Hawaii Books

At long last an intellectual and credible book on the truth about the Pearl Harbor attack.

David Wade brilliantly summarizes the latest research into the catastrophic event that led America into the second world war; a scathing indictment of the duplicity of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The author places the Pearl Harbor attack in the context of the prewar diplomacy of Roosevelt, and shows how the President knew the attack was coming. But Roosevelt deliberately kept our military commanders in Hawaii in the dark, probably a far greater act of treason than committed by Johnny Walker Lindh.

Mr. Wade artfully drew dramatic parallels between the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the surprise attack on the World Trade Center and Pentegon, connecting December 7 with December 11.

But this book was actually two books in one. I really enjoyed the supplemental information in the back of the book about Presidential Succession.

I was amazed to learn that if there were a nuclear terror act in Washington that claimed the lives of Bush, Cheney and Hastert, then our new president would be none other than Ted Stevens of Alaska!!!

Anyone who has had a loved one pass away through cancer won't be able to hold back the tears. Author Demente's style manages to touch the heart by letting us experience with the cancer victim's daughter, Lauren. I recommend this book for anyone who is in the process of healing and for those of us who have done the journey. This book is a wonderful affirmation that love remains after death.

This book covers most common the ground beetles of Hawai'i, in complete detail ranging from location on the islands to how to distinguish each species. Sketches of mandibles, pictures of the beetles and just about everything that you'd need to identify the bugs are included. It is an academic book and is excellent if you are trying to identify local species for conservation and census.

This revision of the Hawaiian bees is something that has been needed for a long time. It leaves all previous books on them in the dust. The descriptions are excellent, and the keys are easily useable to identify all of the species. I was especially impressed with the quality of the head drawings. Definitely a worthy addition to the Insects of Hawaii series.

If you are reading this you are probably aware that good Korean texts are hard to find. Of the Korean learning materials out there I have sampled including the Korean Through English series, College Korean, FSI Tape set & book, and books published by Korean unversities not available in the US, the Integrated Korean series is by far the best. The Integrated Korean series stays away from using the arcane linguistic terminology of College Korean, avoids the oversimplification of KTE, and presents much more natural Korean usage than the textbooks published by Korean universities(including SNU, Yonsei, and Korea U). The grammatical explanations are great, the vocabulary is useful, and the cultural notes are also interesting and pertinent. Audio files for the dialogues are also available online for free on the U of Hawaii publishing webpage.

Published by NUS Press Pte Ltd,"International Real Estate: Asia's Potential from a Research Perspective" considers real estate market analysis in the context of economic theory pertaining to market disequilibria, utilizing data from major cities in Asia as case studies. This framework makes it possible to determine what defines an Asian real estate sector: What is being measured? How does it behave (in terms of price and non-price factors)? How it is structured? How effectively does it achieve sustainable total returns? And how does it manage real estate market uncertainty?

Real estate market uncertainty originates from both the demand- and supply-side of the market. The market responds to structural macroeconomic and microeconomic factors that in turn are affected by related public policies. These elements interact to affect Asian real estate in unique ways since the Asian currency crisis of 1997. David HO Kim Hin 's analysis shows that while the details of real estate market analysis are different for the various Asian cities (and their real estate sectors) owing to their different stages of maturity, underlying principles nevertheless apply. He also looks at managing real estate market uncertainty at the portfolio level through the analytical techniques of real estate asset allocation, real estate value-at-risk (VaR), real option analysis and pricing.

I loved this book. It was written with sensitivity, thoughtfulness, and openness.
I learned so much about the poverty in the Philippines, about this nutty religious revolution [el shaddai] that gets poor people to give their money to a modern day Elmer Gantry who is laughing all the way to the bank. I also learned a lot about beliefs in demons, devils, angels, etc.. What a bunch of nonsense. Of course the author tries her best to be nonjudgemental, to paint a fair portrait of this religious culture with respect and interest. She shows that this religious movement isn't all bad; it does seem to give people hope. But is is false hope, of course. The book ends with a dramatic climax as the author witnesses an El Shaddai leader abuse and berate a woman -- blaming her for all the troubles in her life.
This book was top-notch cultural anthropology. It was very well written, very intellectually-satisfying, and really painted a moving portrait of these poor people who are so desparate that they will give their last pesos to "God" in hopes of a few breaks in life.

This is one of the most recent books published about the history/fate of West Papua under Indonesia rule.
It covers events mostly from the Indonesian takeover till late 1999, with a short preface summarizing events and trends up to 2001. After a short overview of the history of Papua, particular attention is paid to the early history of the OPM guerilla movement, to the economic importance of the province to Indonesia (based on local government statistics), the Freeport mine, and events between 1995-1999.
While individual cases of human rights abuses are mentioned, the major focus of the book is the impact of Indonesian economic development and the accompanying demographic changes and environmental damage on the life and future of the Papuans.
Its conclusion, that independence is the only way the native Papuan people can survive, is hopefully incorrect as in view of recent political developments in Papua independence seems an even less likely outcome today than it did when much of this book was written.

This book is detailed, but not hard to read. I enjoyed it.

As a "kamaaina"(person born and raised in Hawaii), I have read most of the literature about the State. Author Tom Coffman, has written several books about Hawaii, including his first, "Catch A Wave", which was about the 1970 gubernatorial campaign. He has written what I believe, is the best political history of the State in this current book. The previous "best" was one written in the late 1950's, entitled "Hawaii Pono" by Lawrence Fuchs. Coffman's book, in a highly readable and well-researched, up-dates that history and adds other facts. Coffman seems to have researched oral history accounts and other sources and adds much to knowledge about a state that is like no other...at the island edge of America.