MAGIC AND MYSTERY IN TIBET
by Alexandra David–Neel

This book is a perfect example of non-fiction being stranger than fiction—a wealth of information on pre-invasion Tibet, and a thoroughly entertaining travelogue.

Magic and Mystery in Tibet was written in the 1920s by a courageous French explorer who lived to be 100, and became the first European woman to reach the forbidden city of Lhasa.

A practicing Buddhist, linguist, and historian who lived in Tibet for over 14 years, Alexandra David-Néel was received by the Dalai Lama and documented the startling occult traditions of the magicians, mystics, and lamas she encountered firsthand.

Yet she doesn’t write like a starry-eyed mystic. She maintains a healthy air of skepticism, while refusing to look away from the impossible.

Her travels were undertaken in a time of spiritual seeking and anthropological exploration of the few remaining isolated cultures of the world. Though stamped with the exoticism of its era, it remains an essential, intelligent work.

Pick it up if you’ve grown tired of predictable horizons—it blows the dust off our modern, over-explained world. David-Néel returns us to a genuine sense of awe.

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THE JOURNEY → Land of Flying Lamas