The first person accounts of Matthiessen's Buddhist journey are usually captivating.

The book in my opinion goes seriously off the rails when he attempts to recount the history of Japanese Zen. It reads like a biblical list of generations to no real purpose and is all uncertain anecdote anyway. ( )

In August 1968, naturalist-explorer Peter Matthiessen returned from Africa to his home in Sagaponack, Long Island, to find three Zen masters in his driveway—guests of his wife, a new student of Zen. Thirteen years later, Matthiessen was ordained a Buddhist monk. Written in the same format as his best-selling The Snow Leopard, Nine-Headed Dragon River reveals Matthiessen's most daring adventure of all: the quest for his spiritual roots.