No comments about Luxe Beijing, 5th Edition (LUXE City Guides).

5 comments about Culture Shock! Thailand.

1. Culture Shock Thailand, the updated 2005 version, is simply the best guide to contemporary Thai culture available today. It is also a one-stop shop for the expat in Thailand, or prospective expat, covering everything from health and education (with annotated listings of hospitals and schools in all main towns), opening bank accounts, getting married, and so on. The index could be expanded, but the well set out presentation of sectional text makes it easy to find what you are looking for -- and it is almost certainly there. This guide is also very well written and in a style that is both easy to read and funny. I enjoyed learning. Many books are now available on Thai culture, doing business, settling in, etc. This is simply the best.



2. This book helped my whole family. We read it before arrival but are still using it for reference. It gave us useful leads to international schools, places of worship and hospitals when out of Bangkok. A mixture of the very practical: opening bank accounts, finding your way, doing business, and so on, and a comprehensive guide to Thai culture, with convenient sectionalisation, excellent explanations and situationist in that it places the non-Thai reader into the Thai world and helps him or her stay afloat. Excellent value. Up to date. Hard to think of anything it misses. Very lively. Well written. And makes learning culture fun. Can't ask for more than that.



3. Wow, found it. Just off to spend some months in and around Thailand -- and no doubt put yet another book on Thailand on the shelves -- when I get this recommended to me. Great stuff. Very informative, very funny, I mean in places really funny, and a bargain to boot. Slap up to date. Can't wait to enter the kingdom.



4. Summer 2006 preparing for a trip to Thailand, we purchased several guidebooks and DVD's. Culture Shock Thailand was very informative and helpful. It included valueable information we did not find elsewhere. This book is mainly geared toward the business person planning an extended stay or relocation to Thailand. It was not designed for the traveler spending two weeks as a tourist. Overall a very good book.



5. I can't tell you what I think... I ordered this book on July 18th 2006,every few weeks you would send me a notice that I would have to agree to wait or it would be cancelled. After 3 MONTHS you sent me a notice that it was not in stock, nor would you be re-ordering it. Excuse me if I don't gush with praise.
   Aside from that I find your services quite helpful, thanks.

3 comments about A Journey through Afghanistan.

1. Chaffetz book "A memorial" is the last in my trilogy of readings on Afghanistan for this year. First, I read about Nic Danzinger's travels through the area in recent years. Next, I jumped back to the 1950's and '60s with Sir Wilfred Thesiger's--"Among the Mountains". I finished with Chaffetz's "A Journey Through Afghanistan". They are all brilliant but Chaffetz's book stands out as a scholarly piece and could well be used in anthropological circles for it's in depth study of the urban and nomadic Afghanis prior and during the Russian invasion. The recent drought that has affected the Hazarajat and Kuchi nomads of Afghanistan was brought that much closer with this book. I had bought this book in the late 1980's but between different trips to the Near East--I had fogotten where I left it. As a result, it took me 10 years to actually get around to reading it and after finishing it, I wondered why I hadn't cracked the spline earlier. Chaffetz' style can be a bit off-putting but his travelling companion is a perfect foil to David's abrasive personality. I would really like to know why Chaffetz was studying Parsi in pre-revolutionary Iran or was that just a cover?



2. A very humane and sensitive account that explores the world view of people far from the beaten track. Despite the differences we are led to understand their concerns which turn out to be far less foreign than the material setting would suggest.



3. Chaffetz does an admirable job of describing northwest Afghanistan as it was circa 1975 and the effect that the country and its people had upon him. As one who had passed through the country in the late sixties, there was much I could recognize in both the stimulus and the author's response. Particularly gratifying to me was the "update" aspect - the provision of information from that particular time period, of which I had previously read and heard only the barest political and economic facts. Chaffetz ably uses history to inform and frame the life and times he experienced. A further enhancement is the author's knowledge of Farsi and the inclusion of translations into English of words, old inscriptions, and occasional couplets of Persian poetry. The title of this review is taken from one of those couplets. The book is evocative and commendable.

5 comments about Come Back to Afghanistan: A California Teenager's Story.

1. That's right, don't bother rating it, because I'm here to say I'll never read a book by some over-privileged little delinquent who crawls out of Taliban-infested Afghanistan, gets citizenship in this country, gets into Yale, publishes a book, and then . . . gets together with his two teenaged foreigner buddies and burns the American flag. Oh, how very chic. What a statement.



2. After reading this book, I felt I had a better understanding of the situation in Afghanistan. I really have no experience with the situation there, and this book helped me to understand on a more basic level. I was very upset to hear that the author burned the American flag recently. Until I hear his defense, as an American I no longer feel that I can support this book.



3. Yesterday a friend asked what I was reading.
   
   I just finished 'Come Back to Afghanistan: My Journey from California to Kabul' written by Said Hyder Akbar, a 20-year old college student in California. Like many others, Akbar's story is a migrating one - from Afghanistan to Pakistan, India, and then the USA.
   
   When the Taliban were ousted in 2001, Akbar's father, a long time friend of President Hamid Karzai decided to go back to Afghanistan. Akbar started coming with him on his school and college breaks, and got back in touch with his country that he had left a long time ago. It's a homecoming of sorts.
   
   The book is brilliant. Written with the assistance of journalist Susan Brunton, Akbar takes us into corners and niches that few books on Afghanistan do. It is deeply personal and highly political without the usual history, geography or other details. Born in Afghanistan and raised in the US, Akbar is able to straddle both countries and regions. He neither despairs nor scoffs at anyone or anytime. His writing is passionate, gentle and unassuming.
   
   Akbar's goal in Afghanistan is to be with his father and get to know his country. He travels with, among other things, a tape recorder, and makes programmes for National Pubic Radio in California. He interviews the person in the highest office - President Karzai - as well as his driver, Sartor. He listens to everyone and judges none. During the two years he goes back and forth, Akbar's brother and mother visit Afghanistan. His father is appointed as the Governor of the province of Kunar, a remote and troubled area, where the family collects and lives together.
   
   Through sickness and health Akbar goes through the journeys he charts for himself. His writing is sensitive and engaging. It never strays or lags. It is clear that he loves Afghanistan, is sensing what his relationship with his old land is, and how it will develop. He is conscious of the contradictions within himself.
   
   When I think about why I liked the book so much, and the experience of reading the book, I feel it its so akin to my time in Afghanistan. Without being able to speak the language (Dari an Pashto), I communicated with those I could, in Urdu, Hindi and English. I reached out to the humanity in them, and they in turn, reached out to mine.
   
   In the final analysis the book is about being reconciled to where we come from. No matter where we are, our multiple identities always call us to the land we were born, and we yearn to return. That has been my experience too.
   
   The book also describes the Afghan situation - the challenges to the Afghan people, the leaders, the donor community and Americans stationed in Afghanistan and back home. It presents everyone's reality. Akbar's strength is his ability to see what is happening, from many perspectives, and present it in a dispassionate way.
   
   In a growing body of literature on Afghanistan, Akbar's will enjoy a place of pride. It's young, passionate, and terribly easy to read.



4. The beginning of the book where he had talked about the plane parts in the airport, really got me to read it. I had to read a non fiction book for LA, and I chose this book. It looked like an interesting story so I picked it up and read it. I really enjoyed the book but I had some questions for the author. For instance: If you knew what was happening in Afghanistan why did you still choose to go there. I would not have because I wou;d've been afraid to go there and something happen to me. I really liked your writing style and how you described the bombing and crossing into Pakistand. Very good book but it's kind of confusing for me



5. Said Hyder Akbar is a surprisingly strong writer for his age. The way that he leads the reader into this exotic world is amazing. One genuinely gets to feel some of the things that are in the news as far as the conflict near Pakistan's border. Although the book was written in 2006 many of his observations ring true to this day. If you are interested in Afghanistan/Pakistan make sure to read this book becuase it will not dissapoint you.

3 comments about Knopf MapGuide: Venice (Knopf Mapguides).

1. I am a big fan of the Knopf MapGuides and usually get one for each place I visit, but this was one of the more disappointing in the series. Venice is difficult to navigate and it would be nearly impossible to create a completely accurate map of the city. That said, many streets on these maps are not labeled. There are also a large number of streets, bridges, and landmarks in Venice that do not appear on the maps. I spent a lot of time trying to match the maps against what I saw in person, and found the smaller maps in my guidebook were much more accurate.
   
   There are also several areas of Venice that simply are not covered on the maps, including all of the islands. We found some delightful streets in the western part of Santa Croce that do not appear on any of the maps, and no coverage of the area near the train station or the Piazzale Roma, which are important points of entry into the city. Overall, the maps were just average for what they do cover, and the coverage of Venice needs to be improved.



2. Unlike many maps, the street IDs in this guide are big enough for a user to actually read. That said, I still got lost walking from the Accademia bridge to San Marco. (Following crowds and stopping in to ask store clerks helped me out here.) I found myself flipping back and forth on the two San Marco maps freqently, when it would have been more convenient to have all the info on a single map.



3. Best travel guide bar none. Fits your pocket or small purse.. Visually great looking.There are actual pictures .... All high recommended hotels different prices..Great maps.. hard to get lost even in Venice. Great recommends for food I am a shopper.. Absolutely great & unusual shops ..None of the bad tourist gear only the styling gear.. .I had three guides to Venice this is the one we used every day...Do not go anywhere without this guide if there is one available for the destination Im will be traveling to....

No comments about New Delhi Insight Fleximap (Insight Fleximaps).

1 comments about Yangzi River Map: From Source to Sea, Featuring the Three Gorges, Shanghai, Wuhan, Chongqing, & the Source in Tibet.

1. Note that the Editorial Review does not apply to this map and should be ignored. While Odyssey distributes the map, they had no hand in the compilation or publishing of the map. The map was actually done by Airphoto International, in conjunction with the China Exploration & Research Society. On one side is a map of the entire Yangzi River, with snippets of information noted along the route. A 7 x 9.5 inch inset map shows the Three Gorges area from Fengile to Yichang and notes the location/names of gorges and the twelve peaks of Wu Gorge. The reverse side of the map has a map showing the River from Chongqing to Yichange, including the Three Gorges. This map shows the locations of historic sites, gorges, and peaks plus snippets of information notated on the map. Inset maps are included for Shanghai, Wuhan, and Chongqing, along with several color photos, a satellite image, and descriptive text.

5 comments about The Other Side of Russia: A Slice of Life in Siberia and the Russian Far East.

1. In THE OTHER SIDE OF RUSSIA, the University of Maryland University College has established a joint undergraduate degree program in business management with the Far Eastern State University in Vladivostok and the State University in Irkutsk. In the summer of 1993, author Sharon Hudgins and her husband, Tom, packed off to Siberia and the Russian Far East to serve as teachers in this cooperative venture, while the former was also Maryland's on-site program coordinator in both cities. This book chronicles their experiences from their arrival until their departure in December 1994.
   
   Whether she's describing the immensity of pristine Lake Baikal, the problematic living conditions in their high-rise apartment, local customs and food of the Buryat people, the vagaries and perils of shopping for household necessities, maddening water and electricity outages, local festivals, the growing pains of a free-market economy, the university students' learning ethic, or the conviviality and generosity of their Russian friends, Hudgins has a keen eye for small details, as when describing an open air market:
   
   "An Uzbek woman ... sold raisins and nuts in small paper cones made out of official forms from the Irkutsk Municipal Water Department ... In one part of the market, a pretty teenage girl, wearing a garish, flower-printed dress and a thousand-yard stare, held a handful of peacock feathers and sipped a can of Dr Pepper, while in another section two older women, both drunk, tried to punch each other out in a fist fight."
   
   I haven't been so engaged by a travel essay about Russia since Hedrick Smith's 1976 bestseller, THE RUSSIANS. My only criticism is the relative lack of photographs - only a couple at most per chapter. Luckily, Sharon's poetic prose paints pictures almost as effective as snapshots, as this from her vantage point on the Trans-Siberian Railroad:
   
   "A profusion of wildflowers carpeted the meadows, like an Impressionist painting exuberantly expanding beyond the limits of canvas and frame: undulating shades of yellow, gold, and blue, maroon and magenta, soft pink and pristine white, the pale purple globes of wild onions gone to seed, thousands of red-orange tiger lilies, whole fields of dark purple Siberian irises, and occasionally a single red poppy or two, like a stubborn symbol of politics past. Outside Chita a small lake glistened under the midnight moon."
   
   For me, a travel narrative is all it can be if it makes me want to go there myself. THE OTHER SIDE OF RUSSIA accomplishes that. Well, maybe for just a brief visit, perhaps, because I certainly wouldn't want to live there.



2. The Other Side of Russia is part travel narrative, part social history, part memoir, part food writing. All these parts come together to make a terrific book.
   
   Sharon Hudgins and her husband Tom spent a year and a half in post-Soviet Siberia teaching business management for the University of Maryland's overseas program. As peripatetic ex-patriates, they were familiar with unfamiliarity. But they were still not prepared for what Siberia had to offer them.
   
   Join Sharon and Tom as they picnic with the Russian Mafiya, try to teach in an educational system that discourages questions and independent thinking, and ponder why a herd of horses is tangled in downtown rush hour traffic.
   
   In "Absurdistan" it is just one perplexing thing after another. The electricity and water in their poorly-constructed apartment building work only intermittently. But in spite of such challenges, they make friends and entertain regularly. Cultural differences mean that the same friends who swoon over delicacies such as wafer-thin horse liver slices rolled with layers of horse fat, are unable to enjoy a Hudgins Tex-Mex feast.
   
   Hudgins's previous work as a food and travel writer are evident here, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that she writes fiction as well. The narrative is effortless and the stories she tells are by turns engaging and frightening.



3. The Other Side of Russia emerged from Barbara Hudgins experience of living in Siberia for a year and a half, from 1993 to 1994. Working as the onsite program coordinator for the University of Maryland University College in Siberia and the Russian Far East, she worked and lived in Vladivostok and Irkutsk.
   
   Hudgins book is the first book about Siberia I'd come across written by someone who spent extensive time in Siberia. This gives her a depth of understanding that adds a lot to her memoir.
   
   The structure of her memoir is unusual. She's divided the book into two sections. The chapters in part one focus on place - Irkutsk, Vladivostok, Lake Baikal, etc. - and the chapters in the second part focus on aspects of life and culture in Siberia - housing, education, food and festivals. Hudgins supplemented her first-hand experience with extensive research. This offers readers an in-depth source of information about many aspects of Siberian place and life.
   
   What's lost in this non-chronological format is Hudgin's own adaptations and reactions over her time in Siberia. She does insert some feelings and personality, but the focus is on the topic, rather than on her personal experience or characters who change and develop over the period.
   
   Hudgins seems to have thrown herself into Siberia with a remarkably open mind. She expertly captures the small details of Siberian life and renders vivid pictures of feasts shared with Russian friends. For those who have been to Siberia, this book will take you back there. For those planning on going, The Other Side of Russia provides a great overview of the life and culture.



4. In The Other Side Of Russia, author Sharon Hudgins takes the reader along on her Trains-Siberian Railroad adventure through Siberia and the Russian Far East, an area that was closed off to Westerners (and most Russians) prior to 1990s and the collapse of the old Soviet Union. Here the reader will be treated to a unique travelogue that will take them from the frozen surface of Lake Baikal, to feast with native Siberian Buryats, the food markets and "high-rise villages" of Vladivostok and Irkutsk, Christmas celebrations, New Year's banquets, Easter dinners, and Siberian festivals. The Other Side Of Russia dispels the myths and misconceptions about the Asian part of Russia which extends across eight time zones between the Ural Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Offering a window of observation into this land of harsh winters, vast uninhabited spaces, friendly people, strange cuisines, and thriving modern cities, The Other Side Of Russia is a welcome, informative, and highly entertaining read which is especially commended to the attention of armchair travelers and students of Russian culture and history.



5. This was a very well-crafted and informative book, which I would recommend reading to those who haven't yet. For those who have, and who enjoyed it like I did, I would recommend Tent Life in Siberia: An Incredible Account of Siberian Adventure, Travel, and Survival, which George Kennan's account of his travels around eastern Siberia on dogs and reindeer sleds.

3 comments about Fodor's Shanghai, 1st Edition (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1. An up to date travel guide. Good maps, good day trips in Shanghai, good web sites mentioned.
   Some history included. I have found very useful information for our third trip to China.
   I did not need the hotel information.



2. I am a frequent traveler and have used many travel guides from many companies. I can say unequivocally this is the worst travel guide I have ever used.
   
   The biggest problem is that the maps are horrible. It is hard to find the correct map and they often do not have the main attractions marked. They only mention about 10-20 locations in each neighborhood section (locations mentioned are in bold), but these locations are generally not printed on the maps.
   
   For example, in the section on the "Former French Concession" neighborhood, the guide suggests three top attractions. Two of them are not marked on the map, and nowhere in the narrative does it describe their location (Taikang Lu and Ruijin Park). I spent a whole afternoon wandering the area and never found them.
   
   There are other major shortcomings as well. For example, the subway information does not mention the subway hours and there is no usable subway map. There is a subway map inside the back cover, but it is unusable because it is printed too small. The other maps apparently only recognize the existence of subway lines 1 and 2.
   
   This is the first edition, so perhaps they will fix some of these shortcomings in later editions, but for now I would recommend against this guide.



3. This is a pretty good resource for Shanghai. Shanghai is hard to describe in a book as is most of China. The moreso as there is little visible history in Shanghai compared to a city like Beijing.
   
   I found the restaurant reccomendations in the French Concession to be great.

No comments about Iraq Map by ITMB.