Singapore Books

Tourists want to enjoy themselves, they have little local knowledge and their visits are relatively short, these are the starting premises of this book. Consequently, the author argues, tourists need and want help when they visit new places, so as to enhance their experiences. Thinking about myself as a tourist, I do need help from "cultural mediators" (the term used in the book), otherwise I might as well feel as lost as I am on Mars, rather than in some exotic and friendly country. Tourism experiences are being influenced by cultural mediators; even backpackers rely on their Lonely Planets!

Another idea that runs through this book is that tourists do not consume culture, they consume only senses of culture. So, for example, tourists who want and are experiencing authenticity are really only having a sense of authenticity. Mediators help them achieve this sense. This is a radical but refreshing argument! The author presents the discussions compellingly, as he/she provides many examples (brand identities, everyday life, history and art) from Denmark and Singapore.

After reading and thinking about the ideas offered in the book, I am convinced that mediation is in the centre of tourism experiences. It is time that people move away from the "tourist gaze". This book offers a persuasive alternative.

This book, this author is an inspiration to life itself ! I found, once I started, I could NOT put the book down, and then attended one of her talks and the finer details that came through .. truly amazing, inspiring and awesome ! As you read, YOU are in Changi, YOU are there, feeling every emotion that was felt by the author, crying, laughing .. this is the BEST book I have ever read and I class it up in the levels of the Diary of Anne Frank and more !

This memoir is confirmed to have all details accurately penned down where the truth is more interesting than friction made to entice the reader. There are videos to support the many chapters found in this 400 page book. Most enjoyable and should not be missed.

The personable Koh Tien Hua is one of the leading characters in our non-fiction book, Escape from Paradise (soon to be made into a movie). He was my wife's lawyer in her divorce from her first husband. She affectionately called Tien Hua her stud-muffin. A beginner at the time of my wife's divorce back in 1995, he has gone on to a very successful career as Singapore's leading divorce lawyer. His fine book is a testament to his experience.

This is a great book filled with many very well taken color photographs showing Singapore from various angles -- culture, leisure but the best captured are those magnificent skyscrapers! Great value since the pictures are in full color.

This guide fills a real vacuum, and beautifully. It's a tough, tall-format rucksack survivable, printed on heavy matte stock between heavy card covers; the superb, mostly color photos, engaging text, and all the trimmings (maps, phone numbers, hours, glossary) make this a must-have for the SE Asia traveller. A sleeper!

For at least 3,000 years the Chinese have been using feng-shui to locate auspicious sites for towns, buildings, cemeteries and graves. But the Chinese are not the only people who wish to dwell in auspicious places, and systems of divination similar in character to feng-shui exist in many cultures.

In this book, Derham Grover explains the principles of feng-shui in a colourful, yet straightforward manner. He shows how Western building ceremonies also have their roots in the fear and propitiation of nature and he identifies some similarities between feng-shui and Western building ceremonies.
--- from book's back cover

During several visits to Singapore I have come across the writing of Neil Humphreys:

Notes from a Small Island
Still More Notes from a Small Island

plus many individual newspaper columns he wrote while he lived in Singapore.

As an ang mor, or ex pat he provides a viewpoint of the culture and real life of Singapore that most writers do not. His sense of humor is very funny while at many times in the previous books very biting of many of the paradoxes and ambiguities in the Singapore Culture: what they say they do and what they really do.

Recommend his books to anyone who has been or is considering going to Singapore for a vacation and those who are planning on living there.

You can save at least $40 by going paperback instead of hardcover for this textbook, and the only thing missing from the paperback version is the constants written on the inside cover of the hardcover book. I just had my roommate photocopy the page for me and taped it in my paperback book. Exactly equal textbooks, not so equal price. Paperbacks are the way to go.

Recently went to Singapore and was so happy to have this book. The suggestions were very good and the directions on what public transportation to use were spot on. The book is small enough that you can carry it with you in a purse/backpack. The only thing missing (which I'm sure will be added to future publications) was mention of the new Singapore Flyer, the world's largest observation wheel which was definitely worth experiencing.