Blue sky kingdom : an epic family journey to the heart of the Himalayas /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A warm and unforgettable portrait of a family letting go of the known world to encounter an unfamiliar one filled with rich possibilities and new understandings.

Bruce Kirkby had fallen into a pattern of looking mindlessly at his phone for hours, flipping between emails and social media, ignoring his children and wife and everything alive in his world, when a thought struck him. This wasn't living; this wasn't him. This moment of clarity started a chain reaction which ended with a grand plan: he was going to take his wife and two young sons, jump on a freighter and head for the Himalaya.

In Blue Sky Kingdom, we follow Bruce and his family's remarkable three months journey, where they would end up living amongst the Lamas of Zanskar Valley, a forgotten appendage of the ancient Tibetan empire, and one of the last places on earth where Himalayan Buddhism is still practiced freely in its original setting.

Richly evocative, Blue Sky Kingdom explores the themes of modern distraction and the loss of ancient wisdom coupled with Bruce coming to terms with his elder son's diagnosis on the Autism Spectrum. Despite the natural wonders all around them at times, Bruce's experience will strike a chord with any parent--from rushing to catch a train with the whole family to the wonderment and beauty that comes with experience the world anew with your children.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Maps (p. xi)
• Prologue (p. xv)
• I Shallows (p. 1)
• 1 Untethering (p. 3)
• 2 The Little Professor (p. 18)
• 3 An Army of Trojan Horses (p. 31)
• 2 Among the Ancients (p. 55)
• 4 Across the Divide (p. 57)
• 5 Once in a Full Moon (p. 75)
• 6 Touching Down (p. 84)
• 7 Everything Old Is New Again (p. 96)
• 8 Same as It Ever Was (p. 107)
• 9 Lost Horizons (p. 123)
• 3 In the Sky, There is No Distinction of Bast and West (p. 139)
• 10 Seat of the Kings (p. 141)
• 11 The Economy of Merit (p. 152)
• 12 They Were the Lucky Ones (p. 168)
• 13 Alone (p. 178)
• 14 The Great Sins (p. 186)
• 4 Nothing Lasts Forever but the Earth and Sky (p. 197)
• 15 The Gods Within (p. 199)
• 16 Life Is the Ceremony (p. 209)
• 17 Nature's Smudged Lines (p. 221)
• 18 Sky Fishing (p. 237)
• 19 The Shattering (p. 242)
• 5 Impermanence (p. 251)
• 20 Through the Barricades (p. 253)
• 21 Going, Going ... (p. 266)
• 22 Gone (p. 275)
• Notes on Language and Spelling (p. 287)
• Jullays (p. 289)
• Selected Bibliography (p. 293)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Television host Kirkby (The Dolphin's Tooth; Sand Dance) shares his vivid account of the journey he and his family took to stay at a Buddhist monastery high in the Himalayas as an effort to unplug and reconnect as a family. For them the journey was as important as the stay. They canoed away from their mountain home; took a cargo ship across to Korea; boarded a high-speed rail to China; and finally backpacked across the Himalayas at an altitude of around 14,000 feet, hoisting their sons and following mountain guides into the ever-higher peaks. The journey with their two young boys, one on the autism spectrum, and a camera crew from the Travel Channel sounds daunting at best. However, the trip bonds their family in the unique quality time it affords. Kirkby adeptly balances local history, culture, and travelog with personal family experiences. His decision to include his son's perspective shows the raw beauty of their interactions. VERDICT A breathtaking journey, both geographical and internal, Kirkby's blending of travelog of an already fascinatingly remote locale and personal family experience is unique and luminous. Will appeal to a wide range of readers.--Stacy Shaw, Denver

Publishers Weekly Review

In this uplifting travelogue, Kirkby, a Canadian travel journalist and photographer, recounts how he and his family fled the pressures of society to "slow down" in a Himalayan Buddhist temple. Addicted to iPhones and exhausted from their oldest son, seven-year-old Bodi's, autism spectrum diagnosis and treatment, Kirkby and his wife, Christine, decided to depart on their "fantasy" with their two children: a journey by canoe, container ship, train, and trekking, to the thousand-year-old Karsha Gompa in Zanskar, India (a three-month trip). Along the way, Kirkby and Christine teach English to novice monks and are adopted by Lama Wangyal, who gives them Tibetan names, a practical matter for pronunciation but also, Kirkby notes, an "honour." Interspersed are facts about the Dalai Lama, Buddhist rituals, India's history, and Chinese "territorial claims over Tibet," with examples of prejudice against Tibetans in India (Wangyal is unable to obtain a visa to travel to Canada, despite Kirkby's interventions). Kirkby has an eye for detail, imbuing even the most mundane tasks with meaning. Emotional reflections on the journey, Bodi's "leaps in development," and Kirkby's "newfound ability to... actually meet Bodi where he is," are juxtaposed with keen observations on the modern world encroaching on Zanskar. It's poignant and gently provocative, much like a prayer flag blowing in the wind. (Oct.)

Kirkus Book Review

A Canadian writer and adventurer's travel narrative about a life-changing family trip to a remote Buddhist monastery in northern India. Kirkby knew his life was out of balance when he realized he had become addicted to scrolling through social media websites on his phone at all hours of the day and night. Seeking to heal his "permanently fractured awareness," he and his equally harried wife decided to take their two children to Karsha Gompa, a 1,000-year-old Buddhist monastery in the Zanskar Valley. There, the Tibetan Buddhism that had long fascinated Kirkby was still practiced in its most "intact [and] undiluted" form. One challenge the family faced was allowing cameramen from the Travel Channel, which partly funded their trip, to follow them. Kirkby worried that the scrutiny would be especially difficult for his son, Bodi, who is on the autism spectrum. Another challenge was the journey itself, which involved travel by container ship, train, and a high-altitude overland trek. Once in Karsha Gompa, the family stayed with a colorful leader at the monastery, Lama Wangyal. Kirkby and his wife became English teachers to the young novice monks who lived at the monastery, and his two computer-loving sons "filled their days with [games involving] sticks, rubber bands…and dried leaves." At the same time, Bodi was able to use meditation to control the "anxiety caused by noise, people and changing routines." The author and his family returned to Canada six months later feeling closer to each other, less beholden to technology, and deeply grateful to have observed an ancient culture in the throes of massive changes. As it explores an ancient--and dying--Tibetan Buddhist culture, this delightful book also tells a timely, heartwarming story of a family's search for peace away from the din of modern culture. Soul-refreshing reading for armchair travelers and spiritual questers alike. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Bruce Kirkby is a Canadian writer, photographer and adventurer whose journeys span 80 countries and include traversing Iceland by foot, Mongolia by horseback, Arabia by camel and the Blue Nile Gorge by raft. Along the way he's been shot at in Borneo, taken hostage in Ethiopia, and imprisoned by Myanmar's army. His writing has appeared in publications including The New York Times , Wall Street Journal, and Outside Magazine . He is listed among 'the nation's top modern day explorers' by Canadian Geographic.