Books: White Lama

PENTHOUSE OF THE GODS—Theos Bernard—Scribner ($3.50).

Son of American Yoga-believers from Arizona, husky, 20-year-old ex-Lawyer Theos Bernard is the first white man to become a Tibetan Lama. In 1936 he took a Master's degree in philosophy at Columbia University (specializing in Buddhism), spent the next 16 months in India and Tibet. He was allowed to enter the

Potala, Tibetan holy-of-holies, mainly on his word that he wished to become a Buddhist missionary in the U. S.

His six months in Tibet are described in Penthouse of the Gods. An unusual travel book, particularly outstanding for its photographs, it describes his journey from India through...