Book Review: Seven Years In Tibet by Heinrich Harrer

I must be a true adventure reader.  Or, perhaps I was influenced by Larry McMurtry, who was not only a great writer, he was also a great reader.  In fact, books were his passion; the reading, buying and selling of them, occupied essentially all of his adult life.  This is the central theme of his memoir, appropriately titled Books (Simon and Schuster, 2008).  In Books (chapter 62), Larry McMurtry writes:  "For most of my fifties, what I read for pleasure was travel writing, and the book that introduced me to the pleasures of inspired travel writing was called Tent Life in Siberia by George Kennan" (1845-1924), originally published in 1871 by S. Low, Son & Marston and reprinted in 1986 by Gibbs M. Smith, Inc.  Larry McMurtry wrote the introduction for the reprinted edition of Tent Life in Siberia.  

Larry McMurtry died in March 2021 and in 2024 I went through a Larry McMurtry reading phase that gave me pleasure and comfort.  Almost certainly influenced by Larry McMurtry and after reading his memoir (Books was one in a series of three short memoirs he wrote), I visited a dusty used bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan named West Side Book Shop (rare and antiquarian) on Liberty Street.  The place was a mess, of course.  Books shelved and otherwise stacked everywhere, as if the owner, Jay Platt, had given up trying to keep order.  Platt, dressed in a crumpled suit and tie, sat at a small desk in front of the store doing a crossword puzzle.  He greeted people as they walked in.  I was there for browsing, not buying, and so I started in the front and worked my way to the last room.  In the last room, on one of the bottom shelves, I saw a green spine, with large black letters Tent Life in Siberia printed within an ochre border.  I pulled it from the shelf and there, at the bottom of the front cover, saw Introduction by Larry McMurtry.  Was I surprised and delighted?  No answer needed.  Price: $7.50.  I purchased this and a near perfect hardcover (dust jacket missing) 1945 Grosset and Dunlap illustrated edition of Black Beauty by Anna Sewell for $10.  When Platt saw I was purchasing Tent Life in Siberia, he gave me a double look.

I began reading McMurtry's excellent introduction to Tent Life in Siberia and Kennan's "travel" book that night.  I was riveted and it was one of the best, if not the best, book I read in 2024.  George Kennan wrote other books, one of which was Siberia and The Exile System Vol. 1, which I ordered from an on-line used bookstore. This book is still considered to be definitive writing on Russia's exile system.  I have not yet read it.  

The long introduction for my review of Seven Years in Tibet reveals another happy finding; this time at my local library's monthly used book sale.  On one of the tables the bright cover of  Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer (1912-2006), publisher Jeremy P. Tarcher/the Penguin Group, 1953, with a $2 price sticker got my attention.  I picked it up, then thought of all of the books still to be read lined up at home, and placed it back on the table.  Usually the small paperbacks are priced at $1, but the price of Seven Years in Tibet was double.  The line of books at home is aspirational reading for sure and so what harm was there in adding another, and besides, what's the difference between $1 and $2?  Really none. Nowadays money in the United States is essentially meaningless.  Oh sure, we all need to pay our bills, buy groceries, fuel our cars and clothe our bodies, but corruption and multi-billion dollar wealth has whittled away the value of money.  So just spend—and read. Money may worth even less tomorrow. 

In 2013 I met a young Tibetan woman who was training healthcare professionals to use a new and complex electronic medical record system (EMR) being implemented by the hospital I was employed with.  I am technology-challenged and self-conscious about it, but she was a patient and delightful teacher (in my experience, uncommon qualities in the field of IT) and so easy to work with that I never forgot her.  She had arrived in the United States at age 14, went to high school and was a recent graduate of a highly-regarded state university.  He father had been selected from a lottery to bring his family to the United States from India where they were living.  Her grandmother immigrated with them.  I recall a discussion where I learned that her grandmother lived through and remembered the events that are described by Heinrich Harrer in Seven Years in Tibet.  My own first trip to India was still several years away in 2020, and included three or four days in the state of Assam which borders the southern part of Tibet.  I recall that the physical appearance of many people in Assam was different than that of the Indian population in Assam.

I finished reading Seven Years in Tibet, adventure writing or, as Larry McMurtry might describe it, travel writing of the highest order, last night.  Seven Years in Tibet has a 1982 forward by the 14th Dalai Lama himself.  Yes, that Dalai Lama, born July 6, 1935 in the village of Taktser, located in the Qinghai province China, and identified as the Reincarnation at the age of two.  The Dalai Lama was the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, recognized for his nonviolent struggle to end Chinese domination of Tibet.  The Dalai Lama is alive today and lives in Dharamshala, India which serves as the headquarters for the Tibetan government-in-exile, specifically at the Namgyal Monastery.  He has traveled the world extensively and is known worldwide.  Remarkably, the 14th Dalai Lama's name even pops up in the Epstein files, more than 150 times according to records released as recently as February 2026.  The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama has unequivocally denied any connections or meeting with Epstein, stating that the references do not suggest any wrongdoing, misconduct or personal relationship.  This is easy for me to believe.  Indeed, additional information released from the files reveal that Jeffrey Epstein would stop at nothing to wrap his tentacles around any famous person to use for his personal gain.  In the 1996 paperback edition of Seven Years in Tibet there is a photo (page 212) of the Dalai Lama at age three being carried in a parade through the streets of Lhasa to the monastery he will rule.  His three year old little face looks like the Dalai Lama we know today as a 90 year old man.

With this bit of background out of the way, now the review of this adventure book or, if you prefer, travel book.  In this case, both descriptors work well.  Author Heinrich Harrer was an Austrian soldier in the German army and was captured by the British in Karachi, India in 1939 (the partition of 1947 was still eight years away) and imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war camp in Karachi.  Along with others, he escaped from the camp, not once by twice, as he was caught and returned following his first escape.  His escapes were well-planned as the POWs had access to books and maps and they used the information to plan their escape route.  Tibet was neutral during the WWII and this made it the escapees goal destination.  The soldiers escapes were remarkable enough on their own, and on the successful second attempt Harrar and his friend, Peter Aufschnaiter, make it into Tibet.  Harrar's adventure proceeds from there as they set their goal on making it to Lhasa.  A third of the way through the book, the author and his friend Peter Aufschnaiter, finally make it to the Forbidden City.  But not before enduring the adventure of a lifetime to get there.  Chapter six, "The Worst Trek of All", was the longest and, for me, the best.  Harrer's writing keeps the reader glued to the page.  He and Aufschnaiter survive one calamity after another, experience starvation, inadequate clothing for the weather, frostbite, the theft of their dependable and loyal yak and Harrer's starving Tibetan terrier dog must be left behind with a nomad family.  But their goal of reaching Lhasa is so powerful they will not be thwarted.  Continuing on they join a caravan of pilgrims and meet a young married couple also traveling to Lhasa to begin their life together.  Referring to the young woman, Harrer's sweetest writing is in this passage:  "I remember this young woman as a gleam of sunshine in those hard, heavy days.  Once as we were resting she took out her wallet and smilingly handed each of us a dried apricot.  This modest gift was as precious to us as the white bread the nomad had given us on Christmas Eve" (page 117).  This reminded me of a memorable sentence from George Eliot's novel Middlemarch (1871-1872).  "One must be poor to know the luxury of giving."  He goes on the describe how strong and enduring Tibetan women are, and how the young woman would easily be able to earn her living in Lhasa.

Upon finally reaching Lhasa they are filthy, bearded, starving, and their clothing is in tatters.  Their luck, while not immediately certain, improves as they are treated with the generosity and respect for which the peaceful Tibetan people are known.  As Europeans they were novelties and this also helped.  Slowly, as they recover from their harrowing journey, they immerse themselves into Tibetan society and way of life  becoming contributing members of Lhasa.  They became deeply attached and loyal to their friends, their homes, their gardens and their social lives.  Aufschnaiter ultimately becomes the chief agricultural engineer, and Harrer multitasks until finally he becomes the fourteen year old Dalai Lama's tutor.  Harrer writes of his role as tutor with deep fondness and respect for the young Dalai Lama and marvels at the quick intellect of the cloistered boy.  The Dalai Lama thrives under his tutelage.  He becomes fascinated by world geography when he learns that Tibet is as large as Spain, France and Germany together and that it possesses the world's greatest mountain range.  Harrer asks and he learns the story of how the young Dalai Lama, from very humble roots, became the 14th Incarnation.  This is beautifully described.

In 1951, China invaded Tibet.  Tibet's army was no match for China, but because Tibet is so large it took time for the Chinese to reach Lhasa and the Dalai Lama had time to escape as did Harrer and Aufschnaiter.  Requests seeking help from the UN and other powerful nations to block China's invasion, were denied.  Negotiating directly with China, an agreement was reached that allowed Tibet to remain sovereign,  When China broke its promise of this agreement, the Dalai Lama was forced to flee his country, this time for good, in 1959.  By that time Harrer had already left, but he and the Dalai Lama continued to be in touch until Heinrich Harrer's death in 2006.

The 1997 movie Seven Years in Tibet starring Brad Pitt is based on Heinrich Harrer's book with, naturally, some cinematic embellishments.  I have never seen the movie but, of course, now I will.  In his own Austrian town, Heinrich Harrer created a museum to Tibetan culture and honored the Dalai Lama.  It was heartening to learn that the Heinrich Harrer Museum in Hüttenberg, Austria, is still open, though it operates on a seasonal basis from May to October. The museum showcases Harrer's Tibet collection and personal objects.

Seven Years in Tibet was a fun book to read and review.  As I was reading I thought of Tent Life in Siberia.  While somewhat different stories, (there are similar hardships described in each),  both books are time travel capsules to the not so distant past and remind us how different it was then, how different people the were, how tough and determined they were and how they were able to survive and thrive.  In each book there is truth-telling and humor about the place and time.  Despite different times and places, each book offers riveting reading and a refreshing glimpse into the past.  Each book offers modern readers a chance to take a break from our entitled and overwrought world.  As we settle into reading about the different times and places we are reminded that it was not always this way and that we were not always this way.   

I highly recommend both Tent Life in Siberia and Seven Years in Tibet.