John Derbyshire posts the following:
One of the best travel books of all time, a great favorite of mine, and I hope required reading for service personnel on their way to Afghanistan, is Eric Newby's A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush. Not the least remarkable thing about the book is that it was written by a chap whose day job was in fashion design. Eric Newby died on Friday at the age of 86.
Amazon.com tells me it is ranked 16 out of 100 on National Geographic Adventure's list of top 100 adventure books of all time.