Asia Books

Dubai is changing so fast that it is important to get the most current edition. Selling this edition that was published in 1999 for $89.00 is a ripoff. The book is only worth the money if you get the 2005 edition.

The best thing since sliced bread ! The Dubai Explorer has it all, from info on your visa or driving license to where to get the best margaritas in town. A very easy to use guide which comes in handy when you want to try out a new restaurant,the guide is being updated anually which ensures that you never mis out on the latest that is going on in Dubai, even for the long time residents The Dubai Explorer is a must.

Very informative and up-to-date guide - useful for visitors and expats alike. Split into 8 broad sections the guide starts with the usual general help - including cultural and practical information. Particularly liked the summary boxes and top tips - saves a lot of time ! The hotels listing may be disappointing for visitors (just a contact list) but the guide more than makes up for this by the great Eating Out/On the Town sections, with price guide and pretty accurate reviews of restaurants and the varied nightlife. The New Residents section is essential reading for expats or potential expats - great practical information. The 'Exploring', 'Pleasure and Leisure' and 'Sporting activities' sections contain all a reader needs to know about what to do in the Emirates - without this book a visitor could miss out on many of the delights offered in this part of the world. Since shopping is a major pastime in Dubai this section of the guide is an excellent timesaving guide to the malls and the huge range of goods to buy.

Extensive index and the simple, practical layout of the guide make it easy to use. The aerial maps at the back of the book are stunning ! Dubai is a rapidly developing place and a current guide is essential - this guide contains much more up-to-date information than many other guidebooks and is thoroughly recommended for expats and visitors alike !

Eat a Bowl of Tea by Louis Chu was first published in 1961. It's a satire of New York's Chinatown's bachelor society.Characters include the Ben Loy the son of a "bachelor" father. He has been sent to China after WWII to get married. After getting married to his bride Mei Oi, they return to America where he finds himself impotent to love his traditional good wife. Another character Ah Song is a thug and a gambler who seduces Mei Oi. The story continues and basically depics Chinatown and the Chinese Americans of the time. In the novel there are examples of the language with the heavy Chinese accent. The story expresses the theme of the bachelor's society and and the morals of a traditional wife compared to a prositute. Pages 250

Truly original. There are no "oriental" stereotypes in this important book. It is purely Asian American. I'm sure it will be treasured throughout the years. Eat a Bowl of Tea came out in 1961 and it is the first Chinese American novel set in Chinese America. That alone should motivate you to buy this book. It's a shame that Louis Chu is no longer with us, he could've authored more books -- "Wow, your mother!"

After reading Louis Chu's book, much of recent work by Asian Americans seemed even more lackluster than before. Chu writes about Asian American culture with the emotional depth and dignity that it deserves. I got this book from my brother who also felt dissatisfied with the representations of Asian life a la Amy Tan, Kingston, etc. They don't seem to write with the same respect for Asian romanticism that Chu recognizes with such literary power.If you want to see an intimate, caring portrait of NYC Chinatown, start here...

I simply happen to like common Japanese cuisine (especially sashimi). But, growing up in rural Minnesota, I had no idea how to explore a sushi bar properly. I was lucky enough to find a copy of this book.

I may never need the maps, but the color illustrations & descriptions of the foods are extremely useful, & will help an "gaijin" who wants to explore the cuisine, no matter where you happen to find yourself.

This is a great book for travelers to the Far East. If you are there for the first or fifth time this book will help guide in the various dishes that are offered. It has pictures and brief discriptions ....it is pocket/back pack size and I felt truly valuable!!

Reading "Eating Cheap in Japan" is an excellent way to broaden one's culinary horizons. It contains mouthwatering pictures and descriptions of many of the inexpensive and delicious foods to be found in that exotic country, as well as the types of restaurants in which to find them. While in Japan, I recommend keeping this book on your person at all times, much like you would your passport. Indeed, it is a passport--a passport to a land of gastronomic delights.

Both a seer and an artist, Bruce Luther's Elements Of Creation is a fascinating and engaging autobiographical memoir, presenting a journey of circles -- of his discovering the cycles that embody life, space, time, thought, and death. Seemingly conflicting choices beckon at every turn, testing the human ability to remember the right path. A soulful and moving metaphysical presentation of the author's own life, Elements Of Creation is highly recommended, challenging, insightful reading.

In his autobiographical page-turner, Elements of Creation, Author and seeker Bruce Luther offers a tale of discovery that kept this reviewer revitted. That discovery occurred in India...and it forever changed his life.

Bruce Luther found the circle of life, the body in time. He writes, "The body is a vehicle for an awareness in which to experience reality. The body shifts space and time and moves it so that the awareness has a vehicle in which to see materiality. Just like the water passing by the hull of the boat, as one we pass through this awareness, the contact we make with reality has a startling impact on our direction."

Elements of Creation takes the reader, as it did the author, in and out of time cycles...sometimes into the past, and sometimes into the future. They can reveal "...every experience we have had and those yet to come." Like watching a motion picture, awareness of choices unreel exposing selections "...made from our core being, before we take a body." And so we learn that the circle of life is not life and death, but a test of our ability to remember our way."

Bruce Luther is a seer and painter. Elements of Creation is his canvas and the reader finds his words are bright splashes of color representing images he's seen since childhood. His journey into the circle dance unveiled the validation of his direction. Elements of Creation will hold you, shock you, awaken you and rid you of the beast that blocks your way to attainment!

Elements of Creation is a transformative book presenting the idea that your life is not your body, your experiences, or even an apparition. While reading this reviewer was nudged into a state of introspective meditation with a burning question-what is true reality?
The author is initiated into The Circle Dance and encounters The Beast while traveling in India with a companion. During the trip Luther discovered a mind-bending new reality about life, our body, and the concept of time and space.
With postulations such as, 'Death is a symptom of paying too much attention to time,' Reader, fasten your seat belt. It's a brilliant work, and an exciting, wondrous trip!

This book about a little boy who befriends the grouchy imperial elephant is one of the best children's stories I have ever read. The story line is simple, yet conveys a lot of messages, i.e. how Sing Lo develops empathy for the elephant's situation, how giving can be more fulfilling than receiving, how we all go to sleep more easily when we are well taken care of, etc. What a wonderfully rich book!
The illustrations in this book are absolutely exquisit. You just don't get tired at looking at them.
I have read this book many times to my sons. However, when this book was read to a group of us by another adult, I discovered so many new things I had not seen before. This is a must have for every child's library.

My daughter received this beautiful book as a gift and we enjoy reading it again and again.
The story tells of a wealthy, sometimes seemingly selfish, young boy who rather unselfishly reaches out to the emporer's elephant who has not slept since the death of his beloved master. The little boy reacts lovingly and works diligently to ensure care and rest for the sad animal.
The art is bold and each page is a museum-goer's dream. The pictures jump off of the pages and work exquisitely with the text.
I cannot do this book justice, I know. Just find and read it to your children!

Sun washed yet brilliant the unique illustrations of South African artist Jude Daly enhance this story of how a young boy learns to be helpful.

Sing Lo is the son of one of the wealthiest merchants in Peking. He's a rather spoiled child who has been cosseted since birth. One day during an outing in his rickshaw Sing Lo becomes bored, and asks his driver, Li, what might be the greatest sight of all. Upon learning that this extraordinary sight might be the Imperial Elephant, Sing Lo determines that is precisely what he wishes to see.

Cautioned by Li that the animal is reputed to be bad tempered since the death of the Emperor, Sing Lo decides to take him a gift of buns "glazed with honey and sprinkled with poppy seeds." When Sing Lo delivers them he learns that the elephant hasn't slept since the Emperor died.

What can Sing Lo possibly do to bring rest to the unhappy animal, and is he willing to expend time and energy to bring comfort to another?

This story, which is based on a bedtime tale told to the author by her father, is as relevant today as it was years ago.

- Gail Cooke

One of the co-authors; Dr. Anita Hibler of "Elephants for Mr. Lincoln" is an old friend. It seems that she and I have been in and out of Southeast Asia for most of our adult lives and I can tell you she very much loves this area of the world and the peoples who live and work in it.
The notes and Selected Bibliography are fantastic starting off points for history, economic and numismatic researchers because I do not think I have even thought of using American missionary writings as sources of research of the region, or that they even survived and are available.
One of the most notable numismatic sets of coins during the timeframe was a present to the King of Siam of a complete set of American proof coins called the "King of Siam" set. It is not mentioned but a gold sword to the King and a silver sword to the second king are mentioned. There has to be more interesting gifts.
The many, many currency transactions will be very useful to someone researching the economics of the period, and there are brief items about the French taking over parts of Viet Nam and Cambodia that are interesing hints that more is hidden in the references to it. There are also quite a bit of Confederate Navy actions in it that might not be known to those interested in that side of the Civil War.
I highly recommend this book, but as my review title is an indication, do not look for any excitement in it.

ELEPHANTS FOR MR. LINCOLN: AMERICAN CIVIL WAR-ERA DIPLOMACY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA tells of American-Asian relationships and encounters before and during the U.S. Civil War era, focusing on the individuals who fostered relationships throughout the war years. Diplomacy, trade, and changing relationships between different Asian countries are the focus of chapters surveying changing opinions, politics, and relationships both affected by and distant from Civil War events. A fascinating coverage provides college-level readers with an unusual early diplomatic history key to understanding today's Asian history.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Elephants for Mr. Lincoln is an interesting study as it places its focus on the activities of the United States government and American Christian ministry enterprises in Asia during the American Civil War.

Students of the "War Between the States" often find their education focused on both domestic issues and activities in Europe (at least I did when I took classes on the Civil War in college). The politics and the battles continue to produce large volumes of work and will continue to do so as time goes on, such is the Civil War ingrained in our historical fascinations.

This book is very well researched (as attributed by the pages of references) and finds its niche in an often overlooked part of American activity, in this case Asia. The authors underscore the dire state of our diplomatic representation and shipping industry that reduced the status of the United States in the eyes of Asian monarchs and governments. The Confederate raiders that attacked US shipping are also discussed to reflect their impact on shipping.

That lowly view of the US in Asia remained unchanged through the 1870's until around the time Ulysses Grant made a world wind tour of the region. (I think part of that is due to American focus on developing the Western Frontier after the war, and otherwise putting a lower priority on foreign issues during the two decades following the end of the conflict.) In the least it's an excellent historical research tool for anyone performing empirical in depth studies of the United States during the Civil War.

This book is simply amazing! It has virtually all the important information you will need to know on Mongolia and its history. I find it comes in handy whenever I need it and would recommend whoever interested in this part of the world buy a copy.

this is a MUST HAVE book .... great to refer to as you plow through Mongolian Travel and Adventure Books..... I'm thrilled to own it! Glad it was 'finally' published!

This is a gem of historical history of the all of the Mongols, when I mean all, I mean all - Western, Eastern, Southern, and Northern tribes from early times to the present. The book is organized alphabetically and references are made so the reader can obtain further information after each topic.

Kudos to C. Atwood in putting this together!

I would recommend this for all Mongols and non-Mongols to crasp the impact of The Mongol Empire!

If you're Mongol, you may even pick up some knowlege about your own tribal lineage.

If somebody want to know more about the history of central Asia, to read about the Great Game is a must. This excellent book explain, in a very engaging way, the latest events in the relations between Britain and Russia, concerning Persia, Afghanistan and Tibet after the 1907 entente. This relation was very complex in nature since Russia was pushing forward to broaden its empire and influence, fact that directly affected British interest in the zone, always thinking in India. So by using those "buffer" states Britain was able to contain Russia advances to a certain limit, in particular Persia that become of major strategic importance for Britain because of its oil resources. It is obvious then, that the entente didn't finish the game, it was just the best way for both empires to conduct their policies in Central Asia at the time, a fragile understanding but mostly peaceful and only finished by the Great War in Europe. All in all, a great book.

Endgame: Britain, Russia and the Final Struggle for Central Asia won the 2003 Barbara Jelavich Book Prize awarded annually for the most distinguished monograph published on any aspect of Southeast European or Habsburg studies since 1600, or nineteenth- and twentieth-century Ottoman or Russian diplomatic history.

The book prize selection committee wrote the following about this book:

Possibly the most significant contribution to Russian diplomatic history in a decade, Siegel's work richly deserves the Barbara Jelavich Book Prize. Endgame revises our understanding of the dynamics of Anglo-Russian rivalry in Central Asia, the struggle better known to its contemporaries as the Great Game. Historians traditionally believed that this Victorian Cold War ended with the Convention of 1907, as the erstwhile adversaries now joined to face the spectre of rising German power during the years leading up to the First World War.

Based on meticulous work in Russian and British archives, Siegel effectively disproves this teleological approach to early 20th century international relations. Instead, she demonstrates that the Great Game's final round came after the 1907 Convention, only to conclude as the guns of August began to sound in 1914. In the best tradition of diplomatic history, Endgame also has considerable relevance for the present by shedding light on a region that, while largely sidelined in the literature, has sadly reclaimed a central place in the news. Written with panache and confidence, Endgame is a pleasure to read.

This book reveals much to anyone who is interested in the relationship between Britain and Russia in the pre First World War period.

It focusses on the power struggle for Central Asia, an area of the world which, particularly today, is the arena for some of the most complex and important questions of international security. This work provides fascinating background to a key historical period in a region which has been so analysed in recent months.

It is obviously the result of detailed research into archives, only recently opened to the West, some of which I believe may shortly be closed once again for many years to allow renovations to take place. I can only take my hat off to Dr Siegel, for enduring what must have been many cold months in Russia, combing the various archives to produce such a detailed work.

A fascinating and thoroughly absorbing book by Dr Siegel, whose next work I await with eager anticipation.

Fantastic collection of short stories about Sikh women throughout the century and living around the world. Some of the best stories I've read about women and their need to follow honour,but also the anger and confusion this causes in a rapidly changing world. Very moving fiction. All the stories are told with excellent subtlety. A very strong recommendation for a relatively new writer of short fiction.

Probably one of the best pieces of fiction I have ever read. In fact, I asked my friends not to give me another book until it matched Singh Baldwin's quality.

The narrative and characters remain with me two years later. What more can a reader ask for?

This book is a wonderful account of the Indian (predominatly Punjabi) immigrant experience in America and Canada. The author's lyrical prose brings the reader into each character's life on an intimate level, rather than making the reader feel like a casual observer. Although most of the short stories are told from a female's point of view, readers across the board will be drawn in by the author's in depth afinity for character evolvment. The short story, Montreal, 1962, is the highlight of the collection, with it's tearful account of a Punjabi housewife's ability to see beyond the symbolism of her Sikh husband's turban.

"Reads like a movie"

Alex Kershaw's earlier books are all page turners, but Escape from the Deep takes Kershaw's considerable narrative skills to a new level. This gripping true account of the sinking of the WWII submarine Tang and the subsequent desperate--and mostly futile--efforts of the trapped crew to escape death at 180 feet underwater is so intense and involving that a reader cannot help but be a part of that crew. Description of submarine life and the emotional and psychological experiences of the crew members during and after the sinking is particularly involving, and Kershaw's signature short background vignettes of seamen and officers serves his purpose especially well in this book, making survival or death particularly poignant. Irony abounds, and Kershaw nails it without hammering it to death. Personal ethics, survival, mental toughness, fate, luck--they're all out there, and Kershaw's story brings them home in spades.

Escape from the Deep is another Kershaw tribute to a group of true American heroes, written to appeal not only to WWII aficionados but also to a generation of readers too young to remember the sacrifices of their forbears.

It's also a great read that feels like a movie.

Alex Kershaw's tale of the tragic end of the USS Tang and her crew is a most read for all generations.
Kershaw captures feelings and terror of men hunting men in an iron tube underwater.
He uses first person interviews along with other sources to weave a compelling story.
Kershaw fills in the background of supporting people and events without going "off in the weeds."
The book is a compelling read that I had to do in one sitting.

The U.S.S. Tang and its skipper, Dick O'Kane, were a legend in their time. A protege of the equally renowned Mush Morton, O'Kane blazed a trail at the helm of SS-306, sinking some 93,000 tons of Japanese shipping in five cruises and earning Tang two Presidential Unit Citations. Himself awarded the Medal of Honor, O'Kane was one of only nine survivors when Tang was accidentally destroyed by its own malfunctioning torpedo. Tang's exciting story is told in fine fashion in this latest book by BEDFORD BOYS' author Alex Kershaw.

SS-306 and its skipper have been the subject of several previous books, including one by O'Kane himself. So, when I picked up ESCAPE FROM THE DEEP, my initial thought was "What, another book on the Tang?" However, after sampling the first few pages, I was hooked yet again. Kershaw is a fine writer and this book is one great read.

About two-thirds of the book is given over to Tang's sinking and the subsequent ordeal of the surviving crew. Kershaw's recounting of the desperate efforts to survive by the Tang crewmen already in the water and others trapped onboard the sunken sub are downright harrowing. Though O'Kane and eight others were pulled from the water by the Japanese, their subsequent imprisonment was equally horrendous.

ESCAPE FROM THE DEEP will get to you. Reading of the final moments in the forward torpedo room as some men escape the doomed submarine while others lay back to await death will touch your heart. What I found especially poignant was a reminsicence from O'Kane's daughter. In his final years O'Kane suffered from Alzheimer's. On walks along the beach with his daughter, the sound of foghorns would suddenly transform the man cited as "the bravest of the brave." He would try and pull his daughter toward the water, calling out "We have to go...We have to go save them."

A wonderful tribute to some of America's finest, ESCAPE FROM THE DEEP gets my highest recommendation.