This book chronicles the formative years of an anthropologist and his immersive fieldwork experience in Nepal. Alan MacFarlane recounts his training at prestigious institutions like the London School of Economics and SOAS, detailing the rigorous academic preparation for anthropological study. The narrative then shifts to his extensive fieldwork among the Gurung people in a remote village nestled within the Annapurna Mountains, drawing upon a rich archive of personal letters, diaries, and photographs to reconstruct this pivotal period.

This memoir offers a detailed look into the rigorous training and immersive fieldwork of an anthropologist in 1960s Nepal. The author's reliance on personal archives provides an intimate and authentic perspective on the challenges and discoveries of ethnographic research. The narrative is likely to appeal to readers interested in anthropology, personal accounts of travel and cultural immersion, and the history of fieldwork. The book presents a rich, firsthand account of a specific time and place, grounded in the author's extensive personal documentation.