Reading List
This list will be added to as significant new books come out and as previously published books are discovered.
Non-Fiction
About Tibet
Allwright, Gavin, and Atsushi Kanamaru, eds. Mapping the Tibetan World. Tokyo: Kotan Publishing. 2000, 2004
Barnett, Robert. Lhasa: Streets with Memories. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006
Bell, Sir Charles. Religion of Tibet. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1931
Blondeau, Anne-Marie and Katia Buffetrille. Authenticating Tibet: Answers to China's 100 Questions. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008
Booz, Elizabeth. Tibet, Roof of the World. Chicago: Passport Books, 1994
Chan, Victor. Tibet Handbook: A Pilgrimage Guide. Chico, CA: Moon Publications, 1994
Chodog, Tiley. Tibet: The Land and the People. Beijing: New World Press, 1988
Dorje, Gyurme. Footprint Tibet. 3rd ed. Bath, UK: Footprint Books, 2004
Dowman, Keith. The Power-Places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim’s Guide. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1988
Dowman, Keith. The Sacred Life of Tibet. London: Thorsons, 1997
Goldstein, Melvyn. A History of Modern Tibet: The Demise of the Lamaist State. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989
Huber, Toni, ed. Sacred Spaces and Powerful Places in Tibetan Culture. Dharamsala: LTWA, 1999
Johnson, Sandy. The Book of Tibetan Elders: The Life Stories and Wisdom of the Great Spiritual Masters of Tibet. New York: Riverhead Books, 1996
Kapstein, Matthew T. The Tibetans. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006
Laird, Thomas. The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama. New York: Grove Press, 2006
McKay, Alex, ed. The History of Tibet. 3 vols. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003
Mariani, Fosco. Secret Tibet. London: The Harvill Press, 2000
Mayhew, Bradley, John Vincent Bellezza, Tony Wheeler, Chris Taylor. Tibet, 4th ed. Melbourne: Lonely Planet Publications, 1999
Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Rene de. Oracles and Demons of Tibet. London: Oxford University Press, 1956
Norbu, Thubten Jigme, Colin M. Turnbull. Tibet, Its History, Religion, and People. London: Chatto & Windus Ltd., 1968
O’Reilly, James and Larry Habegger, eds. Travelers’ Tales Tibet. San Francisco: Travelers’ Tales, 2003
Rajesh, M.N. Gompas in Traditional Tibetan Society. New Delhi: Decent Books, 2002
Richardson, H. E. A Short History of Tibet. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1962
Shakabpa, W.D. Tibet: A Political History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967; New York, Potala, 1984
Snellgrove, David, and High Richardson. A Cultural History of Tibet. Boston: Shambhala, 1995
Shakya, Tsering. The Dragon in the Land of Snows: A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999
Stein, R.A. Tibetan Civilization. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1972
Thurman, Robert, and Tad Wise. Circling the Sacred Mountain: A Spiritual Adventure Through the Himalayas. New York: Bantam Books, 1999
Tibet at a Glance. Dharamsala, HP, India: The Tibet Museum, Department of Information and International Relations, 2005
Buddhism
Burlingame, Eugene Watson. Buddhist Parables. Delhi: Pilgrims Book, 1999
Naht Hahn, Thich. Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha. Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1991
Powers, John. A Concise Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Oxford: Oneworld Publication, 2000
Tibetan Buddhism
Berzin, Alexander. Relating to a Spiritual Teacher. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2000
Chodron, Thubten. Buddhism for Beginners. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2001
Dalai Lama, 14th, Tenzin Gyatso. Kindness, Clarity, and Insight. Translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1984, 2006
Dreyfus, Georges, B.J. The Sound of Two Hands Clapping: The Education of a Tibetan Buddhist Monk. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse. What Makes You Not a Buddhist. Boston: Shambhala, 2007
Jamgön Kongtrul the Great. The Teacher-Student Relationship. Translated by Ron Garry. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1999
Ladner, Lorne. Wheel of Great Compassion: The Practice of the Prayer Wheel in Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000
Lopez, Don S., Jr., ed. Religions of Tibet in Practice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997
Maguire, Jack. Essential Buddhism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs and Practices. New York: Pocket Books, 2001
Pabongka Rinpoche. Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand: A Concise Discourse on the Path to Enlightenment. Edited by Trijang Rinpoche. Translated by Michael Richards. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1991
Patrul Rinpoche. The Words of My Perfect Teacher. Translated by the Padmakara Translation Group. San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994
Powers, John. Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1995; 2nd ed. 2007
Ray, Reginald A. Indestructible Truth: The Living Spirituality of Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: Shambhala, 2000
Samuel, Geoffrey. Civilized Shamans: Buddhism in Tibetan Societies. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993
The Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol). Composed by Padmasambhava. Discovered by Karma Lingpa. Translated by Robert A. F. Thurman. New York: Bantam Books, 1994
Too, Lillian. Mantras & Mudras: Meditations for the Hands and Voice to Bring Peace and Inner Calm. London: Element, 2002
Tsongkhapa. The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment: Lam Rim Chen Mo. 3 vols. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2000-2004
Tucci, Giuseppe. The Religions of Tibet. Translated by Geoffrey Samuel. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1980
Tuttle, Gray. Tibetan Buddhists in the Making of Modern China. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005
Vessantara. Meeting the Buddhas: A Guide to Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Tantric Deities. Birmingham, England: Windhorse, 1993
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret & Science of Happiness. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2007
Dalai Lamas
Avedon, John F. In Exile from the Land of Snows. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994
Barry, Catherine, ed. Reflections from the Journey of Life: Collected Sayings of the Dalai Lama. Berekely, California: North Atlantic Books, 2002
Bell, Sir Charles. Portrait of a Dalai Lama: The Life and Times of the Great Thirteenth. London: Wisdom Publications, 1946, 1987
Chhaya, Mayank. Dalai Lama: Man, Monk, Mystic, An Authorized Biography. New York: Doubleday, 2007
Craig, Mary. Kundun: A Biography of the Family of the Dalai Lama. Washington, DC: Counterpoint, 1997
Iyer, Pico. The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.
Mullin, Glenn H. The Fourteen Dalai Lamas. Santa Fe, NM: Clear Light Publishers, 2001
Norman, Alexander. Secret Lives of the Dalai Lama. New York: Doubleday, 2010
Meditation
Dalai Lama, 14th, Tenzin Gyatso. Path to Bliss, A Practical Guide to Stages of Meditation. Translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1991
Dalai Lama, 14th, Tenzin Gyatso. Stages of Meditation. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2001
Lamrimpa, Gen. Calming the Mind: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on Cultivating Meditative Quiescence. Translated by B. Alan Wallace, edited by Hart Sprager. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1992
McDonald, Kathleen. How to Meditate: A Practical Guide. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1984
“People”
Arjia Rinpoche. Surviving the Dragon: A Tibetan Lama's Account of 40 Years Under Chinese Rule. New York: Rodale, 2010
Brauen, Martin, ed. Peter Aufschnaiter’s Eight Years in Tibet. Bangkok: Orchid Press, 2002
Ford, Robert. Captured in Tibet. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990
Foster, Barbara, and Michael Foster. The Secret Lives of Alexandra David-Neel: A Biography of the Explorer of Tibet and Its Forbidden Practices. Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 1998
Hilton, Isabel. The Search for the Panchen Lama. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999
Kimura, Hisao and Scott Berry. A Japanese Agent in Tibet: My Ten Years of Travel in Tibet. London: Serindia, 1990
Martin, Michele. Music in the Sky: The Life, Art & Teachings of the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2003
McDonald, David. Twenty Years in Tibet. London: Seeley Service & Co., 1932
McGovern, William Montgomery. To Lhasa in Disguise: An Account of a Secret Expedition Through Mysterious Tibet. London: Kegan Paul, 2004
Fiction about Tibet
Adam, Paul. Oracle Lake. New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martins, 2007
Alai. Red Poppies. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002
DeMarco, Frank. Messenger. Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, 1994
Falla, Jonathan. Blue Poppies. New York: Random House, 2001
Frutkin, Mark. Invading Tibet. New York: Soho Press, 1991
Hilton, James. Lost Horizon. New York: Macmillan, 1933
Hyde-Chambers, Fredrick. Lama, A Novel of Tibet. London: Souvenir Press Ltd., 1984
Jamyang Norbu. Mandala of Sherlock Holmes: The Missing Years. John Murray General Publishing Division, 2000
King, Louis Magrath. Warden of the Marches, A Tale of Adventure on the Chinese Frontier of Tibet. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1938
Magee, Bill. She Still Lives: A Novel of Tibet. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2006
Ma Jian. Stick Out Your Tongue. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006
Michie, David. The Magician of Lhasa: A Novice Monk, A Quantum Scientist, An Ancient Secret. Lyons, CO: Trapdoor Books, 2010
Mitchell, Ken. Stones of the Dalai Lama. New York: Soho Press, 1993
Murray, W. H. Appointment in Tibet, A Novel. New York: Putnam, 1959
Pattison, Eliot. Beautiful Ghosts. New York: St. Martin’s, 2004
Pattison, Eliot. Bone Mountain. New York: St. Martin’s, 2002
Pattison, Eliot. The Lord of Death. New York: Soho Press, 2009
Pattison, Eliot. Skull Mantra. New York: St. Martin’s, 1999
Pattison, Eliot. Water Touching Stone. New York: St. Martin’s, 2001
Snider, Gordon, J. Sigourney’s Quest. Rockford, IL: Helm Publishing, 2006
Tshe-rin-dban-rgyal, Mdo-mkhar. Tale of the Incomparable Prince. Trans. by Beth Newman. New York: HarperCollins, 1996
Xinran. Sky Burial, An Epic Love Story of Tibet. New York: Vintage, 2004
Yadav, Ajay Singh. Tibet, The Lost Treaty. Lighthouse Books, 2001
Yeshe Tenzin. Sword in the Snowy Twilight. Lhasa: Tibetan People’s Publishing House, 1996
Yongden, Albert. Mipam: The First Tibetan Novel. 1938. Berkeley, CA: Snow Lion Graphics, 2000