1 comments about French Art Treasures at the Hermitage.

1. I have had the pleasure of visiting the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. If you ever have the chance to go, I highly recommend it. I spent three wonderful days in the Hermitage and would have been content going back every day for the rest of my vacation. Although some museums surpass the Hermitage in their collections (surprisingly few), none has fewer visitors per masterpiece. It was not unusual to be alone in a room of Van Goghs for 30 minutes at a time. The lightly guarded museum does not even have a security guard in every room. So the experience of the museum is a wonderfully intimate one.

   If you never go to St. Petersburg, you must get and read this outstanding work about the French art from 1860 to 1950. Most of these works do not travel very much, so you won't see them otherwise. That would be a terrible shame, because many significant works, especially the Matisses and Gauguins, from this period are in the collection.

   How did such a great French art collection find its way to Russia? That's an interesting story, and the book begins with a long essay about that. Although the Czar and the nobility had always collected art, this period of French art was not very appealing to them. A new merchant class had grown up, and they embraced advanced art from France (beyond the salon portraits the nobles commissioned) that became known as Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. After the Communists firmed up their hold on Russia, museums were consolidated and private collections were expropriated. You will enjoy seeing black and white photographs from the many private museums that these business people sponsored. The Shchukin and Morozov collections form an important base for this collection, as well as having provided important support for these French artists before they were well established.

   In most art books, not enough of the reproductions are in color. This book is the exception. The reproductions are essentially all in color. There are 433 of them in color. They are also done in large sizes in many cases, which makes it easier to appreciate them.

   The Hermitage is particularly rich is works by Matisse and Picasso, and these are presented in depth in this book. You will also find lots of Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Gauguin, Degas, Van Gogh, Rodin, and Bartholome. Outstanding examples of works by lesser known artists round out the collection in a way that will give you a different sense of the period than you get at the Musee D'Orsay or the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

   Albert Kostenevich is by far the world's authority on these works, as their primary curator for over 30 years. No one else has had nearly as much access or incentive to study them. He has written several fine, detailed essays that relate the works to each other and explain the works. In fact, this is better than going to the Hermitage because you would not have him at your side to explain things there.

   And, naturally, if you have been to the Hermitage, this book makes a fabulous souvenir. Treat yourself today!

   After enjoying this wonderful book, ask yourself, what other outstanding art collections have I not yet seen? Even if you cannot visit them, there may well be a book on the collection that you can order from Amazon.com!

5 comments about Tent Life in Siberia.

1. Telegraph operator George Kennan signs on to build a telegraph line across Siberia in late 1800s. Very good American example of understated adventure writing, a genre probably perfected by the British.



2. i picked this book up from a homeless bookseller in manhattan for a dollar, figuring it might be worth a try. and it was - i read the whole thing!

   it's major pluses: it's written in a surprisingly modern style. i've read other travelogues of the time period, like melville's omoo and typee and others, and this one was FAR better. perhaps it's that the author is not pompous or trying too hard to be "literary." he tries a little bit, but mostly he just sticks to the facts and tells the story. and the story on its own is interesting enough - travelling all around eastern siberia with wandering natives on dogsleds and reindeer sleds, living in yurts and eating funky foods, starving at times, camping under snowdrifts at fifty below zero, and mostly just observing and interacting with native peoples who (i have a strange feelings) may not even exist any more. and all this set in the backdrop of such an interesting time period in our history - just after the U.S. Civil War.

   other point of food for thought: the guy did his travels at AGE TWENTY!!!, and wrote and published the entire book by age 25! this strikes me as quite odd, because his whole style is...so mature...and intellectual. you'd think you're reading a book by a forty year old (at least). and to this that seven years before he travelled to siberia...he was just thirteen.

   anyway, all in all a good and interesting book, good in a way for light historical reading, but nothing to shock your boots off...




3. I couldn't put this book down. On a par with Shackleton's story. Well written, fascinating account of a two year Siberian expedition in the mid 1800s.



4. I stumbled across this book in the Santa Cruz Public Library in 1980 and it has always stuck with me.
   Highly recommended, often quite funny.
   Indeed this George Kennan is the great uncle of the cold-war diplomat of the same name (I believe), who passed away on this day at the age of 101.



5. who would have thought such an 'old book' would be such an easy read....AND...VERY... interesting.... a MUST.... my thoughts come back to it often....

3 comments about Last Voyage of Captain Cook: The Collected Writings of John Ledyard (NG Adventure Classics).

1. This book is not nearly as interesting, enriching, or well written as the other books in this series. (I highly recommend the Voyage of the Beagle by Darwin, for example.) Publishing a whole volume of Ledyard is really overkill, and misstates his importance as a writer and historian. While the 20-page account of Cook's murder and the, er, unpalatable aftermath of his death is riveting, the rest of Ledyard's journal is dull. The private letters that make up the latter half of the book have little of interest to the general reader. For much better travel adventure about the same regions that Ledyard covers here, read Darwin (see above), or the Mutiny on the Bounty trilogy by Nordhoff and Hall, or Farley Mowat (especially The Siberians).



2. This book can not be said to hold up to many of the writings about any of the voyages of Captain Cook. I also agree that the letters are of no worth. However, for anyone that has read other books about Captain Cook it is a very interesting book. There are many things that Ledyard writes, which differ with the accounts that Cook records, which makes it an interesting look at what some of the crew thought about the third voyage. If you have never read anything about Captain Cook, DO NOT start wiht this book. If you have read anyhting about Cook already then this book will please you.



3. Although I agree with the criticisms of the other two reviewers, I found Ledyard's journal on Cook's voyage interesting reading, and worth paying a few dollars postage for. But as there are only about 115 pages worth reading, I'd feel disappointed with this book if I'd bought it new, or paid more than a few dollars plus postage for it. Apparently, this is about the only chance you have of reading Ledyard's journal without going to antique book auctions. But more gifted writers may have covered this voyage better, and few readers will wade through the rest of the book in its entirety, letters and all. More interesting perhaps is the biography of Ledyard's life, written by James Zug. Just because a man led an exciting life doesn't mean he was a great writer.

No comments about Beyond Siberia.

5 comments about Moscow, St. Petersburg & The Golden Ring (Odyssey Illustrated Guide).

1. I did originally choose this book because of the great reviews, and because it was one of the most recent publications. It is a fine tome to read for those who are planning a trip. Long term planning, I mean -- read it six months before you go, because that's how long it takes to read and digest all the information. Or even better -- read it and don't bother to go. This book has so many photographs that you barely need to see the stuff for yourself. It weighs about six kilos, so don't plan on taking it anywhere with you.
   
   Otherwise -- a good review of history and valuable detail. It was worth poring through before I moved to Moscow, but a smaller, handier travel guide would be a better reference while traipsing through the city's well-kept secrets.



2. I seem to be alone with this 1-star rating when previous voters have all awarded fives, all of which were voted "helpful" by all previous readers. While it's not the worst guidebook I've read, it is however often flawed.
   
   I know that keeping a guidebook up to date is a challenge - especially in a place like Moscow - but Ms. Nordbye still could have done a much better job. My edition is 2003, so there are few excuses for her description of the Central Lenin Museum - complete with opening hours etc. The museum was closed right after the coup of 1993. It opened up again for the first time in early 2005 as a venue for an art show, but no longer functions as a Lenin showcase.
   
   Yes, there are some interesting historical details in the book - but there are plenty of questionable claims too - example - Russian soldiers in WWII used their daily 100ml vodka rations to make Molotov cocktails to throw at the enemy. [???]
   
   Well, it might have happened a few of times - but anyone who knows anything about Russian drinking habits, or the unsuitability of ethyl alcohol to make an effective molotov cocktail - is likely to start being sceptical about the rest of Ms Nordbye's colourful historical titbits.



3. One of the most fascinating travel books I have ever read. Ms. Nordbye takes us to every corner of Moscow and St. Petersburg, from the early history of the Tsars to modern-day politics, to the Moscow Circus to hotels, Russian bathouses, restaurants, and dos and don'ts of being a tourist. I loved this book!



4. My experiences with Nordbye's book were uniformly positive, and I found the book both useful and informative. It's a useful addition to anyone's collection of travel books, especially if you're contemplating a trip to Russia. Lots and lots of data, and friends who've used the book have come back and thanked me for giving it to them.
   
   I'm not using a pseudonym or alias to write this.



5. This book is a mixed bag.
   
   The color photos are amazing and the historical stuff great.
   
   As a travel guide though it has little on the basics (food, hotel, etc), and pretty crummy maps.
   
   Also there are NUMEROUS mistakes in the spelling of Russian things. Clearly whoever DID edit it, didn't bother to check the Russian stuff AT ALL. Like page 61 and obmen valyutOO, and page 65 suggesting women look for bathrooms labeled 'Sch'. The Russian for women is ZHENschina not SCHENschina.
   
   The author writes for Russian Life magazine, these sorts of errors are pathetic.

No comments about Rediscovering Russia in Asia: Siberia and the Russian Far East.

No comments about Russian Travel Made Easier: Advice for Friends.

1 comments about Inventing Eastern Europe: The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment.

1. All too often people think of the Enlightenment as a group of smart people thinking about why we are so wonderful. The flip side of Enlightenment thinking is that to make Europeans seem so wonderful, the Philosophes described themselves against an Other, who possessed all the undesirable traits not accepted by the "Enlightened" people. Wolff shows how the Philosophes, with limited actual knowledge of Eastern Europe, used the civilizations east of Germany to show the benefits of living in the West. During the Enlightenment the language used to describe Eastern Europe ascribed barbaric qualities to the people and offered little faith that the people could ever "evolve" as Western Europeans had. Wolff uses maps and traveler's accounts to show the influence the philosphes had on perceptions of Eastern Europe. It is rather disconcerting to note that many of these same perceptions persist today.

1 comments about Russia Map by ITMB (International Travel Maps).

1. I got this map before going to Mowcow to get on the Trans-siberian railroad. One of the features is that it has a small street map of Moscow also. Much to our surprise, there was a bridge across the Moscow river that was not shown on the map. That is terrible considering all the decisions that as a foreigner one makes on a map of an unkown area. We were already in Moscow when we found this out so I could not return it. We used it to track the rest of our trip, but I wonder what other inaccuracies it may have had. I also found the quality and strength of the paper not to be very good for continuous use; it did not stand well to daily use. It started tearing at the folds almost immediately after we started usinsg it. Next trip I will search for a better quality map. You should do the same.

No comments about Insight Guide Russia: With Chapters on Ukraine and Belarus (Insight Guide Russia).