Nepal Himalaya, by H. W. Tilman. XI + 272 pages, including maps and illustrations. Cambridge: University Press, $4.75.

This volume is an account of three trips across Nepal, all through hitherto unknown territory — unknown, that is, to white men. On the first trip in 1949, Mr. Tilman followed the Trisuli River in Central Nepal to the Tibetan border and trespassed briefly into that country. On the second trip in 1950, he went farther west and made an attempt on one of the peaks of Annapurna and, on the third trip, in the same year, he reconnoitered the south face of Everest.

The book combines two things seldom found together in one mountaineering volume: a detailed and well-mapped account of each expedition and a witty and penetrating study of the author’s companions as they are affected by the strain of mountaineering. It thus becomes both a climbing guide and a guide to climbers. Altogether, this reviewer regards it a very charming book.

The illustrations are numerous and excellent and in the aggregate give the most complete and accurate view of all the aspects of Nepal seen by the reviewer in any book.

Oscar H. Houston