5 comments about Chasing the Monsoon: A Modern Pilgrimage Through India.

1. Loved it, loved it, loved it. One of my all-time faves.



2. Few books on India can easily hope to undertake and accomplish the monumental task of depicting this complex society. This book is no exception. By taking the lens of the monsoon -- and the beliefs and practices which surround it in India - this book has adopted a wonderful device to depict a wide swathe of this country. Entertaining and thoughtful, this is certainly one of the more informative travelogues on India.



3. The most improbable of all "journeys"..... to chase a monsoon through India. But how lyrical and memorable this trip is. This is a story not just of Frater, but of the people of India he comes in contact with during this voyage, and an explanation of how the monsoon affects each of them. This is one of the VERY few books I have ever read more than once. Another great read about a journey is South Wind by Norman Douglas.



4. In writing "Chasing the Monsoon: A Modern Pilgrimage through India" Alexander Frater weaves external observations his personal memories into a cohesive, entertaining account of his myriad experiences following the monsoon up and across the Indian subcontinent. Despite a plethora of details about the science and meteorology, accounts of his attempts to secure the blessings of a cumbersome Indian government's bureaucracy, his social interactions with people at all levels of Indian society, excruciating car trips, and recollections of his and his family's experiences living on islands in the Pacific, the book is neither dry nor dull.
   
   Mr. Prater braids these various story lines into a seamless retelling of his experiences. His attention to detail-whether describing a worn-out hotel, recounting an overheard conversation about the virtues of various types of mangoes, or capturing the sensual experience of being engulfed by the monsoon-is quite remarkable. Though the story is highly personal, Mr. Frater does not impose himself upon the reader in such a manner as to detract from his travelogue. I'm glad he fully documented his experience and further appreciate his tidy way of bringing matters full circle.



5. _Chasing the Monsoon_ by Alexander Frater was an enjoyable travel book, one that I read in just a few days. The author's intention, as one might guess from the title, was to follow the progress of the summer monsoon through India, beginning in the southernmost tip of the subcontinent, Cape Comorin, and following its progress up the west coast through Trivandrum, Calicut, Goa, and Bombay, then jetting over to Delhi, and then to experience the eastern arm of the monsoon (there are two arms, one in the east of India, one in the west) in Calcutta and in two places near Bangladesh, Shillong and Cherrapunji (there was a map illustrating his route).
   
   Frater began the book discussing his childhood in the New Hebrides, a group of islands in the South Pacific jointly administered at one time by both France and the United Kingdom, how growing up his missionary father helped instill in him a fascination for weather. His father had talked about one of the rainiest spots on Earth, Cherrapunji, India, which was known at the height of the monsoon season in July to get as much as 75 feet of rain, though more often in the 30 to 40 foot range, receiving as much as 40 inches in one day. Though Frater's father never visited Cherrapunji and lost interest in meteorology due to mounting family financial problems and the Second World War, Alexander himself never completely lost interest in the weather.
   
   After relating how he finally decided to follow the monsoon in the summer of 1987 and if possible visit Cherrapunji, he detailed his pilgrimage throughout India. Though Frater did discuss some of the science of the monsoon and in particular the history of its study (noting such famous researchers as H.F. Blandford, who beginning in 1875 became the first of a line of India-based climatologists who studied the monsoon and Sir John Eliot, his successor, often called the "father of monsoon studies"), the book is more a travel than a popular science book, detailing what Frater saw in India and in particular local reactions to the monsoon (or its unfortunate absence in drought-stricken parts of the country).
   
   Throughout most of India, the onset of the monsoon rains, the "burst," was eagerly anticipated, the arrival of life-giving rains and cooler weather celebrated for centuries in art, poetry, and song. Frater visited remarkable pavilions, palaces, gardens, and fountains where the very wealthy had in the past had sought to recreated the cooling rains of the monsoon during times of heat and aridity.
   
   Though many cities and regions have unofficial dates when the monsoon is supposed to begin - for instance around June 5 in Goa - the actual advance of the rains is unpredictable, subject to much discussion and even heated debate on the street, with many people hanging on every word of travelers to areas already experiencing monsoon rains, meteorologists, and even astrologers. I must say I was rather surprised that the monsoon traveled slowly enough through India that Frater for the most part was able to keep ahead of it, as while the first burst over Cape Comorin occurs generally around June 1, it is nearly July 1 before it reaches Delhi (if it reaches it at all; Frater chronicled how the monsoon rains had failed to arrive in recent years). Overall Frater did an excellent job of conveying the tense atmosphere of expectation among those waiting for the rains and the sense of relief and jubilation once they had arrived.
   
   When the rains did arrive there was often great rejoicing with almost unofficial holidays in many parts of the country. Even in businesses that did not close had workers from cashiers and waiters up to expensively dressed businessmen and women running outside to cavort in the rain. Adults and children played in the rains, planned parties celebrating it, and even not unlike Frater himself planned trips to see it (the author wrote of oil-rich wealthy Middle Easterners flying on their private jets to India to witness such vast amounts of rain for themselves).
   
   Additionally, people associated the monsoon with cures for a variety of ailments. The "monsoon cure," which could be anything from specific diets to being massaged in special oils to meditation with the onset of the rains, was big business, particularly in western India.
   
   So important were the rains in providing a relief from the heat, watering crops, filling wells, and regenerating lakes and rivers, that much like with the monsoon cures an entire industry existed to ensure the arrival of the rains, ranging from ceremonial well diving to crackpot inventors to cloud-seeding with aircraft to singing ancient songs called ragas, composed especially to bring on the monsoonal rains.
   
   Not everyone welcomed the monsoon. Frater detailed the great difficulties of officials in Calcutta in handling the floods brought about by the monsoon, and hinted at but didn't go into detail about the massive floods in Bangladesh the rains often brought. Fishermen and sailors often couldn't work in the high seas, cyclones, and driving rain during the height of the monsoon and pilots often had great difficulty flying in monsoon weather. Back when India was a British possession some Englishmen became depressed, alcoholic, or even committed suicide due to the rains.
   
   A portion of the book detailed Frater's attempts to get permission from Delhi to visit Cherrapunji, as it was located in a region subject to anti-immigrant riots and fighting (something he might have gone a little bit more into). As foreign travel and even travel by Indians themselves to that area was tightly controlled, Frater had to navigate the intricate, complex, positively Byzantine corridors of Indian bureaucracy. This theme seems to be a common element of Indian travel writing, a topic addressed also in _An Area of Darkness_ by V.S. Naipaul and _The Search for the Pink-headed Duck_ by Rory Nugent.
   
   Though I would have liked a bit more science and maybe some photos, overall I enjoyed the book.

5 comments about Chopsticks and French Fries: How and Why to Teach English in South Korea.

1. This book is only 50 pages and it was written years ago. It's not a very helpful guide. I have been living and teaching in Korea for the past 4 years, so I know what I'm talking about. Just do a web search for Korea blogs or Korea teaching memoir and get all the information you need.



2. I just bought this book for a job in Kwangju and have already used it. It's made life in my new home comfortable just knowing a few things about what to expect. Recommended!



3. I thought Korea was great, and enjoyed my year there. I was surprised to see the review, and then checked out other Korea books and the same person said the same things about Korea. I doubt M Jo read the book.



4. When this arrived, I couldn't believe it qualified as a book, so I checked out the product pages. Yup, there it was--50 pages. IMHO, that's a fat pamphlet, and at $7.95, somewhat overpriced.
   
   Nonetheless this book contains some practical knowledge. For example, a list of things that aren't readily available, and therefore worth taking; other items that are available, but a lot more expensive. But most important, though no one expects to need it, she includes a list on phone numbers. You can find numbers for embassies easily enough elsewhere, but the true gem is an assortment of phone numbers for Korean government agencies that deal with foreign English language teachers.
   
   So, okay, maybe a lot of the rest of this book could have been found on the internet. Here it's gathered in one place.
   
   Overall, it's worth at least a read at the library even if you have to request an interlibrary loan, if it's not in the bookstore--because it's so short, it won't take long! And if you're short on cash, copy out those phone numbers for the Korean agencies involved with foreign language teachers.
   
   Another book to consider: Korea Calling: The essential handbook for teaching English and living in South Korea. At 173 pages, it has more than triple the coverage of what are mostly the same topics. At $14.95, that's the better value--except for thost phone numbers...



5. Korea has the worst reputation in terms of teaching jobs. Look up "Korean school blacklist" on Google and see the State Department's travel advisory on Korea - gives a lot more useful info than this piece of fluff.

3 comments about Banaras.

1. This book takes one on a breathtaking Odyssey through the sacred landscape of the world's oldest and most sacred city: Lord Siva's eternal abode. Eck's approach is sensitive and captivating, her scholarship is impressive, and the result of her labour has been a preciously insightful and informative book. Anyone seeking God owes it to himself to learn about the Holy City of Kashi, where death is transformed into divine liberation, and reading this book is an excellent way to get started. As both a Saiva and a scholar, I highly recommend it!



2. Diane Eck has written the most readable and spiritual book on the city where Hindus make pilgrimage to bathe in the Ganges and to take their last breath in this lifetime. The book includes good maps of the bathing ghats and detailed information of this ancient city of temples devoted to Shiva and other Gods and Goddesses. I have been to Banaras and walked those crooked streets and Eck's book places me right back in that sacred place.



3. I first visited The City of Light in the fall of '89. When I returned for six month stays in both 1999 and 2006 I had Diana Eck's book with me; it made a rich experience even richer. As Eck writes, Kashi is not of this world, and her book - now well-dogearred - made my explorations more focused and deeply understood.

No comments about Osaka Travel Map: 2nd Edition (Periplus Travel Maps).

No comments about Tibet, Tibet.

3 comments about The Grand Canyon and the Southwest.

1. The 86 black and white images in this book reflect dozens of visits by Ansel Adams to the Southwest over more than 50 years. Adams liked what he saw, and felt that "this land is offering me a tremendous opportunity; no one has really photographed it."

   This volume has two weakneses. The images are often too small to accurately reproduce the detail that Adams intended us to see in the foregrounds and backgrounds, and many are over inked. Second, the introduction by William A. Turnage is not up to his usual standards. He makes a number of strange assertions such as that Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941 (poorly reproduced in this volume) is "beyond doubt, his most famous photograph." Hmmm. What do you think? In other places though, Turnage adds interesting details about Adams' introduction to the Southwest and the influence on his photography of Paul Strand.

   The book contains many letters from Adams about his experiences in taking the photographs, including many near disasters with his station wagon breaking down. One of the really interesting ones is to Patsy England in 1936 in which he says that in many ways the "Carlsbad Caverns are symbolic of my life; beautiful and exquisite things that exist only in the light of the moment." That may be the finest characterization of Adams' work that I have read.

   Here are my favorite images (as reproduced here) in this book:

   Saint Francis Church, Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, c. 1929

   Monument Valley, Arizona, 1937

   Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona, 1942

   Georgia O'Keeffe and Orville Cox, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona, 1937

   White House Ruin, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona, 1941

   Big Room, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico, 1942

   Burro Mesa and the Chisos Mountains, Big Bend National Park, Texas, 1942

   Farm, Autumn, near Glendale, Utah, c. 1940

   Tree Against Cliff, Zion National Park, Utah, 1947

   In Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah, 1947

   Manly Beacon, Death Valley National Park, California, c. 1952

   Grand Canyon from Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, 1942

   Grand Canyon from Yavapai Point (Bright Angel Canyon), Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, 1942

   After you have finished reading about Ansel Adams' adventures and learning in the Southwest, I urge you to take your own driving trip through this beautiful country. Be sure to visit the spots that Adams did. I also suggest that you be sure to add Sedona in Arizona, Mesa Verde, the Meteorite Crater in Arizona, Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesen West in Scottsdale, and the Navajo reservation to the areas depicted here.

   See the most beautiful places you can as often as possible! The beauty will seep into your soul.




2. First book I have looked at by Ansel Adams. There are a few Grand Canyon pictures in here and other southwest pictures. Also included are some letters he wrote.



3. I bought this book seeking pictures of the Grand Canyon by Ansel Adams, although I did not find as many as I wanted, I did find some great pictures!!! He was an amaizing photographer. I thoroughly enjoyed reviewing the book and the pictures. Anyone who is interested in more thean the Sierra Nevada range and the outdoors, as well as Ansel Adams, will find something here to enjoy!

3 comments about English - Pashto, Pashto - English Dictionary: A modern dictionary of the Pakhto, Pushto, Pukhto Pashtoe, Pashtu, Pushtu, Pushtoo, Pathan, or Afghan language.

1. This is great tool for our Pashto language course with our teacher who always asks " Has everyone brought in their Gayan Chand Dictionary " I have spent a long time in language bookshops searching for a better dictionary and have been unable to find one.. This book packs a lot of bang for your buck. I highly recommend this as your choice of dictionary.
   The best part about it is that it's small and portable, while the worst part is that, for a more advanced student/speaker, there are quite a few words that can't be found in it.
   
   If you're just starting out with Pashto, this is probably perfect for you. If you're more advanced then hard luck there is no other dictionary in Pashto in the market. This dictionary is used by students learning English in the University of Kabul.
   
   Gayan Chand compiled this dictionary in Waziristan he was an ethnic Kashmiri Pundit and a teacher at Amar Sing College Srinagar, before he lived in Waziristan and Kabul being a non native English speaker the dictionary can be quite quirky at times with many modern definitions missing.
   Nevertheless the dictionary has proved a valuable resource for language schools and as a ready reference for those who try and communicate with the Pashtoon people.
   As a bonus this dictionary has a few dozen very informative pages on Pashtoon culture and language



2. This book is not what it claims to be. It is a photoreproduction of Henry Walter Bellew's English-Pashto Pashto-English dictionary published in 1867. It is not a particularly good photoreproduction, by the way. Dr. Bellew's name is not mentioned anywhere in this publication. If it is "revised updated & expanded" any way it could only have been with the introduction -- THERE ARE NO WORDS MORE RECENT THAN 1867. Nothing about electricity, aircraft, communications, post-US Civil War Weaponry, medicine, technology -- NOTHING.
   
   Especially not the word "rip-off", which would be ideal for describing this publication.
   
   There are other Pashto dictionaries -- and if one wishes to get it for less that the $48.00 which I paid, one can get the exact same book for less -- with Dr. Bellew honestly identified as its author -- from Star Publications in New Delhi.
   
   I gave it one star because I didn't know how to give it a zero.



3. Firstly this is a great dictionary!! and it is very suitable for me. It also has been very useful for its cultural notes on Afghan manners and customs. The dictionary is an expanded work by Prof Gayan Chand based on the original lexicon word order of the late Major Henry Walter Bellew's dictionary. Gayan Chand has brought improvements in a number of ways to it amongst other things the cultural notes and the Introduction of new words and word order.
   
   The history of this dictionary is intresting as the udated version continues to be useful in a similiar situation to its original version by Major Bellew over a hundred years ago.
   
   Until the First Afghan War the East India Company had an overwhelming reputation for efficiency and good luck. The British were considered to be unconquerable and omnipotent. The Afghan War severely undermined this view. The retreat from Kabul in January 1842 and the annihilation of Elphinstone's Kabul garrison dealt a mortal blow to British prestige.
   
   The causes of the disaster are easily stated: the difficulties of campaigning in Afghanistan's inhospitable mountainous terrain with its extremes of weather, the turbulent politics of the country and its armed and refractory population and finally the failure of the British authorities to appoint senior officers capable of conducting the campaign competently and decisively.
   
   Last but not least was the lack of knowledge of the people their language and culture
   To remedy this the first dictionary on Pashto of which this is an improved version was commission by the British army's northern command based in Rawalpindi, and used extensively by British forces in their war against the Afghans.
   
   The successor to that dictionary is now this Gayan Chand dictionary which has now become the standard dictionary for British and American forces fighting the Taliban today.
   
   I find this dictionary very useful for my work, it is slightly old fashioned but nevertheless in the absence of anything better I will recommend it. It is definitely an improvement on the original dictionary of the late Major Bellew a copy of which I also own.

No comments about LUXE Bali (LUXE City Guides).

5 comments about Kite Strings of the Southern Cross: A Woman's Travel Odyssey (Footsteps (San Francisco, Calif.).).

1. I found the book fascinating because it actually painted a picture of the things Laurie saw and her feelings about them. I've read many travel books that sound just like the journals I keep on my trips - first we went here, then we went there.... No passion or true flavor of the place. This one was different. I felt like I was living the trip vicariously and savored every page of the book.
   
   The author was very gutsy to travel the way she did to such exotic places and I was delighted to be able to travel along with her.



2. This is the most beautiful and entrancing book that I have ever read. Gough's words are full of amazing unique imagery that takes you to another time and place where paradise exists and you can be a part of it. She offers life lessons and inspiration in the most endearing way that I have ever read. Even if you are not typically a fan of travel writing, you need to read this book. It flows like the most eloquent fiction but the truth of her stories will blow you away and make you see the world in a new way.



3. I was given this book and it travelled with me for a few months until I finally got around to picking it up, and after doing so I couldn't put it down. She was really able to put into words many things that I have felt on the road.
   Laurie Gough is able to really express emotions and experiences of the senses that one has whilst travelling. She brings to life many places from a remote island in Fiji to Germany to Canada. It's more then just a travelouge, it paints a picture of people and places.
   Gough also brought to life the immense stretch of characters that one meets while travelling, and how these people , no matter how eccentric or normal they are, shape your travels and shape who you are long after you've met them.
   This book is a must read for and one who is currently traveling , has traveled or wants to travel. It will remind you of why you travel and also inspire you to stop waiting for the right time and go now to find your own adventures and stories.



4. Not only a great travel book, but a book that i cant buy enough copies of for my friends!!



5. I was very happy with this book. The author takes you along on her adventure so you can feel like you, too, took the trip. Honest, entertaining, interesting. Enjoy!

5 comments about Across China.

1. This book is written from the viewpoint of an American with little knowledge of China. I think it is an entertaining book about new and unique experiences. It is not intended to be a deep study about China.

   I'm just finished the book (it's now 2003). I believe Peter's trip to China took place in 1984. I'm sure things have changed a great deal in the last 19 years!

   I would recommend this book.




2. This book is disappointingly adolescent. The writing is stale, especially given the imagination-stimulating possibilities when encountering a new culture, but its worst failing is the barely hidden--and quite possibly even written unawares--xenophobia. Much of the description is insulting--meant to be amusing, I suspect, but Jenkins comes across as a man who is determined to vaunt America and disparage Chinese history and culture. From the very beginning, still in the States, when he describes one of his "favorite waitresses" as having "a perm and wears tight pants", I squirmed. Did a teacher never help him distinguish between `telling detail' and pointless detail? More disturbing here, perhaps: is he unaware of the negative implications of this description? I wouldn't want to be any favorite of his. It's dated, yes--his never having met any "Orientals" (his description), say--but beyond this, the picture is flat, strained in its sentimental description, and the narrator comes across as self-absorbed and unsympathetic. For a far more comprehensive and thought-provoking picture of China in the 80s, and beautifully written, try Colin Thubron's, Behind the Wall.



3. this is an exciting and easy read. i couldn't put it down!



4. Have read most of Peter's books, his walks across America, his boat trip around the Gulf of Mexico, his adventures to Alaska and find this book to be in keeping with his personna as a traveling author. His writing style is a bit folksy and down to earth. In his books, you do feel like your traveling alongside him, meeting the people and experiencing the trip. Through the books, you come to know a lot about his life and family as well as wherever he is traveling. Certainly his books will not go down as a marvel of literary accomplishment, but I do enjoy simply sitting back seeing new places and experiences though the eyes of someone who has taken the initiative to travel places and write about it for us readers. All in all his books are good, comforting reads. And I'd recommend this and any of his books if you're looking for a story of one's travels to places we otherwise may never visit. Lastly, it's probably worth noting that China has radically changed since this book was written, so it's somewhat dated, yet looking past that, it's a glimpse into another place, another time.



5. I picked up this book at a book sale, and it wasn't worth the 50 cents I payed for it. but that's about it. It reads like the author is describing a story that someone else told him, and describing it badly. The writing is patronizing, assuming we don't know how to pronounce city names like "Lhasa", and explaining what a crevasse is. the characters are flat, and the adventure isn't exciting. This is an example of someone who got a book just because they did something that unusual, and maybe who they knew, not on their writing abilities. I would recommend that you do not read this book. Rather pick up Colin Thurbrons "Shadow of the silk Road" The pages he's in china paint an infinitely better picture of China this this book does.