Items related to A Plumber's Progress: Pilgrimage to the Heart of...
Synopsis
Why is a Kiwi plumber, pushing 50 and with a bad lung, hell-bent on wandering off to the lid of the world where there are lots of Chinese soldiers and not much air?
After decades of hard yakker, harder addictions, then six years of living in an American ashram, Kiwi adventurer W. J. O'Connell loses his right to stay on in the U.S. He's hitting middle age, has no home, no job, no wife, no bach at the beach, no life insurance. What should he do?
Logical really. He'll take a hike.
This is the story of a personal journey to find the ‘something more to life' that so many seek at important crossroads. O'Connell's route takes him from Delhi to war-torn Kashmir, then from Ladakh to sacred Mount Kailas in a remote region of Western Tibet. It subjects him to experiences both bizarre and terrifying; travel scams, nightmarish bus rides, rescue by stray dogs, and encounters with all kinds of offbeat travelers.
Disarmingly honest and with a refreshing sense of comedy, O'Connell is unashamedly on a spiritual quest: a spiritual quest through ‘swamps of his own cynicism and doubt'.
Think Eric Newby meets The Snow Leopard; think philosophy confronts the ordinary bloke.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherLongacre Press
- Publication date2003
- ISBN 10 1877135895
- ISBN 13 9781877135897
- BindingPaperback
- LanguageEnglish
- Number of pages222
- Rating
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A Plumber's Progress: Pilgrimage to the Heart of Tibet
Published by
Longacre Press, Dunedin, 2003
ISBN 10: 1877135895
ISBN 13: 9781877135897
Used
Soft cover
First Edition
Signed
Seller: The Secret Bookshop, Tararua, New Zealand
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Soft cover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Signed by the author and appears to be unread. 'A Plumber's Progress' is a wry, comic, self-effacing and yet impassioned account of the author's attempts to find a route to happiness and self-acceptance. He tries what has become a fairly traditional method for dissatisfied, spiritually questioning Westerners - a physical journey to the East. He climbs a sacred mountain in Tibet; this after ten years of living and working in an ashram in New York. The story is part travelogue, part spiritual quest, part autobiography. Its appeal lies in the acknowledgement that the deeper questions about mortality and meaning also afflict so-called 'ordinary' people in their daily lives, not just intellectuals and philosophers. O'Connell has a gift for understatement, and has a lovely, often unusual descriptive talent which ranges from the lyrical, to the sharp, to the very funny. Much stands out as memorable. His journey is told in a warm, humorous fashion without sentiment - his honesty is refreshing. For those who have travelled to Tibet, it will be vividly realistic and accurate, and engaging and enjoyable for the rest of us armchair travellers. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 038068
Quantity: 1 available
Seller Image
A Plumber's Progress : Pilgrimage To The Heart Of Tibet
Published by
Longacre Press (2003), Dunedin, 2003
ISBN 10: 1877135895
ISBN 13: 9781877135897
Used
Softcover
First Edition
Seller: Renaissance Books, ANZAAB / ILAB, Dunedin, New Zealand
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Softcover. Condition: Very Good+. Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket. First Edition. 222 pages + colour plates. Illustrated card covers. Page dimensions: 210mm x 140mm. "After decades of hard yakker, harder addictions, then six years of living in an American ashram, Kiwi adventurer W. J. O'Connell loses his right to stay on in the US. He's hitting middle age, has no home, no job, no wife, no bach at the beach, no life insurance. What should he do? Logical really. He'll take a hike." - from blurb on rear cover. "He tries what has become a fairly traditional method for dissatisfied, spiritually questioning Westerners - a physical journey to the East. He climbs a sacred mountain in Tibet; this after ten years of living and working in an ashram in New York. The story is part travelogue, part spiritual quest, part autobiography.". Seller Inventory # 23839
Quantity: 1 available