A journey is a fragment of Hell

House of the tiger king (John Murray, ?5.65) by Tahir Shah is subtitled ?A Jungle Obsession? and has for its epigraph the Arab proverb, ?A journey is a fragment of Hell.? It is the true story, with photographs, of a madcap search for a lost Inca city by an intrepid and hilarious explorer. In 1572, the Spanish conquistadors stormed the Inca stronghold of Vilcabamba in Peru, searching for treasure, only to find the city deserted, burnt and stripped of its wealth. Myth has it that the Incas had retreated deep into the jungle where they built a magnificent, secret city. For centuries, adventurers and archaeologists have searched for the lost city, known locally as The House of the Tiger King. Falling victim to this obsession himself, Tahir Shah selects a motley team of desperados to explore the dense jungle in search of the lost city. As his thrilling but ultimately hapless quest unfolds, Shah cannot help wondering why such legends endure.

Tremors of violence: Muslim survivors of ethnic strife in western india (Sage, Rs 295) by Rowena Robinson is an ethnographic study of Muslim survivors of ethnic strife in Mumbai and two other Gujarati cities. Based on narratives and interviews with Muslim men and women, it tries to understand the world and worldviews of those who have seen and lived through one or several violent confrontations and episodes in their lives. Through engagement with these survivors, the book weaves together several stories of devastating loss, the painful and never absolute process of recovery, and the battles for survival and redress from the state.

Room full of mirrors (Sceptre, ?8.15) by Charles R. Cross is the definitive biography of rock ?n? roll?s greatest guitarist. Hendrix lived an outrageous life, from his troubled childhood in Seattle to his tragic death when he was twenty-seven years old, just one year after he made headlines at Woodstock. This book is meticulously researched and based on more than 300 interviews with people who knew Hendrix best, many of whom have not spoken about him before. There are his infamous tales of sex, drugs and excess, but this biography also reveals a man who struggled to accept his role as an idol and privately craved for the kind of normal family life he never had.