books about Ladakh
Guidebooks
- Trekking in Ladakh: Eight adventurous trekking routes
by Radek Kucharski
Cicerone Press; second, revised edition; Oct 2015; ISBN: 9781852848309
- Trekking in Ladakh: Eight Remote and Challenging Treks
by Radek Kucharski
Cicerone Press, first edition, Oct 2012; ISBN: 9781852846756 - Indian Himalaya. Trekking guide.
by Katarzyna i Andrzej Mazurkiewiczowie
terraQuest, 2008; ISBN: 978-83-61155-19-5 - Ladakh. The essential guide.
by Partha S Banerjee
Milestone Books, June 2008; ISBN: 978-81-903270-2-2 - Trekking in Ladakh
by Charlie Loram
Trailblazer Publications, 2004; ISBN: 1-873756-75-5
- "Mindful Travel" brochure at the Ladakh Project of ISEC
The brochure is a must read for anyone going to Ladakh. DO's & DONT's for travellers to Ladakh, ecological and cultural guidelines. Available at www.localfutures.org in English, French, German and Italian.
- Insight Ladakh
by P.K. Das, Tashi Phunchuk
Ratna Voyages Publications, Leh-Ladakh, 2009 - Ladakh. Crossroads of High Asia.
by Janet Rizvi
Oxford University Press, 2007; ISBN: 978-0-19-564546-0 - Ladakh. Land of Magical Monasteries.
by Bob Gibbons, Siân Pritchard-Jones
Pilgrims Publishing, 2006; ISBN: 81-7769-488-X - Amazing Land Ladakh. Places, People and Culture.
by Sanjeev Kumar Bhasin
Indus Publishing Company, 2006; ISBN: 81-7387-186-8 - Birds and Mammals of Ladakh
by Otto Pfister
Oxford University Press, 2004; ISBN: 019565714-4
A complete work on mammals and birds inhabiting Ladakh. It contains description of appearance and behaviour of each animal and information on its distribution in the region. Colour photographs for all of the species. - Getting started in Ladakhi. A phrasebook for Learning Ladakhi.
by Rebecca Norman
Melong Pblications of Ladakh, 2001 - Ladakhi Kitchen. Traditional and Modern Recipes From Ladakh.
by Gabriele Reifenberg
Melong Publications of Ladakh, 1998 - Ladakh. Land and People.
by Prem Singh Jina
Indus Publishing Company, 1996; ISBN: 81-7387-057-8 - Ancient Futures. Learning from Ladakh.
by Helena Norberg-Hodge
Oxford University Press, 1991; ISBN: 978-0-19-563196-8
external link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Norberg-Hodge
It would be a simplification if I say it's a book about Ladakh. The description of the region and ongoing change of its culture and society in recent years, serves the author as a pretext for a discussion on the meaning of development, progress, education, ecology. Is the literacy rate and Gross National Product a real indicator of peoples welfare? Does our happiness grow as we gain access to modern technology? Do we have a real freedom of choice of goods since countries around the world tend to produce the same instead of cultivating local specials? Same beverages, food, style of dress, architecture - regardless the tradition and environmental conditions. Don't we - living freely on our own, independently - loose connections with the others and become lonely?
Helena Norberg-Hodge opposes problems of western societies with traditional life of the Ladakhis that used to be quite free of them. The problem is that Ladakh develops in the western-style direction without the people realizing its dangers.
The author describes Ladakh as a land of harmony, where people have learned to live respecting and caring for its limited resources. This harmony has been shaken by the development of roads network that had opened widely the region to the outside world. The distorted image of the western world brought by tourists and television undermines self-confidence of the Ladakhis and shakes their belief in virtue of their own culture.
Understanding the old Ladakh - as it was before wide exposure to the western world since late 70-ties - can help us discover it and explore it responsibly and wisely. Reading the book before the travel to Ladakh will help us to make the trip and our contacts with the Ladakhis a mutual lesson rather then a spread of disturbance on an ancient, wise culture.
comment by Radek Kucharski on 2009-12-14 02:23:53 - The Guide of The Buddhist Monasteries and Royal Castles of Ladakh
by Thupstan Paldan
published by Dorjee Tsering, 1976