When a Chinese monk broke through a hidden door in 1900, he uncovered one of history's greatest literary secrets: a 1,000-year-old time capsule of life along the ancient Silk Road. Inside the chamber on the edge of the Gobi Desert, documents were piled from floor to ceiling. The gem among them was the Diamond Sutra of 868 A.D., now recognized as the world's oldest printed book. The book's journeyby camel through treacherous deserts, by boat to London scholars, by train to evade the bombs of World War IImerges an explorer's adventures, and political intrigue. Its path from East to West has coincided with the growing appeal of Buddhism in the contemporary world. As the Gutenberg Age cedes to the Google Age, the discovery of the Silk Road's greatest treasure is an epic tale of survival, a literary detective story, and an evocation of the travelling power of the book.

Joyce Morgan's work has appeared in The Australian, The Guardian, The Bangkok Post, and The Sydney Morning Herald. She has also worked as a producer with ABC Radio. Conrad Walters is a feature writer and book reviewer at The Sydney Morning Herald. They live in Sydney, Australia.