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Title	:	The Heart of the World: A Journey to the Last Secret Place
Author	:	Ian Baker
Book Format	:	Hardcover
Book Edition	:	Anniversary Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 511 pages
Published	:	November 4th 2004 by Penguin Press (first published 2000)
Categories	:	Travel. Nonfiction. Adventure. Religion. Buddhism. History. Cultural. Asia

The Heart of the World: A Journey to the Last Secret Place Hardcover | Pages: 511 pages

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The myth of Shangri-la originates in Tibetan Buddhist beliefs in beyul, or hidden lands, sacred sanctuaries that reveal themselves to devout pilgrims and in times of crisis. The more remote and inaccessible the beyul, the vaster its reputed qualities. Ancient Tibetan prophecies declare that the greatest of all hidden lands lies at the heart of the forbidding Tsangpo Gorge, deep in the Himalayas and veiled by a colossal waterfall. Nineteenth-century accounts of this fabled waterfall inspired a series of ill-fated European expeditions that ended prematurely in 1925 when the intrepid British plant collector Frank Kingdon-Ward penetrated all but a five-mile section of the Tsangpo's innermost gorge and declared that the falls were no more than a "religious myth" and a "romance of geography." The heart of the Tsangpo Gorge remained a blank spot on the map of world exploration until world-class climber and Buddhist scholar Ian Baker delved into the legends. Whatever cryptic Tibetan scrolls or past explorers had said about the Tsangpo's innermost gorge, Baker determined, could be verified only by exploring the uncharted five-mile gap. After several years of encountering sheer cliffs, maelstroms of impassable white water, and dense leech-infested jungles, on the last of a series of extraordinary expeditions, Baker and his National Geographic-sponsored team reached the depths of the Tsangpo Gorge. They made news worldwide by finding there a 108-foot-high waterfall, the legendary grail of Western explorers and Tibetan seekers alike.
"The Heart of the World" is one of the most captivating stories of exploration and discovery in recent memory-an extraordinary journey to one of the wildest and most inaccessible places on earth and a pilgrimage to the heart of the Tibetan Buddhist faith.

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Original Title:	The Heart of the World: A Journey to the Last Secret Place
ISBN:	1594200270 (ISBN13: 9781594200274)
Edition Language:	English

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Ratings: 4.06 From 642 Users | 70 Reviews

Comment On Based On Books The Heart of the World: A Journey to the Last Secret Place

I'm not sure why I picked this one up, but I was pleasantly surprised by the end. Ian Baker does a great job rolling out the story and while somewhat dry at points, he had me interested until the end and I learned a lot more about Tibetan culture than I knew when I started.

In the Tantric tradition, the ideal of pilgrimage is not simply to visit sacred sites, but to facilitate an inner transformation at places that challenge conventional ways of seeing. In this sense, the more destabilizing the surroundings the better.With that thought in mind Ian Baker, an American adventurer and student of Tantric Buddhism, made a series of pilgrimages to one of the harshest environments on earth, Tibet's Tsangpo gorge region, known for its suicidal white water, three-mile deep

I admit to knowing absolutely nothing about Tibet or Buddhism, which may require some further reading before I understand the practices described in this book. What amazes (and amuses me) about the book so far is the matter-of-fact way in which Baker tells about his travels. He blithely climbs mountains and sits alone in caves for months at a time eating barley which, to me, definitely suggests some state of mind apart from the normal (whether its an elevated one is for you to decide). I wish he

ok, now i'm about half way done. the book is still interesting because i like books about exploration, hardship and determination, but i'm beginning to really dislike the author. i find him to be a bit of an elitist and he doesn't even seem to really realize that he is opening up a sacred space to western ecotourism. not someone i'd care to dine with.did i like it, did i REALLY like it? was it just ok?? i read it because it brought back my glory days in India and the Himalayas. there is some

I am giving this four stars because of the message of the book. Ian Baker is an American Buddhist scholar living in Nepal who takes a series of journeys to Tibet to explore the Tsangpo Gorge, the deepest in the world. In great detail, almost too much detail, he describes four treks into this hard to reach and inhospitable place. He goes again and again for two reasons. One, journeying into the gorge is type of Buddhist pilgrimage. By putting up with the physical hardships of the journey into the

Fascinating. How a group of people survived several attempts at finding this incredible mystical place is beyond belief. The bugs, terrain, weather, strange animals and people, makes your skin crawl. This was on National Geographic some time recently. It's an epic journey of where no one has been before.

In "The Heart of the World, author Ian Baker takes us on a journey to find fabled Falls of the Tsangpo in Pemako, a remote area of Tibet. Its a journey both of physical distance and of personal, spiritual discovery. The writing, quotes and personal reflections throughout the book take us well beyond a typical mountaineering adventure and delve into a constant questioning of the relationship between a self and a world. Following "the accounts of Tibetan pilgrims, as well as those of Victorian and