No comments about Handbook of Major Soviet Nationalities.

3 comments about I HAVE SEEN THE WORLD BEGIN.

1. The title of this book, I Have Seen the World Begin, got my curiosity. The Danish journalist Carsten Jensen travelled from Russia south in Asia, through China, Cambodia, Vietnam and Hong Kong, and memories from these travels are collected in this huge book. And there are not only memories. Jensen has an open eye and tries to explain what he sees, and make it part of a bigger context, our world.

   Jensen travels alone, but he meets local people on his way. And he is not afraid of making contact. Many of these people are there for us to meet through the book. I Have Seen the World Begin is not a romantic story. Here we meet all the dirt of poverty, all the dust of the landscape, all the evilness in people, though we also meet the beauty of the women in Vietnam, the charm of a poor guide in a small village in China, the greatness of a landscape. Travelling might be boring and depressing, or it might give new dimensions to your life. Jensen has experienced both.

   And where does the world begin according to Carsten Jensen? It began for him in the birth of his child. The world is alive, the world is a place which will go on living inspite all odds

   Britt Arnhild Lindland




2. "The lone traveller is the most dependent of all, because he has need of everybody and no one has need of him."

   So notes Carsten Jensen in I HAVE SEEN THE WORLD BEGIN, his narrative account of his journey of discovery through China, Cambodia and Vietnam during the early 90s.

   Jensen begins his travelogue in Beijing, but quickly moves on to Shanghai, from which he travels by boat up the Yangtse River, then by rail and bus, into southeastern China near the border of Myanmar (Burma). A constant thread is the state of the country and its inhabitants, individually and collectively, post-Tiananmen Square.

   Then it's on to Cambodia, a country yet to recover from the cruel self-immolation imposed by Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge minions. As Jensen writes about this "biblical Judgement Day":

   "... when the gates of Paradise were opened, it was only to reveal yet another graveyard. ... It was the humbled, the abased and the desperate who were raised on high, not to put an end to despair, but to extend it to everyone."

   And lastly, Vietnam, with which the author is obviously entranced, and the reader with him. Much of Carsten's enthrallment is with the country's women - Tam, Kim and Scent of Spring in particular. It's with the first that he has a physical relationship. And it's Tam who states in the most eloquent manner I've ever encountered the worst thing about not being able to conceive a child:

   "You can't pass on the eyes of the one you love to posterity. Like the stars they will be put out, instead of living on in a new face."

   Whether Jensen is describing China's Tiger Leap Gorge, Shanghai's New Year fireworks celebration, Cambodia's Angkor Wat, Phnom Penh's horrific Security Prison 21, Vietnam's Hanoi ("like a wood with streets"), the royal tombs at Hue, or Dien Bien Phu, the graveyard of French colonialism in Southeast Asia, his magnificent prose transports you there.

   I was tempted to award I HAVE SEEN THE WORLD BEGIN five stars, but am prevented from doing so by what I consider to be a significant omission. There's no photo section. What were the publisher and the author thinking?

   Having finished the book, I now want to visit Vietnam, a country I really had no desire to visit before. If a travel essay can accomplish this for any destination, it's very good indeed.




3. This is much more than a travel book. It's a book that has a deep respect for the "natives" it describes, and I really like that.
   
   Like all good books about travel, this book is about Jensen's inner journey as well. This work is sensous and it makes me want to travel. We need travellers instead of frigtened people who stay at home watching tv, disliking foreigners, Muslims, and the "darkness" they perceive is out there.'

3 comments about Lonely Planet Eastern Europe.

1. I had the fifth edition and thought it would be nice to be up-to-date for my next holiday with this 7th edition. That proved to be a mistake.

   LP has added a lot of countries (the Baltics, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Moscow and Petersburg) without adding pages. As a consequence the information about the other countries has been reduced. For example Albania went from 40 to 25 pages.

   So if you don't have the guide I can still recommend it because I generally like LP. But if you have an older edition you should think twice about upgrading.




2. I used this book for planning and for advice a one month period of travel through Eastern Europe. Any book that tries to cover so many countries is going to be a compromise between very precise information and a lot of general information. I found that the Lonely Planet Eastern Europe has achieved a good compromise. For example, even a city such as Klaipedia, Lithuania has a few pages written about it even though it is not as popular as Kaunus and Vilnius. However, if you wanted more information about an even smaller city, you are out of luck since just a few cities are mentioned. The history sections are good introductions to each of the countries and the hotel reviews are helpful in planning.

   However, there still is key information missing. Key information such as that you must purchase a ticket for your backpack for the public transportation in Poland or you will be fined. A review of the LP web site shows lots of backpackers complaining about this, but the book does not include the warning.

   Also keep in mind that as Eastern Europe goes through rapid changes with membership in the EU and more and more people visiting, the whole travel industry will be changing. More hotels will be available and more people and places will be more accommodating for people speaking English. Therefore, any guidebook is going to have a difficult time keeping up to date on everything.

   Overall, I would recommend the book for travel through a number of Eastern European countries. However, if you plan to concentrate on just one or two, you may prefer to purchase country specific guides instead so that you have more information.




3. The Lonely Planet Eastern Europe offers the tremendous amount of information that users of the lonely planet have come accustomed to. As always, the history parts are excellent and the maps are lousy.I used the parts about Croatia, Slovenia and Slovakia and found that although this book is good for planning, a lot of information is already outdated. This goes especially for information about museums that turned out to have closed, entrance prices that had doubled and accommodation that was not mentioned. Maybe that is inevitable with a book that covers so many countries, (especially countries going through so many changes) but while travelling it loses much of its practicality. I recommend to use this book to plan your route and then buy extra travel guides for the countries you want to spend some more time in.

No comments about Doing Business And Investing in Russia (World Business, Investment and Government Library) (World Business, Investment and Government Library).

1 comments about Little Tenement on the Volga.

1. If you want a glimpse of post-Soviet Russia, this is the author's experience living in one of thousands of tenements in a former factory town on the Volga river. Excellent insight and cultural perspective.

No comments about Adventures in Czarist Russia.

No comments about Kazan, the Ancient Capital of the Tartar Khans: With an Account of the Province to Which it Belongs, the Tribes and Races Which Form Its Population, etc.. Volume 2.

2 comments about Koshka's Tales: Stories from Russia.

1. I loved this book, as did my 6- and 10-year-olds. It is based on folktales of Russia, but old folktales can be harsh and crude for our modern sensibilities. Attempts to rewrite their plots can sound corny and "politically correct". Mayhew's rewriting avoids all these pitfalls. It is a work of art in its own right, sounding to our ears more authentic than the originals. The details he adds, the lyrical prose, just the right amount of repetition - all add up to a story that we love to read and children love to hear.



2. This beautifully rewritten story of intertwining folk tales is one of the best gifts my kids ever received. The stories are spellbinding individually, but told in the context of a story-within-a-story, they become mesmirizing. I once read one of the stories to my son's 3rd grade class and all the kids wanted me to come back to read more of the stories and to find out what happens to the prince and his mother. This is a must-have for any library.

No comments about Turkey, Russia, the Black Sea, and Circassia.

No comments about Ukraine Road Map with Separate Index 1:750,000 (Ravenstein International Maps).