After the death of his wife, Matthiesen joins a friend (George Schaller) on a fall expedition to Nepal to study the rut of a rare sheep/goat (the classification of the species is one of the subjects of the research). Matthiesen has been studying Zen Buddhism for several years, and is interested in the area both for its wildlife and for its Buddhism. This book consists of (heavily edited and revised) journal entries that tell the story of his journey. He gives us both a travel story and meditations on Buddhism. The interplay between the two work very well.

Several of Matthiesen's own Quests are revealed as the book goes on, and many end up having Zen lessons. Many of these have the kind of resolution that you might expect if the book were fictional, in that some are Too Perfect for a Zen novice. Yet they are entirely believable, and I suspect that the degree of poetic license here is not too great.

If those two paragraphs have convinced you to read the book, stop right here. If not, I'll summarize some of the Zen lessons - - but be advised that several spoilers follow.

Matthiesen wants to see a snow leopard but never does. However, when he splits up from his partner, his partner sees the leopard.

Matthiesen wants to visit a particular "monastery" to visit a particular lama. He ultimately visits the monastery and later learns than he has already met the lama.

He wants to learn Buddhism from the Buddhists who serve as the expedition porters, but not too surprisingly they aren't very Buddhist at all. Also not too surprisingly, he learns the most from the least likely candidate, who is not trying to teach him anything at all. (I actually think that Matthiessen is wrong about this porter, but the literary point is what Matthiesen thinks he learned from him.)

And again, not surprisingly, in the end Matthiesen does find what he is not looking for.

If you're part of a reading group, you might try this one alongside Catherine Reid's "Coyote: Seeking the Hunter in Our Midst." Both books interweave a story about the natural world with an intensely personal journey. As I discussed in my review of "Coyote," I think Reid fails, while Matthiesen succeeds. In part, this reflects the fact that Matthiesen has a strong spiritual core, though a seemingly weak, Zen core. He has no chip on his shoulder. Matthiesen is also traveling more interesting terrain than Reid (Nepal versus western Massachusetts). His recurring stories of goals not reached are also more interesting than Reid's more linear narrative.

Despite its strengths, Matthiessen can be an exasperating companion at time. He has Great White Hunter attitudes toward the porters. He has abandoned his son shortly after his wife's death, and does not keep promises to his son about his return. He can be self-indulgent, as is true of many people on a spiritual quest. He's not as self-critical as he might be, but honest enough to give us the rope with which to hang him if we want to do so.

Finally, if you're interested in the Himalayan region, this is one of the best travel narratives that I've read. It has richer characterization and a stronger sense of setting than the more spartan account in, say, "Seven Years in Tibet." It's a page turner and worth reading more than once.

When I'm not carrying this book, it's carrying me.

These are the mountains of your heart.

In "The Snow Leopard" Peter Matthiessen takes a long length of rope and
proceeds to hang himself.

- As implied by his own words, the man is a
Primadonna: a large ego, easily bruised. Not your ideal
trekking companion.

- He abandons his son when he needs him the most, then
milks the situation for dramatic effect.

- His ex-wife's cancer death gets similar treatment.

- He prints her incredibly bad poetry to show what a
wonderful person she was. Shouldn't he as a writer
have at least some aesthetic judgment?

- He catches a fleeting glimpse of an animal but can't
quite make out what it is. Matthiessen's conclusion: It's
the Yeti!

- One of the Nepalis in the group is a liar, a rouge
and a thief. Matthiessen has been warned about him, but is
impressed by the man's countenance and suspects he may
be a guru sent to enlighten him. There follow several
predictable incidents with the 'guru'. But Matthiessen in his
New Age fog assumes that the master is testing him, to
check if he can see past facades. Later he actually
takes the man to a trekking agency and gives him a
glowing reference! Pity the poor trekking group that hires
this scoundrel based on Matthiessen's recommendation.

I could go on, but you get the picture. Nevertheless,
the book is recommended as an exercise in reading
between the lines: What the author says; what really happened.

Peter Matthiessen's "The Snow Leopard" operates on several levels. It is the narrative of a 1973 journey by Matthiessen and zoologist George Schaller, accompanied by a team of sherpas and porters, into a remote region of Nepal to search for the rare snow leopard of the title. On another level, it describes Matthiessen's struggle to come to grips with his wife's recent death of cancer. On a third level, it is the author's exploration of his Buddhist faith in an environment ideally suited for mystic experiences.

"The Snow Leopard" is superbly well-written. This reviewer particularly enjoyed Matthiessen's very personal account of the 35-day approach march into northern Nepal, passing through an ancient, austere and isolated mountain culture. The team's journey took them across a series of snow-choked high altitude mountain passes to reach a remote valley in the Dolpo region under the "Crystal Mountain." Matthiessen has a gift for describing the people, customs, and wildlife he encounters along the way, and the team's struggles with food, shelter, and route-finding in the high mountains.

It is clear from the narrative that Matthiessen came to regard the expedition as a spiritual journey. The lengthy descriptions of the Buddhist faith in its various manifestations may have limited appeal for many readers, but experienced hikers and trekkers will appreciate the mountain environment in which the author felt compelled to explore the limits of his faith. Of equal interest is what Matthiessen learns in his interactions with his sherpas and other Nepalese, simple mountain folk who live very much in each moment.

Matthiessen's 1973 ideas about drug use, anthropology, and politics look fairly dated from the perspective of 2006. The narrative would have benefited from additional illustrations beyond the single photo provided in the text.

This book holds up extremely well as an exemplar of travel literature. "The Snow Leopard" is highly recommended to those with an interest in the Himalayas and the mountain culture found there.

I consider Peter Matthiessen's masterful travel journal a fitting bookend to James Hilton's "Lost Horizon". While Hilton's classic is a fanciful adventure focused on one man's search for Shangri-La in the Himalayas, Matthiessen's book is about his true 1973 Himalayan journey where he journeyed with zoologist George Schaller to study the bharal (blue sheep). However, the author is not simply interested in sharing an animal-related adventure even as he resets his target to the elusive snow leopard. It becomes a much more personal experience at a traumatic juncture in Matthiessen's life as his wife just died and his young son has been left back in the states.

The book reflects a process of emotional cleansing, as he is cut off from civilization for nearly three months and truly living in the moment every day. Much of this could have come across as desultory or worse, self-absorbed, were it not for the author's elegant, articulate prose. Much of his narrative is set in an isolated monastery in the remote Dolpo region of Nepal. Restricted to normal tourists, the spiritual enclave encourages Matthiessen's spiritual transformation. As a Zen Buddhist, he ponders quite a bit about life and death, but he manages to do so without pretension, no small feat given other writers who have felt a need to make grand statements about personal epiphanies. I have been fortunate enough to trek a bit on the Annapurna Circuit and visit monasteries in Nepal and the Sikkim region of northern India, and the book manages to make my vividly personal memories resonate even more. Among the breadth of travel literature out there, this book is one of the true must-reads.