4 comments about Struggling in the US? Move to China!.

1. This is an informative and entertaining first-hand account of the author's move to China. I found the story interesting and enjoyable to read. While some parts may not be politically correct, I agree with one of the main premises of the book - that for some people trying to build a career or life in the U.S., there may be many opportunities and experiences to be found in China (whether professional, cultural, personal or otherwise). The author felt dissatisfied with his life, and may a bold decision to change it. It's encouraging to read about his story and the challenges and rewards he encountered. Along the way, the author provides a lot of his insight and information about China, including food, holidays, cost of living, making friends, and learning Chinese.



2. If you want a good real-world book that'll also entertain you, then get this. I stayed up till 3 o'clock in the morning reading my copy the day I got it.
   I'd been living in China longer than the author when he wrote this, but the book helped me discover that I'd overlooked alot of obvious opportunities and good times. Whether you're an expert in Chinese ways or have no interest in China, I would still recommend this book. Williams has a very unique perspective, so everybody can learn something from his experiences. It is as entertaining as it is informative, reading like a good novel, and then there's the added bonus of learning useful information.
   This book could be enjoyed by just about anyone. Williams is like a modern Indiana Jones and and also happens to be a fine writer. I have nothing negative to say. Just read it.
   
   Garth K. USA-China



3. May 2008, was my first visit to China. Read the book June 2008. Wrong, I did it backwards. Now as I read this great book I realize all the funny things that happened was actually me not knowing the customs. I'm lucky I did smile all the time at everyone, as he recommended, as I could see or feel them become friendlier when they saw it. I didn't realize the problems I caused by leaving a restraunt with the chop sticks sticking up from the rice bowl, My Chinese friend ran back and took them down, Now I understand why. Great Book, Great reviews on Beijing and Shanghi. I will re-read before I go again to this great country. Good writer, well written and funny. Hard to put it down. Good job!



4. This might be the most honest and simultaneously most unreflective book I have read about life in China. It is the author's story of coming to China in March of 2006 with little money in his pocket and a failed life as an actor in LA, and how, within a year, he spoke `fluent' Chinese, had plenty of money and women and, well, a great material life. He explains how great life in `China' is (he actually only speaks of Beijing): cops are friendly, streets are safe, all Chinese are nice and warm, there are no taxes, and everyone apparently loves him. He gushes over making 18,000 RMB a month through a combination of being a part-time restaurant host, ESL teacher, sometime actor, and white office prop, and how he can live on 9,000 a month, which leaves him $1,200 a month in savings to buy a home and a car. What else? Other foreigners are rude and mean and pushy and act superior to Chinese, while he gets along with everyone. He lives in Wudaokou with most of the other foreigners, dances at the Sanlitun clubs, and has a great time trying to score Han girls. Though he assures his readers that he magically `knows' China, he does not appear to have a clue that having four different girl friends in a year will not make him cool in the eyes of Chinese people, especially guys.
   
   As stupid as this book is, it is also profoundly accurate. If at one time `failed in London, try Hong Kong' was the mantra for Englishmen, while Americans gravitated to first Japan and Korea and later Taiwan, China today, or more accurately Beijing and Shanghai, are the promised lands for a new generation of white men who for various reasons have failed in their own societies. They of course do not think they have failed, but instead that society has failed them. Urban life in China is cheap, white guys, no matter how ugly or obnoxious they may be, can have passive and younger women, and the cops and authorities do not generally interrupt the party. So, in regard to foreigners - who are overwhelmingly male in a place like Beijing - Williams' account is more or less accurate. Cops do not bother them, some Han girls will sleep with them, most Chinese people will never speak critically to their faces, and life is, compared to North America, very cheap. The fundamental fact that life in `China' is clearly not a paradise for most Chinese doesn't really matter to the author. Then again, this is how colonialism has worked for centuries.
   
   If only the title were, `Failed in America, try China', then Williams would be spot on. The United States does not just export its crappy beer these days (lan dai, AKA Pabst Blue Ribbon, remains in business in China for some mysterious reason), but also its second-rate citizens.
   
   Oh, I know in advance that many people will complain how mean this review is. Whatever; as a Chinese guy in Beijing said to me, "the book sounds like something from the `Arabian Knights'".

5 comments about Frommer's Beijing.

1. I bought this guide along with a few others for an upcoming trip. I found it to be informative and up-to-date. They give you honest opinions, steering you clear of the tourist traps, and telling you what not to miss. They list restaurants for every budget, and give a few suggestions for day trips out of Beijing, as well as good walking tours of the city. If you go, this is a nice guide to take along.



2. Because Beijing is rapidly changing, it will be hard for this book to maintain total accuracy with the city. However, I found this book extremely useful in getting around Beijing. My personal favorite section is the "Beijing Strolls". I was only able to complete two of the strolls, and they were both well worth it.



3. Right now I am in Beijing with a group from my school. Everybody brought guides, mostly by Frommer's or Lonely Planet. So far I've found that Lonely Planet's guidebook has more accurate locations, prices and recommendations of restaurants and sites than Frommer's, and it is easier to use. Frommer's is an OK guide for extensive descriptions and walking tours, but getting the Lonely planet version will make getting around Beijing and a lot easier and hassle-free.



4. I spent two weeks in Beijing and took Fodors, Lonely Planet and this book. This book was the most helpful and informative by far. In a country where few speak English, Frommer's tells you step by step how to make the most of the sights. For example, Frommer's is the only book that directs you to the audio tape rental at the Forbidden city. You can't find it without the guidebook and without the audio tape you are lost among one of the nations most prized and awe inspiring treasures.

   In addidtion to the great maps and guides of the main attractions, I particularly enjoyed the Beiging Strolls section which led me to the best shopping, parks and my favorite find...the antique street called Liulichang.

   Get it, go and conquor!




5. I found this book to be extremely helpful during my travel in Beijing. Loved the section on Beijing Strolls! The maps are excellent and the historical/cultural vignettes were entertaining as well as informative. I liked this book better than Lonely Planet.

2 comments about Tibet: The Secret Continent.

1. Another book by Peissel. This one, much to my syrprise, is atually quite good. Various aspects are presented in self contained chapters. It is also telling for what it doesn't say. For istance, Peissel writes he's been trekking Tibet for the last 40 years. I believe him, but where are his personal experiences in this book? Also he (almost)glosses over the Chinese invasion and the horrors that followed. I guess he needs a visa to visit Tibet in the future... Nonetheless, this is a wonderful book. Great photos and a succinct description oth the country. Well worth the time and money.



2. This book differentiates itself from others that I've seen and read about Tibet. If your looking for indepth political comentary on the Chinese-Tibetan struggle you won't find too much here. The focus of this book is more about giving you the reader a sense of the people, the place, and the history behind it.
   
   The book, though never going into vast detail, does a good job of presenting many aspects of Tibetan life and culture. It ranges from marriage customs to plateau animal and plant life. It brings together the detail and reliability of the scholar with the varied interests of the traveler. The other reviewer has remarked on the lack of personal stories. While I could see how here and there it might add something to this book, if that's what you're looking for why not go purchase a traveler's account? I personally perfer something a little more systematic and less prone to misinformation.
   
   Where this book really sets itself apart is in the respresentation of more outlying parts of the Tibetan kingdom, such as Ladakh, Guge, and Mustang. It is interesting to see how their interaction with other peoples has created physical and cultural differences. (I showed some of the pictures of these people to a Tibetan friend and he just said, "that is not Tibetan", lol).
   
   Lastly, but not leastly, there are beautiful pictures in this book. BEAUTIFUL! They are diverse, covering people, landscape, buildings, and some animals too. They are clear and bright, and alone merit the purchase of this book.

No comments about Fourteen Months in Canton.

4 comments about The Siege of Shangri-La: The Quest for Tibet's Sacred Hidden Paradise.

1. McRae recreates the journeys of several adventurers seeking an undiscovered waterfall in Tibet. Old notebooks, rumors, sacred writings, and guides from remote villages lure these explorers into an exquisite landscape of dense rhododendrons and ferns, steep rock canyons, and snowy peaks, all framing an elusive river that became impossible to map. The physical challenge is overwhelming, sometimes leading to despair and even death. Rainstorms, clouds of insects, waist-deep mud, impassable vegetation, leeches, steep and slippery rock walls, and even a tribe of women known to poison visitors, all demand constant mindfulness. A chance meeting with a Lama, the sudden appearance of a rainbow, the discovery of refuge in a hidden temple, a gift of food and the guidance from a native are intermittent rewards for the constant struggle. 

   Motives for the search were diverse, with some seeking ego-less spiritual enlightenment, while others lusted for recognition and glory.

   McRae brings to life a world totally foreign to me in engaging prose, full of facts and well-researched details. I appreciate glimpsing the exotic, strange land McRae presents in his fascinating account of travels into this magical place.




2. This is not just a book about exploring remote places, but the spirituality of exploration itself. The Tsangpo River's gorge through the Himalayas in southern Tibet was probably the last place on Earth to be explored and mapped. This was not completed, at least by Westerners, until 1998. This is due to the area's extreme remoteness and isolation, and its impossible terrain. Add to that the West's not entirely accurate glorification of Tibetan geography and culture. Here McRae covers both the Western explorers who tried to "conquer" the gorge, and the native attitudes toward surrendering to it. "Classical" explorers made many attempts until the 1950's when China "liberated" Tibet and closed it off, followed by extreme sports adventurers in the 1990's. Also in the 90's, two expatriates named Ian Baker and Hamid Sardar became adepts at Buddhist/Tibetan spirituality and explored the gorge from a completely different standpoint - that of a pilgrimage to Tibet's spiritual centers. Theirs is the most interesting story of the book, as the Tibetans believe that any landscape can only be truly discovered if one surrenders to it (the Eastern way) rather than trying to conquer it (the Western way). Sadly, all the hubbub in the pro-conquest Western press of recent years will probably ruin the gorge's extreme beauty and isolation. But with this book's great coverage of the cultural and spiritual dimensions of Tibetan exploration, we know that this paradise will continue to confound conquerors but offer rich rewards for surrenderers. [~doomsdayer520~]



3. I am doing research for an upcoming trip to Shangri-la region, and this is the first English book I read on the subject. It did not offer much information on anything other than some very limited history of the exploration in the Tsangpo River Gorge region. Since the names of places used in the book is different from those used in another Chinese book I read before, I had hard time cross-referencing and squeezing any useful information out of this book at all. Book reads like a C+ to B- college term paper on the subject.



4. Sets the scene of a beautiful but forbidding region: jungles, glaciers, leeches, rainbows, frequent rearrangement by earthquake... discusses the meaning of exploration and discovery, of regions with indigenous populations. More respectful of nature, culture and spirituality than the brash kayakers who visited and published, but not as deep as - a useful pre-read to -
   The Heart of the World: A Journey to Tibet's Lost Paradise by Ian Baker.

5 comments about Fearless on Everest: The Quest for Sandy Irvine.

1. Julie Summers sensitive telling of the story of Sandy Irvine is not only a great read, but is written with intelligence, grace and wit. Irvine's personality looms large in the book, and the reader is easily captivated by his infectious personality. Explorer, lover, adventurer, journalist -- one can easily imagine Summer's Irvine on the silver sceen, portrayed by Harrison Ford or Mel Gibson. This wonderful book will be enjoyed by climbers, mountaineers, armchair explorers and laypeople alike. A real tour de force, the only question that arises after reading is: who is going to option it, and when is the movie coming out?



2. Fearless On Everest: The Quest For Sandy Irvine is an intensely personal, candid, and informative account of the life of a young man who died at the age of 22 while on an expedition to climb Mt. Everest. Written with a narrative smoothness that completely engages the reader's attention, biographer and Irvine family member Julie Summers includes newly discovered letters and photographs and specifically addresses a long-debated question in mountaineering circles: Why did George Leigh Mallory choose the young, less-experienced Andrew Irvine as his partner on so hazardous an enterprise? Also very highly recommended for mountaineering enthusiasts are three related titles from Mountaineers Books addresses the doomed Mallory-Irvine expedition: Ghosts Of Everest: The Search For Mallory & Irvine (699-5, $.....); The Mystery Of Mallory & Irvine: Fully Revised Edition (726-6, $.....); The Wildest Dream: The Biography Of George Mallory (741-X, $......).



3. This is a very well-written and researched book. It provides an introspective and analytical look into the man of mystery on the expedition...Sandy Irvine. The photos, family anecdotes, and treasure trove of memorabilia recently discovered provided a full and satisfying read. You can't know all about the 1924 expedition until you know about what made Sandy Irvine tick.



4. I'm afraid I have to disagree with other reviewers of this book. The writing is often awkward and grammatically challenged (to use a current euphemism). And Sandy Irvine comes across as a rather ordinary young man, self centered, good at sports, and good with his hands, but lacking in any sort of intellectual sophistication. It was this very sophisitcation and intellectualism that made Mallory the interesting figure he remains. Had Mallory been a mere hearty, he would have far less interesting. In contrast to Mallory, Irvine strikes one as eactly what this biography tries to convince one he was not, i.e., a follower who had little idea of what Mallory was leading him into.

   Because of Irvine's commoness and the bad writing (Where oh where was an editor!?), this is hardly worth the time, and certainly not worth the money.




5. Frequently overshadowed by his mentor and climbing partner, George Mallory, Sandy Irvine is long overdue a biography worthy of his accomplishments. I can understand the frustration that people have with encountering someone not driven by ego or the incessant need to belittle others. In that respect perhaps Sandy is a bit too normal by modern standards and can be accused of being a little too nice. Nonetheless in his short life he still managed to accomplish some very great things and this book does a wonderful job of highlighting those moments. It is not perhaps all one could hope for in a study of the 1924 Everest Expedition but then no other book has set a suitably high standard to be considered authoritative. As a collection of data which many overlook this has to be considered a must read for the Everest fanatic.

No comments about Lost China: The Photographs of Leone Nani.

3 comments about Yangtze Remembered: The River Beneath the Lake.

1. This amazing book by Linda Butler is a beautiful and heartbreaking look at the Three Gorges Dam project in China and the changing landscape because of it. The images are incredible and the text is haunting. The photographs are wonderfully reproduced and she has a great eye for capturing the subtle silence and the small nuances of the people and the landscape. Her vivid images document a changing China in a very intimate way. This text is a true photographic and historical treat!



2. As a person with a long-standing involvement in both photography and the professional evaluation of major energy projects in many countries (including hydro) I really appreciated the true value of this wonderful book.
   
   To begin with, many not involved in this kind of work may not appreciate how politically sensitive it is. It took a great deal of courage and savvy for Ms. Butler to create the relationships and the entrees needed to make and exit the country with all those wonderful photographs and interview materials. This is no small feat in its own right. It speaks highly of her and also says alot about the growing openness of China.
   
   Turning to the content, the quality of the photographs - in purely photographic terms - is superb. Lest we forget the power of black and white and the time-tested virtues of powerful composition, lighting and choice of subject matter, this is the place to recall them. Most of these pictures are not merely records - they are good photographs.
   
   The captions and the text are very well done. This book is not a one-sided tirade against dam development. Rather, it is a sensitive, obviously well-informed and balanced perspective on the costs and benefits of these undertakings - both at an individual and more aggregate societal level. It is very clear from this book that there are winners and losers, progress and losses, and the actual long-term net result remains to play-out. This is reality.
   
   There are important lessons of experience to be learned from this text. Let us not forget the scale of this enterprise. China committed something like six billions dollars to resettlement alone for over one million affected people. That a certain percentage of this money got misdirected through corruption and poor implementation is not surprising, and to the Chinese themselves - not acceptable - people are going to jail for their misdeeds. Ms. Butler faces these issues head-on and in a balanced manner. It becomes clear from reading this text that no matter how well-designed a project may be, the quality of the implementation arrangements and the structures in place for assuring their proper functioning are truly critical.
   
   Finally, returning to the book as a production in its own right, the quality of the layout and printing are superb. Very highly recommended.



3. Subtle, beautiful, honest glimpse of the most massive public energy project ever undertaken. Linda Butler captures the life and death of the people, commnunities, and cities that were sacrificed for this energy project.
   
   If America is "addicted to oil" then China is addicted to electricity. In the past 3 years China has approved and is building more new coal fired power plants than the entire United States fleet. You would think that this massive hydroelectric project at Three Gorges Dam would appease China's hunger for new energy, but the reality is it's just a drop in the bucket.
   
   This book does a wonderful job reflecting on what we loose when society progresses.

No comments about Voyage de la Grèce: Tome 5.

No comments about China In The Post-utopian Age.