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In 2016 and 2018 acclaimed author and conservationist William deBuys joined extended medical expeditions into Upper Dolpo, a remote, ethnically Tibetan region of north-western Nepal, to provide basic medical services to the residents of the region. Having written about climate change and species extinction, DeBuys went on those journeys seeking solace. He needed to find a constructive way of living with the discouraging implications of what he had learned in recent years about the diminishing chances of reversing the damage humans have done to Earth – a way of holding onto hope in the face of devastating loss.
As DeBuys describes these journeys through one of the earth's most remote regions, his writing celebrates the staggering natural beauty and biodiversity he finds there, and gives his readers a history lesson of two scientific discoveries – evolution and plate tectonics – that forever changed sapiens' understanding of our planet. Written in a lush and nuanced style evocative of Paul Theroux or Peter Matthiessen, The Trail to Kanjiroba offers a surprising and revitalising new way to think about Earthcare, one that may enable us to continue the difficult work that needs to be done.
William deBuys is the author of ten books, including The Last Unicorn, one of Christian Science Monitor's 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2015; River of Traps, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and a Pulitzer Prize nonfiction finalist; The Walk (an excerpt of which won a Pushcart Prize in 2008); and A Great Aridness. In 2008-2009 he was a Guggenheim Fellow. He lives in New Mexico.
"Dolpo has been a land of inspiration for many people over many centuries. I am glad to see that it inspired my friend Bill deBuys to share this important message about our Earth and ourselves."
– Dolpo Tulku Rinpoche
"Bill de Buys is one of the planet's great observers, and this may be his masterwork-a story of an exploration, of Nepal, but also of the present and future of this planet. Caring for that world, and all that's in it, is necessary, painful, and as he makes clear, exquisitely beautiful work."
– Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
