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In January 1972 Peter Matthiessen’s wife, Deborah Love, died in New York. In September 1973 he set out on foot into the Himalayas of Nepal with the field biologist George Schaller, who wanted to study the Himalayan blue sheep, and hoped to see a snow leopard on the way. The Snow Leopard (1978), the book of that walk, won the National Book Award twice. The same man had co-founded The Paris Review in 1953 while working for the CIA, and later admitted he had invented the magazine as cover. He also wrote the novel Shadow Country (2008) about a Florida planter shot by his neighbours. He was also a Zen teacher who received dharma transmission in 1984. The ten writers below share what pulls his books together: wild places walked through slowly, grief carried into them, and the discipline of simply looking.
By Lisanne Swart · 10 authors · Nature writing · Zen · Fiction · Updated October 2026
Quick answer
If you love Peter Matthiessen, start with Barry Lopez, whose Arctic Dreams (1986) also won the National Book Award for nonfiction. For grief carried into the wild, read Helen Macdonald’s H Is for Hawk (2014), and for the mountain walked as a meditation, Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain (1977). Further down is a scholar of Buddhism who questions the West’s dream of Tibet.
10 authors like Peter Matthiessen
Where to start if you loved Peter Matthiessen
If you loved The Snow Leopard, read Nan Shepherd.
The Living Mountain (1977): the Cairngorms walked as a meditation, in a very short book.
If you loved the grief in The Snow Leopard, read Helen Macdonald.
H Is for Hawk (2014): mourning a father by training a goshawk.
If you loved The Tree Where Man Was Born, read Barry Lopez.
Arctic Dreams (1986): animals, light and people in the far north.
If you want the Zen, read Shunryu Suzuki.
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind (1970): the practice Matthiessen followed, in short talks.
If you want more Matthiessen, read Shadow Country next.
His 2008 rewriting of the Watson trilogy into one novel, which won the National Book Award for Fiction. Then Far Tortuga (1975), a Caribbean turtle-fishing voyage.
Frequently asked questions about authors like Peter Matthiessen
Who writes like Peter Matthiessen?
Barry Lopez, Helen Macdonald and Nan Shepherd are the closest. Lopez writes long journeys into remote places, Macdonald grief worked through in the wild, and Shepherd walking as a kind of meditation.
What should I read after The Snow Leopard?
Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain (1977), the Cairngorms walked as a meditation, and George Schaller’s Stones of Silence (1980), Himalayan fieldwork by the scientist Matthiessen walked with.
Did Peter Matthiessen see the snow leopard?
No. He never saw one on the journey, and the book is as much about accepting that as about the search.
Was Peter Matthiessen in the CIA?
Yes. He co-founded The Paris Review in 1953 while working for the CIA, and said in a 2008 interview that he had used the magazine as cover. He left soon after and returned to the United States in 1954.
Is there a new book about Peter Matthiessen?
Yes. Lance Richardson’s biography True Nature was published in October 2025 (subtitled The Pilgrimage of Peter Matthiessen in the US and The Lives of Peter Matthiessen in the UK). His last novel, In Paradise, appeared in 2014, days after his death.
Which Peter Matthiessen book should I read first?
The Snow Leopard (1978) is the best known and the easiest way in. For the fiction, Shadow Country (2008) is the major work.
Sources
List last reviewed 31 October 2026.
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