Heinrich Harrer's Epic True Story: Seven Years in Tibet

Nandini: One of the most wonderful adventure I ever read. Even those who are not interested in Tibet, will certainly enjoy reading this. Almost comparable to " Chander Pahar"...if you know what I mean.

India on Feb 06, 2023

Guru: A real life thriller cum adventure penned with great details. It is indeed a wonderful read.

India on Dec 26, 2022

thegreenhillsofafrica: As you might expect, this memoir is far more extensive than the movie starring Brad Pitt and contains copious detail about Harrer’s years in Tibet. Indeed, there is so much detail I found it tedious after a while.

There is no mention of his first marriage or divorce or the birth of his son Peter which occurred in Europe within the time frame of this book.

How much of the religious and culturally active Tibet described in this memoir still exists it’s impossible to know with Tibet under draconian Communist Chinese rule. A great deal of change has necessarily occurred. Harrer was able to return during a period of thaw with China and the West and was surprised at how much of Tibetan religion and culture had survived. However now that it is 2022/23 a curtain has again descended upon Tibet.

Canada on Dec 24, 2022

Katharine Kirby: One of my favourite books, also written also in the fifties, had the enigmatic sentence in it, spoken by a gloomy character who was bemoaning what the world was coming to, ‘And the Chinese are in Tibet’… I never really understood what that meant until reading this and also watching the film.

I didn’t want to read this, I felt it was history I couldn’t relate to, an area I was not especially interested in, and the writing style was different, diary-like, dry, leadenly slow at first. The hardback copy I bought had photos, one in colour, which helped, and once Harrer and Aufschnaiter had arrived at their dreamed of destination, after two years travelling to Lhasa, I felt more involved. I couldn’t see how their money lasted them two years; they must have started out weighed down with possessions and coin. I know other prisoners had contributed, but all the same, it seemed fantastical that they could survive on so little. The film was equally trying as Brad Pitt doggedly scrambled over ice and stones for the first third of it.

The earlier scenes in the Indian concentration camps run by the British reminded me that my mother told me that we, the English,...

United Kingdom on Dec 04, 2018

XX9910: I purchased this for my Kindle and I do have a paperback copy...in fact I had an older paperback copy of it too but I have no idea what happened to that version.

I picked up this book as a teenager (a long time ago!) from the bookshelf at home, I had just finished reading something (probably by Stephen King or James Herbert) and needed reading fodder so searched the shelves and found this. I actually thought 'Ugh! This will be hard going!' ..it was the best I could find.
It looked like nothing I would have any interest in at all...me being into Duran Duran & OK, more specifically John Taylor of Duran Duran at that time...

How wrong was I!!

Over the ...oh....30 years it must be since I first read this book I have gone back and read it many more times and it now holds a place in my heart. It IS my favourite book of all time.

The story, the descriptions...all brought to life. The Dalai Lama.
Tibet and a culture I knew nothing of back then.

Truth be told I think this is where my interest in people, psychology and culture came from. It is a brilliant read!

I have never yet seen the film. I have avoided it at all costs because I...

United Kingdom on Jul 12, 2014

Konrei: Tibet was long known as "The Forbidden Land" or "The Forbidden Kingdom" and its capital, Lhasa, was likewise known as "The Forbidden City." Until the mid-Twentieth Century, the number of non-Tibetans who penetrated into The Forbidden Land was in the mere thousands over time, and those who visited Lhasa itself was probably in the hundreds, particularly Westerners.

Tibet once ruled over a great Central Asian empire that had its outlet on the Bay of Bengal. but over the centuries, Tibet became restricted to the highest land in the world, the Tibetan Plateau, known also as "The Roof of The World," or the "Born-i-Dunyo." Tucked off in an inaccessible corner of Asia, separated from India by the mighty rampart of the Himalayas and by the rest of Asia by the Karakorams, Tibet was left largely to itself. China claimed Tibet but for most of human history did little more than talk about it. The Tibetans, as a result, became a homogeneous people with a unique culture and language and way of life.

It is said that Padma Sambhava, "The Lotus Born" introduced Buddhism to Tibet by crossing the mountains on a flying snow leopard. The Tibetans readily adopted the Middle Way, but...

United States on Nov 24, 2010

Litr8r: Don't let the fact that Seven Years in Tibet has been made into a movie stop you from picking up a copy of Heinrich Harrer's classic, real-life adventure. Whatever the movie's merits, or lack thereof, by most accounts the original story--the book--remains the best-told version of an incredible journey. Originally published in German in 1953, Harrer's Tibetan travelogue did not appear in English until the 1980s or become widely read until the 1990s. Harrer's tale provides the amazing details of his escapes, survival, evasion, and physical challenge. Beyond the reward of finally arriving in Tibet, Harrer experiences the greater victory of actually creating an enjoyable life for himself in Lhasa and eventually serving the Dalai Lama himself.

Born in Carinthia, Austria, Harrer spent his youth skiing and hiking in the alps. In 1936, the author secured a place on the Austrian Olympic Ski Team and became the winner of the World Students' Championship Downhill race. Reluctant to make ski movies as a follow-up career, Harrer strove to win a place on a Himalayan climbing expedition. In 1943, the author was invited to join a German-Austrian team on the Nanga Parbat Expedition, which...

United States on Feb 29, 2008