Lost in the valley of death : a story of obsession and danger in the Himalayas
(Book)

"For fans of Into the Wild, a gripping true-life tale of extreme explorer and social media star Justin Shetler's mysterious disappearance in India's legendary Parvati Valley. Lost in the Valley of Death is about the disappearance of one charismatic young man, Justin Shetler. But it is, equally, about the tradition of Westerners seeking enlightenment in India, and about how, in our hyper-connected age, some explorers will go to new extremes to find fulfillment. We may never end up spending three weeks meditating in a cave in the Himalayas, as Shetler did, but we all look for answers and meaning in our lives. What happens when our complex modern world, with its blurred connections between the real world and online, collides with the beautiful but dangerous valley in India where Shetler disappeared? What drew Shetler to India and the remote Parvati Valley in the first place? And why was the end of his journey so different from that of others who followed the same path? A mix of travelogue, biography, memoir and true crime, this gripping story explores the longtime lure of India as a spiritual destination alongside the well-documented disappearances and murders of foreign travellers in the Parvati Valley over the past two decades. It queries the extremes to which we push ourselves to find meaning in life along the often dangerous path to enlightenment--all told through the complicated life and tragic disappearance of a charismatic thirty-five-year-old, Justin Alexander Shetler."--,Provided by publisher.