Best academic studies on (tibetan) buddhism?

[upasaka]

Williams?
Powers?
Lopez?
Conze?
Snellgrove?

Did you guys read any of these?

[Josef]

Jose Cabezon, Sarah McClintock and Holly Gayley are three of the most interesting Buddhist Studies academics around in my opinion.
John Dunne is interesting as well.

[Malcolm]

Most Interesting: Dan Martin
Most Brilliant: Matthew Kapstein

[Josef]

Most Interesting: Dan Martin
Most Brilliant: Matthew Kapstein

Seconded. Especially on Kapstein.

[Indrajala]

Robert Thurman does popular books, but also academic monographs. He's a good writer in my opinion.

[mindyourmind]

In addition to some of the above, I also enjoy Karl Brunnholzl (Center of the Sunlight Sky in particular).

[tingdzin]

I too go along with Malcolm, though I personally find Martin more enjoyable to read. There are many more good Tibetan scholars coming up now, so hopefully the field will continue to grow by leaps and bounds.

[Konchog1]

Snellgrove is terrible. He censors his own translations if he doesn't like the content and almost every page is filled with footnotes (80% on some pages!).

[jeeprs]

Has anyone encountered Georges Dreyfus? I have borrowed two of his books, including the formidable Recognizing Reality, but didn't make a lot of headway with it.

The other current author that strikes me as worth knowing about is Jan Westerhoff. He writes on philosophy and metaphysics as well but has done quite a few recent titles on Madhyamika and various other Buddhist topics. See here for some details.

[Yudron]

I'm currently most interested in Jacob Dalton, Holly Gayly, and Sam Van Shaik. This reflects my interest in Nyingma History, Dzogchen and Tibetan yoginis.

Scholars who seem to have an agenda to disprove traditional histories, with a "I know better than you" attitude, are of no interest.

[Indrajala]

Scholars who seem to have an agenda to disprove traditional histories, with a "I know better than you" attitude, are of no interest.

In academia you make a name for yourself by disproving others and coming up with innovative new theories.

[Namgyal]

I'm currently most interested in Jacob Dalton, Holly Gayly, and Sam Van Shaik.

Sam is an accomplished scholar and a practising Buddhist (Longchen Nyingthig). Amongst Buddhist Buddhologists, the best is probably Professor Geoffrey Samuel (ChNN).

[Yudron]

Scholars who seem to have an agenda to disprove traditional histories, with a "I know better than you" attitude, are of no interest.

In academia you make a name for yourself by disproving others and coming up with innovative new theories.

Yes. But I'm not interested.

[Yudron]

I'm currently most interested in Jacob Dalton, Holly Gayly, and Sam Van Shaik.

Sam is an accomplished scholar and a practising Buddhist (Longchen Nyingthig). Amongst Buddhist Buddhologists, the best is probably Professor Geoffrey Samuel (ChNN).

Thank you. I just downloaded Prof. Samuael's latest book, available in electronic format, from Barnes and Noble. Holly Gayley is a teacher or Shambhala as well as an academic. She has a new book coming out on Tare Lhamo and her husband, I think this summer.

[yegyal]

I'm currently most interested in Jacob Dalton, Holly Gayly, and Sam Van Shaik. This reflects my interest in Nyingma History, Dzogchen and Tibetan yoginis.

Scholars who seem to have an agenda to disprove traditional histories, with a "I know better than you" attitude, are of no interest.

In that case, you might enjoy the work that Sarah Jacoby and Antonio Terrone have been doing, most notably on Sera Khandro and contemporary tertons in Kham, respectively. I think we'll see a lot of good stuff from this married couple in the coming years.