HIMĀLAYA: Exploring the roof of the world, by John Keay (Bloomsbury, $38.99)
Himālaya 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 soaring peaks and plunging valleys draped over and along national borders like the folds of a sari.