Peak district

A rollicking narrative that’s rich with anecdotes about the famous mountain range.

- JENNY NICHOLLS

HIMALAYA: Exploring the roof of the world, by John Keay Bloomsbury, 38.99)

Himalaya isn’t just a mountain range, magnificent home to the 14 so-called eight-thousanders and the 100 highest mountains in the world. It is also the name of the vast, rumpled plateau stretching from Tajikistan and Afghanistan to Myanmar via Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal, the former kingdom of Tibet and China.

It is bordered by more mountain ranges: the Hindu Kush and the Pamirs, Kunlun, Karakoram and the Trans-Himalaya ranges of Tibet soaring peaks and plunging valleys draped over and along national borders like the folds of a sari.

Himalayan glaciers feed the Indus and the Amu Darya rivers, the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Mekong. Billions of people depend on the waters flowing from this natural water tower”.

Ideally, such a critically important region would be seen as a single fragile eco zone, like Amazonia, Antarctica or Australia, argues English author John Keay.

But if this is one of the most seismically active areas in the world, it is also one of the most politically riven, encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir and Tibet.