Oceania Books

This book is a great introduction to Madagascan Wildlife - it gives a breakdown of the main National Parks and Reserves and what you are likely to see at each. Another section provides (limited) details of the Madagascan fauna. While I would have liked some more detail, for the price and size it is a fantastic introductory guide.

Fabulous, novice handbook! Great photographs with basic but very purposeful text. My only problem is the owner of the "hotel" in Andisibe, down the street from the main restaurant, enjoyed the book so much I felt compelled to give it to him as a gift!

What it lacks is maps where to find each animal. Layout of the book is a little bit confusing (pictures are put on pages in chaotic manner) but otherwise a good book. It does what is supposed to: inform about different animals species, not only mammals. There is nothing better on the market right now.

This book is certainly very pretty, with excellent photographs.
It is also thin and light-weight, and does cover a little bit of everything: habitats, recommended sites to visit, mammals, birds, reptiles and insects.
As such, it is an inspiring read, and probably the best single-volume book to carry for those who only have a superficial interest in Madagadcar's unique wildlife.

However, for more serious naturalists the information it offers is far too limited. Even mammals, the best detailed group, are only discussed down to genus level, neither mentioning nor illustrating all or even most species. Birds receive a token coverage of 10 pages, and reptiles fare little better.
Even the descriptions of nature reserves can be found in the more recent, excellent and complete field guides like the Mammals of Madagascar: A Complete Guide which actually tells you where to spot every single species separately, and the similarly brilliant Birds of the Indian Ocean Islands which not only covers all the birds of Madagascar, but those of neighbouring islands too, along with recommended birdwatching sites. Fans of herpetofauna should try and get hold of A Field Guide to the Amphibians & Reptiles of Madagascar.
If you buy any of the above field guides, you will find this book a waste of money - I did.

I am planning a trip to Madagascar and found this book a very helpful review of the various parks in the country. The photos are excellent and the discussion of the various mammals are readable but provide enough information to be interesting. This is not a technical book on either mammals or ecosystems, but is a good review of both. Perhaps I was looking for too much from this book, but I would have liked more maps and a bit more guidance on how to combine trips to different ecosystems in one trip. I combine it with the Lonely Planet and can cobble together the information, but it requires quite a bit of work. I also liked the sections on reptiles and insects - many books neglect the little creatures, which can be far more interesting than mammals in some ecosystems. Overall highly recommended.

This book was fabulous. My wife and I were married in the Cooks and I found this book to be quite helpful and full of humor. As for map scale, the island is very small and you could almost throw a rock to the other side of the island. As Papa explains in the book the islanders are very nice and accommodating while working on what they claim is "coconut time".

My suggestion if on a trip to the Cooks, read Papa Mike's book and you will see for your self how easy the island was to navigate after reading this enjoyable masterpiece.

I have never been to the Cook Islands, but as I read Papa Mike's book, I felt as if I was in the middle of a trip there. He makes the reader feel life on the island as it is lived. It is very clear that he loves the people and their way of life. His stories and tips are warm with touches of humor, and yet very detailed so that the reader can easily visualize a trip to the Islands. I was impressed with the details of the accomodations or lack thereof on each island, and the details of activities and travel on each island. Mr. Hollywood has obviously spent some time living on the Islands, and after reading his book, I hope to do so, too.

Papa Mike's Cook Islands Hanbook is an exceptionally useful guide for the first time visitor to the Cook Islands. My wife and I traveled to the Cooks in July 2004, and loved it. Papa Mike's book helped us prepare every step of the way, from booking our accomodation in advance, bringing proper clothing, procedures at the airport, to very accurate reviews of local restaurants. The book details the many options for activities around the island, including the "not to be missed" Island Nights. Also included is a detail of all of the Rarotonga bus schedules, so you can quickly and inexpensively get around the island.

This book is worth every penny, and will save you tons on your trip. I give it my highest rating.

Sorry to disagree with one of the other reviewers, bu the COOK ISLANDS are NOT a "little known" island chain. I am sorry to say that the small island of Aitutaki has been over-built with INCREDIBLY expensive (for the poor service & mediocre food) resorts that charge 5 star prices (and more) and deliver 2 star service & food, pollute the fragile lagoon with OTWB (over-the-water-bungalows) that can cost $US 600+ per day. An nearby, off-shore tiny atoll (where one can go for a day snorkel picnic) is now over-run with tourists, an over-priced shack where one can stay for the night & a refreshment/food stand.

If you purchase David Stanley's TAHITI HANDBOOK you get maps, culture, history, religion, politics, flight & ferry schedules, reviews on food, dive shops, car rentals, excursions and lodging in all categories, on ALL of French Polynesia, the Cook Islands & Easter Island, all in the same book for a reasonable price. If this other reviewer had read the COOK ISLAND section in David's book he'd know that the Cooks are not a remote, untraveled island chain, but an island chain frequented by Kiwis & Ozzies who get MUCH better deals (on hotel room rates) by booking through their own local travel agents as opposed to US travel agents, and he'd also learn that sometimes, self-booking and negotiating with the smaller hotel's owners can produce a better rate, and a better experience, than relying on a US packager that wants to shove you into a pre-packaged plan that pays him/her the biggest commission. David's 25 years of traveling the South Pacific incognito makes his advice INVALUABLE. He also includes the feedback of readers, I know, I am one of them. Tahiti Handbook is more extensive and reliable than Papa Mike's or the unreliable (on price & room rates & maps) LONELY PLANET'S COOK ISLANDS.

This book, which is more of a trip report than a real guidebook is not adequate to be your only guide to the Cooks.

The most crucial failing is that the location of lodging and restuarants is not indicated on his maps. It really is helpful to know where places are located.

Looking at page 35, his map of Rarotonga, shows some districts, Muri, Titikaveka but there isn't even a scale indicator, how far is one neighborhood from the other?

He often subsitutes personal anecdotes for useful information. For instance he tells you that 3 collect calls he made to his office in California were expensive but does not really explain how the phones work in the Cooks (Kia Orana cards, etc.)

Or he writes "What Not to Take - Leave behind your hash pipe, methanthedamine, fruits, meats, cats, dogs and your nine-millimeter Uzi, for none of these are permitted." Was he padding? did he have to add some more pages? because that is just a useless waste of words.

Othertimes he relies on opinions of his fellow tourists (he admits as much himself) as in restaurant reviews.

I just feel that this was a lazy book. He went to the Cook's to write this guide and just didn't make much (or any effort) to do anything extra that would assist the traveler. He rode around on a scooter and saw some accomodations (he only lists those that have more than 4 units), if you use the Cook Island tourist Web site you can get more info and pictures.

He also describes the cross-island walk but on the Lonely Planet forum he admitted that he had not done the walk himself but only interviewed a guide. Yet he writes stuff like "The rest of us, after viewing the needle ..."

If this book is available for free somewhere, sure take a look.
He does describe taking a freighter out to Penrhyn, an interesting 4 page description that is not in Moon or LP.

I did glean one valuable thing from the book, under Courtesies and Appropriate dress he writes than one should always exchange pleasantries with a shopkeeper (Good morning, how are you?) before asking for whatever you want to purchase.

But this is not a real guidebook.

This book has some hilarious moments. I recommend it highly to anyone wanting to learn more about the South Pacific

Sean O'Reilly
Editor-at-large
Travelers' Tales

Editor of 30 Days in the South Pacific

I fell in love with the Solomons during two visits in the mid-1980s. Will Randall has captured the spirit of the islands very well.... the casualness of the process, the friendships of the locals, the dubious expats who drift in and out.

You will enjoy his British wit and laugh at his adventures and fellow islanders. A great holiday read, especially if in the tropics.

As an american i found the book to be very intresting not only for the relaxing journey though the south pacific but also for Randall's british ways, Reading solomon time made me think of Will as Hugh Grant. The conversations with the islanders were very good , the desciptions of the island scenery and people was great and i feel like i came away knowing a remote village in a far flung corner of the map, which is always an indication of a good book.

I was highly impressed with this terrifically real, but straightforward recital of events in really unusual circumstances. For example, the author did not editorialize on whether the village people working throughout the night to process their chickens, so they could obtain more material goods, was a good or bad thing. Likewise with the picture of them working in (I presume) a hot, smoky kitchen in Chicken Willys.

As a typical capitalist American, I of course would have set up the same, but I also want to ask the author: Are these good people better off as they were, or after taking up the reins of commerce?

This new author has real talent.

This book tells the rather self-deprecatory tale of an English school teacher who becomes a volunteer in the Solomon Islands. A chance meeting with an ex-colonial identified as "the commander" sends Will Randall to Rendova Island in the Western Solomons with the vague intention of helping the local villagers create some sort of income-generating project. Randall's first weeks are spent acclimatizing to the slow pace of Solomons life, until a divemaster in nearby Munda suggests he help the villagers set up a chicken farm to supply meat to the local guest houses. Despite the ethnic conflicts raging in the capital Honiara, Will Randall manages with difficulty to locate the correct breeding hens, and Chicken Willy is soon dispensing fried fast food to one and all at Munda Market. Solomon Time is a case study of the naive Westerner in a tropical location who arrives to do good and stays to go native. It's appropriate reading for anyone considering doing something similar.

Where the Forest Meets the Sea is a beautiful book. I first experienced it in 1988, when my grade 2 teacher had it as a project to read all the Australian Children's Book of the Year Award nominations to my class. Afterwards, she conducted a pole. This one was voted the most popular (and there was some pretty good competition! [e.g. Crusher is Coming])

It's the story of a young boy's adventure in the Daintree Rainforest, in Queensland, Australia, told through words and intricately designed collages. The enviromental message comes through clearly in the final question and gives kids something to think about (without being forceful).

I still enjoy reading/viewing this book today.

This is a fictional story but it is based on a real family living in a remote part of the Australian rain forest. You can only take a boat to the beach during high tide and you need to know how to navigate the reef. Unfortunately the reef is not as spectacular as it used to be. The water is not as clear because there has been run off from road construction.

Luckily the forest surrounding the homestead is all protected park land now. However, there are still outside factors that can affect the health of the water and the forest. I think this is a wonderful book and the content is age appropriate. We live in a world we have to protect and we need to honor our children by being truthful with them. The artwork is beautiful and rich and the story is closer to reality than one might think.

This fictional story shows a white father and son taking a day trip to an island off the coast of Australia. The island is rainforest. The boy and his father enjoy the wilderness surroundings. The boy plays by exploring the rainforest alone and using his imagination to think about the creatures that inhabited this place in years gone by. The illustrations are creative as they show the imagined creatures as transparent. I loved the use of illustration in this way as we "see" what the boy was imagining. The story is very nice until the end. When the boy and his father are preparing to leave for the day, the next scene shows the future when the whole island is over-populated with tourist attractions and it shows two children sitting and eating in front of a TV set. This scene is in the imagination as the buildings and such are shown in transparencies.

I loved the story until the end. I think we need to think carefully what thoughts and concepts we are putting into our children's heads. This book is for ages 4-8 and is a picture book. Can we let them have some innocence and wonder before they learn of rainforest destruction? I don't recommend this book unless you skip the last page entirely! At what age is it appropriate for a child to be worrying about destroying rainforests in the name of tourism? My issue with the book is that it gets the reader excited about the Australian rainforest then gives them a punch by warning of rainforest destruction. This is a book with a message, it is obviously written to get children to to worry about serious envionmental threats at a (TOO) young age.

A boy journeys through the rain forest and begins to fantasize about the plants and animals that lived there millions of years ago. At the end of the day, he begins to wonder how it could change in the future.
The forest in this story really exists in Australia. The artist uses relief collages for the illustrations in this book. Many of these "collage constructions" have been exhibited in art galleries around the world. This story makes the reader think about how civilization can affect Mother Nature. Finding the hidden pictures is sure to delight readers of all ages.

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This is one of Jeannie Baker's early books, first published in 1988. It's good to see that it is still in print.

"Where The Forest Meets the Sea" is truly a work of art. It is an ideal companion to her most recent work "The Hidden Forest". It is fascinating to see how her style and technique has evolved and become increasingly sophisticated over the past 12 years.

Jeannie has an unashamedly environmental message to deliver, with her simple story lines dealing with the fragility of very special, ecologically unique areas. She doesn't push too hard with the rhetoric but lets her beautiful, ultra-lifelike, 3 dimensional images provide the perfect supporting context.

Having recently seen an exhibition of Jeannie's work that provided the images for "Hidden Forest" it is clear that it is the visual power of the images that is the most effective means of convincing people of the value of a particular environment.

In the dark forest scenes there are hidden dinosaurs and aboriginal figures providing a mystical quality to the book. The message that comes through is the timelessness of the natural environment.

We are reminded at the end of the book of the potential for man to radically change the environment for the worse. It takes books like this to provide us with insights and observations that will prevent this from happening.

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I read his autobiography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways (also terrific) just before I read this book. It is apparent that the autobiography (MWWW) which was co-authored, really was Flynn's book - he probably just dictated it to the other writer credited along with Flynn. The reason I say this is because by the way that Beam Ends is written,(descriptions mainly),it is clear that Errol Flynn had a true writing talent. Flynn wrote this book when he was about 28 years old. It's a treat for the Errol Flynn fan because you can really hear him speaking throughout the book. The subject is the voyage he and a few friends made from Sydney, Australia to New Guinea aboard his boat the Scirocco. You can see how much Flynn had already lived at that tender age and also how much of a sensitive man he really was. I look forward to reading his one and only novel, Showdown, even though it didn't get great reviews. I really like the way he wrote. His desciptions are very vivid. I highly recommend this book. Men, especially, I believe will find it fascinating. It's a true adventure by one of the world's most adventurous men.

I love Errol Flynn so wanted to read his work, but it was too much sailing and fishing for my taste. He writes well, very conversational, as if you were right there sitting across the table and he were telling you stories. I liked one of his other books better, My Wicked, Wicked Ways just because it had more interesting stories to me. If you like outdoor stories, though, you will like it.

It's amazing, the power 'Television' has to control
an entire population, not only its action but thoughts as well!!
Particularly with some specific meadia!!!

It is almost Orwellian, Down Under, these days!!!

This book is a great read! It's stylish, witty, action packed and full of youthful bravado. A barely twenty year old Flynn and three chums set sail up the east coast of Australia in a sail boat Flynn acquires during a binge. While not all the details are exactly true, the nuts and bolts of his story are. You're right there with him,and at the end, wish he'd written more - before his demons dragged him down. If you're a Flynn fan, or just love a good tale, this book won't disappoint. Errol was a talented man; "Beam Ends" gives us a glimpse of what might have been.

I did not know what to expect when I ordered this book. I found that I enjoyed the wonderful adventure described as well as the language used to convey it. It is a great first book for a then twenty-something author. The characters, the passion for sailing and the descriptions of even the smallest of plants and sea life come alive vibrantly. The author clearly read and learned from the classics, and his wonderful, sharp sense of humor comes through with precise, but natural, timing. This is a book that one will truly enjoy reading over and over again. Errol Flynn's second novel "Showdown" is also a fantastic, entertaining read that is again, full of life, passion and clarity and a book worth reading many times over. Mr. Flynn was a multi-talented man whose talent for writing and storytelling should have been supported and encouraged. His "devil may care" attitude and behavior offscreen masked the damage and insecurity caused by a sad childhood and upbringing. It is unfortunate that he was typecast and that tabloid writers seemed to relish riding the coattails of his fast-rising star and then proceeding swiftly to strike him down.

One of the best guides we have used. Lots and lots of helpful information. Accurate. Good history. Made our week in Easter Island with a car and no guide a very rewarding experience.

I traveled to Easter Island in November, 2005 and this book was essential for planning the trip. None of the major guidebooks such as Lonely Planet or Rough Guides devote more than a few pages to Easter Island, but The Complete Guide to Easter Island is as good as its name implies. The book has a section titled Practical Matters that lists hotels and guesthouses on the island. The guesthouses are not reviewed, but the addresses, websites and email addresses are listed which is helpful. Restaurants are listed as well, but the most helpful part of this section is the discussion of prices so that you know what to expect.

Buy this book for the section about the history of the island. The author is passionate about Easter Island and it shows in his writings about the history of the people and the Moai. If I had not read the history, I would have missed out on a lot while I was touring the island. The author goes as far as including appendices about the Rapanui language.

However, the most important section of the book is the description of the sites on the island. The descriptions are short, but are hugely beneficial if you are touring on your own. (I don't like tour groups and so I rented a jeep). Plus the book includes a map of the island and sites which proved to be more useful than the map we got on the island. The author even includes a suggestion for five days of touring on your own. Really good stuff.

Easter Island is an amazing place. Give it time so you can explore. We rented a car and had a tremendous experience during the seven days were on the island. But, I really believe that my experience on Easter Island would have been lessened if I had not had this book to help with the history and to understand what it was I was seeing.

If you are planning a trip to Easter Island, this book will be a very small part of the cost. It is an investment you wont regret.

I can not understand why anyone could be helped by this book. Most of the texts are an expression about how the author have problems with the results of the Heyerdahl expedition and researches . While not being an archaeologist himself Laughlin make statements what is the right thing of history and about all archaeological remains - absolutely questionable why anyone should read this. The counting of archaeological sites is without concern to the areas of the island - one have to investigate these on a map with tremendous work.
One big part of the book is due to the Island's language. What kind of traveller is learning Rapa nui? That is my question to the author.
Forget this book.

Together with Lonely Planets(LP) guide on Chile/Easter Island, this guide basically tells what you need to know about the island. (Reading Thor Heyerdahl books will of course be usefull supplements to these 2 books).

Very good description on the historical facts (not very up-dated on Thor Heyerdahls writings: the birdman and the DNA issue) and an extensive guide to the different sites on the island.

The coverage (about 20 pages) of the different hotels, car rentals etc. under "practical matters" is a bit useless. The book does not tell anything about how good/bad the different hotels, car rentals are. The LP guide is much better on this.
Have a very enjoyable reading.

This guide book has it all. It is up to date, complete, comprehensive. There is a dictionary of the Rapanui language and fold out maps in color.
If you are planning a trip, it is indispensible.

Helped me understand the wider implications of the civilisation's actions in their little microcosm.

Demystifies and explains the rise and fall of the once great (albeit small) Rapa Nui community that once inhabited Easter Island by explaining, through forensic and historical research, the destruction they reaped on themselves.

You would think from the title that this is book is actually a flaming, guilt-ridden treatise on environmentalism. But such is not the case. It is in reality a well balanced handling of all aspects of Easter Island. Yes, Thor Heyerdahl and his theories are covered but so is going on vacation there and where to stay. If there is something you would like to know about Easter Island, this book probably covers it in a most readable fashion.

Reviewer: A reader
I have to disagree with the previous reviewer about the debunking of Heyerdahl being "excessive". The debunking is limited to only one or two chapters. For readers like me who have read Heyerdahl, this debunking was important because of the attractive neatness of Heyerdahl's theories as he had presented them.

The book is very well organized, with a good selection of photographs and diagrams.

The book's title and the previous review may give the impression that the book is primarily about environmental lessons we can learn from what happened to Easter Island, but in fact it is the best introduction to Easter Island studies that I have seen.

Only the final chapter is about lessons for humanity. The authors' arguments here are elevated by their citing of the well-known Club of Rome study on the Limits to Growth. All of its predictions for the 1990s did actually come true. A fact that is very clear to anyone who has read the actual report. The people of Easter Island flourished and lived well up to the very end when the crash finally hit from their overusing the island's resources. A sad tale, and now a sad history for an interesting vacation spot.

This fine book is the most complete treatise on Easter Island available. It covers all the island's most fascinating aspects, including its geological history, the question of the origin of the Rapa Nui people, flora and fauna, and of course, most importantly, the archeological remains. The writers illustrate how a complex interplay between the natural environment and human behaviour created the island's unusual prehistory, including the demise of the statue cult. Although there are still many unanswered questions about the moai (giant statues) this book gives the qualified answers or at least suggestions as to how these things came to be. It wisely leaves behind all sorts of pseudo-scientific theories and bases its discussion on real archeological evidence, of which there today exists a substantial amount. The only unfortunate thing about the book is the slightly misleading title.

I have to disagree with the previous reviewer about the debunking of Heyerdahl being "excessive". The debunking is limited to only one or two chapters. For readers like me who have read Heyerdahl, this debunking was important because of the attractive neatness of Heyerdahl's theories as he had presented them.

The book is very well organized, with a good selection of photographs and diagrams.

The book's title and the previous review may give the impression that the book is primarily about environmental lessons we can learn from what happened to Easter Island, but in fact it is the best introduction to Easter Island studies that I have seen.

Only the final chapter is about lessons for humanity. The authors' arguments here are diminished by their citing of the well-known Club of Rome study on the Limits to Growth. None of its predictions for the 1990s came true, and this should have been clear by 1992, the year of this book's publication. The authors make no mention of that inconvenient fact.

P.F. Kluge captures the essence and the flavor of Micronesia, from the Federated States of Micronesia to Palau and Saipan, CNMI. Th author worked as a Peace Corps member and helped to write the Constitutions and public speeches. He returned a generation later and found that the American efforts and aid turned "a fish and taro" subsistence economy into a "Spam and cheese cargo cult." I would liked to have read about America's accomplishments, which there are many, discussed more in detail. Of course, he covers all the craziness of the politicians and their selfish motivations, and also talks about some of the special, favorite people in the islands. If you like the islands (anywhere) you'll relate to this narrative and enjoy the writing. I found his recollections realistic and found the overall book entertaining and educational. Recommended reading.

B.C. has got to be right as he's the only attorney in all of the world to have witnessed Northern Virginia, Vietnam with the USMC, Europe, GMUSL, and Saipan and lived to give such a review. Go Bill.

I've been living in Palau for over four years and finally got to reading this book. What a pleasure to sit on my balcony in the warm air reading this brilliant book. A really good laugh at times.

I have a nightmare that I will leave Palau and then not find my way back. This book is about someone who faces that nightmare.

Wonderful insights, of course things move along and Palau is not the Palau of old. I know the author recently re-visited Palau, I'd be interested to know if he found it as welcoming as always.

I know a budding author here who is keen to follow in his footsteps in terms of retelling Palau in a foreigners words. I only hope she uses the respect and humour this author chose to use.

Good book.

Having lived and loved and worked and traveled in Micronesia for nearly 10, unforgetable and unregretable years; having known people who knew P.F. Kluge during his Peace Corps journalism years and closely known some of the principal personalities in "Edge," I can vouch for the book's veracity. However, it reads more like enchanting fiction, without romanticizing, than merely an engaging factual account. I can recommend, without reservation, this delightful read to anyone contemplating visiting or relocating on an employment contract to these islands. It's much cheaper than a plane ticket and provides a preview of what to realistically expect, unlike travel or recruiting advertisements. For better or worse, it will assist in deciding if you are able to fit into small island life.

I am reading P F Kluge's book on loan from a friend. Not only is it entertaining prose but it is perceptive, fresh and even 10 years on very relevant. Although it is written around a trip to the islands, this is no travel book. It is hard nosed social commentary.

Fortunately I am working in Micronesia, with people who remember Kluge. This makes the book more personally relavant. His observations are sometimes stark and even biting, almost to the extent of being satirical. They are not however untrue. Perhaps in their vividness they overpower other more positive aspects of Micronesia as it is for Micronesians.

This should be mandatory reading for anyone dealing with the renegotiations of US funding support for FSM and other Compact countries. I am finding that all too often it is convenient to forget the history of US involvement here and how the impacts of decisions made in Washington and elsewhere in the Trust Territory administration are as much to blame for the 'mess' here as is the conduct of this small population of Micronesians.

I am just a short term Aussie with no liver spots, so I can say these things. Mr Kluge is an American and states them with the clarity of an outsider and the intimate knowledge of an insider.

Find out what happens to the tails of turkeys, why it is dangerous to have sex in Chuuk, how to identify a Peace Corp volunteer by the look in their eyes. This book has it all.

While outsiders trickle into their idea of an island paradise, Micronesians flow out to their idea of a consumer paradise. Only occasionally do we really meet. When that happens you have lasting friendships which Mr Kluge's book chronicles so well.

Enjoyable enjoyable enjoyable. I will read it many times after I depart in a years time because it captures images of the recent social history islands so well.

Stlyistically this book is palatable to the novice historian who's looking for something beyond "the facts". The author successfully entertains the reader with a melodic progression through the history of a former transient,esoteric, people from outside the bosom of europe. Using the natural tendency of everyone to root for the underdog the reader is lead with elequent prose to read through the successive chapters hoping for the proud and stalwart Magyar to be vindicated with victory only to be denied--but, its history.
"Victory in Defeat" is used often by the author revealing how the history of the Magyar was defined not so much by themselves but by their neighbors. From the defeat of these horseback raiders by the Germans more than a thousand years ago forceing them to leave their hunter gatherer past and accept a agrarian existence, to the crushing defeat under the unstopable juggernaut of Stalins USSR, these people have been forged into a community of realists with the spectre of "what could of been" standing on their souls. Subjugated by no less then the Germans and Turks, and defeated by the Russians at two crucial points in time its ironic that the author reveals that the darkest days of Hungary were not under the heel of a foreigner but from a Hungarian of Jewish decent in the communist post WWII days. Its odd that the author seems critical of the few times in its history Hungary persued a self propagating ideal, especially in the Magyarization period during the later half of the nineteenth century and the nationalistic "Horthy" years.
I think this book falls short in two places. First, it follows a contemporary line of seeing history through the eyes of the most famous and or privlidged personalities of the times they lived which can be a deceptivly narrow perspective, though it can make a more dynamic read. It was refreshing when the author did elucidate the commoners lot during significant periods in Hungary's history, but not enough for my liking. Of course the farther back in histroy the author reaches the harder it is to gauge the average mans life due to lack of info but it should really be the foundation of any historical accounting. Secondly I came away unsatisfied that the Hungarian history is properly expressed due to the fact that a Magyar perspective is relayed from non Magyars of either German or Jewish decent. At the end of the book the author lists a number of persons who left Hungary and made significant contributions to the many sciences but often revealed their non Magyar decent. Thus I can only come to the conclusion that only a true Magyar could relate what is and what is not Magyar and who is and who is not a succesfull Magyar. This book is definatly worth the price and worth owning. But I'd suggest reading as many Hungarian historical books as thier are availabe to gain a rounded view of this elusive people's culture history.

I often wondered why Hungary and Hungarians have such poor public relations, particularly in the US. Unfortunately, this book fails to answer that question. It is a fascinating read, if only because it gives, (in parts) a refreshingly different perspective. In others, unfortunately, the Communist-era interpretation of the author's sources is painfully evident. The many details in the narrative are interesting, partly because the selection of the details reveals the author's biases. There are a number of translation errors I found in the book which naturally led to faulty conclusions. P.e. "Honved"(seg)(hon=home, vedni=to defend) is not the militia, it's the standing army. "Nemzet orseg," (nemzet=nation, orseg=guard) is the militia. All in all however, it was worthwhile to read through the book. It will lead those, who are not familiar with the Magyars to some understanding of the background of this nation although will leave them feel shortchanged in understanding their psyche. I sent a copy of the book to both of my (adult) children together with a 16 page commentary.It is a laudable effort on the part of author Lendvai and by and large I believe it will benefit the Hungarians' image as well.

Well written, detailed, and fascinating history of this often beleaguered but important people and country. My interest is mostly in Ural-Altaic linguistics, which includes Hungarian, which belongs to what is called the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic sub-family, which contains Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian, but I also found I enjoyed picking up some history about the Hungarians and their culture, too. I already had the basics and knew about when they'd first arrived in eastern Europe, and about their later wars with the Tatars, Turks, and Russians, but I learned quite bit more about it from this book.

A little aside here, Hungarians have contributed disproportionately, relative to their numbers, to modern math, physics, and other areas of science. They include greats like mathematician Paul Erdos, who founded the area of discrete mathematics, worked in many areas of pure math, and may have been the most prolific mathmematician who ever lived, with 1500 papers; John von Neumann, who developed game theory and was the inventor of the electronic computer; Edward Teller, the "father of the H-Bomb," and Bela Julesz, a mathematical psychophysicist and researcher in the field of visual perception, and recipient of the prestigious MacArthur "Genius Award." And last but not least, Andy Grove, the former President and CEO for 20 years of Intel Corporation, the famous computer chip-maker, was Hungarian also.

Interestingly, although I'm not Hungarian myself, I have a few connections to some of the above. I'm related to Ernest Lawrence, who invented the cyclotron, or atom smasher, which made possible critical technology for the building of the atom bomb, without which there wouldn't have been the later hydrogen bomb. Lawrence won the Nobel Prize in 1939 for his invention. I worked at Intel for several years, and met Andy Grove. And my immediate boss at Intel was Hungarian too, and he and I used to discuss Hungarian history and culture occasionally, which he used to get a kick out of, since I was the only non-Hungarian he knew with any interest in it.

I also had the pleasure of travelling around Hungary and most of the eastern-bloc countries back in the early 80s, before the wall came down, and found the Hungarian people both worldly and hospitable. It's said that because of their turbulent history, Hungarians approach life realistically and without illusions, and I think I can say this is certainly true based on my own experience.

But getting back to the present book, I wanted to mention one other interesting fact about the Hungarians, which is that they are most closely related to the Ostyak tribes of Siberia. The Ostyaks have the distinction of being the only tribes and villages the Communists couldn't take over and subjugate, and their villages remained politically independent of Moscow throughout the entire communist period.

This book is a well rounded look at a thousand year old country.
It not only tells the story but gives the flavor of people and the times they lived in.

I only regret that the length of the book limited the author in the amount of details he could include.

Hungarian history is largely omitted from college-level courses, at least as a focus on its own: European journalist and television commentator Paul Lendvai corrects this omission with The Hungarians: A Thousand Years Of Victory In Defeat, a comprehensive focus on the Hungarian people once known in Europe as 'huns'. Hungarians became defenders of the Christian West and fought many freedom battles: The Hungarians traces their many achievements, their country's changing history, and how the Hungarians have survived as a people against all odds.

Zubrin makes a very good example of how it could be done. The snag is, that he reaches so far in the future, that it is impossible to imagine it as anything else than science fiction. I would have prefered to have some ideas developed about the colonization of the outer solar system. On the other side, the section about Oort cloud settlements has been thrilling. All in all, it's a very good book and certainly worth the investment buying it.

I found Islands in the Sky a very entertaining, enlightening and uplifting book to read. It boldly addresses a wide range of subjects dealing with space exploration and appears to come up with concrete answers! There is an underlying optimism in the whole book that given human ingenuity, anything is possible. This is a far cry from the many 'post-modern' books that crowd store bookshelves seeking to convince us that science is not the answer, that mankind is bad and its actions are always in conflict with the environemnt. This book speaks to those of us who believe that we are the masters of our universe.

Some chapters are too abstruse and perhaps only for the specialist, but most of the book is eminently readable. A must for every space enthusiast.

I'm giving this five stars for the benefit of the chapters by Robert Zubrin and Martyn Fogg, which are ingenious and daringly original analyses of astronautic engineering and terraforming, respectively - each is the godfather of his field. The other material ranges from curiously quirky but not well-thought out (on terraforming Venus) to the kind of worthlessly unintelligent and uninteresting speculations you might expect to overhear from some goon at the bookstore but not to read in print (see the chapter on settling the Oort Cloud). This book was assembled as a "best of" selection from Analog; in a better world it would have been edited by the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, which would have known where to make the cutoff. Still, the good entries are fantastic enough to be well worth the purchase price.

The book deals with ideas about making space travel easy and colonizing space simple. The first few chapters deal with getting out of the gravity well we call Earth with known science and equipment. The next deal with using the resources that could be found on the Moon, Mars, Mercury and even the Oort Cloud (as well as planting a few colonies here and there)with the knowledge we have and the equipment we could have soon. After that is starts to get harder to picture doing all this projects with current technology. By chapter 8, for explain, we are dealing with terraforming and star engineering. Near the end of the book, starting with chapter 11 we are talking about interstellar space ships and the economices of interstellar commerce. But by than, you think all of it can be done! Each chapter helps to hold up the next one. For example, cheap, easy ways to get into space would cut the cost of space travel and allow for the next step which is exploring the planets and finding resources to help the next step.

This book is an excellent collection of essay by the leading producers of cool, far-out ideas alive today. Just reading it will expand your horizons and help you look at the final frontier in a new way.

Some of the essays, such as G. Harry Stine's on Single-Stage to Orbit spacecraft, are on near-term science and technology. Other essays, such as "Islands in the Sky," are longer-term and closer to science fiction. All are good.

My personal opinion is that the asteroids -- not the planets -- are the future of mankind, so the Mars-exploration essays by Zubrin et al. I found less enthralling. But you Mars fans out there NEED this book.

The essay, "The Economics of Interstellar Commerce" alone makes this book worth the cost.

Although I enjoyed John Lewis's _Mining the Sky_ more (simply because my bent is toward the asteroids), this book is better written and required reading. 4 stars.