5 APRIL 1957, Page 24

style. Five fed-up French youths—architects- take an old Chrysler across

the Middle East to India, and three of them describe their adven- tures. Scrappy, vigorous, it ranges from historical research on Indian sculpture to an interesting but far too brief account of life in a Buddhist monastery, where one of the travellers spent six months, not as .a tourist, but as a novice (which accounts, perhaps, for his reticence). Excellent photographs, passable drawings, beautiful pro- duction.