 Book Reviews
with Robin Osborne
Himalaya
By Michael Palin
Weidenfeld & Nicholson $49.95
 Wildlife doco maker David Attenborough believes he has the 'best job in the world' but in the light of Sahara, this book's forerunner and also a TV series on ABC, and now Palin's trip through 'the greatest mountain range on earth,' it could be argued that the former Monty Python has usurped the title.
Of course there can be no real comparison between the two intrepid Poms' programs, for Palin, whether in Timbuktu or Tibet, is far more the bumbling foreigner, much to the amusement of the good-natured locals, as shown in the segment last Saturday in which he played backblocks cricket with some talented Pakistani locals.
His humour appeals but the real success of the show lies in the concept and, let's admit, the evidently handsome budget.
Like the Saharan civilisations, the mountain and delta dwellers of the Himalaya are some of the most exotic in the world, and relatively ignored by popular television, especially in this degree of depth, which requires more money than Australian networks could afford or American ones would be prepared to spend, especially on such a quirky approach.
But British eccentricity and budgets apparently know few bounds, and whether Palin is in the gun market abutting the Khyber Pass, the houseboats of Kashmir, the Naga tribal lands or in the presence of the Dalai Lama, he is always keen to pitch in.
The team spent six months filming in areas as captivating as the colourful cast that fills the frame. Invariably Palin seems out of place - how could you not - but the result is often great television and here, in 288 pages of colour snaps and diarised text, it makes for a splendid book.
'This is Himalaya, not from top to bottom, but from one end to the other,' he explains. 'From the Khyber Pass where in a tight knuckle of mountains the great ranges of the Hindu Kush, the Karakoram and the Himalaya are born, to Bangladesh, where the Himalaya, reduced to dust and sand, is swept out into the waters of the Bay of Bengal.'
Palin's narrative is witty and informative, if set in too-small a type size, and special mention should be made of Basil Pao's photographs, again excellent and also published in a companion volume (Inside Himalaya, $79.95) that, like this book-of-the-series, will please many people on Christmas morning.
- Thanks to Book Warehouse, Keen Street, Lismore for supporting this column.
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