5 comments about One Foot in Laos.

1. As someone who has spent a lot of time in Laos since 1993 and who knows most of the areas visited by the author, all I can say is that I'm not sure she was in Laos.

   Her opinionated style probably reflects how she related to people (locals and expats) in Laos, and it's no wonder she has such a biased view of the place. People were probably not levelling with her - or she wasn't listening.

   The Laos that I know, and particularly the expats whom she criticises, are not at all the way that I know them. The book isn't worth the trouble of opening the cover if you want to know about Laos. But if you want your prejudices reinforced then this is the book for you.




2. Murphy presents a candid portrait of Laos as it is today. Contrary to what the other reviewers have to say, she is a good observer and writes accurately. As a Lao, I can say that is true. The book is enjoyable.

   The only problem with Murphy's writing is her quaint outlook that bemoans even benign development. It seems she'd be happiest in a world without cars, television or money. Unfortunately she will not find that in Laos or anywhere else, though she may keep travelling and keep trying.




3. I just returned from a three week trip in Laos. Before I left I was given her book as something to read while gone.

   I felt disgusted and angry after reading her narrative of a country I grew to love over three weeks. As other reviewers have stated, her book was so full of unsubstantiated political rantings I had a hard time giving her any credibility as a source. It was almost impossible to enjoy her few cultural encounters and descriptions of the country because of the uneccessary commentary which accompanied it.

   Having been in Laos, I also noticed that many of the 'brave' and 'independent' things that she did were just plain stupid. Furthermore, although she constantly referred to her own cultural sensitivity and bemoaned the horrendous behavior of other travelers, I have to say that a good number of the things she did were in fact wrong and insensitive to Lao cultural norms.




4. Once I was able to get beyond Dervla Murphy's annoying bashing of the United States and the capitalist system, and her romanticizing of the noble savage, her travelogue provided, in the least, a good bench-mark of how rapidly Laos is changing. At best, her book was thought-provoking in that it made me question the benefits of development, and made me appreciate the resiliance of a nation that not too long ago was ravaged by war and continues to suffer from its effects. In addition, the book had rare moments of insite that conveyed the unique Laotian culture.

   Her anti-US sentiments were so ridiculous and pervasive that I had to attribute them to the rantings of a curmudgeony, old lady who had drunk one too many BeerLao.

   Having recently travelled through northern Laos, you could sense the change and growth brought on by tourism. The changes appear to be primarily physical. In contrast to the book the towns may look different, and have more restaurants, accomadations, and internet cafes, but the culture described by Dervla still appears to be in tact. I can not put in words, but I noticed and felt distinct, yet subtle differences between Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. At times, when she was not ranting about US imperialism and the negative effects of development, Dervla was able to convey this uniqueness.




5. The idea that this woman has somehow 'discovered' Laos in 1997 - some 22 years after its fall, is simply ludicrous. By the way, Laos has been open to those who care to enter it with an open heart and mind for some time.

   I wonder if she actually went to the places she talks about? What the US did there was horrible and some Yankees need to wake up to this. But her hatred is pervasive, you can feel it. I couldn't imagine going through life with such a cluster of inbuilt fear and loathing.

   Still, Laos is a great place to visit. Go the country and not the book.

4 comments about Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam.

1. Philip Jones Griffiths is among the unsung heroes of our time, photographing the otherwise untold, unsavory aspects of a mean-spirited war completely lacking in human decency. Agent Orange is masterfully conceived, researched, photographed and written in prose that at once is dark, beautiful poetry.



2. In September, 1976, just back from eight years helping homeless streetchildren in Viet Nam, I wrote an Op/Ed piece for the New York Times ( "Learning From the Vietnamese -- And Giving", 12/04/76) that concluded: "And I'm at a loss how to tell my own people that Vietnam's needs are our remedy - to say that what the Vietnamese people have to offer us - as they did me - is so great that for our own sake we must help them." I was attempting to make a connection between the spiritual strengths the people of Viet Nam had to offer us and the technological assistance we, in turn, could give them. Philip Jones Griffiths, in his book "Agent Orange, 'Collateral Damage' in Viet Nam" has made an even more compelling, if depressing, case for interdependency, i.e., because of the American military's chemical spraying in south VN during the war years there are now thousands of people in both the U.S. and Viet Nam who are dealing with deformities and death because of a ticking "time bomb" planted in Indochina decades ago. Griffiths, author of "VIETNAM, INC.", an award-winning photography book on America's longest war, has included here some unsparing images of humans beings brutally deformed by man's more fiendish dalliance with Weapons of Mass Destruction. Here is a "legacy" that must give all of us pause by a brilliant photographer's tireless effort to bring almost unbearable evidence to us of man's inhumanity to man. Like the Holocaust itself, the full impact of these atrocities took years to come to the fore, but "Agent Orange" makes a compelling case that two countries once at war remain linked in a tragic bond that will not soon go away. This is not an easy book to read or, should I say, to view, but I think we ignore it at our peril. Griffiths knows what of he "speaks", having spent years in Indochina and seen un-speakable carnage firsthand. Here he has placed the evidence before us, as well as a precious opportunity to understand where we have gone wrong and how we may become better human beings in the future. "Agent Orange, 'Collateral Damage'", it almost goes without saying, may be the ultimate brief on America's own WMDs. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------



3. For those already committed to voting for the so-called 'antiwar' candidate, I recommend putting this book in front of Sen. John Kerry and demanding to know what he will do as president to address American responsibility and pay reparations for the genocidal assault on the people of Vietnam. Such action will constitute a litmus test for this candidate, his "band of brothers" and future warriors about how the USA intends to solve the problem of terrorism. Will they acknowledge international law and prosecute the guilty parties including politicians, bureaucrats, executive military officers and defense contractors? Will they honor, finally, the Paris Accords and repair the ecocide brutally wrought upon the Vietnamese by their chemical weapons? Or will they continue to cover up a deliberate, malefic genocide by honoring war criminals like Kissinger and McNamara who now cries cinematic tears while his Pentagon successors plan the mass destruction of any nation that dares to oppose American hegemony?

   Philip Jones Griffiths's AGENT ORANGE, COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN VIETNAM is a complex, dense statement that can be viewed and read several ways. Foremost, it is unquestionably the greatest work of photojournalism ever published. I do not make this statement lightly or without professional judgement. For twenty-five years, I edited the work of distinguished photojournalists -- Capa, Richards, Salgado, Peress, and Nachtwey among many others. Comparable only to W. Eugene Smith's MINIMATA: LIFE -- SACRED AND PROFANE, a passionate chronicle of the devastating effects of post-WW II industrial pollution on a Japanese town, AGENT ORANGE surpasses all previous attempts to synthesize the medium of still photography with historical documentation. Griffiths's masterly images unselfconsciously insert readers into the scene of an historical crime and guide them through the evidence page by excruciating page as a means to elicit direct testimony from the perpetrators and their victims. With the possible exception of Erich Maria Remarque' s ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, no other monograph so successfully confronts citizens with the folly of leaders who commit atrocities in their name. The stares of genetically deformed children struggling to articulate humanity across the threshold of pain and disability give absolute lie to the facile excuses of national security used by politicians to conduct high tech assault-and-battery on unwitting, innocent populations. Then it was Vietnam, today Iraq and Afghanistan.

   Beginning with his eloquent book, VIETNAM INC. first published in 1971, Griffiths has pursued an unrelenting inquiry into the truth of violence and war. He reported from the Mekong Delta battlefront and also the brothels of Saigon. Returning years later, he earned the trust of farmers who had rebuilt their devastated villages with the detritus of war. Pushing his inquest further he located and photographed war orphans, now shunned as the miscegenated offspring of foreign invaders (DARK ODYSSEY, 1997). Infrequently supported by the mass media, Griffiths parlayed his skills as a commercial photographer to raise the cash necessary to return periodically to Southeast Asia, as if excavating its pitted landscape for some fragment of reason that might explain the macabre body counts and haunting trans-generational birth defects. Some photographers are celebrated for their commitments in documenting a family coming of age or the rise and fall of a nation. Journalism schools promote the virtues of in-depth or extended coverage (sometime a whole week!) while network and cable news personnel embrace the fame of sticking with a big story only to defer, in the final analysis, to the desire of corporate sponsors. By contrast Griffiths has the determination of a seasoned forensic scientist. Although no maverick, he has paid the price of banishment from the newspapers and magazines "of record" whose editors remain too frightened by management to commission or publish his work. Why would they want to remind subscribers of their own inaccuracies and slavish pandering to the official story?

   In this respect, AGENT ORANGE can also be read for its scholarship because it presents new historical research about the manufacture and deployment of chemical weapons during the Vietnam era. It has been almost twenty years since American courts acknowledged the gravity of dioxin poisoning in rulings on lawsuits filed by military veterans. Yet companies who supplied the military with these chemical defoliants continue to falsify experimental data on their products' potential for birth defects. Our government stands mute on the issue of "peace with honor" and refuses to contribute any meaningful economic assistance, nonetheless stipulated in the treaty with Hanoi. The war's apologists and neoliberal ideologues continue to deride Vietnam as a failed socialist experiment. Griffith's photographs and words rip their lies to shreds and dissolve their chauvinism in the cold truth of twisted limbs, hare lips, and hydrocehpalic fetuses preserved in formaldehyde. AGENT ORANGE is the black book of American infamy, its author has given citizens a priceless instrument to test their politicians sincerity and commitment to peace. Buy a copy and ask Kerry for a clear statement of conscience!




4. The other reviewers have done a great job of describing this book so I'll keep my review short. I was not prepared for this book. I'm not sure anyone can be prepared. Halfway through I started crying and had to put it away for awhile. Our country is capable of doing some wonderful things. We (and yes I mean we, because the actions of our leaders and military represent all of us) are also capable of doing some truly horrible things. This book shines a light on one of the horrible things we did in Vietnam.

1 comments about Passport Korea: Your Pocket Guide to Korean Business, Customs & Etiquette (Passport to the World) (Passport to the World).

1. This is a slim book with excellent information. Absolutely crucial for anyone doing business in Korea. If you're planning to visit Korea - and do plan to visit Korea, it's a great introduction to the culture and the people. Also it's well written and a fast read.

No comments about Fazal Sheikh: Moksha (International Human Rights).

5 comments about Culture Shock! Japan (Culture Shock Series).

1. I'm an American, and I spent a few months living in Japan on my own a few years ago. I'm going back for a month-long trip soon. I picked up this book, thinking it would be helpful. Well, it does have some helpful information that you don't get from the usual Japan guides (such as the difference between uchi and soto), which is why I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 star. My complaint is that the author (P. Sean Bramble) doesn't seem to like Japan very much. The book is extremely negative about the Japanese. Yes, every culture has some downsides and Japan is no exception, but I found most of the book to be focused on the negative with very little written on the positive. I didn't realize it until I was 75% through the book and thought, "Why am I going to this awful place again?" Then it hit me, what a downer this book has been! I flipped back through what I had read and was surprised to see how much the author focused solely on negative aspects of Japan. So the problem is that I don't think he presents a realistic view of Japan and the Japanese culture - by overemphasizing the negative, he doesn't present a balanced view. For example, after you read the health care section (which says doctors suck and pharmacists are a joke and the dentists are awful), you would think Japan would be the worst place in the world for health care. That's simply not true - Japanese health care is excellent despite its flaws. Perhaps he was trying to injecting a little reality into the normally too-sunny descriptions of Japanese culture, but he goes too far the other way and in the process loses his ability to describe Japan accurately. I also question his ability to appreciate the nuances and beauty of Japanese culture -- this quote tells it all: "When people ask me to explain the real reason I've stayed here all these years, I shrug, scratch my head, and say 'Beer.'"



2. This *is* in reference to the P. Sean Bramble version. It's awful. I don't know why they would hire someone so disdainful to write a book about another culture. I find myself skimming this book just to find one comment that DOESN'T bash the Japanese. I read this book because I was excited to move to Japan and I think I am going to stop reading it because it is having the complete opposite affect on me. The author finds the need to commment endlessley on his opinions on Japan, which are 99% negative. I am reading the entertianment section now where he drones on about how much he hates Anime (um, I think most of the population disagrees with you there!) and how stupid Japanese TV shows are (as if American news is not as biased and gossipy as Japanese). Seriously, don't buy this book unless you want to be talked out of going to Japan!



3. Having known Sean Bramble since 1989, when he got me hooked on Strat-o-Matic Baseball over the July 4 weekend as my co-worker for a newspaper in Maryland, I can safely say that anyone who thinks Sean does not like Japan, or the Japanese, is dead wrong.
   
   Sean has a very acerbic wit, and most of what he says and writes is tongue-in-cheek. I also point you to his Japanese WIFE, daughter and son, whom I refer to as Mini-Gaijin-Me, as evidence that he most likely doesn't hate the Japanese. Sean is a lifelong Monty Python fan, just like myself, and his humor reminds me of it at some times. And yes, some of the things one sees in Japan are laughable by American standards (and vice versa, like our inability to work together when times get tough, at least since, say, 1945).
   
   If he didn't like living there or interacting with the people of Japan, I don't think he'd have stayed there for 15 years. Just a guess.
   
   The book (since this is a book review, after all) is well-written, typical of the way Sean describes things -- with a laugh waiting around every corner -- and covers a great variety of things. In having the chance to speak with him over the Christmas break about his work on it, I see just how much time he has devoted to explaining and describing the experience of a roundeyed galoot in the Land of the Rising Sun.
   
   It's worth the time and money. Of course, having an autographed copy might make me a tad biased, but if this book stunk, I'd certainly tell you so. It's 240 or so pages of interesting and unseful information on what it's like to live in Japan as a westerner. While geared toward the British by its verbiage, it's still clear, understandable, and, as I've said, a good read. I finished it in two just-before-bed sessions, and was a real page-turner. Birnbaum sucks. Go Bramble!
   
   PS - A note to Sean: I *WILL* bat Pee Wee Reese third, whether you like it or not. Nyaah!!



4. I ordered several books for my grand daughter who was moving to Okinawa. She said that they were very helpful and made the transition easier.



5. I've been living in Japan for 5 years now and just few weeks ago I came across this book. I finished reading it and I must say it's pretty entertaining for somebody who knows what the author is talking about and most of it is very much true. As I've been both studying and working in Japan, had many encounters with Japanese people (business, private) I think the book describes the reality very well. It's the reality you'll notice not after 3weeks holiday here, neither after 1year stay, but after few years and most of all understanding the language, too.
   It's important to remember that Japanese tend to behave differently to tourists, people who come here for few months and people who come here for several years or forever. And they behave differently to somebody speaking English and somebody speaking Japanese.
   I think the book is best for people who want to stay here longer and for businessmen.
   the only shortcoming of the book - could be deeper explanation given to the behavior described, why is it like that, what historical or cultural reasons are there for the behavior in question

3 comments about Best Of Kansai: Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe.

1. Pithy, funnily written, refreshing change from staid travel books. No good for Nara, but great for Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe. I lived in the area for eight years and still I didn't know most of the places mentioned.



2. This was very helpful to us in our recent trip to Kansai/Kyoto/Osaka. No good for Nara, but plenty of other helpful things.



3. Lacking a chapter on where to stay, but naming a good local lawyer, this is more of a reference for residents, than it is a guide for tourists.

5 comments about Lonely Planet Philippines (6th ed).

1. LP Philippines contains very informative data for travellers. But what it lacks poorly in is the author's opinion for the places which would help the traveller in deciding how to map out the itinerary.



2. Jans Peters wrote a very informative book published in 1993. Since then, two editions have been released with no changes in the sections I have first hand knowledge of. (southern Cebu) A hotel that went out of buisness in 1993 is still reccommended and the many places that have opened up since then have not been added. It is obvious that since the death of Jans no one at lonely planet has bothered to update this(formerly) excellent guidebook. What a shame Lonely Planet keeps republishing it without updates.



3. The Lonely Planet series is excellent and you can never go too wrong with it. Unfortunately, the Phillippines guide book written by Jens Peters is seriously out of date. This book was published in 1997 when the political and economic situation in the Phillippines were radically different. Since the Asian economic crisis, the Piso is now worth half as much as it was in 1997 but the unsuspecting reader will not know this. The political situation is such places as Mindinao has also deteriated considerably and poses a danger to tourists.

   Peters provides this book with a wealth of information and it certainly isn't his fault that Lonely Planet has lapsed in updating it. I advise travelers to verify the information in this book with friends and sources on the Internet. I also hope that LP updates this book as soon as possible.




4. As always, Lonely Planet provides excellent and thorough travel information and travel tips. But all such information is extremely time-sensitive. With this guide published in 1997, which contains advice dating back to 1996 or so, we are far out of date ! Advice is great and complete, but much of it is out-dated. The Philippines have changed a lot in the last four years. Prices quoted in the guide make no sense any more. Historical and political information also need a great deal of revision. All in all, on this occasion you may be better off getting one of the other guides (until - of course - LP publish a newer edition of this one).



5. lotsa interesting places jens has visited........even met some of the people that contributed info. on far off treks.....i think a guide book would be a great help to new travellers.!..

3 comments about Dream-of-Jade: The Emperor's Cat.

1. Dream-of-Jade is a fabulous and fantastic story that emphasizes kindness, generosity, diplomacy, and common sense. The setting is beautiful, the characters are delightful, and nestled throughout the stories are bits of humor, pieces of irony, and the occasional new vocabulary word. Mr. Alexander's book is smart and charming, and as good a read for adults as it is for children. As an added bonus, the artwork, while more impressionistic than many children's books, adds to the flavor of the story quite well, providing a detailed enough view of events that one can see them while not detracting from the reader's eager imaginings.



2. Come laugh with me and allow an Imperial Feline to draw back the veil of Time that obscures Imperishable Truths. You doubtless know Lloyd Alexander as a prolific writer & author of medieval fantasies. In "Dream-of-Jade" his wonder-filled stories tell us about ancient China and Emperor Kwan-Yu. "Jade" is the cat who stole his affections.
   
   The author dedicated his book to "my dear cats who told me these tales." Fables can be enjoyed 'time and again' - - these were first published in CRICKET magazine in 1976. We learn how historical events were clarified by the wisdom of "Jade": how she cured the emperor, wrote the Law, and most importantly made the emperor laugh. Her beautiful green eyes & white fur is realistically portrayed through the artistry of D. Brent Burkett. He, as well as the cat, get in a few 'swipes' at pompous know-it-all bureaucrats. Some of the tongue-in-cheek humor may be lost on the youngest listeners but they will love the highly stylized speech with "important" words, and the rhythm of complicated 'titles' - such as this on page 36: "the Glittering Repository of Highly Valuable Objects."
   
   If we listen attentively as any cat lover should, we will realize there are often lessons for adults to be found in children's picture books. Reviewer mcHAIKU suggests that you allow yourself to be hypnotized by "Dream-of-Jade."



3. This book is actually several stories about the Dream-of-Jade Cat and the Emperor. There are beautiful illustrations and the stories good, this book is rated for ages 9 - 12 and I agree.
   
   The stories are:
   How Dream of Jade Looked at the Emperor
   How the Dream-of-Jade Cured the Emperor
   How the Dream-of-Jade Made the Emperor Laugh
   How the Dream-of-Jade Chose a Gift
   How Dream-of-Jade Wrote the Law

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 Love Mumbai.

1. Love Mumbai is a must have if you're traveling to Mumbai.
   I take it everywhere I go.
   Brilliantly researched, the book is very easy to use and is a fun read.
   Whether you're in the city for a couple of days or a few weeks it's the book to buy.
   Go from tourist to local in a matter of pages.
   It's also beautifully packaged, so makes a great gift for anyone traveling to Mumbai.