About Mongolia

For a long time it has been a difficult place to travel, but now foreigners and Mongols alike are releasing publications about Mongolia, and such works is becoming increasingly available. Time catches up with us. The best source for current material is the website of http://www.amazon.com . Just search for “Mongolia”. Here follow a list of highly readable books:

In Search of Genghis Khan. Tim Severin. Arrow Books Ltd, London 1991. An excellent book. The author went on horseback exactly when the changes took place in today’s Mongolia. On horseback in search of Genghis Khan.

The Lost Country. Mongolia Revealed. Jasper Becker. Sceptre 1992. This book covers Mongol culture, including Tuva, Buryatia and Inner Mongolia.

Mongolia. Michael Kohn. Lonely Planet travel guide June 2008. What you need to know when you consider individual travel. Beware of buying earlier editions, which in many aspects are incorrect and hopelessly outdated. Describes most hazards of independent travel in Mongolia.

Genghis Khan. Life, Death and Resurrection. John Man. Thomas Dunne Books, UK. 2004. Connects the places of Genghis Khan’s life, with current locations today. If you go to Hentii Aimag with Nomadic Journeys, this is a book to read.

Gobi. Tracking the Desert. John Man, Yale University Press, 1997. About a journey through the Gobi.

Khubilai Khan. His Life and Times. Morris Rossabi, University of California Press, 1988. About Genghis Khan’s grandson, who ruled China. A comprehensive treatment of cultural and political dimensions in the 13th century in both China, Mongolia and Central Asia.

Dragon Hunter. Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions. Charles Gallenkamp. The true story of a real-life “Indiana Jones” and his search for dinosaurs in the Gobi during the 1920s.

Dragon Bones and Dinosaur Eggs. Ann Bausum; National Geographic Society, 2000. A photobiography of explorer Roy Chapman Andrews with images from the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Time Traveler. In Search of Dinosaurs and Ancient Mammals from Montana to Mongolia. Michael Novacek. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, New York, 2002. A book about current paleontology by the successors of Roy Chapman Andrews, who have made annual expeditions to the Gobi since 1989.

Eagle Dreams. Searching the Legends in Wild Mongolia. Stephen J. Bodio. The Lyons Press 2003. A trip with Nomadic Journeys partner, Canat, in the west of Mongolia. About Bayan-Ölgii, Altai Mountains and eagle hunting.

Trans-Siberian Handbook. The 6th edition guide of the world’s longest railway journey. Bryn Thomas, Trailbalzer Publications, 2003. If you travel by rail to us.

Collins BirdGuide. The most complete Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe. Killian Mullarney, Lars Svensson, Dan Zetterström and Peter J. Grant. Collins, 1999. Interestingly, you will get 80 pct of all Mongolian bird species in this excellent bird guide. There is no Mongolian bird guide.

Wildlife of the Tibetan Steppe. George B. Schaller, The University of Chicago Press, 1998. The best book about the mammals of Mongolia and Tibet.

Mongolia – Empire of the Steppes. Claire Sermier, Odyssey, 2002. One of the best introductions to Mongolia before your travel with us. Also available in the original French language.

Riding Wind Horses. A journey into the Heart of Mongolian Shamanism. Sarangerel, Destiny Books, 2000. An easy to understand introduction to Shamanism of Mongolia and Buryatia.

National Geographic Magazine. Dec 1996 and Feb 1997. Mike Edwards. About the great Khans of Mongolia.