Oceania Books

Much, but not all, of the information in this book is difficult to apply to my wife and her siblings being, what I would consider, "modern" Filipinos. However, it does provide a great deal of insight into where many of the current social mores came from. Just because they may not apply in every case doesn't mean a visitor should be unaware of them altogether. I've not had a problem with being "too polite" yet and you're not going to be dealing with "modern" Filipinos the entire time unless you never leave Makati. Even then, some of the older Filipinos place great value on some of the old things. What it did for me, more than anything, was give me more appreciation of the Filipino culture; where it came from, what it lost, and what has been kept. Just keep in mind this book is only a primer, not a bible. The key to being a visitor in any country is always, be polite, be flexible and stay positive.
As for comments some may consider "anti-American" it may be culture shock to those who think the U.S. has always been fair to the Filipino. Even 100 years after the U.S. occupied the Philippines there exists a state of denial among many. Read Renato Constantino, THE MISEDUCATION OF THE FILIPINO.

Truthfully, I wouldn't even give it a 1 star! This stuff ain't true about us new breed of Filipinos. This book is a bit outdated. Don't even read it!
Just for example about the opening of present issue. It may be true to some but not all of us. And so does any other country. This is not a very helpful book.

I am a Filipino-Canadian, and I'm grateful for this book because it gave me valuable insights into Filipino culture (and myself):

- hiya = shame. Much of what Filipinos do and don't do is motivated by the avoidance of hiya.

- amor proprio = face. Filipinos try very hard to avoid making other people lose face in the slightest.

- utang na loob = debt to another after receiving a gift. Receiving a gift is bittersweet for Filipinos because the giver has some control over you now.

The book contains a lot of useful information and the authors are obviously knowledgeable about Filipino history and culture but I found the presentation to be somewhat monotonous and uninteresting. The pictures also seem dated.

The book is very useful mainly for it's practical tips. My Filipina partner agreed with most of the issues I looked up for advice. If you get asked to be a godparent for a filipino child read this book before you say yes or no! The writing is down to earth and we found it quite funny though friends in the Philippines said some of the ideas were a bit old fashioned.

received above book; correct cover, but inside is another book by name of 'the glass key' by dashiell hammett. tried to contact you by various means, to no avail.original packaging long gone. how do i go about getting the book i ordered???

Yes and no. Yes, because these two old British stuffies set off on this journey just the way most "inexperienced" travelers would -- by the seat of their pants. No, because I think I would like a better idea of cuisine before I went.

This charming narrative of two British amatuer travelers inspires humor and awe. Of course they get into all sorts of problems and handle them with dry wit. But they also give stunning and lyrical descriptions of the people and the places they visited.

This was a living travel adventure without a tour-guide in sight.

Best of all, our intrepid souls showed respect and genuine affection for the native peoples they met. I didn't see any bigotry in this book -- except that which they found in themselves and discarded with ease.

Readers should be warned that many of the descriptions of the cultures they visited are very vivid and weak stomachs may not enjoy the unflintching pictures the story evokes.

If a book has Redmond O'Hanlon's name on it, buy it. While reading this book, when I wasn't laughing out loud (and I never laugh out loud) I was enthralled with the subject matter. I hate to compare writers, but think Paul Theroux (but not mean), David Quammen and throw in a little Tim Cahill for good measure and you come close to Redmond O'Hanlon. I've read a quite a few travelogues and Redmond O'Hanlon represents the very best of the genre.

This twenty-five year old tale of two Brits being transported by their faithful guides into the deepest jungle of Borneo is amusing and interesting.

Redmond O'Hanlon and the smoking (as in smoking) James Fenton (improbably) the Queen's Poet Laureate embark on a journey to discover the highest mountain of Borneo and hopefully the white Rhino, possibly an island dweller and certainly unseen in decades.

O'Hanlon takes a whimsical approach to this travelogue. The stars are his faithful tribal guides and the locals he meets as he journeys up river and away from modern life. Particularly enjoyable are the village stops where he and his crew are (usually) met with feasts, libations, dance and the occasional memory from the local chieftain's female relatives. The clash of cultures provides many funny moments without slipping into condescation.

Although there is a lot of discussion of birds and waxing about the various properties of rushes, finches, yellow-bellied-sap-suckers and the like, the book is informative and interesting with the occasional chuckle thrown in. Altogether an enjoyable arm chair trip.

Long before Bill Bryson set out to take his walk in the woods, London Times' literary reviewer, Redmond O'Hanlon, and his friend, poet James Fenton, trekked deep into the heart of Borneo in search of a rare, albino rhinoceros, accompanied by three Iban natives, Dana, Leon, and Inghai. Romping through jungles, traveling by river, and doing the seven-step disco in late-night villages, the two aging academics tried their best to avoid 1,700 different species of parasitic worms, snakes, wild-boar ticks, leeches, amoebic and bacillary dysentery, yellow and blackwater and dengue fevers, malaria, cholera, typhoid, rabies, hepatitis, tuberculosis and crocodiles. O'Hanlon writes with a naturalist's eye for detail, noting the various birds, insects, trees and critters he encountered along the way. Equal parts travelogue and memoir, and with a generous measure of Monty Python-like humor, INTO THE HEART OF BORNEO relives O'Hanlon's 1983 quest into "the heart of twilight, the home of 'old mankind'" (p. 129). For me, life couldn't be much better, sitting in a Boulder coffeehouse, reading about O'Hanlon's adventures in Borneo.

G. Merritt

Eyewithess Travel Guides give the most complete overview of any travel book or other travel product - good organization; great pictures, maps and other graphics; interesting & concise text and descriptions about history, national foods and beverages, etc.; good suggestions for lodging and eating. They are excellet resource and reference books, but they are concise enough to give a relatively complete overview but short enough to quickly convey information, especially if you do not have a lot of free time.

I believe that carefully reading about a desination is important for planning any trip. The Eyewithess Travel Guides are the best way to obtain that overview and prioritize where you want to go. Australia is a large country and this book covers alot of territory. The Australia guide is enormous help to us with our planning.

I live in Australia and wanted a nice guide, and have always been drawn to the DK travel books with their lush photos, beautifully illustrated maps, building cut aways etc. In addition, this book was the 2006 version, latest update and later than many of its competitors.

As another reviewer has noted, all these photos and illustrations come at a price, which is lack of detail. In addition, I am not sure how rigorous the update process is. For example, the 2006 version does not cover the most significant new building in Brisbane, the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), which cries out for inclusion in such a guide. This building was completed in 2006 and under construction for some years before.

Probably best as a supplementary guide or photo history of your travel.

I love the DK eyewitness travel series because of the fine detail in describing geographic regions of the world while also including useful information about accommodation based on your budget, how to get around etc. The books have valuable information about each country ranging from culture and history to government and natural beauty.

The Australia book was very useful on my holiday over to Queensland and New South Wales. I had never been to Australia and so it was nice to have a guide that provided not only visual appeal with its pictures of the landscape and coloured maps but also had info detailing places to stay and see. I highly recommend this book and any other DK books offered for your next trip because unlike other travel books they not only offer an insight to the history and culture of the region but also offer info on the sights you may want to see. The thing I love the most is unlike other travel guides DK isnt just in black and white (thin pages) which are sometimes difficult to read and not as appealing to the eyes. DK books make you want to engage and get you excited to travel.

Only downside to the series is that they can be a bit more expensive than other books though amazon has good prices compared to other stores. Also they havent got books for many other countries/regions of the world, so Ive had to use other brands, I recommend Fodors Exploring series, theyre also colourful and affordable.

The DK Eyewitness Travel book for Australia is a decent travel guide, which includes a lot of pictures to help the traveler see what the attraction is while doing their planning. This 2006 revised edition runs over 600 pages, and includes an introductory section as well as 8 sections on the various areas of Australia, including one for Sydney by itself. It also has a section for Travelers' needs, which include accommodations, restaurants, and shopping information, and a section titled "Survival Guide" which contains a lot of useful information for travelers.

While the pictures are quite striking, they do seem to come at a price of more information about each of the attractions as well as the general areas. For my trip, I found the section on Tasmania to be rather sparse. The section on Melbourne was significantly better, but even there it would have been nice to have more information. I also question the practice of grouping all the hotels and restaurants together in a single section for the entire country. It seems as if the traveler would be better served if information of that sort was included in each of the sections rather than all together. They do organize the items by region within those sections, but in a hurry one might not notice if they stray outside of their area.

This is a useful reference, but I think it works best as a supplemental reference along with other material. If one needs a single reference, you should look elsewhere.

Two fine new travel guides use the popular 'Eyewitness' approach DK fostered in its children's books to provide adult travelers with clear, eye-catching and fun guides. AUSTRALIA packs in the color photos, maps and illustrations and not only covers the usual places to go and stay, but adds tips on local foods, cutaways and floor plans of all major sights, town listings of sights and beaches, timelines of festivals and special events, and more.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

What if you learned that all of the fantastic tales your mother told you were true - including those with dark magic and danger? What if you knew that using magic could kill you, and not using magic would drive you to the brink of insanity? Which would you choose?

In Justine Larbalestier's first novel for teens, Magic or Madness, a teenage girl learns the truth about magic: not only does it exist, but it runs through the veins of all of the women in her family. They choose to either use their magic and die young, or repress it and go mad. Her mother, who raised her alone, went the latter route and can no longer take care of her only daughter.

Without her mother, Reason is lost in more than one way. Her grandmother, who is depicted as a villain in all of her mother's stories, takes Reason in when she has no other place to go. Reason then meets her gran's neighbor, a boy her own age, and Jay-Tee, a girl who lives in New York - which magically appears outside of her grandmother's door. As Reason travels back and forth between the two continents, her innate magic begins to unfold like the wings of a butterfly. It is just as fragile as those wings, and just as likely to carry her away.

Make sure that you read Justine Larbalestier's inventive trilogy in order. Magic or Madness is only the first chapter of Reason's story. She then takes Magic Lessons, and, finally, delivers Magic's Child.

Really a fun, fun book. Reason our main character is a bright but odd fifteen year old with a family history thats even odder. Her Mom has spent 18 years running from Reason's grandmother and has dragged Reason all across Australia and filled her head with all sorts of misinformation about magic and Reasons GrandMother.

There are one or two odd things that almost fail in the book, but really one of the most fun books for teens out there.

This had all the elements that had me excited: magic as a disease, a gateway to two modern cities, and cool non-white characters. An aboriginal heroine! Please let it be good!

Then I read the book. It's not difficult to get into, as the writing's smooth enough (rather too simple) but there's not much of it, as if you've added only one spoon of the chocolate mix when you need to add five to have something delicious. Events, scenes, plot, were all stretched out, probably to fit three books instead of one. And that's where it got boring, and rather weak. Not a dense, beautiful world that's brimming over with fantasy.

Rather than magic, or the premise (which is exciting at first, then you wonder WHY does it take the character 250 pages to find out what the reader picked up at page 20), the book seemed more interested in fooling around with the minor differences between American and Australian English.

First, I would like to say that upon ordering this item it came to me in excellent condition, the day after I ordered it!!

This was a wonderful book! The characters are very interesting, i read the whole book overnight, could not put it down! For anyone who likes the "Urban Fantasy" genre this book and the rest of the trilogy are definitely for you! I Put Justine Larbalestier right up there with Charles de Lint, Emma Bull, and Neil Gaiman.

Magic or Madness has Interesting and fresh story line (instead of the usual set in "Fairyland" Urban Fantasy's). No monsters from another world just "magical people of this world" living real lives with magic.

Open this book and you will open up a door to a magical world you didn't know possible, but the characters are so real you almost feel the experience yourself.

I am almost done with the second book of the trilogy and will start the third immediately following. One of those trilogies I will keep in my collection to read again and again.

Happy Reading All!

Cindy

I think this author has a great imagination with a lot of fantastic ideas, but she was a little lukewarm on the whole magic front. She never explained any of anything, by the end of the book I still had no idea what was going on, so that is to say that throughout the whole book I never knew what was happening.

As you can see, this book drove me crazy. I couldn't believe how the author refused to let any single plot line be, instead she had to jump from one thing to the other like she couldn't decide. I would much have prefered Reason stay in Sydney, Australia the whole time just so some of the questions all the readers had could have been answered. This book is possibly the most frustrating book I have ever read.

I think the author wanted to wait until the second book of the trilogy to explain everything so she explained absolutely nothing to us in this book. I say skip this, and wait for the second book, that's what I wish I'd done. As I said, great potential, but no followthrough on, really, any front.

I would recommend all of his books, but there is still only one I will go back and read again and again.....Confederates in the Attic. The best.

It is an enteratining (if slighty dated) view of Australia from an American Hitchker's point of view. I did find I was not totally sucked into the book, but his descriptions were rich and un-biased. Throughly enjoyable

In this book we see Pulitzer Winning writer Tony Horwitz hit the open road hitchiking around Australia. On his journey he gets enough rides from strangers to "fill a Rehab Clinic " 3 times over. Tony is introduced to an Outbackworld where distance are measured in beers consumed., i.e. a short trip is known as a "six pack of beer" whereas a long journey is refered to as 24 cans of beer!!!. The author describes how hitchiking can be a very jarring way to travel as you are stranded alone for hours trying to get a ride and in the next breath you are trying to reassure the driver who picked you up that you are not a Serial Killer.Luckily the author remains lucid and coherant throughout the book otherwise it would have all just been a blured memory of visting one pub (Hotel) after another!!It is a testament to the author' writing ability that he can make a simple ride through the Australian Outback so entertaining and a joy to read. Strewth, this guy was chockers full of beer on his way to the Black Stump but he only did his lolly once and didn't skite to anybody about how much beer he could drink even though he was surrounded by Piss Artists!!! If you didn't understand that last sentence I suggest you buy this book and all will be revealed. Well done Tony!!!

This is Tony Horwitz's intial entry his into travel series preceding "Confederates in the Attic" and "Blue Lattitudes". As a Yank living in Sydney Australia, he leaves his newspaper to journey 7,000 miles, in the mid 1980s, across the outback and western Australian coastline with his thumb and a ruckasack. Horowitz has a gift for being descriptive of not only the landscape but also the people, capturing not only their lifestyle but even their dialogue. That includes both intersting and amusing descriptions or talk. Crossing barren country dependent on a wide variety of transportation in various forms of condition, particular the Australian Ute panel truck, as well as riding with friendly aborigines who in one instance use him to buy beer where it is illegal to sell to the natives as part of a hospitality exchange for a ride. You get a real feel for the hard life in the outback and a view of the different yet hard forms of work that is done by the people of the outback while on on the roads or of course the pubs that are the main centers of every town no matter how small. Each town, driver and interesting person has a story and Horowitz captures them all. He also mixs a little history and travelers education of the land both past and present. Of course, Horowitz sprinkles it all with dry humor particularly as he runs into some interesting situations such as the outback man's love of beer, particularly Fosters, "the blue one". A defining qoute from Horwitz' Australian wife is very striking when she comments that Americans tend to panic when they cannot see evidence of another person while out in the wilderness whereas in Australia, that is the norm in most of Australia. An enjoyable book where the land and the people are captured like verbal snapshots. After finishing this book, I had to go out and buy Fosters beer. I only found it sold in a 24 ounce can, which seems appropriate as a man in the outback can empty the contents quite readily on a hot day after a long day of work.

As another American who lived in Australia for many years, let me assure any prospective buyer of this book that the author really gets the place.

He started out like many, seduced by life in megalopolitan Sydney, thinking that the superficial similarites between two essentially suburban cultures mean that there's little for an American to learn from his adopted home.

Life on the road teaches him otherwise.

There's a certain melancholy to life in Australia, which Horwitz comes to understand over his journey; the physical journey across a forbidding continent contrasts with his internal journey as a moden young man, a lapsed rebel, a faithful husband and a sentimentally observant Jew (Is this trip his own wandering in the desert, perhaps?)

I was moved by the story of Horwitz's passage across the northwest of Western Australia (beginnning on page 136). It's here that he surrenders his obsession with getting to the next town, and begins to understand the weft and weave of his surroundings.

The story of finding a Jewish family in Broome with whom to celebrate Passover--an Akubra sunhat acting as a makeshift yarmulke--warmed my heart, simply because I know that any true Australian would be equally welcoming to a displaced stranger.

And the story of Anzac Day the following morning...well, I've never heard anyone capture the curious mixture of joy and pain that marks the Australian Memorial Day as succinctly as Tony did. An ostesnsible victory witout glory--what kind of a nation does this make? He summed it up in three paragraphs or so.

Buy it, even if you never intend to visit Australia. It will help you understand the mind of an eventual Pulitzer Prize winner, and the experiences that opened his mind.

Oh, by the way, Tony, I'm serious about the offer of a beer.

How would you feel if your spouse asked for a divorce so he or she could become a monk or a nun? That's where Agatha Raisin was left at the end of Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell. As you can imagine, the experience didn't leave Agatha feeling too cheerful. She decides she needs to get away from it all and her travel agent persuades her to visit remote Robinson Crusoe Island in the Juan Fernandez Archipelago off Chile (where Alexander Selkirk was marooned and became the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe). Agatha makes friends, despite her lack of Spanish and can almost forget James Lacey (her ex-husband) for awhile. But she's troubled by a honeymooning couple where the husband seems to be waiting for something . . . only to discover that he drowned his new bride but a few days later.

Back in Carsely, Agatha realizes she desperate needs beauty treatments and even signs up for a Pilates class. Feeling bereft, Agatha decides to take up her PR career again and calls Roy Silver, her former assistant.

But fate intervenes when huge rains cause a terrible flood in Evesham, and Agatha recognizes a fellow customer from the beautician's (an engaged young woman named Kylie) dead, floating across the face of the flood in her wedding dress and holding a bouquet of flowers. Shaken up by the experience, Agatha decides to investigate after the police notice that the body has been frozen for some time in addition to showing signs of a heroin overdose. Could the healthy looking young Kylie have been an addict? Agatha doubts it. Agatha is disappointed to realize she'll have no one to help her now that James is gone and Sir Charles Fraith (an ex-lover and sometime sleuthing partner) has gotten married to a young Frenchwoman who is expecting twins.

Remembering the couple on Robinson Crusoe Island, Agatha immediately suspects Kylie's fiancé (who had seemed a bit domineering in his demand she get a bikini wax job) but is impressed by the depth of his grief.

Her new neighbor John Armitage, a successful mystery novelist, becomes a distraction for Agatha . . . even after she tries to avoid meeting him in a series of humorous misunderstandings.

Unable to feel confident in moving forward without an ally, Agatha recruits Roy Silver to be her investigating partner and dons a wig and glasses while pretending to be a television researcher looking into doing a program about the social lives of the young in Evesham.

The investigation turns dark as Agatha finds that her life is in danger and that Kylie wasn't such a perfect young lady after all. Through the course of the checking out, Agatha has more than her usual problem avoiding police ire while the danger rises.

While some will point to this as primarily a cozy mystery, that element is more background than foreground in this story. Instead, Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came is a portrait of a bright, determined woman (with more than a few rough edges) who finds that she doesn't quite fit into today's world of male-female relationships while she indulges in romantic fantasies that aren't going to come true. Where will Agatha find peace and satisfaction? Where will any of us?

M. C. Beaton portrays men in primarily negative lights throughout the Agatha Raisin series (Bill Wong, Agatha's police detective friend is the rare exception). By building up John Armitage as a new character in the series, there's simply a new color to the rainbow of disapproval. As a result, I didn't find the parts of the story that develop that character or Agatha's relationship with him to be very rewarding.

The mystery is also pretty simple to solve. After you finish the book, you'll be astounded that the police didn't solve the mystery on their own before Agatha did. The police investigation seems to have been particularly superficial and lightly analyzed.

Unless you cannot bear to miss a single word about Agatha Raisin, you could skip this book and not miss much.

Look, I like formula mystery. Its nice that you know what the playing field is in a Nero Wolf.

But Agatha Rasin take it to absurd levels. This is the almost *the same book* as "The Haunted House". New neighbor; she is grumpy and aloof from him; the get closer; a series of misunderstandings retards their relationship. The books replay the same relationship with the police and with Agatha's other neighbors.

The plot is paper thin, so you cant read this series for that. The Agatha character is amusing and new, but for god's sake the author cant simply retread the same actions and dialogue in every book.

Not worth reading, unless you are on a plane trip.

This series has been going downhill for ages, but this latest is truly the worst..what a preposterous book! Read at your own peril!

This is more of a review about all of the Agatha Raisin books in general. Although the forumla of the stories is essentially the same, I keep gobbling up the next book in line of this series because I adore Agatha! Despite her insecurities, she is a strong woman who won't take any guff from anybody. I'm glad Agatha - at 52 - keeps attracting handsome men into her boudoir, still has good legs and glossy hair, and is one smart PR person. I can identify with some of her insecurities, and wish she would finally find happiness in the right man for her (but if she did, would she still continue to be as funny and prickly as she has been in all her past books?). This book was one of the more enjoyable ones because she doesn't obssess as much about James anymore (he's a cold one anyway and not worthy of the woman) and concentrates more on the case at hand - like a terrior dog with a chew toy not wanting to let go. And the plot and ending was definitely one of M.C. Beaton's more creative ones. I hope Agatha continues solving mysteries and attracting men for a very long time to come!

Agatha is as loveable as ever -- funny and flawed -- but still mooning over James, the jerk of an ex-husband who abandoned her. A new bachelor has moved into the house next door, a mystery writer who has all the single women in the village (and some that aren't single) running after him. Agatha plans to ignore him, but ends up teaming up with him to solve a mystery -- a young girl floating in a flooded river, dressed in a wedding gown and holding her bouquet in her hands. Despite repeated warnings from the police to let them handle it and to quit going around in a wig asking questions, Agatha won't (can't?) leave it alone. It quickly becomes clear that getting arrested is not the worst danger she's in by pursuing this, but like smoking, she just can't quite quit.

There are lots of laughs and a really good plot as the character of the murdered woman is gradually revealed.

I can hardly wait to see what will happen next with Agatha. Will James return? Will Charles or the mystery writer take his place? Or will Agatha finally find a man suited to her?

If you haven't read any of the series, you should probably start with the first (Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death). But no great harm would come from starting with this one and then working your way back.

A 5th edition of Moon Handbooks Tahiti: Including the Cook Islands (ISBN 1566914124) was published in September, 2003. Search for it on this site!

This book is good in a sense that it has a lot of information in it,mainly concentrated on history and ecology. However, what I was looking for is info on accomodation, places to eat, things to see, entertainment etc and this book does not provide a much explanation on those kind of things.

This book was informative, but was on the preachy side with respect to commentary on ecotourism, the history of the Polynesia and other topics. I consider myself a responsible tourist and found myself feeling guilty about even visiting Tahiti while reading this book.

Many guidebooks have come out on the South Pacific, but this is most definitely at the top of the list. Although Lonely Planet guides are - in my view - usually better and more comprehensive, in this case Moon Handbooks have surpassed them. With superb maestry, David Stanley has put together a masterpiece, with a combination of unparalleled travel advice for all types of travellers, as well as easy-to-read, yet deep, insights into the history and reality of this fabulous region of the world. Several factors add to the marvel of this book. One is that Easter Island and the Cooks have been included, thus comprising in one single guidebook so many islands which, despite their geographical distance that separates them, have a lot in common. Another is the unmistakeable talent of the author, so strong in all of his guidebooks.

This is the only book you need for a trip to Tahiti, catering to luxury travelers right on down to backpackers. The author separates the Polynesian island chains into different sections, giving complete coverage to history, accomodations, food (including cooking local cuisine), getting there, getting around and more for each island. The maps are simply spectacular, starting with the entire region (including air travel routes) all the way down to individual island and primary city maps. In fact, individual maps even have exact, pinpointed hotel and attraction locations, an extremely useful reference during your actual trip.

The Tahiti handbook also contains useful background on this region. Topics include the coral reefs of the Pacific, typhoons, Tahiti's climate, plants, animals and local customs. Show me another guidebook that has such unique content like Polynesian dance diagrams or instructions how to buy a black pearl.

The book concludes with a complete bibliography, related Internet web pages and some useful direct email addresses of contacts in the region. Overall, I highly recommend this guide book to anyone planning a trip to Tahiti/French Polynesia, Easter Island or the Cook Islands.

Fast-moving and fascinating account of Captain Cook's three around-the-world voyages, culminating in his death at the hands of Hawaiian peoples who apparently mistook him for a god based on his ill-timed arrival and departure schedule.

The concept of leaving on just one 3-year trip in uncharted lands so far from home and family and communication with them seems even more astounding and heroic today in the age of always available, always on communication. Of course, Cook and his crew weren't always heroes, displaying at times the reflexive racism and cultural arrogance of the age of Empire that spawned the exploration in the first place. However, it is interesting to watch Cook's attitudes change and mature during the voyages.

You may want to cross-reference to Tony Horwitz' Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before which I also reviewed. Horwitz applies his witty and accessible style to a popular cultural, anthropological, historical, and gastronomical view of Cook's travel stops and his impact on them.

This book covered Cook's 3 voyages into the Pacific. Cook's drive to explore new lands and interact with the people that he met along the way was fascinating. This book did not try to judge the actions of Cook and his crew, but rather chronicled the good and the bad, describing the various attitudes of several of the crew members as taken from their diaries and accounts of the voyages.

This is an anthropologically informed history of James Cook's three voyages to the Pacific. If you are looking for a biography of James Cook, a general history of Cook's voyages, or a maritime history, this book is not for you.

The anthropological approach seems perfectly suited to these voyages since they included a number of first contacts between Polynesian and European civilization. In some cases, especially in his discussion of the artwork and the scientific approaches of 18th century Europeans in confronting Polynesia, Thomas is engaging. However.....

As some other reviewers have noted, there is an air of anachronistic academic disdain that permeates the narrative and distracts the reader from engaging the subject. I'm not quite sure what Thomas's point is in much of the contempt he has for his subject. For example, he will deride Cook et al. for misinterpreting a certain aspect of Polynesian society, and tisk at the ignorance and cultural insensitivity that supposedly malinformed this misinterpretation. After all this, you'd think he'd supply better interpretations, right? Well, sometimes yes, with all the arrogance that 250 years of hindsight will buck you up with. Yet strangely, quite a bit of this book is devoted to his own guesses and speculating about Polynesian society. Perhaps these guesses are informed by that 250 extra years of scholarship, but they are often poorly argued and unconvincing.

Read a more standard history of Cook before you read this, and then be prepared to wade through quite a bit of the ideological sludge that sullies some interesting material.

Fewer things are better than a good sea story dealing with unexplored regions of the world. Captain James Cook's British Naval expeditions in the late 1700's were some of the last expeditions to the unexplored parts of the world. For introducing the subject and telling a good story, Thomas does an excellent job of introducing the reader to the inherent problems in leading a naval and scientific expedition and first contact with Pacific Islanders.

In many ways, today's outer space missions are less complicated than Cook's expeditions.

The anthropology sections of this book are the weakest sections, but there are simply few ways to understand the native Pacific islanders of Hawaii and Polynesia and the Maori peoples of New Zealand and Aborigines of Australia.

Cook's legacy is somewhat mixed in the Pacific basin, though to his credit, he handled first contact issues as well as he probably could. His death that resulted from an altercation with some Hawaiian tribe members was a bit of a tragedy, for few of his generation had as much patience in dealing with the inherent issues of Western and native interaction.

For the reader wanting a solid introduction to one of history's greatest explorers and one of the greatest sea stories, this is a worthwhile book.

Before reading this book, most of what I knew about Captain Cook was from high school (not much) and from a vacation or two in Hawaii complete with visits to historic sites. I saw it at the library and checked it out because I am enrolled in a "Pacific Islanders in the U.S." course at my local junior college, and because I'm planning another vacation in Hawaii and want to feel more grounded in the history of the place while I'm there.
I thought the book was great. It really cut through a lot of the mythology that surrounds what most of us are taught about Cook, to the real person, with failings as well as strengths. What I loved was I felt I got both perspectives, Cook's as well as the point of view of the People he encountered on the islands. One thing I got from the book is that Cook missed a lot. His journal records his perspective, but as well-meaning as it might be, that perspective was narrow and often limited by his own background. The island kingdoms he encountered, in Tonga, Hawaii and others were politically complex, and socially and culturally rich. Power plays were being made, not only by Cook, but by the People on the beach. I thought the presentation was balanced, and fascinating, and I am grateful for having read a book that allows me to think about this moment in history, and the islands themselves, in a broader way.

I purchased this book after visiting New Zealand. Specifically, the area where Rohan was set up. I would not have bought this book otherwise, but it became a nice companion when i wanted to remember the lay of the land and the challenges one only experiences in New Zealand. To get to this place, one must walk from a road, across a cow field, through 3 rivers (ice cold and too wide to jump, mind). So for me it was worth it. If you don't have an unusual love for the films or another big reason to get this book, you're probably wasting your money.

I bought this while in New Zealand, in Mt Cook Village.

Though My wife and I hadn't planned a "Lord of the Rings Tour", we did enjoy noting when our current stop was used as filming location.

I sympathize with both Mr Brodie and the reviewers wanting more maps.

While it may not have been his intent, it is called a "guidebook", and even a casual reader like myself would have appreciated more maps. But it doesn't detract from the fact that this is a fun book, with lots of vignettes and pictures.

I've been on two trips to New Zealand and used the first guidebook on the first trip and the revised edition (after Two Towers) on the second trip. The revised edition was much improved over the original one. I visited probably 80%+ of the sites in the book between the two trips. The guidebooks give a lot of interesting trivia about filming LOTR and can certainly help you decide what to visit, how accessible it is and how to plan a route. As all have stated, the problem is that the directions get you sort of there, within a hundred meters if you're lucky, and the pictures are marginally helpful. On the second trip I brought a portable DVD player with the LOTR DVDs and I found the relevant scene in the film while I was at the location, so I could make a positive identification and not have to wonder if I was at the right rock or tree. It was particularly useful at Mavora Lakes, Poolburn and Whakapapa, for example, where so much of the scenery looks the same throughout the whole site. Otherwise, without the DVD, about the only thing to do when you get to Whakapapa using the guidebook is to just look around and know that it was used for the Mordor locations. With the DVD you can identify the exact spot where the opening title for Two Towers was filmed, among other venues. If you don't want to drag a DVD player with you, another option I would recommend is to print out screen caps from the films of those locations you really want to identify and take along a notebook filled with them. Either option is a must for identifying, for example, the Legolas rock at Deer Park Heights, particularly since the rock was flipped 180 in the film. Ian's book is a good start, but its utility will vary for each person depending on just how precise you want to be in saying "I was there."

I went to New Zealand with the book, hoping to see as many sites as I could. Everyone has the book, and everyone has the same comment - it gets you almost there. Almost just isn't good enough. But my first complaint is the scattered writing. Stick to the subject - the sites. One site is mentioned. Then a bunch of drivel, and suddenly you're reading about that site again, and this time it's different information. The book could have so much better organized. Why not put decent maps in a location guidebook? One example: we followed the written directions exactly and found ourselves at the park off Gemstone. Okay. So, where exactly along this park is the site? I searched for an hour for rock formations that matched the picture in the book and never found them. Same thing at "Rivendell". Got there, but what good is it if the exact sites are not given? We ended up going out again the next day on a tour, and told the tour guide about our trouble with the book. "Everyone says that," she said. "I see people out walking around with the book, trying to figure out the exact site. Finally they ask if they can follow me." Ian, you present this as being a location guide, and you got everyone to buy one. But I didn't go halfway around the world to get "almost" there. It needs better pictures, real maps, and better organization. Keep ALL the information about one site together, not spread here and there over several pages.
Give directions from the major city, not from the previous site. And I am still steaming over Legolas's rock at Deerpark Heights. The picture shows the VIEW from the rock instead of the rock itself. You know how many rocks are at the location? Why is the world didn't you put a picture of the rock in there so we could tell when we were in the right place? I appreciate the fact that someone even wrote a guidebook. That said, it should have been done 100%. I paid 100% of the price for it.

What a blast. We took the original edition on our tour two years ago and will be taking the extended edition this year. We also took a GPS with us and called our tour, "GPS to Mordor: there and back again," and dutifully listed the references we achieved in our trip diaries. Through unseasonal sleet and floods and snow we had more fun than anyone deserves hunting the references and squinting at the photos. "It's this tree. No No. It's that one." We went places we would never have dreamed of going otherwise, met fantastic people and saw astonishing country given a specific quality of discovery by finding the associations. Travels by quotation: "We're going to Rivendell to see the elves," was a particular triumph. The additional trivia of filming and background simply added pleasure to the reading at night while checking the next day's itinerary. Without being a textbook, we certainly found it got us where we wanted to go as close as we needed to get there (except for the parts of NZ that were under water at the time). Think of it as an invitation to get out of the house and go find your own adventures.

I have read both of Kira Salak's books and thoroughly enjoyed them. I am hoping she will write another one soon. Four Corners was great and I was able to compare much of my trip to hers (although mine was not quite as adventurous). I don't feel she spoke too much on the dangers of PNG, as one reviewer wrote. The dangers are very real and different than other countries. I also enjoyed the excerpt on her travels through Mozambique included in this book. She has a gift for writing. Hurry up Ms. Salak and write another book soon!

This book was fabulous. It kept me riveted from page one. What Ms. Salak accomplished in New Guinea (with her intelligence, guts, wit, courage and luck) is truly amazing. Hands down the best book I read all year. A true travel adventure.

The book is full of personel feelings. I read travel journals and that is what I am looking for. If I want a guide I buy a guide. I admire writers who leave the reader with an understanding of who they are as well as where they are. Ms. Salek does a fine job doing just that.

WOW! This book blew me away, and like the title of my review states, there were several times throughout where my heart was literally pounding. Any writer who can transport a reader like that knows how to write. This book is definitely among my "Top 5" favorite travel narratives.

Some reviewers suggest that there was too much inner reflection on the part of the author regarding why she was in PNG and what she was trying to reveal about herself. While this was definitely a thread running through this book, I do not believe that it takes away from the overall "picture" in any way. Any traveler who embarks on a similar trip and who doesn't reflect on why they're doing it has simply been on vacation. Those that do choose to reflect have been on a journey.

If you are a seasoned traveler to PNG, like one reviewer annoyingly overstates, why would you want to read a travel narrative by someone else about the same place? Being there is always better and I make it a point to not read books about places that I have already visited extensively. What would be the point? So, if you've spent a good deal of time in PNG you probably will not get much from this book. If not, then I highly recommend it! * Side-note: Just because you've been to a place does not neccessarily make you qualified to review a book that takes place there.

While I agree that some of the situations that Ms. Salak gets herself into do seem very dangerous she herself is honest about the immensity of these situations and does not try to down-play them in any way. Lucky for readers because this makes the book that much better. The suggestion by one reviewer that Ms. Salak in not respectful of PNG and the people that she meets there is unfounded and I do not recall anything in the book indicating that this was the case. This book is not a "PNG how-to" and the suggestion that the author's journey is irresponsible (and even unbelievable) is ridiculous, she is simply telling her story and it is fabulous! If you are looking for something to help you travel in PNG then pick up the Lonely Planet guide. If you're looking for a great adventure story that takes place in PNG then this is the book for you.

I have resisted reading Ms. Salak's second book, "The Cruelest Journey" for some time now because I will then have nothing of hers left to read and that's a depressing thought! I eagerly await more work from this author!!

This is by far the BEST travel adventure book I've ever read. The first chapter is so intense I guarantee you won't be able to put the book down! Without giving away anything from the book (you can read the description on Amazon yourself), I'll tell you this book is exciting from the first page all the way to the last. Does this woman have a death wish traveling alone through Papau New Guinea? I've read her other book, "The Cruelest Journey" and that was also incredible. I can't wait until she writes another book!