China Books

Sincerely hope the authors bring back the Alperts in another adventure! (Especially now that they are independently wealthy and don't necessarily have to return to gainful employment -- as exciting or boring as it might be.)
This global tale of intrigue, complete with dastardly characters and near-death experiences, will have you wanting to skip ahead, but at the same time not wanting to miss a beat.
You will surely want to read another adventure involving the witty, intelligent, savvy and lovable Alperts.

Great chemistry and development with the characters. Also a very believable story and couple. It was very fast moving and suspensful. I loved the way the journal was interspersed into the time line. All around great story!

Heir Apparent, Inc sends letters to married sisters Paige Alper and Sheryl Fenster informing them they can earn $62,500 each if they sign the attached legal document. Apparently, their globetrotting seafaring Uncle Jock Boylan left a fortune. Because of her husband's latest get rich scheme, Sheryl needs the money to pay off loan sharks, but Paige prefers to find the loot and not share it with Heir Apparent, Inc.

Paige and her husband Max are investigative reporters; she gets time off while he quits. They begin tracking Jock's last days by visiting the Oceans Shore Nursing Home in San Diego where he stayed whenever he suffered from Lassa Fever. That leads to Asia as Jock had business dealings and a surprising family connection there. As the journalists follow the clues, they soon realize that Jock was murdered to silence him from exposing a white slaver ring. Now the intrepid Americans have a mission besides money to uncover.

HEIR TODAY is a terrific private investigative tale that is made even more realistic by the simple act of Max being fired when he wanted time off. The story line is fast-paced as the lead couple hop seemingly everywhere uncovering and including having their clothing taken away one shocking but always dangerous clue after another while Paige realizes how little she knew about her Uncle Jock. Fans will enjoy this fun thriller starring two adept journalists, who spend much of the inquiries in precarious situations.

Harriet Klausner

HEIR TODAY by J.J. Lamb and Bette Golden Lamb grabs you by the brain stem and whips you into wit, intrigue, and adventure faster than you can say "Heirs Apparent, Inc." When Paige Alpert gets a letter from the devious heir tracers offering to split her inheritance from her uncle Captain Jack Boylan fifty-fifty with her, she's not happy. Why should they get half of the quarter-million dollars that she and her sister are due? Hah! And her husband, Max, agrees. They decide to find the money themselves. They're investigative reporters. How hard can it be?
As it turns out, it can be pretty hard, not to mention deadly dangerous. But it's funny, too. And charming. And as entertaining as Nick and Nora Charles ever were on film. Even as this husband and wife team are abducted, beaten, nearly roasted alive, and forced to investigate a nudist colony, they work together with such love and wit and intelligence that you want to be a part of their team. Murder, high seas piracy, prostitution, revenge, corrupt Chinese officials: the Alperts face it all with the courage, integrity, and persistence of all true heros.
I love Paige and Max Alpert. I wouldn't have missed my armchair adventure with them for all the world...or a quarter-million dollars. I just hope I get to play with them again soon. This book is a must read!

This book is incredible. First, the photography is excellent, beautifully portraying most of the recipes. The book begins with a complete listing of all of the ingredients used. It is about 6 pages of pertinent information, including pictures for some of the most obscure ingredients. The recipes cover a thorough range of the basic recipes that you may be looking for. I am Indian and am thrilled with the list. Just about every recipe is critical, they appear back-to-back and have several pictures. I will probably cook every recipe in the Indian section. That section alone makes it worth the purchase. However, it covers seven other asian cuisines in a very similar manner. It also offers enticing "melting pot" menus, mixing the cuisines. You will get the recipes you want, that you can make, with a little commentary and exquisite pictures. This is one of the best cook books I have ever seen.

All recipes are well described and illustrated. Everything is clear and easy to understand.

It is soo good !! I tried the eggs curry from Indonesia it is so yummy !! Also the have menu suggestions so that was real helpfull since I do a lot of parties !!!

Picture of Singapore's famous food example spicy satay,laksa,chicken rice...

I love this guy!!! This book is about the views of an enlightened soul with regard to abstaining from meat. The book is outstanding right from the first page, including the introduction which lasts long but is VERY VITAL to understanding the entire picture. Shabktar Tsogdruk Rangrol has amazing insight and courage to sift through doctrine, scriptures, the beliefs or behavior of respected holymen and common people and poke fun at hypocrisy sometimes with great humor. He is able to see through the "muck" of society and see very clearly what is truth and what is religious or spiritual distortions of the truth or hypocrisy to suit personal or group advantages. I was giggling at some parts that were humorous and his perceptions reminded me of many Catholic nuns I used to know . . . Spiritual muck or distortions to spiritual or religious scriptures is present in every religion--the inquisition is a stark example of the severest distortions of Christian scriptures in human history. Catholic holymen used every imaginable torture conceived by the human brain and covered up the face of the statue of Jesus cruxified on the cross (present at tortures and burnings) so Jesus wouldn't see what they were doing!!!! Ludicrous!!!! His approach is gentle, humorous and he is DEEPLY COMPASSIONATE & DEEPLY COMMITTED in trying to separate fact from fiction and instill compassion for animals, thus bringing an end to eating meat and the suffering it causes--even under the circumstances.

This book is MORE than the sum of its parts, because reading this book should enable folks who have not yet taken a vegan pledge to do so. If you will read what the tremendous hardships the location and times meant for people in Tibet who abstained from meat and the passion he had to teach his spirit of compassion for animals, one should have no trouble abstaining from meat and even animal products here in the United States and Europe with SO MUCH to choose from and so much ABUNDANCE on both sides of the ocean. My findings show that Tibet has an average temperature of -9 and -15 (below 0) degrees Fahrenheit!! This is not cozy California weather and back then with the Himalayas right at your feet in this far off land, you can surely believe that a homeless spiritual person didn't have the best comforts in the world to say the least, and with all these UNBELIEBABLE difficulties--elements, lack of proper food and the abundance of hardships, he STILL found the courage to abstain from meat and seek truth and enlightenment. I truly find this very inspiring to the rest of the world to say the very least. He was not aware of the horrors of today's slaughterhouses--many cows are still very conscious after having their legs cut off and are skinned alive up to their neck and hung up as documented by HFA. (you can see the immense suffering in her eyes). What a horror. Highly intelligent pigs spend their entire lives in unbeliebable squalid misery in crates too small to even turn around, horrid amonia-filled air (people have to wear breathing masks), and they squeal in utter terror at the sight of humans. Male calves are torn from their mothers (as their mothers grieve) and put in tiny pens where they can't turn around until they are sold as veal. That chould be you. This is the price of the meat and cheese we eat and the milk we drink--all for mere superficial desires. This is only the tip of the iceberg.

Shabktar has amazing compassion and sacrificed SO MUCH COMFORT and MUCH LIFE SUSTAINING food to live his ideal of not causing harm either directly or indirectly to animals. His hardships were UNBELIEVABLE by American or European standards. His ideals and actions under those conditions should enable one to become a vegan in this land of abundance. This is a book for anybody to read and there may be some things that border superstition (for westerners) such as garlic being bad and the belief that eating meat made you mean, but to tell you the truth I giggled at this one because I heard it before visiting my relatives in Western Europe where folks there on some rare occasions warned against eating too much meat because it made people "mean" . . . Who knows?!

Truly, this man is an INSPIRATION TO ME and TO THE WORLD.

The same people living in Tibet during that time period are the very same people living next door to you and down the street--NO MATTER WHERE YOU LIVE--except for the customs.

I really highly suggest reading Animal Gospel. Animal Gospel is the Christian ideal on animals written by a theologean, but I believe that it should be cross-read by Buddhists or anybody. It is VERY ENLIGHTENED reading as it gives extra intellectual and spiritual ammunition for the cause of animal liberation.

Hail to this saint!!!

This is the final convincing arguement against the eating of meat and to adopt vegetarianism.

Over the years, I've heard all sorts of arguments for and against being vegetarian. One of the qualities I appreciate about Lama Shabkar was his ability to speak with such authority and yet remain non-judgemental. In this book, Lama Shabkar praises the merit of vegetarianism, making his case from Sutra and Tantra. It certainly gives a Mahayana practitioner food for thought!

The canon of vegetarian Buddhist literature is pretty small. Until recently, its only major works--aside from the teachings of the Buddha--were Roshi Philip Kapleau's To Cherish All Beings (1981), Dr. Tony Page's Buddhism & Animals (1999), and Bodhipaksa's Vegetarianism (1999). So it was with great surprise and pleasure that I found no less than three books on the topic were published this very year (2004), Norm Phelps' The Great Compassion, Bodo Balsys' Ahimsa, and now Food of Bodhisattvas: Buddhist Teachings on Abstaining from Meat by Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol.

Known simply as Shabkar (1781-1851), the author was a renowned Tibetan Buddhist practitioner who spent most of his life in retreat or wandering the Tibetan and Himalayan regions. His level of compassion was truly inspiring, and it was said that he had "a spiritual career that began with the first stirrings of renunciation in his early childhood and culminated with perfect attainment."

The lengthy translator's introduction (it's nearly one-third of the book) does an excellent job of profiling Shabkar's life and placing the importance of his teachings into historical perspective. But the introduction goes beyond that, discussing the many invalid reasons Buddhists have for eating meat and delving into these excuses, with particular attention paid to Tibetan Buddhism. It is pointed out that while most Tibetans eat meat, a growing number of Tibetans in exile are giving up the practice.

Being a vegetarian in Shabkar's time was truly heroic due to the harsh living conditions, but his concern for animals was legendary and inspiring. This led Patrul Rinpoche, author of The Words of My Perfect Teacher, to comment: "Compassion and love are the roots of Dharma. I think that in the whole world there is no one more compassionate than Lama Shabkar." The aim of Shabkar's compassionate teachings, as clearly explained by the translator's introduction, is "not to repress one's desire for meat or to terminate one's use of animal products by a draconian act of will. Instead, our task is to develop a heartfelt compassion and a genuine sensitivity to the suffering of animals, such that the desire to exploit and feed on them naturally dissolves. Shabkar's main concern is not to instill a sense of guilt or inadequacy; it is to elevate the mind toward new and more noble objectives."

There are two of Shabkar's texts presented in Food of Bodhisattvas. The first, "The Faults of Eating Meat," is a collection of quotes from Mahayana scriptures and teachings of Tibetan masters. The second part, "The Nectar of Immortality," is Shabkar's seminal discourse on the topic of vegetarianism and is of particular interest since the text was only recently found in 2001.

The first section contains lengthy selections from the Lankavatra, Mahaparinirvana, and Angulimala Sutras, as well as excerpts from the Sutra of Close Mindfulness and several commentaries and Tantras from the likes of King Yeshe Ö, Changkya, and the Ven. Milarepa. While some readers may be familiar with a few of the selections in "The Faults of Eating Meat," most of these texts are unknown in the West and comprise a unique collection that is both inspiring and, well... enlightening.

The first section is concluded with an original verse from Shabkar which is both stunning and, at times, graphic:

All of you who eat this baneful food,
The flesh and blood of beings once your parents,
Will take rebirth in Screaming and the other burning hells,
There to bake and boil.

He goes on to describe the various hells that will be experienced by those who kill animals or order others to kill animals, who eat animals, including fish, who slaughter and sell animal meat, etc.

The second section, "The Nectar of Immorality," is just as stunning and a wonderful representation of compassion towards all sentient beings. In this part Shabkar details the various negative consequences associated with flesh foods, including the idea that any animal we eat was at one time, because of samsara--the cycle of rebirths--our mother or father. He delivers this message in his typically straight-forward style: "We should look upon all beings as our kind parents, and in order to repay the goodness they have shown us, we must meditate daily on loving-kindness, compassion, and bodhichitta. Let us not be stained by this evil food, the flesh and blood of our very parents!"

Shabkar takes an in-depth look at the horrid consequences of monks eating meat. If you've heard of trickle-down economics, this could be called the trickle-down evil of the monastic meat trade. Shabkar also speaks on the many misrepresentations that the Buddha freely ate meat, he exposes many of the misguided teachers of his day, and answers the numerous excuses meat-eating Buddhists have for this bad habit-many with a Tibetan bent-and he does not mince his words, saying that those who use these alibis are "very far from compassion, the mental soil in which the aspiration to supreme enlightenment in cultivated."

Not being a Tibetan Buddhist, some of the terminology was a bit confusing to me. But numerous endnotes and a glossary guided me through. The translation of Food of Bodhisattvas is very well done. Shabkar's free-flowing teachings are a joy to read, and I would recommend them to Buddhists of any lineage. In Western Tibetan Buddhism--where the question of vegetarianism seems to have been answered by Galek Rinpoche's comment "we Tibetans like to eat meat" (Tricycle, Winter 1994)--Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol's voice is a breath of fresh air. A 153 year-old breath of fresh air.

The majority of reviews, by far, are overly happy with this, and I am no exception. I bought the first 2 volumes and CANNOT SAY ENOUGH. ITS SUPER ! I read 2 seperate reviews of the book (one in each volume) and I couldn't believe how uptight people are. These cartoons are WONDERFUL and skillfully drawn. One reviewer said he (and his daughter) were offended because of the chinese stereotype characters. THERE IS NOTHING OFFENSIVE IN HERE. And to be honest, these are traditional characters, and dressing they way they did in the old days. If you go to china today, much of the tradition still exists. They even still pull rickshaws. This reviewer was chinese & should come to grips with the traditional appearance of the chinese. I think its wonderful. As for the other reviewer who Loved the book, but felt embarrassed in front of his kid, because women were seen in "traditional" roles preparing food, etc.... damn, get a life. This is still the way in china, and even to a lesser degree in the USA. Why the hell is everyone LOOKING FOR THINGS TO BE OFFENDED AT? DO yourself a favor and buy this book. you won't regret it. Its fantastic & I learned alot. This is a FAMILY book you can share with anyone.

The first time I took a glance at this book I immediately decided I was going to read and finally learn Chinese. When I opened it, I was overtaken by the simplicity and structure of the book. A minute into the introduction I knew how to read Chinese!! I was very surprised, I never thought it would be this simple. By the 20th page I was smiling and thinking, "Wow!! This is fun. I have to buy this book." Unfortunately I have to return it within 2 weeks to my campus library at Cal State Northridge but I know that during those 14 days I will learn and return it knowing that I could speak Chinese. This book deserves 5 stars and I highly recommend it to anybody who wants to learn this language that day by day is becoming more necessary. I am positive that you will learn and have plenty of fun.

This is a helpful book. My five year old and I have just about gone through it twice, and it has held her attention, though I should say that she is insanely into languages of all kinds. But the the book is well designed, showing the etymology from ancient forms to traditional forms to simplified forms. Each character gets a page, and the etymology and cartoons constitute the top half of the page. The cartoons are fun and -- usually -- help you remember. My only criticism is the cartoons: often, embarrassingly non-PC, making me wince a bit as my daughter absorbs the roles men and women are _supposed_ to have. Also, I think the cartoons, though always drawn well, are often a little too far out there to really help you remember the meaning of the character. The middle to bottom of the page shows the character in phrases, and the bottom shows the character in a sentence. The phrases and the sentence are well-chosen, vernacular, and contemporary. Overall, the book is excellent, and I'm trying to track down the next volume, because nothing I could find at the local bookstores comes close to being something a five-year-old would want to read!

This book does not fall short of it's title. The Introduction gives some helpful background as to the ancient genesis of Chinese script, going back to the legendary period and Cang Ji, on up through the Modern Period. It clearly illustrates how various types of compound words are created - and potentially deciphered, and covers pictographs, ideographs, and determinative-phonetic characters. The Preface gives a general overview of Chinese as a means of visual communication. The body of the book gives a description of each of 176 of some of the most common characters. Each character description includes a cartoon to help the reader recall the etymology of each character, which can help novices simply to remember the character. As well, a number of examples of how the character is used in compound phrases are offered. This is the first of a three-part series, and the only one of the series to have the Intro and Preface described above. A great introduction to Chinese characters for someone unfamiliar with them, and a fun read for someone who is.

400 pages and over four hundred color photos pack an in-depth examination of plants used in Chinese gardens for ornamental purposes. Listings appear using both Latin and common names and Chinese names, presenting the history, myths, horticultural information and uses of the plants. A beautiful presentation recommended for horticulture collections.

This is a fabulous, beautifully photographed, survey of the decorative plants native to China. The book opens with details of China's rich horticultural heritage and the role of plants in Chinese culture.

Further chapters are broken down by type of plant. These include bamboos, fruit trees, orchids, roses, chrysanthemums, aquatic plants and more. Items both familiar and exotic to the western gardener will be found here.

Many specific varieties are described in each chapter, with Latin, Chinese and common names. History, native habitat, and uses for each plant are described.

The photography is outstanding with several close-up color photos on each page. There is also a nice smattering of old botanical illustrations and Chinese art. I highly recommend this book.

This is a beautifully produced and immensely readable work of considerable scholarship . Its subject matter is intriguing and the author writes in a style where one finds oneself going quickly from one section to another. The wonderful photography certainly enhances the text. My views would seem to have been borne out by the recent decision of the British Gardens Writers Guild who have just awarded it the Reference Garden Book of the Year. I'm sure this will become the standard reference work for this engrossing subject for many years to come. I highly recommend it.

This book has just been awarded the Reference Garden Book of the Year by the British Garden Writers Guild on the 25th November 1999. An award richly deserved for this superb work of scholarship and book production . It is likely to stand as a major reference work for this intriguing subject for some time. I think that says it all.

Every morning at breakfast, I read a page from this book. It has 365 reflections - one for every day of the year - and 12 calligraphies - one for every month. I take this reflection with me throughout the day and try to understand it with my deluded mind. I try to look at it from different angles and at the end of the day, I will draw a conclusion. Will that be the same conclusion I will draw a year from now, when I study this same page again?

If you are a student of Sogyal Rinpoche, a lot of reflections will sound familiar to you. This book will then be a reminder of the teachings, a source of contemplation. If you are not, there will be a lot of valuable information in there for you to think about. And perhaps, you get more and more curious about this Tibetan wisdom!

I have been reading this book for 4 years and it has changed my life. A truly beneficial tool for deepening spiritual practice.

Thought provoking and shattering insights to break you free from limiting thoughts. This is a wonderful collection of Tibetan "koans" to free our thinking. I found it shook the foundations of my limited perspectives and made me question the true reason for my human existence. Rinpoche opens our mind to the temporal nature of existence and inspires to prepare for our next existence.

I try to read the glimpse each day when I get up (and sometimes the night before), and have found the experience helpful. I have yet to develop strong discipline in my practice, and find it easy to get caught up in life for days or weeks at a time. Reading a couple paragraphs (the glimpse for one day) has been like a bell calling me back to myself. I wouldn't be surprised to be reading this book for the next 20 years as my understanding deepens.

A fine book on cigars. I completely enjoyed this book and refer to it often.

I just picked this book up recently (2007) and though the book is getting on in age, it really holds up today. The first half of the book discussed history of tobacco, cigars, and smoke shops. The authors can really tell a good story and their historylessons were highly entertaining.

This is a useful and well-written cigar guide. It is getting a bit dated, but it is still very good for all cigar lovers.

The Good Cigar is to your brain what your tobacconist's walk-in humidor is to your nose. It's a cornucopia of history, anecdotes, and general cigar lore that makes you want to relax and stay a while.

Jeffers and Gordon start their history with the original tobacco lovers, the indigenous people of the Americas. Then they discuss the introduction and development of tobacco in Europe and the New World. Jeffers and Gordon acquaint us with many of the people who have influenced our image of cigars (Mark Twain, Groucho Marx, Ernest Hemingway, etc.) and give quotation buffs a nice supply of material. From the "Wooden Indian" to cigar boxes and bands, they explore the history and artistry of cigar paraphernalia.

The authors include a cigar index complete with their personal ratings of each cigar. The book shows its age here, as some of the cigars are no longer sold. This doesn't necessarily detract from the book. You just might run into somebody who's had a box aging for several years and is willing to trade a few sticks. In a situation like this, an older index of cigars would be helpful.

Jeffers and Gordon also cover humidors, cutters, and lighters. They even include a resource guide. These sections might lead the cigar neophyte to believe that cigar smoking is a costly pursuit, but this doesn't have to be the case. Less expensive and perfectly functional accessories are readily available; but as Winston Churchill warned, "Shoddiness can be found easily, in quantity" (I got that from this book). Choose carefully. There are several Internet message boards devoted to cigars that would be more helpful than this book in finding accessories that fit your taste and budget.

My son read this book as part of a book club. He enjoyed it thouroughly. It gave us an opportunity to talk about a different culture. Some of the text describing the behaviors and actions of the characters were a great place to ask text comprehension questions. I enjoyed reading it along side with my son.

I read this book and then had my 8 year old daughter read it and give me a report on it. She not only loved the story, she picked up on Pong Lo's plan right away and couldn't wait to get to the end to see what came of it. It's a very good story with more than one great lesson.

Multiplicaton pays the bills .He wants to marry the princess,but he is a peasant. See how Pong Lo wins the right to marry her by using his math skills. Wonderful story about an old culture and about how smart people are regardless of their social stature.Ahhhhh....yes ! DON'T FORGET THE RICE.

This is a great story for teaching how something as small as a grain of rice can earn a farmer a marriage to the princess, and a kingdom. Multiplication is used in the book, and can spring into a math lesson for teachers and parents alike. It is most likely to interest 4th and 5th grade children.

Prof. Mungello wrote this comprehensive book on the intercourse of China and West in culture and religion in a highly readable text.
Between 1500-1800, China was a powerful country. Catholics dreamed of converting China into a Christian country. However, it was Chinese influence to Europe to bring about Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions. He showed that missionaries sent back Tao Te Ching, I Ching and Confucius teaching to the European educated to help bring about the Enlightenment Movement.
What would happen when China is Christianized and the West goes Taoist Way?
By 1800, China was still in its glorious satisfaction while European Powers underwent industrialization. Britain unable to balance the trade deficit pushed opium and war on China. The 1997 Hong Kong Hand-over concluded the last British Imperial chapter in history. China was at its nadir at 1900 Boxer Movement with eight foreign countries invaded Peking.
Napoleon said, "When China wakes, it will shock the world". History affirms the Tao in East and West, strong and weak, grandeur and decline, war and peace. Prof. Mungello presents the readers the historical background to understand the modern China. A number of Westerners see Deng's reform with market economy lead to China rising as a world threat. Reading this book will help open up their horizon.

Will US wage war on China in the billions of dollar trade deficit as their British cousins did in 19th Century?

I think Mungello has done a wonderful job in reconstructing the meeting between China and the Western world.

Dr. Mungello has done a great job in presenting how the (Far) West met with Chinese culture over the period of 1500-1800. This book was written in easy and non-technical language. As a Chinese that has learnt Chinese history all through my school years, I am intrigued to read simialar materials presented from a Western perspective in simple English.

Dr. Mungello noted that the Chinese in Song Dynasty mistook the picture of Virgin Mary as Guanyin (Chinese Goddess of the sea). A three-story high statue given by Portuguese to Macau, China shortly before 1999 was meant to be Guanyin but it certainly looks like Virgin Mary. What went around has come around:) Thanks for writing such a good book and I enjoyed it very much.

University Profs take note: Although I had to read this book because I was in the author's class at Baylor, it really is a good introductory book. Dr. Mungello is one of the world's top Sinologists and did his graduate work at the U. of California at Berkeley and I am privelaged to be one of his students.

Half of the book is focused at the West meeting China, and the other half is China meeting the West. It answers the questions: What did the West reject and accept from China? What did China accept and reject from the West?

I bought this so my daughters could better understand the Chinese zodiac and all the animals. it has a great story that is very understandable to them (ages 2 and 4) and the pictures are great too. highly recommended.

Cute story about the Chinese Zodiac and why the cat is not in the calendar. Fun illustations. My daughter who is 5, enjoys this book.

I purchased this boook for use in a Third grade unit on China. I ended up using it with my Kindergarten and First grade social studies classes as well. It's a little wordy in parts for the very young children but can be easily abridged without losing the context of the story.

The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac is a picturebook retelling of an ancient Chinese legend of how their annual calendar came to be. The Jade Emperor decreed a grand race between the animals to determine the order of the years. Thirteen animals raced, but the rat, eager to be first, tricked the unfortunate cat into missing the finish line completely - as a result, the rat and the cat remain worst enemies to this very day! Playful color illustrations by Anne Wilson add an enthusiastic touch to this adventurous narrative, rounded out with fun facts about the Chinese calendar and Chinese astrology.