Chomolungma Sings the Blues: Travels Round Everest

Ed Douglas has written a book, not so much about the mountain the Chomolungma of the title but about the whole are of the surrounding territory as it is nowadays: overrun, garbage-ridden, packaged, spoiled , but still dangerous, still throat-catchingly beautiful. Douglas is a sparkling writer, with a great turn of phrase.

I had no prior interest in Everest or mountaineering, until I read Ed Douglas Chomonlungma Sings the Blues. Well written, it is particularly insightful on the damaging effects of adventure tourism.

A wise and useful book, which has been asking to written ever since Hunt s successful expedition in 1953. Douglas is a first-class journalist, whose interest in the Himalaya and its people enables him to get in close.

A very accomplished climber and noted commentator on climbing-related subjects, Douglas is here more interested in the resonance that Everest has both for the local peoples and the visitors to Nepal and Tibet. He writes elegantly and perceptively with a light and informed touch.

Instead of gazing up at the mountain, Douglas does something which hardly anyone else bothers to do: he looks down, at the people and the life around it.

The authority and balanced judgements of this book will make it essential reading for those contemplating a trek to Tibet and Nepal.

What makes this book most readable is its humorous eye for detail, whether it is the outrageous decor of the Chinese hotel or the bridge near Namche Bazar, which he describes as a slender suspension of wire, wood and disbelief.

Douglas book is refreshing and honest. An excellent geo-political travelogue that takes the reader under the surface of the happy smiling trekking holiday image of the Himalayas.