Singapore Books

Full of terrible Asian stereotypes, and more about their sex tourism than Asia's economic growth. Not what I was expecting, and very offensive.

This book while very much American in it's point of view is actually quite an informative background into the cultures of these SE Asian nations. The book takes you on a thinking tourists point of view while mixing interviews with personal points of view, you find yourself more informed as to what makes Americans different in their thinking to these other cultures as well as how we're very much driven by the same desires...though solving the quests for the objects of our desires quite differently. My wife and I visited these countries after reading this book and found the insights helpful in enjoying these cultures even more!

I've been to Singapore before and have several guide books. This "guide" is little more than a fold-out pamplet with very small print. The information is nothing special and probably the same stuff you could learn from wikipedia travel or other sites. There is little "luxe" about the information and even for $9 and the 4-for-3 deal it is not at all worth the money. Please learn from my mistake and buy something else.

In a city of malls, malls, malls and its national sport is shopping...I was sooo happy to cut the crap and get straight to the good stuff.
I sooo loved my Singapore luxe guide.

Basics: 1987, hardcover, 168 pages, 131 species in color, no range maps

Covering a little less than half of Singapore's birds, this book is geared "for those people who have a new or casual interest in birds and...wish to satisfy a passing curiosity", as noted by the author. To aid with this goal, the book intentionally covers only 131 of the more common birds seen in Singapore.

The artistry is good but not always true to accuracy for some of birds (e.g., Arctic Warbler is not recognizable). The artwork typically includes a natural background with the birds. The paintings are notably larger than a typical field guide and are the key features of the book, which are to capture the interest of the casual birder.

The text, ranging from 1-3 paragraphs, is made of general notations that are easy to read and are informative. This information consists of brief descriptions, habitat preferences, behavioral characteristics, and voice. The focus of the text is natural history and not identification, fitting in with the authors' goal for the book.

If you are interested in learning about the birds of Singapore but don't want or need to be overwhelmed with a guide that covers every species, you will enjoy this book. It's attractive and informative.

I've listed several related books below...
1) A Field Guide to the Birds of West Malaysia and Singapore by Jeyarajasingam/Pearson
2) A Photographic Guide to Birds of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore by Davison/Fook
3) Birds: A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore by Strange/Jeyarajasingam
4) Birds of Thailand by Robson
5) A Field Guide to the Birds of South East Asia by King
6) A Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia by Robson
7) A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia by Strange

this book had widen mt knowledege OF birds in SIngapore as it had also allow me to take it to the field to actually do study on birds to actually obvserve them in the nature.this book also tach about the behavior and nursing cycle of vairious birds,a ver interesting read for the biginner like me.

Basics: 1999, flex-cover, 258 pages, 290 species in color photos, no range maps

Covering almost half of the birds (290 of 638) found on the Malaysia/Singapore peninsula, this photo guide offers one medium-sized (2 x 2-inch) color photograph of each bird. Although some of the subjects are small, they are typically well lit and show the bird clearly. Most of the photos are of birds with little sexual dimorphism or of the breeding male. This limitation combined with only 45% of the region's birds depicted means you should regard this book as an introduction to the peninsula's birds and not as a strong field guide. The book will also serve as a good practice source, at least for the one plumage that may be illustrated.

The brief text consists of three segments: Description, Distribution, and notes on habits, habitat, and voice. This information is generally good but may not always be useful to distinguish the bird from a similar species.

There are two quirks about this book that make it a little awkward to use. One, the birds are grouped into five different habitat types. This causes related species to be scattered across the book. If you want to look at the Little Pied Flycatcher and the Asian Brown Flycatcher in the book, under which habitat type should you look for each: "Montane Rainforest" or "Gardens and Parks"? If you're not familiar with the bird's habitat preference, you must look up the bird in the index, which leads to the second quirk.

The index can list several page numbers next to each bird, but only one brings you to the photo and text. The others pages refer you to merely a mention of the bird in an introduction or in another species's account . Bolding the page number containing the photo would have been very helpful.

A nice addition to the book is an introduction to each of the five habitat types. These introductions are 5-10 pages long and include locations, directions to, and maps of birding locations. Another 41 pages begin this book and nicely cover topics of breeding, migration, birding techniques, ringing, and photography.

There are other complete field guides for this region, but there are few photographic guides. This is one of the better photo books which competes with two others by the same author and by Davison & Fook.

I've listed several related books below...
1) A Field Guide to the Birds of West Malaysia and Singapore by Jeyarajasingam/Pearson
2) A Photographic Guide to Birds of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore by Davison/Fook
3) Birds of Singapore by Hails/Jarvis
4) Birds of Fraser's Hill (Malaysia): An Illustrated Guide and Checklist by Strange
5) Birds of Taman Negara (Malaysia): An Illustrated Guide and Checklist by Strange/Yong
6) Birds of Thailand by Robson
7) A field guide to the birds of South-East Asia by King
8) A Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia by Robson
9) A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Southeast Asia by Strange

This book reassesses public perception of life at the Changi POW camp in Singapore. That's a polite way of saying that he is correcting misinformation about Changi.
It should be noted though that in so doing he has created more confusion. His book specifically addresses life at the camp for Prisoners Of War, situated in the British Army Barracks beside Changi Gaol and not the hundreds of civillian internees inside the actual Changi Gaol for whom conditions were quite different. Civillian prisoners were arguably treated with less respect by the Japanese Imperial Army than Prisoners of War were, if that's possible. Apart from the two separate but adjacent camps at Changi, there were also other large camps in Singapore, such as the Sime Road camp. History has often confused the two Changi camps and it is no wonder then that the writer has been confused by reports of ultra harsh conditions at Changi that didn't exist so much in the Changi POW camp.
So as not to offend anyone, life was no picnic at either camp, and many Changi POW were later sent to the Burma Railroad and other dire places.

This book is too brief. It is useful only to those who like to learn about the historical development of Internet and E-commerce in China. The market status information, however, has become out-dated by now.

The reality is there is little information for this part of the world. This is good information, but its not great and it does lack in certain areas, I don't know of a better book so I'd reccomend it, but do lots of homework before you go the information changes quickly.

This book is a penguin reprint of a 60s publication. For someone looking for a general overview of the campaign, there is a lot here. The detail is most rich in this overview in the initial fighting in the North, Kota Bahru and the probe into Thailand to stop the Japanese. The way that Britain and the Commonwealth squandered their forces in defence of the penninsula makes for sordid reading of a campaign that never should have gone the way it did.

The initial invasion of the Island of Singapore is well dscribed but there are far too many questions not answered and not too many raised in the first place. The initial fighting on the island and the confused situation is not clearly outlined. It remained far from clear why the initial Japanese landing was so slowly responded to, why reserves were not commited quickly, and why vital supplies especially tanks and modern fighter aircraft were not allocated.

Exciting but not the definitive account of the campaign but a good place to start.

This tour book was the most current I could find for preparing for my trip to Singapore last summer. I was especially happy that it was Fodor's that had printed this, as I found the Fodor's London Guide to be the handiest, lightest, and most helpful book in London. However, I found several things lacking, such as a listing of church service times, and also the little walking tours did not hold my interest or my boyfriend's. On the other hand, admission costs were extremely helpful, although the guide did not list places to purchase sightseeing packages. Overall, use the book for it's info on attractions, but don't limit yourself to the restaurants listed, and planning your own foot tours will be the most interesting.