Africa Books

I am one of the many fortunate people to have visited the Texas Museum of Natural History. Doubly fortunate in that "Lucy" was on exhibit.
I am not one to just observe and not have many questions, i knew i would find a book about her in the gift shop. What better than to read the account actually written by the one who found her!!
This story takes one through the in's and out's of anthropology,geology,personalities,and intricacies of the search for our past.It was easy to understand and became a book i could not put down.
I had to keep reminding myself this story was in 1974 and written in 1981.
I am now interested in books that have filled in the time period from 1981-I hope they are written by Johanson, or in this style.

This book is great. It outlines the dicoveries in Africa of the earliest hominids, our ancestors. It is very interesting and written in a manner that makes it want to be read, like a good fiction story, except it's science. Science that can be read by anyone and enjoyed because it is written in a style that makes it easy to understand.

How did we (humans) come about is a mystery that is intelligently discussed, and the story of how Lucy was found and how she fits into our evolutionary past is a story that should be read by any seeking answers to who we are.

Johanson's work definitely changed dogma. His story is very interesting. I recommend books by others (e.g. Leakey) to prevent being biased by Johnason's hypotheses alone.

If you are only going to buy one book on paleoanthropology, don't make it this one. If, however, you are interested in seeing the progression of paleoanthropological thought and getting a first-hand account of the process of excavating and surveying millions-of-years-old sites, it would be hard to find a more satisfying read.

Much of Johanson's work is quite thorough. He goes to great lengths to lean on the specialized knowledge of experts in many different areas of science, and does a beautiful job of weaving them together for a plausible view of our "ancestor", as he refers to the title skeleton find, a 40% complete skeleton of australopithecus afarensis. Of course, no respectable modern paleoanthropologist would consider Lucy to be our ancestor today, but Johanson's analysis is interesting nonetheless.

Another of Johanson's follies is his dependence upon "the Lovejoy hypothesis" of bipedal locomotion being a biological response to a need to carry food and tools. While this is interesting in and of itself, I would recommend reading Richard Leakey/Roger Lewin's rebuttal to Lovejoy in their "Origins Reconsidered..."

Overall, this book is best described as a historical document. Much of its scientific value is reduced to an example of how controversial the major finds of human ancestors will always be.

As a reader who has a sparse knowledge of anthropology, I can say this book was a pleasurable and informative read.

Dr. Johanson divided the book into a prologue and five parts. The prologue describes the events of November 30, 1974, the day Lucy was discovered. The first part covers a brief background to the earliest fossil finds and is invaluable to any reader who is interested in who's who among some of the earliest scientists working on human origins. Part two covers his actual field expeditions to East Africa. During his first field season, Johanson became concerned about financing when his original grant of $43,000 was dwindling away. It is interesting to note, as Johanson describes about anthropology, that science is more than just field work and analysis. There is political, financial, and human relation issues that need to be mastered for the mission to succeed.

I found part three, the analysis of Lucy, to be the most compelling. Johanson includes Le Gros Clark's paper and accompanying illustrations to highlight eight differences between chimpanzee jaws and human jaws. Knowledge of these differences were of immeasurable value in the analysis of an australopithecine jaw. Part four delivers a brief account of how our ancestors began to walk upright. I found this to be interesting but highly speculative. The final section includes drawings of how australopithecus afarensis may have appeared.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone with a desire to know more about human ancestors and how a paleoanthropologist proceeds in uncovering our past.

dinesen/blixen was a true, living Scheherazade. this is an astounding collection of stories within stories within stories within stories. beautifully, elegantly written and set in various european locales, starring wonderfully alive characters straight out of fairytales, dreams and myth. these are strange, magical narratives (novellas, to be a stickler) with a modern sensibility. brimming with metaphors that will make you pause. kind of a cross between e.t.a. hoffman and a.s. byatt. definitely going to read more of her stuff.

This is a demanding work of seven multilayered and esoteric stories in this, Dinesen's first book.

We know of Dinesen more commonly by way of Meryl Streep, who played Dinesen, or the Baroness Karen Blixen, in "Out of Africa." But the woman we find here as the author of these stories is no easily-understood, Hollywood character. Her stories within stories are rich in symbolism, imagination, and a "long ago and far away" feeling that is carefully, carefully, controlled by the author. Dinesen wrote some of these tales in Africa, and finished others along with ordering the book back home in Denmark, after her farm had failed. She wrote, interestingly, in English (and did her own translations back into Danish later on). Many books follow this one, including LAST TALES and, of course, OUT OF AFRICA. Dinesen, while the heroic, strong, individualist of Streep's portrayal, is also kind of strange, introspective, and fabulously bizarre. She uses her stories' plot lines as a means, one feels, to work out her life philosophies, reshape and recast ideas and symbolic imagery, and impart creative insights. After getting to about the fourth or fifth story, one can see that she uses the same imagery repeatedly and even the same turns of phrase.

I have read this volume at least once before, and wanted to go through it again knowing just that much more literature and biblical references. (It helps to be well read in the classics when reading Dinesen.) Anything is up for her use, and if you don't see it, something will be lost to you as you interpret the stories and what they meant, or even, what happened. She loves Shakespeare (OUT OF AFRICA was written in five sections, after the five-act structure of Shakespearian drama), and Don Giovanni, she has interesting ideas about femininity and independent women, and symbolizes these issues with women who are doll-like, women who seem as if they can fly, women who are witches in some way or another, etc. She likes to toy with the mind of God, as well, having characters pronounce his proclivities, likes and dislikes, etc., quite often. I found these to be some of the most interesting passages, after some of the gender-defining ones, that is. (She chose her pseudonym, "Isak," as it is Hebrew for "He who laughs" and she definitely plays with many ideas here, many humorously.)

Of the seven tales (The Old Chevalier, The Roads Round Pisa, The Monkey, The Supper at Elsinore, The Dreamers, The Poet, and The Deluge at Norderney), The Roads Round Pisa is my favorite, and I have studied it for a graduate class. In the book, a mistake is the central event, and we learn of it only at the end. Our main character, Count Augustus Von Schimmelmann, is writing a letter to a friend, when a carriage accident occurs in front of him. An old woman, who seemed at first to him to be a man, is injured and asks that he go and seek out her granddaughter so that she may forgive her for an estrangement before she dies, as she believes she will do shortly. Augustus sets out for Pisa and in an inn meets a young man, with whom he engages in an interesting conversation. Soon, however, he finds out that this man is a woman, and whereas before he had been asking "him" for help in finding his way into the city, now he offers her his assistance as a gentleman. Their subsequent conversation holds a particularly compelling passage I have never forgotten. In it, Dinesen explicates a concept of women's differences, physically, psychologically and societally, from men through the artful use of the host and guest metaphor.

This passage is a key to the story's mood when toward the end the mistake around which the characters swirl is revealed. But the passage is also an interesting philosophical and societal analogy that provokes thought and discussion. This is, then, quintessential Dinesen.

The other stories deal with identity and loss (The Dreamers), a ghost who is allowed to rise up from hell whenever the sound between Denmark and Sweden freezes over (Supper at Elsinore), the mirage of lost love (The Old Chevalier), poetry and power (The Poet), the societal roles of women (The Monkey), and identity (The Deluge at Norderney), but these are very brief and basic categorizations. One could safely say that all the stories deal with many of the others' main themes. The book as a whole is an excellent study of the power of fiction to suggest and manipulate, with beautiful, evocative writing and deep and stirring underlying meanings. I recommend it.

These are strangely compelling stories, all of which evoke a sense of mystery and poetry. Floods and monkeys, skulls and puppet shows, vie with each other and figure here in short works that are too realistic for fables but too bizarre to be mistaken for reality.

Gothic surrealism might be the best way to describe the tone achieved by the author, whose real name was Karen Blixen (made familiar to modern audiences by the film "Out of Africa"). This is a reissue of a volume that first appeared in 1934.

Borrowing the author's phrase, each story is "like an echo in the engulfing darkness." Atmospheric and brooding, these tales are part Poe and part Brothers Grimm. Exotic in characterization as well as setting, we are introduced to a polyglot collection of virgin nuns and wandering n'er do wells, who cling to rooftops and journey on rhino-horn laden dhows.

Escape from the ordinary world is promised and delivered, but somehow, the people in these stories also remind us of people we know and situations that might not be as straightforward as we have assumed. A scarf may not be a scarf. The wind may be more than the wind. A scarf blown in the wind recalls to one character the memory of a little white snake -- madness is hinted at, at every turn.

They are seven distinctive tales. Yet, the evocation of place, the depiction of eccentricity, the precariousness of life, suffuse them all. They are magnetic and memorable. Even so, some readers may find the tales a bit too weird for their tastes.

If you find this review helpful you might want to read some of my other reviews, including those on subjects ranging from biography to architecture, as well as religion and fiction.

Years ago, I wrote a review on Amazon for Karen Blixen's _Winter's Tales_, where I observed that it was the equal of this book. I have no reason to revise that estimate, but feel I should point out that this book is extremely fine, and should not be ignored by people who like good writing and aren't scared off by a bit of melodrama.

The title of this review tries to make a small point: Blixen didn't write her stories with notions of the prevailing literary fashions in mind. She wrote them as she felt them, and she used a style and technique that harken back to earlier writers. In her introduction to the book, Dorothy Canfield, attempting to characterise this style, made reference to an array of writers from E.T.A. Hoffmann to Robert Louis Stevenson and Thomas Mann. Although I think the reference to Mann has merit, the truth is Blixen was genuinely unique. She doesn't really have any real imitators, either, although I've seen a number of writers allude to being influenced by her.

Back to this book: it was her first volume of short stories. Not many writers hit gold on their first book, but Blixen managed it. There was no 'prentice work as prelude, just a stream of mature works of art from this book onward.

And, goodness, she could *write*. The prose is eloquent, forceful, and full of striking phrases, images, and observations. The stories are all set in the 19th Century, and many contains elements of the gothic (hence the title) and sometimes the gruesome, as well as modernist irony and psychological insight. When it comes to characters, plots, and situations, virtually everything in the book seems beyond the ordinary. Clearly, the writer wasn't afraid to take chances. The amazing thing is that she wins most of her fictional gambles.

The first story in the book is "The Deluge at Norderney," where we have a cast of characters that seem out of Hoffmann by way of Byron, put into an extreme situation, and forced to come to terms with questions of illusion and reality in life. This story is my absolute favorite; it may not be the "best." It certainly sets the tone.

Besides "The Deluge...", the stories I'd single out for special praise are "The Monkey," "The Poet," "The Supper at Elsinore," and "The Roads Round Pisa." The remaining 2 stories in the book are a pleasure to read, although I don't feel that "The Dreamers" entirely comes off; Blixen reused the heroine of this story later in ways that lead me to think she was invested with some sort of personal significance for the author; perhaps that's why it seems less well controlled. The shortest story, "The Old Chevalier," is pleasant but feels slighter both in size and content than its companions.

Blixen's other books of stories are interesting-to-fascinating. Each book has its attractions. Admirers of this book might find _Winter's Tales_ worth their time. _Anecdotes of Destiny_, which contains "Babette's Feast" and "Tempests," is a fine collection, too, and has grown on me with the years. It isn't quite at the level of achievement of _Seven Gothic Tales_ or _Winter's Tales_, but then, how many books of stories are?

Why isn't I. Dinesen's work more widely known and accepted in the modernist pantheon? Her reputation seems to have settled into that of oddball literary personality and vehicle for Meryl Streep, however the work itself would have eluded me, despite a decent education in high school and university (for example, I was given Hesse and Camus to read in 10th grade, why not Isak?)had I not been attracted to this title in a dusty library. The work is about as anti-Hollywood as I could possibly imagine. Perhaps the answer is, she is not really a modernist but some sort of high baroque romanticist belonging more in the 19th century world of German prose; the "layering of stories" effect, especially in "Roads to Pisa", reads like she is channeling the world of Jan Potocki, enigmatic author of "The Saragossa Manuscript," who like Casanova moved in that incredible world of the international bohemian intellectual elite that Rexroth describes so well somewhere in one of his essays; that world of post-chaises and midnight rendezvous and military officers with seemingly endless resources of money, brains, education and cunning ... in fact "Saragossa" and Casanova's "Memoirs" were the books that came to my mind as I read her...reading this stuff is like eating a chocolate eclair with a brain more powerful than yours will ever be...why aren't there writers like this anymore? Was it all only a dream?

I know the book and it's very good like all the books of carol beckwith,it's the only one i didn't got ,but i am still waiting for the delivery....

If you're considering a trip to the Motherland, definitely buy this book! The pictoral essay translates a million cultural norms and customs for the Westerner/Asian. These images are "provocatively considerate" of the ancient peoples of Eastern Africa, which is unusual. These images also transport you back to a time when (in my opinion) Mankind lived simpler, easier lives.

I really enjoyed the images of the Christian influences including the rock churches of Ethiopia.

If you are interested in Ethiopia, this book provides a pictured guide to the country, its history and its sites. The photography is amazing.

A land now wracked by famine and war, the region of Ethiopia and the surrounding countries which make up the Horn of Africa, have a rich and diverse cultural history. The coastal areas have been in close contact with the outside world for centuries, linked by trade with Arabia, China and India. Ethiopia itself is situated in more remote highlands and has enjoyed protection from foreign influences, for an even longer time. The are archaic forms of Christianity and Judaism, pastoralist groups, hunter-gatherers and farmers and they have lived undisturbed for hundreds of years. Until the twentieth century, Ethiopia was the only African country to have successfully avoided Western imperialism.

And here is a book of superb photographs of the land and its different peoples by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher. The text by Graham Hancock is unusually helpful giving the historical background so necessary to take in these startling photos. A wonderful book, beautifully designed, published by Abrams, it is well worth its published price of $75.00 to anyone interested in Africa.

As a repeat visitor to beautiful Ethiopia, and a pretty darn good photographer, the last thing I want my friends to do is to pick up this book before they see MY pictures. My best ones are drab next to this fabulous work of Fisher and Beckwith. So many books on Ethiopia cover either just the north, with it's religious architecture and history, or just the south with its beautiful tribal people only recently touched by the encroachment of modernity. But this book covers it all, and stunningly so. If you can afford only one book of glorious photography on tribal Africa, make it this one. There is a reason for the consistent 5-star ratings.

(Later note: two newer books by different authors/photographers focus just on the tribal areas of the Omo Valley in southern Ethiopia. If that's your interest, then also check out Gianni Giansanti's "Vanishing Africa" and Hans Silvester's "Ethiopia - Peoples of the Omo Valley.")

My son had to pick two books off of a large list to read over the summer for school. After reading the other reviews of this book, we picked it. It was a wonderful choice. The book was very interesting, fast paced, well written and easy to read. I read it in 3 hours, and my son was able to read in in a few nights without any complaints of boredom.

If any literary giant needs to have his work adapted to film, it is Myers. As one of the premier writers of fiction for juveniles, the author has added another significant piece to his long line of classics. This one tells the story of a little-known African princess who comes under the wing of England's legendary Queen Victoria.

Not only does the book reveal the horrors of the African slave trade, the atrocities that some tyrants inflict on their enemies, and the class system that pervades much of a "civilized" society, it is a marvelous tale of a girl who overcomes such obstacles and becomes the darling of English society.

Although Sarah's life is brief, it is a memorable one as the character grows from frightened child to a loving mother.
I am recommending that all my students read this book as well as others by Myers. Now, if only someone in "Tinsel Town" would discover this fine author.

I'd much rather see his stories on the big screen than any about a teenaged wizard.

"At Her Majesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian England" tells the life story of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, who was born an African Egbado princess, captured by rival Dohamans and taken to Dahomey to be murdered in a ritual sacrifice, rescued and adopted by a British naval captain, taken to England and presented to Queen Victoria, and raised under the Queen's protection in England and Sierra Leone. This handsome book is a very fine biography for young readers; it includes many excerpts from Sarah's letters and the Queen's diaries, as well as historic illustrations. Relevant information about 19th century West Africa and Britain (e.g., the Dahomey empire, the slave trade and British actions to end it, Christian missions in Africa, Sierra Leone, the British class system, women's place in society, etc.) is well presented. Although Sarah's story is interesting because of its uniqueness, much about the lives of ordinary 19th century West Africans and Europeans can be learned here. Despite the fact that there is little material concerning Sarah's life, the author has done a fine job and readers interested in Africa should be glad he did. The book contains a useful bibliography which includes "Dahomey and the Dahomans" (1851) by Frederick E. Forbes (the captain who rescued and adopted Sarah).

19th century Dahomey is also the setting of "The Viceroy of Ouidah" by Bruce Chatwin.

I think this is a very well written book. I think that Walter Dean Myers is an amazing writer and that it is great he found this fantastic girl that many have never heard of.

The book, At Her Majesty's Request was the most wonderful book I've read because it tells the story of how Sarah Bonetta overcomed so many problems. First w/ the horror of watching her parents being killed, and then almost being sacrificed by the slave holders because of who she was and where she lived.Then when she was saved by a white man whom she couldn't even understand becase she spoke a different language.And then soon after that she learned how to speak english and then she became friends w/ the Queen of England, Queen Victoria.So the book to me was very heart-warming and I hope you love the book too! Go Wells Wolverines!

We wanted to label all the photos of birds we took in South Africa. This book made it easy to locate the drawings of the birds. . .drawings that were very lifelike. . .and attach the names to the photos. We highly recommend this guide.

This guide looks perfect for my needs. I have looked it over carefully, even though I haven't had a chance to use it in the field. I definitely like the quick reference guide to bird types inside the front and back covers and the color-coded reference to bird groups. Look forward to using this guide in the field.

This book is superbly illustrated, with clear descriptions of each type of bird and makes identification fairly straight forward.
While I have not used it in the bush yet, I expect it will be invaluable in identifying each bird I may encounter.

Well worth the money to enjoy your trip to South Africa even more. Even with a good guide (like we had with Transfrontiers) it is well worth taking a strong field guide like Birds of Southern Africa. That way when your guide is trying to tell you what you are looking at, you can see the picture up close and get a better idea. We have done many trips to various parts of Africa and this is one of the best guides we have used.

Warning: using this field guide will make you dissatisfied with many other field guides. You will enjoy studying and using this guide.
The illustrations are large and detailed, distinctly more accurate than most guides. In addition most are just beautiful works. They are grouped in species settings with juveniles, alternate plumage, flight and significant field marks highlighted.
On the opposite page: written description, habitat, abundancy status and call descriptions with a range map plus the Afrikaans name.
As an example of the illustrations: the Laughing Dove is illustrated by two flight poses and a profile. The profile has arrows noting 'no hind collar', 'cinnamon back' and 'black-flecked necklace'. The written text notes marks that distinguish this bird from a Cape Turtle-Dove.
The cover is plastic coated and the pages have a lesser water resistant coating.
A lot of attention to detail went into creating this book --colored coded page edges according to bird group, groups of waterbirds and hawks in flight for comparison, a checklist near the index and internet addresses of birding resources in the area.
All this in a work that I carried in a large pants pocket every day.
It just makes me wish such books were available for many more areas.

"Late Sunday afternoons, when our father eventually arrived to pick us up I usually felt as though I'd been through a war myself. I would grab my already packed bag and hurry to the safe red leather of his car interior to wait for him and my sisters there. Soon after Sharon would follow me, straggling behind with underpants and flip-flops falling out of her suitcase, complaining, "Wait man Wend." She flounced in next to me. "Why do you always have to be in such a hurry hey?"

I was very eager for this book when I saw it advertised on Amazon. This story centers around Wendy, Sharon and Lauren Khan who grew up in Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe. It was a very touching book with three very close sisters who survived their dysfunctional family and then after they had passed on, had each other. Wendy Khan relates a well-told story though sad in many instances; their loyalty to each other strengthens their family ties. The blow is felt however when the smallest sister Lauren faces tragedy and this brings Wendy back from American where she has migrated, to meet up with Sharon as they gather in Zambia, Lauren's home. There is a lot of love in this story as well as passion and some disappointment in the family. But when all is said and done, I would recommend this novel to all readers. It is well written and it should be a great present for someone's birthday or any such occasion.
Those of you who love Africa, please read this book.
Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar ( SUGAR-CANE 07/03/08)

deeply moving and honest, ms. kann's memoir vividly evokes a complicated time and place in africa with a story of familial love, loyalty and loss.gorgeous. highly recommend.

Not qualified to review:
Author is my daughter-in-law
Walter Kann

Wendy Kann's personal and political history in "Casting with a fragile thread" is riveting, wise and timeless. It is a gripping memoir about a woman who has risen above her traumatic childhood and turned her pain into compassion and healing.
Born in colonial Rhodesia--now Zimbabwe--Kann grew up during the country's 13-year civil war. She experienced the first elections in Zimbabwe in 1980 and lived in Hong Kong when the British officials handed the city over to the Chinese in 1997. She said both experiences were nagging reminders that the laws, police, media, army and government can bring bewildering uncertainty to a safe, predictable orderly world.
She writes poetically about her environment--how the lawns in America's neighborhoods simply roll trustingly one into the next, without the rude division of fences and gates.
Having spent my early years in South Africa I too had my "mind revolt against the terrifying avalanche of choice" and tried to figure what "American" was and how I could be "just that."
Kann's observation years later about Rhodesia's civil war is a warning to all countries. She said, "No one in my generation recognized that we were fighting a war to preserve an unsustainable way of life."
Her quote reminded me of America. We have the technology for alternative fuel yet we remain in a war in the Middle East because of an addiction to oil, a non-renewable resource.

Casting With A Fragile Thread: A Story Of Sisters And Africa tells of the mother of three children who left her Rhodesia childhood behind fifteen years earlier to settle into a new life in America and escape her country's upheaval. When she receives a call that her youngest sister has been killed in Zambia, she returns to her native Africa to find a new sense of purpose. A vivid story of death, rebirth, and cultural discovery evolves.

I have been going to this book again and again ever since I bought it. The food is delicious and (mostly) healthy, exotic yet homey at the same time. Everything I have made from this book has been really wonderful. I also love all of the stories behind many of the recipe.

A superbly organized and presented compendium of recipes reflecting vegetarian cuisines from the countries and cultures of the Middle East and North Africa, "Classic Vegetarian Cooking" offers a cornucopia of wonderful dishes showcasing the use of pungent herbs and diverse spices, aromatic stews and soups, falafels and breads, couscous, stuffed grape leaves, greens and vegetables, hummus, pizzas, pies, omelets, pastries and sweets, yogurt drinks and amazing coffees. Many of the recipes have their origins with the peasantry who could not afford meat as a part of their daily diet. In "Classic Vegetarian Cooking" author and culinary expert Habeeb Salloum presents 330 distinctive, gourmet quality recipes that have stood the test of time and taste. To put it simply, any kitchen chef or community library wanting to add elegance to their vegetarian cookbook collection would be well advised to add a copy of Habeeb Salloum's "Classic Vegetarian Cooking From The Middle East And North Africa"!

I love this book. It has such a great variety of recipes from every country of the middle east. I have made recipes from this book that I have shared with middle easterners and westerners, and have recieved many compliments from everybody. The recipes are very clear and well written.

The recipes are clearly written, easy to make, and very tasty. This book, more than any other, convinced me that it is practical to be a vegetarian. Most dishes take very little time to prepare, unlike earlier cookbooks that seemed to require the entire day. The meals are healthy, light, and varied.

I'm sure most people reading about "vegetarian middle-eastern" cookbooks are good cooks when they have the time and inclination. But I, for one, have grown bored with my own repertoire. Most cookbooks are more fun to read than to actually cook from. Or they have ingredients that, even living in New York City, seem annoyingly inaccessible.

This book has lots of very easy recipes that are healthy vegetarian (hardly any animal fat with the exception of yoghurt in cold dishes). I can imagine actually(!) making just about everything, there's even a section on arab desserts -- the easy kind made of farina. This is probably the best cookbook I've ever bought. I think it's useful whatever your level of cooking expertise, but you need to be a fan of the meditterranean diet. We're talking beans, legumes, olive oil, yoghurt, eggplant, a few other vegetables.
Recipe details:-- it's true most are simple, but unless you were raised in a middle-eastern family I don't know how you would've thought of these combinations -- even if you're say very familiar with Greek or Italian food, I think this is pretty new stuff.
Some "recipes" include: yoghurt ginger appetizer (includes almonds, onions, ginger, tomato);many types of lentil soups from various middle eastern countries (the egyptian one includes butter and cumin, the one from bahrain adds tomato, vermicelli, and ground coriander);fried pepper salad; orange and olive salad; beet salad; stuffed eggplant; and vegetable casserole.
Nothing sounds 'exciting' but it is all very accessible and well seasoned. It's like you could turn to this book and make every meal from it -- that is if you like meditterranean food.

I bought this book for my tour of Egypt in October 2007. I bought it along on the trip with me. It provides a great overview of Egypt and even maps of what the major attractions look like. Fabulous photos too.

Lots of great information and beautiful pictures, but too heavy to take with me to Egypt.

Comprehensive, pictorial. The guide we always look for when planning a trip.

I've been highly satisfied with the Eyewitness Travel Guide series, and this Egypt edition does not disappoint. Maps are clear and helpful, photos help to explain all of the rich history and culture of Egypt. We brought the Lonely Planet Egypt book with us as well, but we found the Eyewitness Travel Guide to be clearer and simpler to use.

The only issue that we found with the book was viewing a performance of the whirling dervishes in Cairo. The book directs us to a place near the bazaar, but the mosque where they normally perform is under renovation. As a result, the performances were being held at the Citadel during the time of our visit. This isn't the book's fault, as this was new and even the conceirge directed us to the wrong place.

That being said, the book guided us to the right places many other times. We especially appreciated the tip on the Egyptian Pancake place in the bazaar!

Very nice -- as I have found most Eyewitness Guides. Well organized, current, accurate as far as I could tell. I agreed with reviews of small number/small sample of restuarants and hotels. Guide enhanced an excellent trip!

Very pleased! The book was in great condition and purchased for a great price! The delivery was expedient! Overall, it was definitely a worthwhile experience where the savings were beaucoup! Thanks!!!

... I reread Heart of Darkness because my "guys" reading group included two who had not ever read it. The story stands up far, far better than I would have guessed. Conrad is really superb, and this shortish novel could well persuade new readers that "literary" stuff is worth their while. I had forgotten how subtle, how grown-up Conrad's expectations of his reader are. Truly quite marvelous.

With trepidation, I splurged on the Norton edition, even though I am pretty hostile to English-Professor post-modern posturing and nonsense. I am glad I got it, however. The wealth of historical documents help make the then-contemporary setting come real. The big surprise for me was Chinua Achebe's fine essay. While "bloody racist" is still over the top, Achebe has a case of some importance, and argues it well. It is even a comfort to find that the knee-jerk responses by assorted literature professors are indeed just as much postie poo as I had expected. (It's always a pleasure to find that one's unexamined prejudices are warranted after all.)

A particular pleasure for me was talking about the book with my daughter, who has taught it to her honors high school English class. She has developed views, and I learned really quite a lot from listening to her. Book, $11.90; my time, $free; finding out your daughter has deep insight and can teach you, PRICELESS.

In short, wonderful story and useful edition.

I read this book for a graduate Humanities course. Buy this edition, it is the best with great critical essays. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, written in 1899 is a seminal work about the ills of colonialism, as well as a postmodern look at the subject of mankind. Conrad's book had a crucial influence on five important works of the twentieth century: J. G. Frazier's book The Golden Bough. Jessie L. Weston's book From Ritual to Romance, T. S. Elliott's poem the Waste Land, Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces, and Francis Ford Coppolla's movie Apocalypse Now, screenplay by John Milius, was based on Conrad's book. Another interesting fact is that this work was read by Orson Welle's Mercury Theater Players on the radio and was to be his first movie. After doing some work on it he abandoned the project to do Citizen Kane! I would have loved to of seen what Welles could have done with this story. Conrad's story is so riveting in part, because he himself served as a riverboat captain. High school teachers and college professors who have discussed this book in thousands of classrooms over the years tend to do so in terms of Freud, Jung, and Nietzsche; of classical myth, Victorian innocence, and original sin; of postmodernism, postcolonialism, and poststructuralism.

Just a taste of the plot reels you in! Marlow, the narrator of Heart of Darkness and Conrad's alter ego, is hired by an ivory-trading company to sail a steamboat up an unnamed river whose shape on the map resembles "an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country and its tail lost in the depths of the land" (8). His destination is a post where the company's brilliant, ambitious star agent, Mr. Kurtz, is stationed. Kurtz has collected legendary quantities of ivory, but, Marlow learns along the way, is also rumored to have sunk into unspecified savagery. Marlow's steamer survives an attack by blacks and picks up a load of ivory and the ill Kurtz; Kurtz, talking of his grandiose plans, dies on board as they travel, downstream.

Sketched with only a few bold strokes, Kurtz's image has nonetheless remained in the memories of millions of readers: the lone white agent far up the great river, with his dreams of grandeur,his great store of precious ivory, and his fiefdom carved out of the African jungle. Perhaps more than anything, we remember Marlow, on the steamboat, looking through binoculars at what he thinks are ornamental knobs atop the fence posts in front of Kurtz's house and then finding that each is "black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids-a head that seemed to sleep at the top of that pole, and with the shrunken dry lips showing a narrow white line of the teeth" (57).

I especially became interested in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness from the movie Apocalypse Now. There is a scene in the movie that shows Colonel Kurtz's nightstand in his cave. T. S. Elliott's poem the Waste Land is one of three books on the nightstand. The other two are Jessie L. Weston's book From Ritual to Romance, and J. G. Frazier's book The Golden Bough. Anyone wanting to understand the movie Apocalypse Now, especially the character of Colonel Kurtz, and what Milius and Copolla are trying to tell their audience need to read these three books as well as Conrad's Heart of Darkness!

As a graduate student reading in philosophy and history I recommend this book for anyone interested in literature, myth, history, philosophy, religion and fans of Apocalypse Now.

I'll be honest - "Heart of Darkness" is a great, great work of literature, but I don't love the writing style, and it is not a pleasure to read (for me at any rate).

But it is not quite as hard as its reputation, and it is every bit as important. If there is one, "Heart of Darkness" is the definitive statement on European colonialism, especially in Africa. The symbolic meaning of the story is powerful and unanswerable.

The Norton Critical Edition of any book is usually the best - (not always: with Shakespeare I generally prefer the Signet Classics, and for "Pride and Prejudice" at least the Longman Cultural Edition is the best) - and "Heart of Darkness" is no exception. Like so many other books, you haven't understood this until you've understood what has been said about it. The NCE gives the best collection of critical essays available for someone new to the book.

Let me recommend a couple of easier reads for people interested in the genre of literature about colonialism. First is Burmese Days, which is one of Orwell's better books. It is a much more literal, tangible look at the realities of colonialism, and should probably be read before "Heart of Darkness." The other is The Quiet American (Viking Critical Library), which is less critical of colonialism, but still a very good look at the motivations of various people involved. I am very critical of "The Quiet American," but it is still among the first books that anyone interested in the literature of colonialism ought to read.

Daytime scents of nightmare horrors. Man and his insane ways - bushman, postman, commoner, who to blame? Unless you are familiar with the background of this stunning novel do yourself a favor and get the Norton Critical Edition. For a century Conrad's novel has drawn raves and rage. Each is left to decide where the sanity line lies, to the right or to the left. Upriver or downriver? Riveting every page of the way.

I first read Hunter's book as a teenage boy and was transported by his stories of hunting dangerous game in the African bush. Hunter's influence was one of the reasons that I became a big game hunter, myself, hunting all over the world including much of Southern Africa and Ethiopia. Still, it is with regret that I couldn't see Africa in a more pristine age as did John Hunter.

It is pitiful that Kenya, the site of many of Hunter's adventures, subsequently banned big game hunting and the traditions of one of the greatest of all hunting nations have largely been lost. I keep hearing rumors that Kenya is "opening up", again. Let's hope so.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Conquest of Mexico

This is the best book on African Dangerous Game Hunting that I have read to date. John Hunter (coincidence of name and profession) hunted in Africa (mostly Kenya) in the first half of the 20th century and with his 'cropping' activities for the Kenya Game Department shot staggering numbers of the 'big five'. His unassuming old world style is engaging and I found the book difficult to put down and was disappointed when I reached the end - I was left craving more. That he survived to write his books is testimony to his skill as a hunter.

A great book, one of the best on African hunting I have ever read. Hunter is right up there with Pondoro Taylor as knowledgeable yet entertaining as well.

This book is a timeless classic and definitely, definitely worth reading. If you are a big game hunter (or an aspiring big game hunter), this book is an essential addition to your library. This is quite possibly the best hunting book ever written. Better than Hemingway's accounts, in my opinion.

I first read "Hunter" when I was in college more than 40 years ago, and I can still remember J.A. Hunter's sadness and lament when he described his feelings upon the loss of his dog. In that instance he said "that you grow too fond of a dog. I sometimes wonder whether the pleasure in owning a dog is worth the misery caused by his death." An excellent book that I would recommend to all readers, but especially teenagers and young adults.