No comments about Mongolia: Travels in the Untamed Land.

1 comments about The Lost Dynasty: Uncovering Sri Lanka's Secret Past.

1. First, I am from Sri Lanka. It was kind of shock to see it started with LTTE stuff and took some time to sink in that what the author tried to say. I think it was much nicer if the author started with a different kind of interduction/first chapter to capture the big picture of this book. I had a good understanding about the history of Sri Lanka but this book definitely fill some of the gaps in my knowledge. I gave 4 stars because of the introduction and first chapter but highly recommended.

No comments about The Great Wall of China: Photographs by Chen Changfen (Houston Museum of Fine Arts).

No comments about Insight Guides Smart Guide Hong Kong (Insight Guides Smart Guides).

1 comments about Tibet, Tibet.

1. I bought this book at the Rubin Museum of Art after enjoying an exhibition on Tibetan Art there. Boy! It blew me away! I love this book! The author writes beautifully...very direct, from the heart and extremely fact-based and balanced. I usually only read fiction but this book is better in that it is a haunting story that is actually true..ficion can't get better than that. I used to be so ignorant about Tibet...now I really feel the pain of the Tibetan people. Well done, Patrick French..this is a wonderful contribution to Tibet and literature.

No comments about Laos, 5th: Tread Your Own Path (Footprint - Travel Guides).

5 comments about Dragon Hunter: Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions.

1. Gallenkamp did a good job in bibliographic research, but please be careful when you read this book. Don't believe everything therein is true. I have noticed that there is a tremendous amount of inaccurate information included in text especially in accounts of Andrews' whaling trip to Japan (I am a native Japanese, so I know more about Japanese geography than him!) although most of the errors do not affect significantly the whole story of Andrews' life with a full of adventure.



2. This book tells the tale of Roy Chapman Andrews. He was an outdoors man, who talked his way into the American Museum of Natural History, and eventually becomes the director there. Andrews has the strong belief that the human race originated in Asia instead of the more common belief of Africa. Andrews is able to find backing to fund trips of Asia and Mongolia to find proof to back up his belief.
   
   Even though the writing is a little dry, I found the subject to be very interesting. The details of the expeditions, how they were funded, supplied and got to the sites were fascinating. Dealing with the different governments in Asia, at a time of revolution, was also of interest.
   
   I would have enjoyed more information into the science of the expeditions, but that may be a subject for a different book. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the age of exploration. It is not a light read, but worth the time.



3. Gallenkamp does a fine job of detailing Andrews explorations of Mongolia in search of the fossil record of a "missing link" in human evolution. Though failing to find this "missing link" the palentological discoveries he did make are still being poured over and examined today. The book serves and an excellent history of the Central Asiatic Expeditions but not as solid a job of being Andrew's biography...his personal life, feelings, ideas, and interactions are sidenotes as are his early and later years...Overall if you are interested in the discoveries he made and details of his expeditions then the book will fulfill its purpose, if you are looking for a more in depth study of Andrews this will leave you wanting...



4. I sincerly confess not having known anything about Roy Chapman Andrews before reading Gallenkamp's fascinating biography. However, this book not only condenses practically all the facts of this 1920 explorer and naturalist's life, but also presents an enlightening panorama of the mentality, the political and economical situation and the cultural drives that allowed the Central Asiatic Expeditions.
   Roy Chapman Andrews left quiet a few writings on all his feats, and the impression is that Gallenkamp has based his biography mostly on these, without examining thouroughly secondary fonts, such as coworkers, friends and relatives.
   As I have understood reading the book RCA was a controversial figure even in his times. He incarnated the typical brash, conceited, aggressive and self assured, and might we say "racist" (?) "Americano all'estero" (American abroad) that was widely accepted and admired in his country, but lay a little indigested on the stomach of the Nations that had to put up with him. However, he had a will of iron and harboured together with his mentor Osborn "a great dream", backed up by sound American dollars and the technology that consented the ground breaking Central Asiatic Expeditions. Looking for the "Missing Link" between the apes and man in Mongolia, he actually found many species of then unknown dinosaurs and primitive mammals and assured the Museum of Natural History the greatest collection in the world of these specimens.
   
   One of the strong points of this biography is the explanation of the technical characteristics of these expeditions. The revolutionary importance of the use of automobiles to explore the desert and how these had to be refurnished by caravans. Another very interesting aspect is the description of attitude of the American society of the 1920 toward scientific exploration and how it evolved during the Depression and after, together with the evolution of the situation in China and Mongolia.
   If one has the curiosity to read some of Owen Lattimore's books, written just ten years after (The Desert Road to Turkestan, High Tartary, etc) the political situation becomes increasingly clear.
   As has been justly underlined eventhough the book contains many beautiful photographs and drawings of dinosaurs, we do not learn much about zoology or the purely scientific aspects of Andrews discoveries.
   As a period piece and biography this book is truely excellent, but it does leave a few questions unanswered stimulating the reader's curiosity to look for more information.



5. The first book that I ever owned as a child growing up in Mississippi was Roy Chapman Andrews in the "Days of the Dinosaurs" a book about the terrible lizards for small children(looking at the copy today it is hopelessly out of date with Bakker's warm blooded "Jurrasic Park" creatures we know of now). I dreamed growing up of becoming a Laura Croft type adventurer traveling the vast sands of the Gobi to find the next new discovery. That Andrews may have been the model for Indiana Jones came as no surprise.
   
   This book takes an unflattering look at Chapman's life and paints him somewhat as a racist and a boor. That is really unfair as that is the culture of that time between the world wars when the world was safe for the Western male. Chapman's adventures in the service of the Museaum of Natural History do hold your interest and paint a picture of a remarkable PR man and entertainer on a par with someone like PT Barnum.
   
   His expedition to the Gobi did make many significant discoveries that advanced scientific knowledge of the age of reptiles the most important being the Protoceratops nest with Mother and Eggs.
   
   I found it to be a well written biography and I am again taken back to my childhood dreams of becoming a dinosaur discoverer.

1 comments about Barron's Travel Wise Japanese (Travel Phrase Books).

1. This book is very useful if you want to have an easy guide to japanesse. Going to japan,then bring this little guy along. It can help you when your stuck on asking someone(japnaesse) for directions or even for a date! I suggest this book!

5 comments about Culture Shock! Korea (Culture Shock! Guides).

1. This book was OK, but I wish that I had just spent my money on a good travel guide (Moon Handbook Guide to S. Korea by Robert Nilsen) because most of the information was superficial. Worth a look into if you are in a bookstore or library, but otherwise I would just save my money.



2. Excellent book on Korea. Gives details on what to expect and how to react. Many things that I did not know....
   VERY HELPFUL!!!



3. Very interesting book about the differences in Korean culture and how to fit in in a new culture. Some editing mistakes, but a good read.



4. This book makes me LOVE LIFE! Get it if you plan on going to Korea, or just find the ideals of other countries interesting.



5. I have a lot of Korean friends and I wanted to better understand them so my search for a more knowledge of their culture led me to this book. I was fascinated by it. However, since my copy of the book was last revised in 2000 I wondered if some of the material might be out of date. Some of it didn't seem to agree with the images shown in most Korean television soap operas and popular music shows I also watch. After finishing the book I decided to ask some of my Korean friends if the material I had questions about was indeed out of date. One such question was whether most of South Korea still has public restrooms shared by men and women at the same time. The book said women walk nonchalantly past the backs of men using the urinals on their way to use a stall with a door. Once inside a public restroom's bathroom stall there will often be no toilet, simply a hole in the tile floor over which to squat like I've often found in Paris and other regions of France.
   I asked several of my Korean friends and was surprised to learn that the book is perfectly accurate on both those facts. Other of my doubts included the almost universal adherence to Korean shaman fortunetellers (Mudands) and their advice (kuts and kosas). And the fact that most dining is done in near silence with everyone paying close attention to just eating and not talking. That's still very much the case according to my friends from South Korea. Heavy drinking is also a universal fact among Korean men. It's part of all social and business dealings.
   That said I found this book very, very helpful. It was more helpful than a couple of the travel guides I own that are more recent because it goes into depth about why things are done the way they are in modern Korea. People act differently and it often takes a lifetime to understand the proper ways Korea citizens treat each other and why. Business relationships are often permanent and based more on which grade school a person attended with his associates than skill at performing a certain job. Family, school and military connections are more important to business relationships than performance. Saving face is of major importance in Korea. Friendships are formal and a normal part of business and networking. Relationships between different social and business classes are very structured. One doesn't have to study much of the language to understand why the Korean word for "yes" sounds like "no" in most other languages and the method of saying "no" requires several phrases. Saying "no" in Korean is a major skill requiring much diplomacy and practice. We Americans would consider the way "no" is used in Korea as "beating around the bush" and avoiding answering the question.
   For any Westerner who hopes to understand modern day Korea this book is a good primer. Just watching Korean television doesn't give a true picture of the nation. The Korean Soap Operas go out of their way to show the most modern, most perfect image of a booming Modern Korea. Korean television's popular music shows give no hint of the standard of living and are every bit as slick as the same kind of shows shown in the USA. The plots of the soap operas still reflect the history and cultural ways of Korea. Reading this book greatly increased my ability to understand much of what I watch on Korean television and why some of the plots and humor seem so convoluted.
   Kipling said something to the effect that "East is east and west is West and Never Do The Two Meet." His advice is still right on the mark. You can take the Koreans out of Korea, but you can't take Korea out of the Koreans. Korea has a rich and fascinating history. It had invented and was using movable type to print more than two centuries before Guttenberg introduced his movable type printing press to the western world.

No comments about Hall of a Thousand Columns.