their dwellings, temples, and monasteries. Although much has changed, I dare say that a lot of what she described is still true of Tibet. One thing that touched me was the realization of how extremely difficult it is to go from one village to another, to ford rivers that are icy cold, deep, and are more than a mile across, and to move fully loaded pack animals along a narrow ridge that is wide enough only for a single file but there's another caravan coming from the opposite direction. Life and nature can be very cruel on such a harsh journey so it was a treat to make the same journey while enjoying the comfort my chair.
6 people found this helpful
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R. Strickler
4.0 out of 5 stars A window into a time past when travel was not for the faint hearted
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2013
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I've read both Among the Tibetans and Unbeaten Tracks Across Japan (where I lived for 8 years) and parts of Bird's A Lady's Life in the Rockies. Some other reviewers above find her uninvolved or distant, elitist and racist. But compared to other travelers of her time (some of the travelers who wrote about Japan, Kipling, Livingstone, Speke, Perry...), I think she was capable of seeing outside of herself much more than most, and I find her thoroughly engaged in her travel and usually extremely appreciative of her hosts. (And keep in mind, these were letters to her sister!) Her descriptions of nature -- very 19th century -- are really notable for being both rich and detailed, with plant names and lovely imagery: "Trees and trailers drooped over the path, ferns and lilies bloomed in moist recesses, and among myriads of flowers a large blue and cream columbine was conspicuous by its beauty and exquisite odour. The charm of the detail tempted one to linger at very turn..." She crosses chasms, rides horses over streams, falls on the rocks, pushes through the snow and heat and gets furious with the Afghan leading the team when he mistreats the sherpas and steals their wages. To do all this in long skirts and sometimes without translators was a singularly bold thing to do in the 1890's and I'm fascinated by her descriptions of places that have now irrevocably changed. A great read!
2 people found this helpful
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Harry
3.0 out of 5 stars Incredible journey - but too much baggage!
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2012
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First, a minor quibble - the journey does not actually take place in Tibet, but rather in Ladakh (or Little Tibet, as the author refers to it). That matter aside - what an incredible journey - it is just a terrible pity that the author carried so much unwarranted baggage with her - elitism, racism, distaste for anything Moslem-related and a contempt for Buddhism and the Lamas, who treated her with such kindness and high regard during her journey. She could have learned and enjoyed so much more if she had truly opened her eyes. It really does reflect all our worst perceptions of the British-Raj - Ms Bird 'luxuriating' in her massive tent while her servants and 'coolies' were at times required to sleep without cover in the snow.

There are wonderful descriptions of this, for us, remote territory - incredible scenery, villages, towns, people and customs. Unfortunately the book is written in a peculiar 'distant' style, as if the author was an observer from afar - Ms Bird never draws us into the adventure or journey, giving a feeling of actually being there. Perhaps the original edition, which presumably carried the many illustrations of which the author speaks, was better able to convey the grandeur and the trials of the very difficult terrain.

Still, it is a great period piece and a true eye-opener on the character of Ms Bird, the adventurer, as well as conveying a picture (albeit not fully engaging) of a time and place past.
5 people found this helpful
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Sitar Player
5.0 out of 5 stars A vivid 19th-Century imperialist account of Himalayan Ladakh by a remarkable woman.
Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2020
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This is an important book for students of Himalayan and colonialist studies. This 1889 account of a British woman's travels in the Western Himalayas is a fascinating window into this era. According to Wikipedia, "Isabella Lucy Bird, married name Bishop FRGS (15 October 1831 – 7 October 1904), was a nineteenth-century British explorer, writer, photographer, and naturalist. With Fanny Jane Butler she founded the John Bishop Memorial hospital in Srinagar. She was the first woman to be elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society."

She was a product of her times, with all the imperialist prejudices that implies. She is aware of these to a certain extent, as she interacts with other Europeans who were more open-minded. Nevertheless it is a riveting narrative, especially when we know she was around sixty years old when she took this trip--one of many in her extraordinary life.
2 people found this helpful
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Ricky B
4.0 out of 5 stars More a travel diary than literary work
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2017
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I don’t recommend this book as a first reading of the author's many works unless one has traveled Jammu and Kashmir. I've read three of Isabella Birds' books and each was amazing as a literary work was much as a travel diary; this text is not. Her personal relationships with the people in these pages are not engaging as they are in "A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains," The Hawaiian Archipelago," and "Unbeaten Tracks in Japan." In them we discover who she is as much as others. For me these latter texts were also more interesting as I've traveled and lived in their geography. While reading “Among the Tibetans” I found it helpful to reference Google Map and Wikipedia. I recommend her biography by Pat Barr, "A Curious Life For A Lady: The Story of Isabella Bird."
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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JB
5.0 out of 5 stars A most inspirational journey by this amazing woman.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 9, 2024
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How she manages to achieve so much in such difficult terrains is a constant amazement, notwithstanding that she is also able to write about it at the same time with a vast knowledge of everything surrounding her.
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たま
4.0 out of 5 stars 七難八苦のヒマラヤ旅行記
Reviewed in Japan on April 1, 2016
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19世紀末の旅行家バードのチベット旅行記です。　チベットといってもラサからは遥か西のインド側ですが仏教寺院や人々の生活スタイルなどは紛れもなくチベットでその文化圏の広さが感じ取れます。　ヒマラヤを旅行するわけですからとっても大変で高山病になったり急流に流されて死にかけたりです。　旅人のみならず交易の為に往来する人も同様に命がけだったみたいです。　僧侶の所作や人々の習慣なども具体的に記されています。　有る筈の挿絵はすべて省略されているので図書館で日本語訳を借りて確認しました。　これを考慮して★４にしました。　
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Colin Williamson
3.0 out of 5 stars book review
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 1, 2012
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A fascinating book written by isabella Bird of her travels during 19th century in Tibet, meeting the people and the Buddhist lamas. Her descriptions of the hostile, mountainous land with its raging rivers and the way the people survived is painted in words.She obviously had money and connections, but a very intersting lady.This book is short but well worth reading.It is probably the technology of the kindle which has opened up access to these older, lesser known works.
One person found this helpful
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