5 comments about Tibet Through the Red Box: Through The Red Box (Caldecott Honor Book).

1. I first encountered this book in my elementary school library and have since looked it up again. At the time it struck me as magical and wonderfully illustrated, and now (years later) I can appreciate its historical signifigance as well as its obvious visual appeal



2. I once had the great good fortune of seeing Peter Sis speak before a large audience of New York City Public Librarians. Charming, blessed with an uncommon eloquence, and funny as well Sis spoke of his work over the last few decades. From this speech I learned that Sis designed the poster for the movie of "Amadeus", that he was originally from Prague, and that one of his best works was something called, "Tibet: Through the Red Box". I was intrigued, but months passed and I filed away "Tibet" into my To-Be-Read pile of picture books. It was only with my steady reading of every single Caldecott Honor (of which "Tibet" won one in 1999) that I at last came to the book itself. I expected a title that was some sort of early-reader-this-is-what-Tibet-is kind of a thing. I had apparently forgotten that this was the man who brought us that remarkable Charles Darwin biography, "Tree of Life". "Tibet: Through the Red Box" is no mere picture book. It's a personal history and unreliable memory combined into the ultimate tribute to the author's father.
   
   In 1994 Peter Sis received a note from his father that said merely, "The Red Box is now yours". Rushing home, Sis found the box in question and opened it to reveal a diary kept by his father of his time in Tibet in the mid-1950s. Sis the elder was a documentary filmmaker, and as such he was sent by the army film unit to China to make and teach filmmaking. The job was supposed to be about the Chinese highway currently being built in the Himalayas that would open Tibet up to the rest of the world. While there, Sis was separated from his project and explored the world of Tibet deeper than (he suspected) any Czech citizen before him. In this book, Peter Sis takes sections from this diary and illustrates them with his signature dotty style. Interspersed with his father's written recollections, Peter includes his own childhood memories of the fantastical elements of the trip his father would tell him. There were Yetis that cared for him while sick, and lakes filled with fish that had human faces. The final meeting with the Boy-God-King, the Dali Lama himself, is expressed with riveting finesse.
   
   Back we go to that old question that comes up whenever a picture book doesn't fall strictly into a set category: Is it a book for adults or for kids? Which is to say, will kids want to read it, or get anything out of it if they do? And the answer, of course, isn't all that simple. As many of the reviews for this book already state, there are multiple uses for this title. Readers vary from reluctant teens to awe-struck ten-year-olds. What I've always loved about Sis's work is his ability to write something meaningful for people of all ages. So on the one hand you have a fun story about a father seeing fantastical things (it's no coincidence that Sis chooses to include a quote about Marco Polo at the end) and on the other hand you've a complex story of a son trying to figure out who his father is and at what price a world can be utterly destroyed.
   
   When I saw Sis speak, he made a self-deprecating statement that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. Sis said that when he was first trying to get jobs, he though the best way to distinguish himself from everyone else was to draw using millions of tiny dots. In retrospect, he realized this wasn't such a bright idea. For while the dot style was unique and much sought after, it meant he had to spend countless hours dotting and redotting his books. "Tibet" is dot-o-licious, this is true. And while not quite as insanely detailed as the aforementioned, "Tree of Life", it still an eye-popping wonder. My favorite section however, chronicled the father's trip through the magic palace of Potala, where every room is different. There's a red room that is "sunrise and sunset, heart of time" and a green room that is "square and circular, ear of earth". At this point the book begins to resemble nothing so much as the book, "Maze" by Christopher Manson. If you're a fan of crazy rooms leading nowhere at all, check out that book as well.
   
   Don't pick up "Tibet: Through the Red Box" if you're looking for some light picture book fare. That is the number one wrong way to approach this kind of material. Instead, fix yourself a hot cup of tea, snuggle on a comfy couch with a child or adult that you love, and page through the remarkable and touching story of one man's ode to his father. We should all be so lucky to have done so much, lived so well, and be remembered in such an evocative way.



3. I came upon this book accidentally while working in a public library. It is undoubtedly the best children's book for adults that I have ever read! It is my most favored possession and I read it 3 or 4 times a year and never cease to be inspired by it anew. Visually stunning with a magical story line that will leave you believing in miracles. Buy It!!!



4. promoted as a children's book, but truly a work of art for all to appreciate also informative for children



5. I originally bought the bought mainly because of its Asian theme, a subject my younger child is currently fascinated with. However, what was most compelling about it was not the subject but the perspective. It is through those Czechoslovakian eyes that the cultural experience became special: my son was not merely looking at Tibet from his perspective but was at the same time looking at a certain Czechoslovakia through Tibet's mirror.

5 comments about In Xanadu: A Quest.

1. I really enjoyed this book! Each little observation is spiced with whit, and brilliant inuendo. Each story line intrigued me more and more and to each amateur adventurer out there, I say you'll love it!



2. Even if you did not know that this was one of Dalrymple's earlier works, there is quite a bit in the narrative to suggest this. That is not to say that book is not really worth your time - it definitely is - but what is even more interesting is to see & observe the elements of erudition & wonder, & story-telling, that have always been so compelling about WD.
   
   But this is also personal story of a twenty-two year old - complete with a heartbreak - dashing across two continents. WD has certainly tried to talk about many personal episodes - & some of these are as hilarious as they're self-deprecating - but there are definitely pieces, thoughts, & events that probably would not be part of a more mature WD work.
   
   This book is the story of WD & his companions chasing down of Xanadu in Mongolia with a phial of oil from the Holy Sepulcher & all that happens in between.
   
   Informed, eccentric, & never dull.



3. 
   Well not quite, but sort of.
   
   At least this is what I kept thinking of as the author (referred to as Fatso by Mick, an expatriate hippie in Kashgar) and his travel companion Laura (she's the one clad in black) head out across Iran.
   
   They are on a madcap quest, ostensibly to retrace the tracks of Marco Polo in his journey from Jerusalem to the seat of power of Kublai Khan in Xanadu, bearing oil from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
   
   Dalrymple, a student at Cambridge, came up with this idea to kill time between college terms. Presumably the quasi academic cover was in some way necessary, and the intermittent references to Polo and his voyage are mildly interesting. But really this is a chronicle of a road trip plain and simple - a 1980's kind of On the Road.
   
   The Silk Road, that is.
   
   Anyway, all this makes for idle but entertaining reading, filled with intelligent observations and humorous snippets.
   
   Here, for example, is the English menu from a restaurant in Turkey:
   
   Kujuk Ayas Family Restrant
   
   Ingliz Menuyu
   
   Soap
   
   Ayas soap
   Turkish tripte soap
   Sheeps foot
   Macaront
   Water pies
   
   Eats From Meat
   
   Deuner kepab with pi
   Kebap with green pe
   Kebap in paper
   Meat pide
   Kebap with mas patato
   Samall bits of meat grilled
   Almb chops
   
   Vegetables
   
   Meat in eathernware stev pot
   Stfue goreen pepper
   Stuffed squash
   Stuffed tomatoes z
   Stuffed cabbages lea
   Leek with finced meat
   Clery
   
   Salad
   
   Brain salad
   Cacik - a drink made ay ay
   And cucumber
   
   Frying Pans
   
   Fried aggs
   Scram fried aggs
   Scurum fried omlat
   Omlat with brain
   
   Sweets and Rfuits
   
   Stewed atrawberry
   Nightingales nests
   Virgin lips
   A sweet dish of thinish batter with butter
   Banane
   Meon
   Leeches
   
   Recommended reading if ever you find yourself on an over civilized vacation.



4. I read this book on an airplane journey, and laughed so hard at some entries that I cried.
   And then I got depressed, because I realized that at the author's age, I would have been incapable of the deft writing and erudition he displayed.



5. In the mid 1980s, William Dalrymple (then in his early 20s) made a journey retracing the steps of Marco Polo's famous journey during the 1200s, from the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem to the site of Shangdu (or Xanadu, as is better known in literature), the summer palace of Kublai Khan, in Outer Mongolia, China. In reality, though, since Soviet Central Asia was then barred to western travel, he deviated in part from Marco Polo's route, going through the Baluchi desert, in southern Iran and Pakistan, and then up the Indus river, and through the then newly opened Karakoram highway to western China, instead of traveling to China through Samarkand and other cities in Central Asia. The book itself is a mixed bag, there is some interesting things in it (at least he did some homework in terms of research) but there are far too many of the sort of banal, smug and self-centered comments and experiences you see in much of the travel writing of westerners as they go through the third world.

2 comments about Beijing Time.

1. Well, apparently this is what passes for scholarship at the Harvard Press:
   "As religion moves between the sacred and the profane, garbage moves between city and country. Reincarnation is guaranteed, because trash never dies. Bajiacun becomes its version of limbo." Fashion "is the embodiment of modernity. Ever deceptive in its telling of time, fashion teases and seduces death, but survives itself by reviving the corpse of garbage. Like fashion, trash is eternal. Garbage of fashion, and fashion of garbage, are phenomena of modernity, the signs of progress, and the objects of entertainment. ...And both are doomed, rotating in the permanence that is the eternal return."
   This isn't writing, and with due apologies to Mr. Capote, it isn't even typing. I'm sure that the ten academics who will pretend to understand this idiocy will laud it for fear of being thought too dense to decode it. Oh, lah.



2. I recently lived and worked in Beijing for a period of three years. I would have very much appreciated the opportunity to have read this book prior to my arrival. It would have enabled me to better understand what I was seeing & experiencing all around me. Highly recommended for diplomats, business reps and ex-pats heading in that direction for both short and long term stays.

1 comments about Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster.

1. Jon Krakauer has been to the top of Mt. Everest and lived to tell about it, a feat in itself. But the tragedy that befell the party he climbed with is something that will always haunt him. In this book, he shares the excitement, the mental preparation, and the determination of the crew he climbed with. We learn their triumphs, their frustrations, their weaknesses. For those of us who would never consider such an endeavor, there were many moments when you could visualize being there, feel their pain, and wonder that people choose to challenge the summit this way. It was a fascinating read that I would highly recommend.

2 comments about China's Southwest (Lonely Planet Regional Guide).

1. "China's Southwest" covers the culturally fascinating provinces north of Laos and Vietnam, so a better title would be "Southern China." At any rate it's one of Lonely Planet's best books and provides good travel information, including some very worthwhile off-the-beaten-track places. You'll find descriptions of the many tribal groups who live in an incredible diversity of landscapes that ranges from tropical to Himalaya. Text includes parts of the Tibetan Plateau, which spreads across northwestern Yunnan and western and northern Sichuan, a good place to meet Tibetans and learn about their culture. I highly recommend travels to the provinces covered in this book--Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Chongqing. None of the all-China guidebooks do the region justice, so this guidebook is worth getting even if you already have a China guidebook.



2. In general I always like the Lonely Planet books, as you know what you get: all books are following the same structure. It explains well what to visit, and what the best places are to check-out.
   
   A minor point of the book I bought (3rd edition, october 2007) is that the pages 137 till 168 are missing. So make sure that you get the right version!

5 comments about Hearing Birds Fly: A Nomadic Year in Mongolia.

1. Nice book - for once a travel author who isn't full of her (him)self and bores us with the difficulties of adaptating to a different culture or who has to show off her/ his magnificent sense of humor. Simple and well written and most importantly captures the magic of the place and its people. Thanks!



2. This book gives an inside look at how other people, nomads in Mongolia, live. They work hard but enjoy their life. Even in a small village, different ethnic groups stay apart and distrust each other. If you find this book interesting, you might also enjoy 'The Places In Between" by Rory Stewart. He's a young man from Scotland who treks through a remote section of the mountains in Afghanistan in 2002, after 911. Every little village he goes to gives him shelter and food. He does it in the winter and you keep thinking he is crazy and lucky not to die of cold. He meets a dog and does most of the trip with a dog-it almost feels like animal abuse-it's so hard on the dog and he never chose to be this crazy.



3. This is a book by a woman, who goes to Mongolia, discovers how much she likes the country and then goes back to it years later, lives there for two years, then teaches in a remote village of nomads. the book is about her time spent in the village of nomads teaching them English. she describes life in the village and the people there and how it was for a foriegner, who grew up in London, to be totally surrounded by such a foreign and alien environment. very good read. i highly recommend it.



4. Louisa Waugh went to live in a village in western Mongolia, to teach English, where she learned more than she thought she would. She learned about religion, lush summers, dusts storms, hard winters, loneliness, fear, happiness, yummy horse meat and dealing with death. For all the information in the book it reads pretty swiftly and I finished it within a couple of days, when not working, sleeping or eating. It really is a hard book to put down and a lovely one to add to my library of Asian books. I really felt sorry for her sometimes.



5. My husband is a Mongolian-American and I was so amazed to find how the customs have carried over to the community here. Great book. Well written.

5 comments about Twilight in The Forbidden City (Illustrated and revised 4th Edition).

1. Mr. Johnson's work romanticizes the truth behind the opulence that existed within the Forbidden City. The vislual feast presented in the book differed much from what was provided in the film, but, both touched upon the essence of what the author suggested; there was granduer, there was, glitter, and, there was truth in what the author saw. The traumatic changes in the social order of the day happened over years, not minutes. The book did little to present what was happening outside of the palace walls, and the film did even less. The film did focus on the attrocities being committed upon the Chinese people by the invading Japanese during the war, but, it did not touch upon those committed by the foreign influences, and, the ruling class itself. Maybe it was a good thing that this truth was not presented in the film, because,the film would then have to be called, "The Saga of the Twilight in the Forbidden City." Sometimes its better if you just read and understand the book in, and, of itself, then attempt to understand the historical truth being presented by any ONE the book. Go figure!



2. Johnston's book is a fascinating study of the end of imperialism in China, but also, as an object of study itself, of the agencies of colonialism. I recommend the book on that basis as much as on the value of Johnston's firsthand account of the last days of the Manchu emperors. "Enjoy with..." as the foodies say, James Morris' lively "Pax Brittanica" trilogy, for example, or letters/memoirs of Gertrude Bell and TE Lawrence. To my mind all of these give a fascinating insight into the good-hearted, brilliant-minded but often disastrously wrong-headed players in colonialism. It's clear in Johnston's book that he went into his job as imperial tutor with an agenda: within days of starting he's outlined a plan to radically disrupt the status quo. All with best intentions, true integrity, and a thorough knowledge of the country and culture. There's a lot for us to learn here.

   FWIW, I consider myself a history "dabbler" and these books keep my limited attention,intellect and curiosity fully engaged, so don't be put off by worrying that they're too like the classes we all slept through...




3. Tis is a book written by the tutor of Pu Yi, last emperor of the Manchu dynasty in China. It contains a wealth of information concerning life in the forbidden city in the last years of the dynasty. The movie, 'the Last Emperor,"shows Johnston as Pu Yi's tutor and is also excellent in its portrayal of events in the early years of the 20th century as seen from the forbidden city.The child emperor's first question of Johnston illustrates the cultural gap between them: "Where are your ancestors buried?" and the response -- "In Scotland, your majesty."



4. I was very happy to have this book as this edition has all the original photograph's and a previously unpublished bonus chapter (written by Johnston under a pen name) about his meeting with the 13th Dalai Lama.
   
   The Dalai Lama and the Empress Dowager both held the title of Living Buddha and were to be in Peking on the same day... a difficult issue for the court to resolve... this extra chapter explains how the situation resolved itself!.
   
   Johnston provides a good deal of anecdotal material for the last days of the Ch'ing (Qing Dynasty) court before the 1911 Revolution. He knew many of the active players in those events, and of historical significance are his observations on the Ch'ing court's political structure, and in particular the Nei Wu Fu or Imperial Household Department. Johnston had little use for the Empress T'zu-hsi (Empress Dowager Cixi) and many other principal players in these events.
   
   Twilight in the Forbidden City is very much a history of an entire period and not an exclusive portrait of the last Emperor of China. The latter impression is perhaps a result of the film The Last Emperor having been based on the book.
   
   In the fourth impression, published in December 1934 by Victor Gollancz Ltd., additional information such as the fully spread fan was developed and some important parts of the history, such as confinement of Ts'ao K'un (Cao Kun) and K'ang You-wei's (Kang Youwei) refuge country, were reviewed for modification with "preface to the fourth impression"
   
   In the 4th edition, Johnston also reveals the name of a key character in the story.
   
   A must read for understanding the goings in in the last days of the Manchu empire and for anyone planning to visit China.



5. Love this book, since being young I have borrowed this book from interlibrary loans, now I have my own copy. Pictures and diagrams are not bad from the copied original. Maybe one day I can own a 1st printing, but for now I am glad to have a copy on my own book shelve.

5 comments about Burtynsky - China.

1. Nice and wonderful.
   If you like large format details
   this is to see
   
   BUT I'm very angry because the package by amazon wasn't efficently prepared to the reality of post office.



2. I realy like Edward Burtysky as a photographer and this book shows sokme really nice photo's. But for some reason some of his photo's took me by surprise as I saw them in a completely different lightfrom other photos of which he took. it's a bit hard to explain but it almost seems like two different photographers were sharing this wonderful, 147 pages, Hardcover book.



3. Large format, interesting photographs of China. I was worried his work might not translate in a book, but if you like his work, not to worry about that.



4. As a record of this time in the world's history ... the dismantling of local industry around the world in tacit acquiescence of China's future dominance ... I can't think of a more significant body of work in the medium. The images herein are truly breathtaking for their scale. Burtynsky has a privileged view and uses crisp large-format photography to lend authority to his vision. The monumental is not without a humanizing touch as can be seen best in his beautiful ship-building images. This is a wonderful book with images that one can marvel at for their execution whilst viewing with trepidation for their portent. The printing and presentation complements the images.



5. A beautiful book disfigured by Amazon's packaging. The tight plastic shrink-wrap bent the corners of the book, greatly reducing its value as a part of my collection. This isn't the first time that a photo-book from Amazon has arrived already marred. It's a shame.

2 comments about China - Culture Smart!: a quick guide to customs and etiquette (Culture Smart!).

1. I am disappointed with this book on a variety of levels. First of all, about half of it is devoted to Chinese history, which is not why one would buy such a book. One needs a "quick guide to customs and etiquette" to avoid social faux pas and to keep from accidentally offending people, not to learn about Chairman Mao's Long March. (The historical information is interesting, but sketchy at best, and shouldn't it be found in a different kind of book anyway?) It would seem that a whole bunch of this historical information has been added as filler to double the size of the book.
   
   Secondly, somehow the discussion of how foreigners are viewed by the Chinese made me feel vaguely uncomfortable, and I am not sure why. There was just something awkward there. (Maybe I just don't like stereotyping..?)
   
   Thirdly, while there is discussion of customs there is a dirth of "watch out for this" warnings. For example, we are warned that the Chinese view blowing the nose as being somewhat gross, so if you have to do that, leave the room. This is the kind of information that visitors need - no one likes rude folks, but it's hard sometimes to know what is considered rude in another country.
   
   Fourth, there is lots of other kinds of filler besides the historical information - like spending two whole pages explaining that cell phones have been very quickly and widely embraced in China, and how it was in the bad old days, like ten years ago. (Who cares...)
   
   Finally, the author seems to suddenly switch over in the last quarter of the book from giving advice to the tourist to giving advice to the business person, and goes on and on for pages and pages and pages about how to behave at a business banquet. Then she says that such banquets are becoming increasingly rare. So why did we just waste all that space talking about them??? Sigh....
   
   Save your money, and look up "Chinese customs and etiquette" on Google.



2. A Quick Guide To Customs and Etiquette is a new series of travel guides which seems so ideal I had to wonder why it has been such a long time coming. Each guide focuses on the customs and etiquette of each specific country and tells pleasure and business travelers what they need to know in order not to make embarrassing or insulting blunders in a foreign country. With a brief overview of the history, geography, and religious customs that helped develop the country, the reader gains an understanding of what to expect and how to respond. There are sections on the land and people, values and attitudes,religion & festivals & rituals, banquets and entertaining, visiting in a home, conducting business, communicating, food and drink, and more. These little guides fit into our purse so you can read one on the plane en route and be familiar with the society's do's and don't's as you arrive. These guides are terrific and important to each of us as the world grows smaller. You may even be visiting a cultural section within your own city, such as China Town, and want to have this guide to help you understand and appreciate another way of life. Excellent! Buy one for each place you travel.

1 comments about Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through China.

1. The book, like a long train trip, gets tiring after a while, but Theroux loves traveling this way. His observations of the people, land and culture are well worth reading.