OK, the Travelers Tales Tibet book wasn't a COMPLETE waste of time (close, though). One story piqued my interest - by Alexandra David-Néel, a Belgian/French woman who made her way into forbidden Tibet in the 1920's, and wrote a variety of books about her experiences. Which look to be very interesting, although I now have to bide my time while they're delivered (an early Christmas gift to myself, what can I say...).
Read more about her here: Wikipedia on Alexandra David-Néel or take a peek inside Magic and Mystery in Tibet on Google Books. A bit of searching might even find you a .pdf version of it, but really, who reads books that way?