2 comments about Marc Riboud in China.

1. This is a welly printed photographic book on China by photographer Marc Ribond. The page layout is neat especially with old and new images printed on facing pages. This is not just a great photographic book but also a record of new China history.



2. My wife (who is Chinese) and I have spent hours with this book
   and find it endlessly fascinating. The quality of the photographs
   and printing is excellent. It is like a window into a lost and
   changing world.

   There is considerable overlap with Riboud's earlier collection
   of photographs from China. If you only buy one of these,
   I recommend this one. The photographs are better and the
   printing quality is much higher.

3 comments about You Know You've Been in Japan too Long....

1. I glanced through this book being rather skeptic. Not that many books made by Gaijins can even be considered decent. However, this book actually made me laugh quite a bit, especially the part with "Yoisho..." I am an American, and have been living in Japan for almost 12 years now. I love it here, and this book really does hit the nail on the head. It's good for a few laughs, nothing serious... Read it, enjoy it...



2. Not sure what others meant by "Not that many books made by Gaijins can even be considered decent." Gaijin meaning "Not Japanese". I think a good author "Gaijin" would be "Lauren Weisberger" just for starters!
   
   Bill, I laughed all the way through! Good reading even if you not in Japan!



3. A very humorous, and I think, accurate book about how westerners feel about some of japan's quirks. While in Japan, my friends and I would gather around this book and laugh at it. Now back home, it serves as a fond reminder of the quirkiness I encountered through daily living. And if truth and accuracy isn't a good reason, the bunny in the corner makes up for it. This book makes a wonderful gift for anyone who's ever lived in Japan.

No comments about Taiwan & Taipei Map by ITMB.

No comments about LUXE Hanoi (LUXE City Guides).

3 comments about Lonely Planet India & Bangladesh Travel Atlas.

1. The maps are better than what most Indians have ever seen in their lives, which is exactly why travellers don't need it. If you are taking public transport around the country, you get plenty of information about how to go where from LP India or from information at train stations, bus stations and other travellers. It simply isn't worth the excess weight (in a rucksack). If on the other hand you are cycling or have your own motorized vehicle, this would be irreplacable (so be careful who you show it to).



2. While working on an on-going university research project I have spent five years driving the back roads of India. This book has saved my sanity as well as my tires and axles. It is by far and away the most helpful road atlas available.



3. If you know where you want to go then I would agree with the above reviewer- a guidebook will tell you about nearby sites and how to get there and for that you can get by without an atlas. But for those who want to explore a particular region- how else are you going to plot an itinerary? This atlas is fully indexed by place, and also by beaches, capes & headlands, caves, forts, islands, mountians & passes, rivers, lakes, & bays, ruins and temples. And no matter how good a guidebook- only an atlas like this will assure you that you haven't missed anything of interest whereever you happen to be.
   
   Map Scale is 4cm = 50K (1.5" = 31 miles)
   
   For security reasons (I'm told) quality maps are not easy to find in India- and rarely for sale.

1 comments about Bali: Island of the Gods (Passport's Regional Guides of Indonesia).

1. This book is organized as a collection of articles, covering Balinese history, culture, and regions. It also has a section in the back with info on accomadations etc. A good way to see if the culture and area intregue you, and to pick up more info about Bali before you visit. Nice because it doesn't focus on the typical "here are the 5 things to see if you are in fill-in-the-blank". A good secondary book to read before you leave, and keep at home.

3 comments about India Through the Lens: Photography 1840-1911.

1. the collection of these rare pictures of the time of british raj in india is gorgeous. reading this book is like visiting a museum. brilliant job done



2. A visual reference of museum quality for researchers, or just people interested in this country.

   This book accompanies an exhibition of photography collection of India for the period 1840-1911. These images are produced more than hundred years ago, during the early ages after photography was invented. Indian and foreigner found photography as magic, when using their camera to capture the surrounding environment to image. It covers powerful images about landscapes, people, architecture, etc from India.




3. The plain title does not begin to do justice to the richness and diversity of the contents. The numerous lightly sepia-toned photographs, many full-page and one a panoramic fold-out, are especially handsome as well as informative as to Indian buildings, royalty and their traditional wear, ordinary Indians, ruins, and landscapes and nature scenes. But even with these, the book is more than only a distinctive album of vintage photos of India. Essays by art historians and critics go into various aspects of the project engaged in by native Indians and colonial British to record India in all its diversity and foreignness with the new device of the camera, as if to preserve India before it would be touched by the machinery and pace of the modern world.
   
   Different native and colonial photographers were attracted to different aspects of India during the decades covered. Some concentrated on pictures of different ethnic groups; some on portraits of royalty; while others recorded the British administrative and military presence. With essays on several of the leading photographers, the book is also a survey of the field of photographic work done in India in the mid to late 1800s and into the early 1900s. Thus, "India Through the Lens" can be appreciated both for its exceptional, engaging photographs and as a introduction to the subject of photography in India.

1 comments about The Search for a Vanishing Beijing: A Guide to China's Capital Through the Ages.

1. This book is absolutely perfect if you plan to discover a Beijing that soon will disappear - or already disappeard. It provides you with lots of well written stories troughout all the Hutongs that probably at the time this is written are teared down, so hurry up to take a stroll with the book in your bag!

1 comments about On a Shoestring to Coorg: A Travel Memoir of India.

1. I had this author recommended to me by a friend who knew of my interest in other cultures, so I found this book in a local library and started reading. I find it to be amazing, especially for a journal of her travel experiences. She uses language which gives the book almost a flavor of fiction (I find that many nonfiction authors use very simple and often dry language, making such books harder to read). Occasionally she seems to have the perspective of a stereotypical European, but in general she manages to have a neutral viewpoint and tries to explain Indian customs from the point of view of Indians, as well as her reactions and those of her five year old daughter.

   As far as I'm concerned, one of the best parts of this book is the way that it describes various parts of India in amazing detail, as well as giving some background on the area. Unlike many tourists, Murphy is not content merely to wander around seeing usual sites; instead, she tries to get to out-of-the-way places, and to experience life as much like an Indian as she can (while acknowledging that this can never be fully accomplished). This is perhaps one of the best "outsider" descriptions that I have read, as she really makes and effort to understand her new surroundings.

2 comments about Laos: Culture and Society.

1. Despite the growing need for flexible overviews of this part of the world, and, taking into account that the editor is an accomplished writer, this volume does not fill the need for even an undergraduate readership (let alone tourists!). It's poorly compiled and suffers from what must have been "old buddies" wanting in. A case in point is Trankell's paper. I've read it through twice and although I've spent two years of field work in the area (Trankell claims to have spent two weeks) I can't recognize any of the "data" she draws on to support point that escapes any sound mind. His paper is not the only bad one, but it does reflect badly on the entire composition of the volume.



2. There are some great essays in here that have not been published elsewhere. Original research