1. Manaslu: A Trekkers Guide

by Kev Reynolds. Kev has written some of my favourite trekking books. I've even learned that the timings he gives for each trek segment is exactly the time it takes me. The book features excellent descriptions of the trek and has great photos, but the maps are not very good.

2. Trekking in the Nepal Himalaya (Lonely Planet)

by Stan Armington. A classic trekking book detailing with good maps and route descriptions all of the favourite Nepalese treks, including Gokyo and Everest, Annapurna, Kangchenjunga, Manaslu, and Mustang.

3. Trekking And Climbing in Nepal

by Steve Razzetti. This book contains basic information on 25 treks in Nepal, including Humla to Mount Kailash, the Annapurna Sanctuary and Circuit, the Dhaulagiri Circuit, Jomsom to Mustang, Around Manaslu, Rolwaling, Gokyo and Everest, Makalu, and Kangchenjunga. It also contains descriptions of climbing 12 trekking peaks, including Pisang, Chulu, Ramdung, Lobuche East, Imja Tse, and Mera. The front cover is Annapurna South.

The book includes four pages on Around Manaslu.

The trekking route descriptions and maps are basic. The photos are very good.

1. To The top Of The World

by Reinhold Messner. The book briefly describes Messner's ascents of Manaslu in 1972, Gasherbrum I - Hidden Peak in 1975, Everest without oxygen in 1978 and solo in 1980, Nanga Parbat solo in 1978, K2 in 1979, and a traverse of Gasherbrum I and II in 1984. The cover is the summit of K2. There are 56 pages of colour photos, 20 pages of b/w photos, 26 b/w photos, and six paintings by French artist Jean-George Inca highlighting the stories in the book.

The chapter on Manaslu is 14 pages long with 4 pages of colour photos, 4 pages of b/w photos, and a 2-page painting by Inca. After Messner summited on April 25, 1972 via the south face to the west ridge, a fierce storm came up and he had to fight for his life to reach their high camp.

Messner: The whole time the hurricane was chasing ice crystals ahead of itself, throwing them in my face until my skin stung. 'Keep going', hammered through my brain. Things had never looked so hopeless.

Franz Jager, who turned back, was caught out in the storm and died. Andi Schlick and Horst Fankhausen braved the storm to try and find Franz, but Andi got lost and also died.

This is an action packed brief story filled with tension - riveting. The desperate search for Franc is chilling, as the other climbers can hear his voice calling for help but cannot find him in the storm.

2. Montagnes de l'esprit: trois expéditions en Himalaya - Annapurna Everest Manaslu

by Marc Maisonneuve. Photos by Pascal Tournaire and Marc Buscail, text in French and English. This coffee-table photographic book documents three expeditions led by Benoit Chamoux - the successful ascent of the Annapurna South Face in 1988, the unsuccessful attempt to climb the Everest North face via the Hornbein Couloir in 1988, and the successful ascent of Manaslu via the south face to the west ridge in 1989. Chamoux was a superb French climber who summitted 13 of the 14 8000m peaks, before being killed in 1995 while attempting his 14th, Kangchenjunga. The front cover is Annapurna.

Chamoux and seven other climbers summited Manaslu using the south face and west ridge, the route pioneered by Reinhold Messner in 1972. In groups of two, the whole team made it to the summit - Chamoux and Pierre Royer on May 3, Josca Raconcaj and Soro Dorotei on May 10, Yves Detry and Frederic Vallet on May 11, and Alan Hinkes and Mauro Rossi on May 12.

The descriptions of the climbs are basic and brief. The photos are very good.

3. Sturm Am Manaslu: Himalaya-Expeditions-Report

by Reinhold Messner. Published in 1985, this small 18 x 11.5cm book describes Messner's ascent of Manaslu in 1972. The text is in German. There are 8 pages of colour photos, 17 pages of b/w photos, an additional 35 b/w photos, and 5 maps. Messner details the expedition day by day, and also lists all the Manaslu expeditions up to 1984.

After Messner summited on April 25, 1972 via the south face to the west ridge, a fierce storm came up and he had to fight for his life to reach their high camp. Franz Jager, who turned back, was caught out in the storm and died. Andi Schlick and Horst Fankhausen braved the storm to try and find Franz, but Andi got lost and also died.

The photos are very good.

1. Climbing the World's 14 Highest Mountains: The History Of The 8000-Meter Peaks

by Richard Sale, John Cleare (Photographer) - Highly recommended! The book details the exploration, first ascent, and other major ascents of all 14 8000m peaks, including spectacular photos.

2. Over the Himalaya

by Koichiro Ohmori - 44 spectacular 2-page aerial photos of the 8000m Nepalese mountains - Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Everest and Lhotse, Cho Oyu, Manaslu, Annapurna and Dhaulagiri (cover) - and several others, including Jannu, Nuptse, and Ama Dablam. Route diagrams and some basic history of the first few ascents are also included.

There are five 2-page photos of the Manaslu region - Manaslu is in 3 of the photos, Himal Chuli in 4, and Ngadi Chuli (Peak 29) in 1.

3. 8000 Metri Di Vita, 8000 Metres To Live For

by Simone Moro. Published 2008. In Italian and English. This coffee-table size book features excellent photos from all 14 8000m peaks. Each 8000m peak has a brief history, a photo of each face showing the climbing routes, and lots of excellent photos.

There are 9 pages on Manaslu.

The photos and route diagrams are excellent.

4. Los Ochomiles: Karakorum e Himalaya: las catorce cumbres más altas del mundo

by Marco Bianchi. Although the title claims to be the 14 highest summits in the world, this beautiful, large-format photo book really focuses on the seven mountains the author climbed. The text is in Spanish, but the photos transcend language.

After attempts on Makalu in 1986 and Cho Oyu in 1989, Bianchi summitted seven of the 14 8000m peaks: Manaslu Sept. 28 1992 via Northeast Face, Broad Peak July 6 1993 via Normal route, Cho Oyu September 18 1993 via West Ridge, Shishapangma October 6 1993 via Southwest Face, Dhaulagiri September 25 1994 via Northeast Ridge, Everest May 12 1995 via Northeast Ridge, and K2 August 10 1996 via North Ridge. The front cover is Shishapangma.

There is a 2-page spread of Manaslu from the summit of Dhaulagiri, and 11 pages on Manaslu from his climb of the Northeast face. The photos are excellent.

You can preview many of the photos at cuboimages.it by searching for Manaslu.

5. Nepal Himalaya

by Shiro Shirahata. Published 1983. A large, heavy quality paper, coffee-table type book featuring 115 spectacular photos, over half double-pages, of the 8000m Nepalese mountains - Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Everest and Lhotse (cover), Cho Oyu, Manaslu, Annapurna, Dhaulagiri - and many others, including Jannu, Nuptse, and Ama Dablam.

There are 23 pages with 14 photos of the Manaslu region - five double-page photos and one single-page photo of Manaslu's different faces. Other photos include Ngadi Chuli (Peak 29) and Himal Chuli.

6. All Fourteen 8,000ers

by Reinhold Messner - details Messner's ascents of all 14 8000m peaks documented with his photos. He also includes route diagrams and some basic history of the first few ascents.

On April 25, 1972 Messner completed the third ascent of Manaslu, via the south face to the west ridge. Messner's second 8000er ended in tragedy when a fierce storm came up and he had to fight for his life to reach their high camp. Franz Jager, who turned back, was caught out in the storm and died. Andi Schlick and Horst Fankhausen braved the storm to try and find Franz, but Andi got lost and also died.

The photos are very good, the story riveting.

7. Himalayan Quest: Ed Viesturs on the 8,000-Meter Giants

photographs by Ed Viesturs, text with Peter Potterfield. Released in early 2003, this book presents photographs with some basic text descriptions of Viestur's ascents of 11 of the 14 8000ers. After this book was published he reached the summit of Nanga Parbat in June 2003, Broad Peak in July 2003, and on May 12, 2005 he reached the summit of Annapurna, becoming the first American to reach the summit of all 14 8000ers, all without oxygen. The front cover is Manaslu.

Viesturs and Veikka Gustafsson reached the summit of Manaslu via the Northeast face on April 22, 1999. There are 15 pages on Manaslu. "The expedition was a huge success. The trek in was fantastic, the route was interesting, and we did really well on the climb itself - three camps and the summit in just 14 days."

Ed's photos are excellent.

8. Los 14 Ochomiles de Juanito Oiarzabal

by Kiko Betelu. Text in Spanish. Spaniard Juanito Oiarzabal became the sixth mountaineer to summit all 14 8000m peaks when he reached the summit of Annapurna on April 29, 1999. This book reviews each of his 14 ascents with text, photos, and route maps. There are 65 colour photos and 42 b/w photos. With his ascent of Makalu in May 2008, Juanito holds the record for the most ascents of 8000m peaks with 22.

Oiarzabal's ascent of Manaslu via the Northeast Face on October 8, 1997 is detailed in a 7-page chapter with 6 colour photos and 1 b/w photo.

The photos are very good, especially on the summit.

1. Manaslu - edkooy

by Ed van der Kooy and Piet Warffemius. This 51-minute video on Youtube in six parts shows their trek to Sama. Ed speaks Dutch, although the communication with the guide is in English. At Sama, Ed gets altitude sickness and has to descend and get a helicopter out.

The filming  is very professional, with lots of focus on the local villagers and the gompas along the way. The pace is nice and slow, peaceful, quiet - kind of like prayer flags flapping in the wind, or maybe just like trekking. The background music is perfect.