Tim Chamberlain 🧭

The only man permitted in Bhutan’s sacred mountains chronicles humanity’s impact | Aeon Videos A lone glaciologist performs spiritual and scientific rituals to assess humanity’s impact in Bhutan’s sacred mountains

'Mountain Man' - glaciologist, Phuntsho Tshering, the only man permitted in Bhutan’s sacred mountains chronicles humanity’s impact.

Check out @waymarks.bsky.social's review of @josephaseeley.bsky.social's "Border of Water and Ice: The Yalu River and Japan's Empire in Korea and Manchuria," published in 2024 by @cornellupress.bsky.social; review now available @hnetreviews.bsky.social
networks.h-net.org/group/review...

Welcome aboard!

It's an absolutely brilliant and fascinating book. As you could probably tell from my review, I really enjoyed reading it!

"Border of Water and Ice is a fascinating, richly researched, and accessibly recounted history that will appeal to a wide range of scholars variously interested in empires, environments, borderlands, and area studies" Thank you @waymarks.bsky.social for the close reading!

12 inspiring stories about the lives of Sherpa mountaineers There have been many books about Sherpa mountaineers over the years, but few have been written from the perspective of Sherpas themselves. One that comes close is Sherpa by Pradeep Bashyal and Anki…

🌟 New blog post ✍️

There have been many books about Sherpa mountaineers over the years, but few have been written from the perspective of Sherpas themselves ⛏️🗻

One that comes close is Sherpa by Pradeep Bashyal and Ankit Babu Adhikari, which I read recently 📚
www.markhorrell.com/blog/2025/12...

There was also a recently published 'reply' to "The Outsider", written from the perspective of the unnamed Arab's brother: "The Meursault Investigation" (2015) by Kamel Daoud.

Fifty years ago, Junko Tabei became the first woman to summit Everest – why do so few people know her story? Despite the extraordinary feats of Tabei and many other adventurous women, sexism and misogyny in mountaineering have persisted for decades.

Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Chomolungma 50 years ago this week. Jenny Hall recounts this milestone and considers why she isn't more celebrated:
theconversation.com/fifty-years-...

That's right! - I cited your 'Speech of the Subaltern Transcribed' article which was really useful for me in thinking through elements of one of my chapters which might be of interest to you ... (Chapter 5). Many thanks! - Good to know Google Scholar works (sometimes, at least)!

I've just been alerted to @waymarks.bsky.social's PhD dissertation 'Empirical adventurers: Science and imperial exploration in East Tibet, 1900-1949', which is well worth a look here: eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/55.... Lots of interesting stuff happening in the mountain history space!

Thanks, Ariana - that's very kind. Hope there might be something of interest in there for you!

Many thanks, Mikko. Your post is the first notification I've had that it's been uploaded to the college library's website! - Feeling more than slightly trepidatious knowing it's finally out there making its way into the big wide world.

Yep, that World History one and the one on Archaeology were my favs! - Hopefully my old copies went on to similarly inspire/entertain someone else in the way they did me.

I remember kids fighting over the ghosts and monsters ones in our school library!

Ha, ha! - I really wish I'd kept hold of mine. I'd love to look back at them now. I had quite a few history ones and would spend hours looking at all the really intricate drawings in them, plus an excellent Science Dictionary.

Usborne books were the best!

That's barely enough time to properly sharpen a pencil.

I agree. I had to use the Harvard referencing system (Repeatedly, 1994) throughout my undergraduate degree (Repeatedly, 1997). I've always thought it's like being poked in the eye (Repeatedly, 1994, Poked, 1997) while reading (Repeatedly, 1994; Repeatedly, 1997). But cool, re: MA essay>> article. 😎👍

The cover of Exploration Map by Map.

A section on the Mexica.

A section on the Magellan-Elcano expedition.

A section on Orellan’s journey down the Amazon.

Great to see Exploration Map by Map out in print. I had a blast writing about some epic feats of exploration & migration in Latin America, from the Mexica to Magellan.

Beautifully illustrated with specially commissioned maps, it’s on sale now: www.dk.com/uk/book/9780...

There always used to be a blue Trabant parked in one of the back streets near the University of London's Senate House. I'm not sure if it's still there these days, but always used to make me smile whenever I saw it there.

Today's news reminds me of the first visit of women to the South Pole in 1969

Major new publication for the #TravelWriting Studies folk - Twenty-First-Century Perspectives on British Travel Writing, edited by the dream-team of @afquaireau.bsky.social, Emanuelle Peraldo and Samia Ounoughi. Lots of excellent stuff in here and some interesting perspectives on contemporary work.

Cover of my book 'Empire, Tourism, and Colonial Knowledge', with an image of a tourist party at the top of the Borobudur temple complex on Java in the 1860s.

Book is happening – we've got a cover! 'Empire, Tourism, and Colonial Knowledge in Nineteenth-Century Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka' coming later this year from Leiden University Press!

KUMANO: Spirit of the Forest - Barakan Discovers | NHK WORLD-JAPAN Pioneering ecologist Minakata Kumagusu explored the forests of Kumano. Join Peter Barakan as he follows Minakata's path and discovers a universe in nature.

There's also a longer, more in-depth version of this which is well worth watching: www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/...

Kumano: Journey of a Maverick Scholar - Japanology Plus | NHK WORLD-JAPAN *First broadcast on July 18, 2024. Scholar Minakata Kumagusu made contributions to biology, folklore and other fields. He laid the foundation for environmental conservation in Japan. We explore the en...

'Kumano: Journey of a Maverick Scholar' | Japanology Plus: "Scholar Minakata Kumagusu made contributions to biology, folklore and other fields. He laid the foundation for environmental conservation in Japan. We explore the environments that inspired his work." www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/...

The image shows a performer in a traditional costume posing outdoors. The person is dressed in a vibrant and intricate costume resembling a skeleton, featuring red and white patterns over the body. The headpiece is a large mask with skeletal features, including a prominent circular face and exaggerated eyes. The costume includes a yellow and red skirt intended to depict a tiger skin. The individual stands on a stone-paved surface with one hand on their hip. Behind them, a group of monastics sit in the courtyard.

Joseph Rock took stunning photographs of the Tibet-China borderlands between 1922 and 1935, funded in part by the National Geographic Society.

During this span, Rock wrote nine article for National Geographic; some were illustrated with gorgeous hand-colored prints. 🧵
🗃️ 🀄️📚 #WyrdWednesday

Deeper than indigo : tracing Thomas Machell, forgotten explorer : Balfour-Paul, Jenny : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive 320 p., 32 p. of plates : 24 cm

Just found that this is free to read on the Internet Archive: archive.org/details/deep...

Our followers may be aware of the recent passing of Richard Fortey, a great palaeontologist and user of the Museum’s Library and Archives. A brilliant science communicator with a penchant for fungi and fungus gnats, his Dry Store Room No.1 was a classic. To us and many others, Richard was too.

'Deeper than Indigo: Tracing Thomas Machell, Forgotten Explorer' By Jenny Balfour Paul (Medina, 2015)

Columbo is my panacea, and, fortunately for me, recently they’ve been playing lots of the early episodes on TV here in Japan.