The Ghost of the Mountains - Penguin Random House

The Ghost of the Mountains by Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi

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The vivid account of a leading conservationist’s efforts to find, study, and protect snow leopards

Snow leopards have a special grip on the human imagination, a symbol of the mysteries that still exist on our planet. These elusive predators live solitary lives in the highest reaches of the Himalaya, moving along rock faces like smoke. They are also the flagship species of Himalayan conservation, key to preserving this austere, delicate ecosystem.

Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi is one of the world’s leading snow leopard scientists. In The Ghost of the Mountains, he offers an evocative and personal account of his decades of work in this field, from his exhilarating adventures on the high peaks to his efforts to build a community-based, collaborative model for protecting the snow leopards and their remaining habitat. That habitat is increasingly under threat as encroaching development, ongoing armed conflict, and rapidly intensifying climate change transform this region.

Thrilling, illuminating, and filled with transportive storytelling, The Ghost of the Mountains reveals the challenges facing a beautiful, fragile ecosystem in the midst of a major transition. As Suryawanshi describes his crucial work as a conservationist in a rapidly changing world, he also conveys an infectious sense of wonder. For him, every snow leopard encounter is still a transcendent experience, offering a renewed sense of meaning and purpose.

“Suryawanshi makes these leopards real, in all their glory, subtle skill and extreme vulnerability, in a book that reads like a classic of conservation—measured and thorough but imbued with a profound sense of discovery.” —Financial Times

“Some people write books about a world they have made, some about a world they have observed. Very few manage to walk through the world observing things few other people have seen, influence it at an international level, and after 18 years write a book like The Ghost of the Mountains, a spectacular chimaera of observation and action, philosophy and science.” —The Telegraph (UK)

“Compelling and intimate… . This is a gritty and detailed portrait of an often misunderstood and endangered species in an increasingly hostile, crowded and hot environment… . The effect of this book is a gradual stripping away of mystification, revealing the snow leopard to be fragile and beautiful just like any other inhabitant of high mountain ranges… but no less wondrous for it, and no less deserving of our attention and respect.” —The Guardian

“This is one for all of us who love silvery-grey snow leopards, those fabulous and elusive beasts.” —New Scientist

“Suryawanshi is one of the few people who truly understands these ghostly cats… . An affecting book about an animal that was ‘shaped to perfection by evolution’ but that now needs human help to survive.” —Kirkus Reviews

“In lyrical prose, Kullu writes of his two decades in the vast reaches of the Himalayas…a highly readable tale of conservation.” —Booklist (STARRED)

“Thrilling and intrepid. A beautiful tale of dramatic, wild landscapes and the entangled lives of snow leopards, their prey, and the humans who share their terrain.” —Andrea Wulf, bestselling author of The Invention of Nature

“Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi has spent his adult life studying, following, and trying to protect snow leopards. The Ghost of the Mountains takes readers into the field, high in the Himalayas. The story it tells is by turns beautiful, terrible, and encouraging.” —Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction

“The narrative echoes with delight and wonder; Kullu’s pursuit of knowledge about snow leopards blends with his recounting of pursuing glimpses of these wondrous creatures. You should allow yourself to be swept along.” —Alexandra Horowitz, bestselling author of Inside of a Dog

“Enchanting. The author is a most amiable guide on the mountainside, and this deeply informed book gave me hope for the future of conservation.” —Sara Wheeler, bestselling author of Terra Incognita

“Marvellous. A thrilling story of adventure amongst high mountains, deep mysteries, elusive animals and vertiginous facts.” —Charles Foster, author of Being a Beast and The Edges of the World