Product Description

Imprisoned in India by the British when WWII was declared, Austrian climber Heinrich Harrer escaped, crossing the Himalayas to Tibet. Settling in Lhasa, the Forbidden City, he became the tutor and friend of the present Dalai Lama in this classic of adventure literature. Heinrich Harrer, already a famous mountaineer and Olympic ski champion, was caught by the outbreak of the Second World War while climbing in the Himalayas. An Austrian national, he was imprisoned by the British in India. By an almost super-human effort, on his third attempt he succeeded in escaping from the internment camp and fled into Tibet. After a series of remarkable experiences in a country never crossed before by a Westerner, Harrer reached the forbidden city of Lhasa. He stayed there for seven years, learned the language and acquired a greater understanding of Tibet and the Tibetans than any Westerner had ever before achieved. He became the friend and tutor of the young Dalai Lama and finally accompanied him into India when he was put to flight by the Red Chinese invasion. Made into a successful motion picture starring Brad Pitt, this is a stunning story of incredible courage and self-reliance set against the backdrop of a mysterious and magnificent culture.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28217 in Books
• Published on: 1988-11-17
• Original language: German
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
'Like the voyage of the Kon-Tiki, it deserves to take its place among the few great travel stories of our own times' The Times 'Few adventureres in this century have had the combined luck and hardihood to return with such news as this. Fewer still have rendered it so powerfully unadorned.' Times Literary Supplement 'Some books, like some mountains, are lonely and unrivalled peaks, and this is one of these.' Economist

About the Author
Heinrich Harrer was born in 1912 in Carinthia. His skiing prowess won him a place in the 1936 Austrian Olympic team. He was in the party which first ascended the notorious North Wall of the Eiger in 1938, and he is the author of the classic climbing book The White Spider -- a full history of the attempts to make that terrible climb.

Customer Reviews

An amazing story & engaging picture of the old Tibet
I enjoyed the film and because of this wanted to read Harrer's own account, and wasn't disappointed. Harrer's escapes from British detention, and the hardships of his journey towards Lhasa, constitute a great adventure story and a window into an unknown world. His time in Lhasa, and especially his contact with the young Dalai Lama, is well told - we see a backward feudalism which to us is not attractive, but also a happy people with great reverence for their religion and traditions, and a young ruler with an insatiable curiosity about the outside world. This insight into the early years of the present Dalai Lama is one of the most interesting aspects of the book. Harrer left when the Chinese invaded in 1950, but knew enough to see that this was going to be a disaster for Tibet and its people, as has been subsequently documented in many books and reports. A superb adventure and a personal account of a vanishing culture. Read it !

An essential read for everyone, ever!
"Seven Years" is certainly one of the best travel books ever written. Being a mountaineer, I had previously read Harrer's "The White Spider", which this surpasses, mainly as a result of the incredible story that it tells. Reading this book will give you a greater understanding of Tibetan culture and the beauty of the land than any other text I've encountered. Everyone should read this book.

Great book, shame about the film...
I read the book well before production of the film was even announced. I found the book to be well written in describing the author's journey, right from his internment on attempting to climb Nanga Parbat (Unsere Berg to the German / Austrain team attempting to climb it) and his escape and travel into Tibet. He goes on to describe Tibet prior to the Chinese arrival, a world in which World War II seems to have no relevance. The menace of the Chinese becomes apparent increasingly so later in the book when it is clear so-called 'liberation' is inevitable.

If you've seen the film, the book especially later on is a different story. Firstly, the film only touches upon Harrer's and Aufschnaiter's journey to reach Lhasa and on their encounter with the Khampa bandits who try to separate them and rob them (irony that later the Khampas were those that put up the longest fight against the Chinese - all the way up to 1974).

The film also places the Chinese People's Liberation Army in Lhasa at the same time as Harrer - this certainly did not happen. When Harrer left Lhasa, the Chinese had only advanced so far into Tibet and halted to force the 17 point agreement on the Tibetans and were still a significant distance away.

I respect 'patriciamcleary's comment that she enjoyed the film more than the book. I'm afraid I'm of the oppostie view basically because of the inaccuracies and omissions from the film. However, I can appreciate that for some, the film might be an easier going way of appreciating the situation in the run up to the Chinese invasion (although heavily changed to the book).

To sum up, an easy to follow book that gave me a picture of Tibet different to that which I saw when I travelled to Tibet in the summer of 1998 (admittedly I went there as a tourist). The Chinese have taken away much of what made this admittedly far from perfect former Shangri La special.

Ian (alias Beefy_SAFC)