NEW VIEWS FROM THE ROOF OF THE WORLD

This is a groundbreaking look at the Himalayas and how climate change is re-casting one of the world’s most unique geophysical, environmental, and social regions. More elevated than any other zone on earth, the Himalayas embrace six of the world’s eight major mountain ranges and nearly all its highest peaks. It contains about 50,000 glaciers and the most extensive permafrost outside the polar regions. And, 35% of the global population depends on the region’s fresh water.

The Himalayas are now seismically unstable, and the region remains gridlocked in a global debate surrounding climate change. Himalaya is historian John Keay’s striking case for this spectacular but endangered corner of the planet as one of its most essential wonders. Without respect for its fascinating features, Keay argues, the Himalayas could soon cease to exist in recognisable form.

John Keay

432pp, ~1250, Bloomsbury