Books: Travelers In High Asia

OUT OF THIS WORLD (320 pp.)—Lowell Thomas Jr.—Greystone ($3.75).

THE LAND OF THE CAMEL (200 pp.)—Schuyler Cammann—Ronald Press ($5).

By traveler tradition, any Westerner who pushes his way into the high hinterland of Asia is entitled to write a book about it, and generally does. Nowadays, such narratives have a special point: with the Communists slamming Asia shut, the latest traveler stories may be the last for a while.

Currently, readers have their choice of two. One is an exuberant feature story of the 1949 Tibetan holiday of Lowell Thomas and Lowell Jr.; the other is a sharp-eyed account of a junket...