I’ve seen the Dalai Lama interviewed on television, and was incredibly impressed with him, now an elderly man. But the most interesting story, in my estimation, was his unlikely and intense friendship with the Dalai Lama. Seven Years in Tibet is the story of how Heinrich Harrer (1912-2006) trekked through some of the world’s most dangerous mountain “trails,” dodged Tibetan authorities, foiled gangs of armed robbers, made friends with Tibetan nomads, and eventually arrived (without proper authorization) to Lhasa. He tried to escape once, but was found and taken back to the POW camp. Although he was treated well at the POW camp, he longed to find his way to Tibet … a boyhood dream to penetrate the forbidding mountain area and making his way to The Forbidden City, the capital of Lhasa. Read moreĭuring World War II, the author, a German citizen, was a British prisoner of war, held in India. It is hard to truly imagine how bizarre this must all have seemed to an Austrian visiting Shangri la.All in all, well worth a read for the information alone (the old edition I have also contains some of his photos which added greatly to the experience), but slightly disappointing how it was all tied together. The author’s attitude to all he sees around him could be viewed as offensive to the 21st Century reader, but to complain about this alone would be to see this work in an unfair context. Some of the weak style can probably be put down to a questionable translation, but the lack of follow up on the side stories clearly cannot be. Many times throughout the book, a glimmer of an interesting aside becomes visible, only to be glossed over for the next fact in line. Clearly not really an author, the book is often stilted, repetitive in style, and reads like a diary with the dates taken out (which I am presuming is exactly how it was written). Some editions have a foreword by the Lama himself which gives some gravity to the whole affair though.However, it is not the fabulous tale that is told which proves to be the books biggest flaw. It all sounds like the stuff of fantasy, and one cannot help but be slightly incredulous about the whole thing. When he finally gets past mountains and bandits, he manages to become a gardener, a graphologist and part-time teacher to the Dalai Lama amongst other things. Due to timing, he manages to get stuck in an internment camp in India in 1939 when war breaks out, and spends most of the war there detailing his various escape attempts. An Olympic standard sportsman, who, not content with scaling the seemingly unassailable north face of the Eiger, sets out to climb in the Himalayan range. The author himself has clearly led an amazing life. The little stories around the religious rites and ways prove very entertaining, meaning that as a historical document, it has significant value.

In many ways this is a fascinating insight to a closed and traditional feudal nation.

7 years in tibet book