Lost in the valley of death : a story of obsession and danger in the Himalayas
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Justin Alexander, 1981-2016? Adventure and adventurers > United States > Biography. |
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- ISBN: 9780735279469
- Physical Description xiv, 286 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Publisher [Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 2022.
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Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references. |
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Lost in the Valley of Death : A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas
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Summary
Lost in the Valley of Death : A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas
NATIONAL BESTSELLER ONE OF CBC'S BEST CANADIAN NONFICTION BOOKS OF 2022 For fans of Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild , the riveting story of the unsolved disappearance of an American backpacker in India--one of at least two dozen tourists who have met a similar fate in the remote and storied Parvati Valley. For centuries, India has enthralled Westerners looking for an exotic getaway, a brief immersion in yoga and meditation, or, in rare cases, a true pilgrimage to find spiritual revelation. Justin Alexander Shetler, an inveterate traveler trained in wilderness survival, was one such seeker. In his early thirties, Justin quit his job at a tech startup and set out on a global journey--across the United States by motorcycle, then down to South America, and on to the Philippines, Thailand, and Nepal--in search of authentic experiences and meaningful encounters while documenting his travels on Instagram. His enigmatic character and magnetic personality gained him a devoted following who lived vicariously through his adventures. But the ever-restless explorer was driven to seek out ever-greater extremes, and greater risks, in what had become a personal quest--his own hero's journey. In 2016, he made his way to the Parvati Valley, a remote and rugged corner of the Indian Himalayas steeped in mystical tradition and shrouded in darkness and danger. There he spent weeks studying under the guidance of a sadhu, an Indian holy man, living and meditating in a cave. At the end of August, accompanied by the sadhu, he set off on a spiritual journey to a holy lake--one from which he would never return. Lost in the Valley of Death is about one man's search to find himself, in a country where, for many Westerners, the path to spiritual enlightenment can prove fraught, even treacherous. But it is also a story about all of us and the ways, sometimes extreme, we seek fulfillment in life.