The Snow Leopard

A good book to read in mid-winter. Matthiessen takes a trek to the Himalayas along with a naturalist, looking for some sort of insight, and finds that the journey and his companions were more important than the destination. That summary sounds trite, but the novelistic diary form is generally interesting reading. It provides interesting looks at rugged adventure in the mountains before satellite phones and space-age gear.returnreturnIn the end though, I have to say I didn't like the narrator. He abandoned his orphaned young children to selfishly look for enlightenment. Better to have sought it in being present in his own life instead of trying to escape to the mountains.