THIS Is Tim Ward`s second book based on his experiences in Asia. Rest assured, youcan judge it by its cover, its design, and its paper, all of which arebeautiful. Ward`s first book, What the Buddha Never Taught, is an enlightening accountof time spent in a Buddhist monastery in Thailand. The unifying thread in TheGreatDragon`s Fleas is onceagain an exploration of the nature and tenets of Buddhism, but Ward does notsimply warm up and re-serve previous discoveries. This is new material, detailing a modem pilgrim`stravels through northern and southern India, Kashmir, Bangladesh, down intoThailand, Indonesia, and back towards China and Tibet. Ward`s quest begins with a visit to theDalai Lama, in North India. Advised by the holy man to advance slowly in hissearch for knowledge, to question those who have gone before him, Ward proceedsto do precisely that, illuminating several different countries and theirinhabitants on the way. Like the best travellers, he is open to temptations andaccidental encounters. One of these leads him to investigate an establishedIndian sect that believes Christ escaped death, travelled eastward, and livedand died in Kashmir. Ward visits the tomb purported to belong to this easternJesus. Explaining word etymologies between Arabic, Greek, and Kashmiri, citinghistorical events and the doctrinal similarities between Buddhism andChristianity, Ward gives readers the first of many opportunities to marvel atthe connections - mythical or real between religions and people. The prose is accomplished and lucid,allowing the reader to enter into Ward`s mind, emotions, keen sense ofhumour, and, crucially, into thelives of the people who helped (and sometimes hindered) his search forknowledge. The writing becomes stronger in each chapter, enters new depths andmore difficult places as Ward himself travels further from the young man he wasat the beginning of the book. In the first quarter of the volume, I sometimeshad the sense that the author was only narrating what he saw, giving usremarkable photographic images without digging beneath their surfaces. Thisstruck me several times, especially when he made fun of tourists equipped"with technological third eyes." But this is a small flaw, and israrely encountered in the second half of the book. By the time Ward putted me into theculture, politics, and religious persecution of Buddhists in Bangladesh, I wasthinking of people to whom I would recommend The Great Dragon`s Fleas.Warddoes what all writers, home or abroad, intend to do: with a generosity madereal by its lack of sentimentality, he recreates places inhabited by"true" people, and lets us touch and be touched by them. Though the book is described on the backcover as a "metaphysical travel adventure," it is also a revealing,compassionate account of how politics and corruption, particularly in certainparts of India, China, and Chineseoccupied Tibet, affect the human beings wenever read about in newspapers. Tim Ward`s gift for communicating with people-a disillusioned Buddhist lama, a Muslim poet, a Thai business woman, abootlegging Bangladeshi grandmother shines again and again in The Great Dragon`s Fleas.As readers,we are fortunate to receive that gift ourselves.