2 comments about Trekking in Ladakh, 3rd: India Trekking Guides (Trailblazer).

1. This is in fact the only detailed account, well illustrated, for a traveler to Ladakh (do you know where is it?), a small Buddhist-Islam country which still preserves many of the traditions already spoiled in Nepal & Sikkim.
   For a trekker, this is a precious vade mecum. For a learner, Charlie Loram is a most knowledgeable teacher on the subject.
   This book is worth your time and money.
   And, thank you Charlie for a superb book!



2. This is also a good guide book as is the Lonely Planet Guide to the Indian Himalayas. Both have very good information. Maps are better in LP.

4 comments about South Korea / Seoul Map by ITMB.

1. This map inexplicably only shows maybe 3/4 of Seoul. Plus, it is outdated. For example, the map still shows ChunGaeChun as an elevated road when the elevated road was demolished and a beautiful natural stream was put in its place 3 years ago as part of a massive Seoul beautification project. My guess is the map is at least 7 years old and maybe even 15 years or more. Given how fast Seoul is changing, this map is very antiquated.
   
   Areas north of Insadong and south of Dogokdong is almost completely missing. Only large streets are shown and important, albeit small, roads are almost completely missing.
   
   This map provides a good overview of Seoul. But I wouldn't use this to as a navigation tool.



2. I like this map. I have used others from the same publisher, so the format was very familar and easy to use. However, this map doesn't include greater Seoul. For instance, it doesn't have the entire subway systen on it's subway map. The subway stop that I want to use, and the part of "greater Seoul" that I will visit is not on this map. I will buy a second map.



3. I was excited when I received the South Korea/Seoul map, but none of the streets have names and none of the highways are numbered so it is no good if I want to drive somewhere.



4. I've got to agree with some of the other reviews here. Several-year-old freeways are entirely missing. City and site names are spelled using the older English spelling instead of the current system (adopted in 2000). Prominent cities are entirely missing. And there isn't a single highway or freeway identified with a number. This map is a sad joke.

2 comments about Zhao Shanghai China Travel Guide - 2008 (Zhao Cards).

1. The language barrier in China is greater than the Great Wall and Zhao cards is the solution. The authors seem to know Shanghai intimately, as the recommendations for food and places to see were all great. This efficient and well-suited travel guide is a must for Shanghai.



2. Traveling in China can be a daunting challenge, even for the most adventurous of travelers. The language itself is reason enough to think twice before picking China as the next destination. However, I must say that these little cards make things a lot easier. They are not your typical travel guide; they don't provide you with endless pages of information about accommodation, currency, weather, etc -information that once you get to the city, it's useless. These cards only give you what you need to move and be in Shanghai. The front of the cards helps you to get to places, the back provides you with useful information (in the sightseeing section they explain the history of each site, the food section is particularly cleaver as they write down the five signature dishes in Chinese and English for each restaurant, I didn't know Chinese cuisine so for me it was great!). I just wish I had known this before since I bought two other travel guides!

1 comments about Mud, Mirror and Thread: Folk Traditions of Rural India.

1. This book is well written and has tons of beautiful color photos of rural art from many parts of India. The authors have explained the philosophy of the art and have portrayed them in their true colors. What's interesting is that the art is a way of life for the village folks who practice it.
   Fabric embroidery & mirror art from Gujarat (Kutch and Saurashtra), Banjara embroidery of Rajasthan, Mud wall decorations of Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, Kolam patterns of Tamil Nadu and Terracotta art from all over India are well explained with beautiful color photos. Many of the photos show the artists at work.
   Particularly striking are information and photos of the giant Iyyanar temple terracotta horses of Tamil Nadu, which stand over 16 feet tall. This book is a must for art lovers.

5 comments about Insight City Guide Hong Kong: Macau & Guangzhou (Insight Guides).

1. Just got back from my trip to Hong Kong, Macau, and some areas of China. This guide was invaluable and perfect for my needs. The maps and highlights are great. The photos are colorful and plentiful. I chose this guide over the Lonely Planet because Lonely Planet seemed to have more listings, like hotels and restaurants. My hotel accommodations were already taken care of, so I didn't need that. The Insight Guide gives a good recitation of the history and the contemporary culture. I highly recommend it.



2. This book gives ou a nice overview of the region for visiting HK, Guangzhou and Macau.



3. I am traveling to Hong Kong this summer. This book was great and the pictures were wonderful, but I wish it would have had the top ten things like the Fromme guide. Like top ten places to visit; top ten gardens etc.



4. This travel book was very disappointing. The book is broken out by neighborhood but does a very poor job organizing the information, particularly if you don't want to follow their guide step-by-step. Directions were off and the restaurant information was way out-dated, which is a definite no-no for a foodie's paradise like Hong Kong. That said, if this is your first time to HK and you have no idea how or where to begin, this might prove handy. If you're looking to really explore the neighborhoods and learn about the culture, consider your options.



5. I used this on a trip to both Hong Kong and Macau with my adult son. It's ok for a basic guide, but it wasn't very helpful. I tossed it out when I checked out of the hotel.

No comments about Rajasthan, 3rd (Footprint - Travel Guides).

No comments about Taiwan & Taipei Map by ITMB.

4 comments about Lands of Charm and Cruelty: Travels in Southeast Asia.

1. I enjoyed the book especially the first chapter on Singapore. Other chapters does not seem to be as interesting as the first one.



2. Stan Sesser adds a great deal to the dialogue on S.E. Asian issues and experiences with this book. His first hand experiences and excellent research is evident in this well written and thought out book. What a shame it is out of print!



3. Sesser's book was extremely helpful to me while I was living in the Far EAst in the late 90's. His essay on Singapore - discussing "the fear that even the best-educated Singaporeans live under" in their own country, accorded very well with my own observations. This book makes a wonderful corrective to the memoirs of Singapore's leader, Harry Lee Kuan Yew, and a great companion to Christopher Lingle's Singapore's Authoritarin Capitalism, Ian Buruma's essay, "The Nanny State of Asia" (in his book, The Missionary and the Libertine) and Francis Seow's A Prisoner in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore (...).

   The other essays include a distressing one on the destruction of the rainforests of Borneo by Malaysian government officials in Sarawk - local officials use their five year appointments to loot the place, the fear of poverty in them overriding any environmental concerns, which (sadly, sadly) seemed a very western - ie, foreign - concern after reading this.

   The Burma chapter is perhaps the most sobering of all - here the whole sad history of Burma's ruthless, inept, corrupt post-independence rule is laid out for the reader; Burma was ironically far more prosperous under British rule, when it known as "the rice bowl of Asia" (ie, it exported rice to the region) than under so-called independance. How very sad. Sesser's book is very informative and will be of great interest to anyone planning to vist/live in the region, or simply visit from the armchair.




4. This is a fascinating book covering lands and peoples that get little notice in the West. Stan Sesser does not give us a touristy travelogue, but heavy-duty investigative reporting into the darker sides of these little known countries of Southeast Asia. His five long essays in this book cover Singapore, a bizarre construct of communist capitalism; Laos, a country that remains friendly and resilient even after a few centuries of being used violently as a pawn by larger empires; Cambodia, a land of strange politics where the genocidal Khmer Rouge have been welcomed as possible saviors into the modern regime; Burma, a potentially prosperous nation managed with horrific incompetence by paranoid and xenophobic hardliners; and finally Borneo (specifically the portion of that island controlled by Malaysia), which offers a chilling lesson in environmental devastation. It would have been nice to see similar coverage of Vietnam and Thailand, but there are only so many places Sesser can cover so strongly in one book. Sesser's main theme in his coverage is indeed charm vs. cruelty, as in these nations he has encountered some of the friendliest peoples and cultures in the world, which are being oppressed by the world's harshest regimes. While there have been many political developments since this book was written, especially in Cambodia, Sesser still offers many valuable lessons in the histories and social dynamics of these nations. Instead of a happy tourist diary of scenery and monuments, we get both the light and the dark of Southeast Asia in the most informative and enlightening ways.

5 comments about The Island of Seven Cities: Where the Chinese Settled When They Discovered America.

1. Easy and a delight to read, Paul Chaisson's The Island of Seven Cities both informed me of the early Chinese in North America and inspired me to read more. Having already read Gavin Menzies 1421 - The Year China Discovered the World and complimented with some background while I was in China on reading Bamber Gascoigne's The Dynasties of China, I can't help but concur the Chinese had every tool, skill and knowledge to have almost conqured the world. Had it not for the Mandarins taking control in the late 1400's and closing China to the world, we'd all be speaking Chinese! Paul Chaisson uncovered an historic miracle of a magnitude yet to recognized on a strategic island off the East coast of Canada. Yes, he'll be chastised by the "experts" as Menzies has, but in the immortal words of Winston Churchill about truth; "...there it is." Great reading, hard to put down, well researched with what must be 30 pages of superb Notes and Bibliography! A must read for anyone intrested in the TRUE story of world history. I'm impressed! BTW: My daughter's courses in World History at the University of Southern California made Chinese history of world discovery as per Menzies' book required reading.



2. This was a great follow-up to confirm what I had previously read in "1421 the Year the Chinese Disvovered America" His research was extensive and his tie in to 1421 was great.



3. One of Architect Paul Chiasson's motivation to writing THE ISLAND OF SEVEN CITIES: WHERE THE CHINESE SETTLED WHEN THEY DISCOVERED AMERICA was his life changing experience of facing mortality. Chiasson discovered he was HIV-positive. Although the book is not an autobiography of his experience, there is semi-autobiographical information that he shares with his readers, which inspired him to write the book, revisiting his birthplace of Nova Scotia and rediscovering his ancestral history closely linked to French explorer Samuel de Champlain. But the compelling aspect of his discovery is that upon learning of his illness, he hiked to the mountaintop on Cape Breton Island where past generations of his family had lived, and by accident, he came across ruins that may have dated back to the Ming dynasty. And with this discovery he formulated a hypothesis claiming that the Chinese may have landed in North America before European explorers.
   
   This books ties in with a previous book examining China's possible role and contribution to the exploration of the New World, 1421: THE YEAR CHINA DISCOVERED THE NEW WORLD by Gavin Menzies. Drawing from Menzies's discovery, Chiasson went on a two-year research expedition to finding more about the ruins and proving that they were settled by the Chinese. The Mi'kmaq, an indigenous people of the island, may have derived their culture from the Chinese, and in turn, helped French settlers to live and thrive on the island centuries later. But Chiasson's thought-provoking book is purely hypothesis, and extensive research by archaeologists and historians are still in order for his findings to be definite; if proven correct, this part of history adds another dimension to the understanding of world history.
   
   ISLAND OF SEVEN CITIES is a fascinating read. Chiasson offers insight to the many facets of how the exploration and discovery of the North American continent and its various settlements included a global community of different countries from the West and possibly may have included the East. For several historians this is skeptical history, but for curious minds wanting to understand the discovery of the New World from different perspectives, this is an interesting book.



4. As far as I'm concerned I'm convinced that Paul has the right idea! While we westerners thought the world was flat the Chinese were exploring and expanding their world daily. Real archealogy and anthropological investigations will undoubtedly prove his ideas to be true. His historical research appears to be impecably done. I'm glad to see he's still around to see what his book has wrought! I'm definitely a fan.



5. Fabled in Spanish lore, antiquity's seven cities of gold are reputed to have launched the conquistadores on their successful invasions of Mexico and Peru and their materially less successful excursions into the Southwestern (Coronado) and Southeastern (de Soto) United States. In fact, both Coronado and de Soto were reputed to have been in the Arkansas River valley, one on the upper end, the other on the Mississippi end, during the same summer. In other words, the search for these cities was intense, cost a fortune to finance and resulted in the earliest known European exploration of today's lower United States.
   
   Columbus was aware of the cities and depicted them on the legend of his first map, prior to his embarking on his first voyage. They had been long reported by many, all too many voyagers, for them not to be real, thus Spain's remarkable efforts to find them. Were they a focus of Columbus' first and subsequent voyages? No one is talking. But in all of the subsequent exploration of the New World by Russia, Spain, France, England, Portugal, and Holland, these cities, so frequently reported by Norse, Basque and Italian mariners, were never located. Like Atlantis, no one has ever found them.
   
   This book is a remarkable bit of history and archaeological sleuthing performed by the author, Paul Chiasson, a Montreal architect, who discovers a long lost ruin on Cape Breton Island, the land of his birth. It is the story of those ruins, how the author researched his findings and told his story in a manner that leaves the reader absolutely intrigued. Yes, the author concludes Cape Breton hosted the seven cities and that the ruins, in seven separate locations on the coast, are the real deal of antiquity. But there is more: The Cities were the result of a Chinese gold rush!
   
   Amazingly well done, excellently written and remarkably far reaching in its early civilization impact, one is left with the feeling that man has inhabited this planet in a technologically advanced way for a very long, long time. Of course, if you think the conclusion is simply poppycock, to bizarre to be given serious consideration, then you will just have spent some fun time reading about a forgotten place that exists whose explanation is still a mystery. Cape Breton Island and Oak Island are awfully close together. Both represent technology unavailable at the time when they were supposed to have been constructed. Hmmmm.......
   
   Talk about thinking outside the box!This is a terrific read that will make you think. Excellent, Mr. Chiasson, just excellent.

5 comments about A Field Guide to the Birds of China.

1. This field guide is a well done book introducing the birds of China to its readers. It is fairly standard as far as field guides goes in content. The book contains 128 color plates depicting the birds of China with the corresponding range maps opposite the plates. Next, the descriptions of the 1329 species are given. Herein lies the major problem with the book, the descriptions are not adjacent to the plates; however, had the book been arranged in this manner, the number of pages would have at least doubled and the book is already a bit cumbersome for use as a field guide at its present size.

   A couple of other bits of useful information in this book include a map detailing vegetation type and an introduction to the region. Also, a list of protected and endangered species is included. For researchers, a nice bibliography is also included. Whether you just want to look at birds from a country you never plan on going to, or if you intend to go birding in China, this book is for you.




2. This book is absolutely essential for any birder who plans to visit any of the regions covered in this guide. The plates are very good and the descriptions are detailed. This is probably the most up-to-date guide for the region. The taxonomy is based on Sibley and Monroe, and nearly all subspecies and their ranges are listed. There is even an edition in simplified Chinese available in China and Hong Kong. However, covering such a broad region has its drawbacks, and at least in Taiwan, I recommend that this book be used more as a reference than field guide. A bird's voice often varies across its range, and the status of a species in one location can be completely different in another. For example, the White-bellied Green Pigeon, described by the book as "very rare," is in fact common in Taiwan. The quality of the plates is sometimes inconsistent (e.g. the geese and swans on plate 7 look very small!). Also, errors I've noticed include where the range map does not correspond with the descriptions (e.g. Eurasian Jay, plate 67), the bird number on the plate does not correspond with that of the range map and descriptions (e.g. Varied Tit, plate 88), and some typos (e.g. Pygmy Wren Babbler subspecies, plate 105). Although Appendix 2 lists the species endemic to the region, it left out at least three species from Taiwan (Yellow Tit, Collared Bush Robin, and Taiwan Whistling Thrush). In general, this book is excellent and highly recommended, but I do hope a new edition will be published in the future that fixes the errors and include new discoveries made since publication (e.g. Chinese Crested Tern, Taiwan Bush Warbler).



3. A Field Guide to the Birds of China is a must for any traveler who wants to identify birds in China. De Schauensee's earlier Birds of China is not really a field guide although it provides useful background reading. A Field Guide to the Birds of Japan includes a lot of the species occurring in eastern China, and the Beijing area is included in most of the range maps, so if you don't have the MacKinnon-Phillips new guide, this is second best.

   All species of known regular occurrence somewhere in China are illustrated in excellent drawings by Karen Phillips, all but a few in full color. Colored range maps are on the page facing each of the 128 plates. The text for each species provides a detailed description, voice, distribution and status, habits (useful), and in some cases a note on taxonomy.

   I used this book for more than two weeks in China during October 2001 and confidently identified every bird I got a decent look at. (Regrettably, eastern China is not exactly overrun with exotic birds, but you can find some interesting species even in the cities.)

   The most noticeable problem with this book is its sheer bulk; at 256 pages of plates, 586 pages of text, and some front material, this monster tops out at well over 800 pages and won't fit in most fanny packs, not to mention pockets. So taking a utility knife with a new blade, I sliced the spine following the last plate and taped the last page to the spine, creating a book of front matter, 10 pages of introduction and all the plates and range maps--a tad over a third the thickness of the whole book. A few species are illustrated in black-and-white in the text, so I xeroxed those (with their black-and-white range maps) and pasted them below the range maps of appropriate plates. I left the text home.

   The book is not without minor errors, of course. For example, the range maps on plate 35 mistakenly call the Red Phalarope the Red-necked Phalarope, with the same error in the scientific name (although, curiously, the Chinese name appears to be correct). Both species are illustrated. On plate 56 the illustration of the Red-throated Loon is mistakenly marked with the species number of the Common Loon (which is also illustrated and correctly numbered on the same plate). On plate 72 the female Japanese Paradise-flycatcher is so marked but the symbol for the male is missing. Most users can figure out such slips.

   ...




4. I visit Taiwan at least once a year, and always make it a point to do as much birding as possible. The main problem I have faced in the past has been finding a good English language field guide. I have always used James Wan-Fu Chang's "Field Guide to the Birds of Taiwan" (ISBN-13: 978-0917056437), and Wu Sen-Hsiong's "A Field Guide to the Birds of Taiwan" (ISBN 957-9578-00-1). Both books are very good, and highly recommended. However, each has its drawbacks. The main one being that both are written in Chinese, although Chang's guide does have very brief descriptions of range, habitat and status in English. In addition, both books are a bit out-dated.
   
   The MacKinnon & Phillips guide addresses these drawbacks. For starters, it is written entirely in English. The paintings are generally of high quality, and differences between subspecies are indicated. Range maps are also shown on the page facing the paintings. The descriptions of many (but not all) species are fairly well detailed, and the ranges for subspecies is also described.
   
   The guide does have some minor problems, which are probably unavoidable. Because of the large geographical size of the area covered, and the number of species described (over 1300), the guide is quite bulky - and somewhat expensive. In addition, the descriptions are in the back of the guide, rather than on the page adjacent to the paintings, making it somewhat inconvenient to use. As I have alluded above, some of the species descriptions, particularly those of the Taiwan endemics, seemed to have been glossed over (perhaps to save space in an already sizable guide). And although most of the paintings are of high quality, not all were. Overall, I think they are slightly inferior to those of the Wu guide. That being said, no field guide is perfect. Putting a field guide together requires a lot of patience and a great deal of hard work. I, for one, really appreciate the dedication and effort of the authors.
   
   All in all, this is the best field guide to the birds of China available. I would highly recommend this guide.



5. We just completed a nine-day guided tour of the Tibetan plateau. Repeatedly, during this tour which allowed us to identify 165 species new to us, we attempted to use the subject bird guide, which by the way at $92 plus US is the most expensive guide we have EVER encountered anywhere. Repeatedly, we found the guide absolutely no help in either understanding the differentiation among various species or in providing visual representations and even rudamentary field marks. Nomenclature for some species was totally out of wack with locally/historically accepted nomenclature. This is one book that should be banded and burned. Start over, please, someone who really cares. The magnificant birds of this region deserve better.