Asia Books

This book was given to me less than a month after I returned from a trip to Bhutan in the late fall of 2006. If you are seeking only a portable guidebook on your trip, look elsewhere (I used Lonely Planet). But if the objective is to find the best photographic portrait of a very special place, this is the book for you. This is a reduced version of a book that measures 5x7 feet, that weighs 150 pounds, and that holds a Guinness World Record. It is also a charitable project, intended to provide funds for university education of Bhutanese students. Although the book was published in 2004, I noticed that it includes several photos (such as those of Dochu La and Taktsang Gompa) that were taken before some recent and rather dramatic changes. I cannot help but conclude that many of the shots will become historically significant over time. But as an artistic collection, the photos are truly stunning. It is unusual to find not only intimate shots of a beautiful group of people, but majestic views of the incredible landscape. I look at my copy often, for it transports me to the other side of the world.

nous avons visiter le bhoutan l'année passer et vu le livre dans un suisse guest house et depuis on le cherchait. Tres heureux de l'avoir trouver de superbes photos les paysages, monastères, le peuple et coutume que nous avons pu rencontrer pendant notre voyage inoubliable, merci

This book is amazing, it is just like you are there. Extremely well packaged and shipped 2nd day air via UPS. Worth every penny.

The first time I walked into the West Chicago, IL library after the Bhutan book was placed on display, I thought I had been transported to the Himalayas. Standing in front of these gorgeous mountains, I could feel myself being pulled in. Subsequent days as the pages were turned, I was impressed with the beauty of the area, the beauty of the people, the vibrancy of their costumes. I make a lot of trips to the library-don't want to miss a page. Thanks Dr. George Hawley for donating your son's wonderful work to West Chicago. Worth a trip to view where ever it is on display.

Let's face it. You'd be stupid not to get the "Better Together" deal, which includes an $8 map of Bhutan with the $15,000 book!

Ngor details the coming and going of the Khymer Rouge regime in Cambodia. This was a purely evil regime. As Ngor states Angwa was the all knowing, all seeing Cambodian regime. Unfortunately, they were simplistic in how they chose to solve Cambodia's problems. Not enough food, empty out the cities and send the urban population to grow crops. Medical problems, well grind up vitamins and give shots to the population. While the city and rural population grew thinner, the soldiers and the regime bureaucrats got fatter and fatter. Ngor details the incredibly evil regime of Pol Pot. In the end, some of the evil doers meet justice. One of the regime region's chiefs is roasted over a fire and Ngor gets to see the end of this evil man.

This is the life story of Haing Ngor. He survived three prison camp experiences in the gulag of Cambodia. He ended up seeing this evil regime of Pol Pot replaced with a North Vietnamese backed Cambodian puppet regime. He eventually is placed in the U.S. and then goes on to star in a Hollywood film called the Killing Fields. This is a great story of love and endurance. It is all true.

What a great story of determination and power. The irony of it all was, that, after all the suffering he went through, he died because of someone trying to steal his watch.

The Khmer Rouge seemed to be illeterates governing a country, and the result wasn't good. I cannot believe they inflicted the pain they did on their very own race. In the 20th century, creating an equal society was UNREAL. The Khmer Rouge, some men, most of them teenagers with guns, did not realise this. Even more surprisingly, as strict as the Khmer Rouge were, the Khmer officials got as much food and commodities as they wanted, while they fed the rest of cambodia a watery rice.

The ending left me thinking, especially about his niece Sophia. Haing Ngor, had lost everything by then, but gained fame. Which really at the time, wasn't much to him. I recommend the reader to buy this book as not only is it interesting and very hard to put the book down once you start, but its historical accuracy and the amazing events described are unbelievable. Anyone over the age of 16 who reads this book will love it, and for a variety of reasons.

I was drawn into this book after first viewings of the film "The Killing Fields." At the time, I was unaware of a lot of the background to many of the events depicted onscreen, and was looking for something a bit more detailed.

As it turned out, this book was something far greater than that, on a par with the writings of Primo Levi, or Elie Wiesel as a depiction of survival amid the most grotesque extremes in ideological depravity humanity could conjure up. Through survival, later stardom and human rights work, Dr. Ngor became (and posthumously remains) one of the great human rights educators of our time.

In this eloquent autobiography, he also accomplishes something else - vivid and affectionate portrayals of Cambodian culture (pre-revolution), and a detailed description of the slide into civil war and the anarchic chaos of Phnom Penh immediately before the fall.

And he also crafts a love story; a memorable and majestic one, of a romance that he attempted to nourish in spite of the societal upheaval occuring around him and his wife. The detail in his descriptions of family are affectionate, and also written with a rare clarity - for this, among many other reasons, this book is a classic.

-David Alston

What a great story of determination and power. The irony of it all was, that, after all the suffering he went through, he died because of someone trying to steal his watch.

The Khmer Rouge seemed to be illeterates governing a country, and the result wasn't good. I cannot believe they inflicted the pain they did on their very own race. In the 20th century, creating an equal society was UNREAL. The Khmer Rouge, some men, most of them teenagers with guns, did not realise this. Even more surprisingly, as strict as the Khmer Rouge were, the Khmer officials got as much food and commodities as they wanted, while they fed the rest of cambodia a watery rice.

The ending left me thinking, especially about his niece Sophia. Haing Ngor, had lost everything by then, but gained fame. Which really at the time, wasn't much to him. I recommend the reader to buy this book as not only is it interesting and very hard to put the book down once you start, but its historical accuracy and the amazing events described are unbelievable. Anyone over the age of 16 who reads this book will love it, and for a variety of reasons.

This is an outstanding portrait of a man who survived the barbaric reign of terror of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Anyone who has seen the movie "The Killing Fields" has a cursory understanding of the Khmer Rouge and their attempt to transform Cambodian society during their control of the country from 1975 to 1979. However, this film omitted most of the astounding atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge as anyone who has visited Tuol Sleng S-21 in Phnom Penh (as I have) can tell you. In this book Dr. Ngor relates his horrifying experiences of life under the Khmer Rouge in detail and in the process educates the reader as to just how horrible an existence it really was.

This book is remarkable because of the detail related by Dr. Ngor and the personal nature of its content. Many Cambodians to this day will not talk about his period in their lives. For many, the mental and physical abuse they suffered during this period was too painful to re-live ever again. As I read this book, I could not help but wonder how Dr. Ngor was able to keep himself together.

Dr. Ngor effectively puts the period of Khmer Rouge rule in historical context by explaining the historical events and forces which led to their capture of the country. These events and forces included the People's Republic of China, North Vietnam, the Vietnam War, the United States, and of course, the C.I.A.

I admire Dr. Ngor for his extraordinary courage, and I regret that I did not have the opportunity to meet him during his lifetime. May he rest in peace.

The collected works of one of the greatest poets of T'ang dynasty China. Essential reading for students and admirer's of Zen, Buddhism, and Taoism.

Red Pine's excellent translations of the poems of Han Shan, a great sage of China usually referred to as Cold Mountain, meets, and even exceeds the high standards we all have come to expect from this great translator.

Written twelve centuries ago in the mountains and forest of China, Han Shan's poetry set the standard for all later Zen, Taoist poets. The poems of Cold Mountain reveal the heart and mind of enlightenment with images ranging from the isolated peaks of snow-capped mountains to the drunnken revelry Chinese cowboys. It is no wonder that his work has been one of the staple sources throughout the history of Asian and Zen literature.

This work has been significantly revised and expanded since its initial publication in 1983. Red Pine has created a masterpiece with this new bilingual (English and Chinese) edition presenting all of Han Shan's known work (and even some of the great poems by his two friends, Shih-te, (aka Pickup) and Feng-kan (aka, Big Stick).

The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain is an awesome source of classic Chinese wisdom poems!

This revised edition includes a new and comprehensive introduction, excellent notes, and even photographs of the area (and caves) where Han Shan lived and wrote.

An outstanding achievement!

This translation is very readable. The notes are always very interesting and help the text come alive. Red Pine has really provided a lot of value through them - without them, some of the poems could be very obscure. It is rare to find a translation of the complete works of a Chinese poet: most books only present a selection. If one takes the time to read the complete oevre, however, the author comes alive in a different way - you begin to recognize certain recurring moods and themes; in the end, you feel you have learnt something about the things that concerned him, and come closer as a result.
The only criticism is that Red Pine uses a personal transliteration that is neither pinyin nor Wade-Giles; as a result, it is often hard to be sure of the identity of people and places he mentions.

As other reviewers have already stated, this is a very nice volume of poetry, very nicely put together with the original chinese on one page and the translation on the opposite page. This is the third volume of Han Shan that I have, and it is by far the best in terms of completeness and the essence of the translations. Get a copy or three before the print run is over!

This beautiful edition of the legendary poetry by the "Zen" poet Han Shan is a priceless contribution to know and experience his fascinating and miraculous, almost stoic and sometimes mystical utterances. Carefully edited, wonderful translations. I am happy to have purchased this book as a gift for a good friend

Cold Moutain chuckles still
as he reads through my eyes
those poems that he carved in stone.

Appropriate now
as they were back then,
his laughter knows no bounds.

No center, no boundaries,
all opposites dissolve.
Suchness beyond "as one".

Moon over sea,
Wave against rock.
All returns instantly!

This is the real story of Dieter Dengler's experiences in Laos. When compared to the movie RESCUE DAWN, it becomes obvious that the movie is a lot closer to the truth than it's critics advocate.

I finished this book on Memorial Day 2008. It is still relevant to our
position of freedom and life.

Escape From Laos is truly an amazing tale of survival. Having a first hand perspective like no one else has, Dengler tells this story with almost no emotion, describing each terrible situation without shying away from the reality or overdramatizing. A quick and interesting read.

Best book I read in 2007 and I'm squeamish about war narratives. Riveting, astounding, a profile of courage and mental agility. This is the bible of survival techniques.

I shudder to think what details were edited OUT of this book.

I also recommend the film "Little Dieter Needs to Fly" where Dengler himself takes one back to the scene of these horrors.Little Dieter needs to Fly

On February 1, 1966 the American pilot Dieter Dengler (1938-2001) took enemy fire and crash-landed his plane in Laos while on a secret mission. After surviving in the jungle on his own he was captured, tortured (hung upside down with an ant nest around his neck, submerged in a well, dragged by an ox through a village), then taken on a three-week jungle trek to a Pathet Lao prison camp called Par Kung. Dengler recalls that it was nothing like he imagined a prison camp might be, but instead a tiny enclave of a few huts exactly twenty-one by twenty-two steps in size. There he met six other POWS, two American and four Asian (which later became a source of tension), who had been imprisoned as long as two and a half years. Later they were transferred to the very similar Hoi Het camp. When starvation threatened both the prisoners and the guards, and the prisoners overheard the guards saying that they planned to shoot them, they made an elaborate plan and escaped. The fellow POWS were separated after the escape, and Dengler and his buddy Duane Martin teamed up. Lice, leeches, ticks, ants ("the true torment of the jungle"), sweltering days and cold nights, torrential rain, dumb mistakes and incredibly good luck, and the human will to survive--these are only part of Dengler's first person narrative. Incredibly, after soldiering on for so long, Dengler and Martin stumbled onto some villagers, scared them, and in the space of a minute they had beheaded Duane. After surviving twenty-three days in the jungle after his escape, hallucinations, wandering in a circle, tumbling over water falls, and eating things you never should eat, Dengler was rescued in an improbable stroke of luck. He lost sixty pounds in the six-month ordeal. In 1997 Werner Herzog made a documentary about Dengler called Little Dieter Needs to Fly. More recently Herzog dramatized this survivor's tale in the film Rescue Dawn (2007). This is a gripping book that reminded me of Alfred Lansing's Endurance about Shackleton's Antarctic survival story.

I read the true story of the My Lia Massacre when it first came out, and then knew why when we came back we were called baby killers. Now that I have read this book on My Lia I wonder how they let something like that happen and what makes me mad is that nothing more has been done about the people that done it all. I personelly think that all the people that took part should be put in jail and left there, but other then that it was an excellent book to read.

The major problem with this work is that from the beginning, it tries to explain the My Lai massacre as a function of the corruption inherent in the Vietnam War. It is reminiscent of Jospeh Caputo's attempts to exonerate himself by blaming the war for the corruption of his soul and his order to assasinate two suspected Vietnamese spies. The problem with both of these approaches is that the events are never placed in their proper context, that is, as occuring during a war whrer millions of soldiers served honorably. Instead, the event transcends time and space and is explained as product of the impersonal forces of war and their effects on the soldiers who served in Vietnam. My Lai, then becomes the epitome of this "Zietgiest", if you will, of the corrupting influence of war and its effeects on the participants.
Granted, the behavior of the men of the Americal division in the My lai episode is simply unforgivable, but plenty of heroic soldiers served in the division, as did millions of other soldiers in Vietnam without the requisite number of massacres one should expect if the war was so traumatizing and corrupting. A better approach would be to explore the personal flaws of those involved and begin an explanation from there. The real tragedy is not the effect of the war on the perpetrators, but the real human failure of those who participated and the circumstance they would find themselves in that exploitred their deficiencies of character. The victims are truly victims because they were subjected to the actions of these men not because of something they did, but by the mere juxtoposition of events that allowed these terribly flawed men to enounter them in war.
It seems disingenous, as well an insult to the victims and those who served honorably, to blame this event on impersonal forces such as the "corrupting nature of war" rather than focusing the blame squarely on those individuals responsible. If not, the tendency is to transcend space and time, take the event out of context and view as a manifestation of an American Holocaust in Vietnam. Nothing could be further form the truth. The authors should be reminded that those who cannot distinguish between a tragedy and a holocaust yearn to be taught the difference.

I thought that Lt Calley was made a scapegoat for the
event that happened at My Lia, but after reading the book.
I find that he was a coldblooded killer,and cause many other young men to be the same way. I will never understand why Cpt Medina,and the other oficers involved in this incident was not brought to trail. The order given by these Oficers were just as much the cause of the problem, as were the men that did the actual killing.
I served two tours in Nam , and I thank God that I never
witnessed any such thing. I would probably have been brought to trail myself for killing those that would do such a coldhearted
thing.
However I must say that I am exremely proud of those that did not participate in the shooting.

An excellent and even-handed book. As a father of four, I would take my helmet off to Thompson and hope that I would have done the same thing in those circumstances.

However, as a jumpy eighteen-year-old who had spent three months seeing his buddies slaughtered in booby trap after booby trap, having their heads blown off by snipers you never see or get to track, Army trucks full of draftees decimated by grenades thrown by smiling elderly villagers and children, I really don't know how much I would have given a damn for any village anywhere in that country.

Yes, the massacre was wrong, and thank God for men like Thompson, but if anybody is going to judge My Lai or any other total breakdown of discipline and artificially-sustained morality, it should be men and women who have served in extreme combat environments, not bourgeois middle-class Liberals who have never had to get their hands dirty.

Vietnam was a filthy war, and because it never had a distinct purpose or Win Scenario driving it, it was a pointless war. Ironically, one of the things that triggered My Lai was the very fear and frustration generated by the VC's own tactics, including the mutilation of American corpses and the constant goading and provocation that GI's had to endure.

This was the same Enemy that massacred French garrisons and lined the approach roads with the severed heads of the defenders to demoralize the relief columns. The same Enemy that even booby trapped live babies in order to kill American soldiers and shock them into a state of psychological collapse.

Read the book, by all means, and be outraged. Yet while the massacre can never be justified, with the kind of background, only some of which I have just outlined, it can perhaps be understood - above all, as others have rightly said, in the absence of strong leadership and the stability provided by having a good sprinkling of experienced Vets throughout the Company.

No, it should never have happened, but then, neither should the War.

My family fled Vietnam in 1979 and settled in the U.S. I always believed that the Americans were the "good guys" in the Vietnam War. After reading this book, I now have a much different view. I see the conflict as something that is much more complex than what I was taught in high school. The Viet Congs committed many atrocities during the war, but it seems as though the Americans committed just as many--if not more--atrocities. The My Lai Massacre is a shining example of the low regard that a large number of American soldiers had for Vietnamese peasants.

I highly recommend this book as it debunks the myths surrounding the Vietnam War. In addition, the authors call into question the moral character of not only the "grunts" that gunned down old men, women, children, and even babies, but also the officers high up the chain of command that tried to cover up the massacre. Moreover, the authors are highly critical of the military justice system that basically looked the other way even in the face of overwhelming evidence that a massacre indeed did occur.

The book serves as an important reminder of the horrendous nature of war where good young boys can turn into cold-blooded killers. In light of the recent events in Haditha, Mukaradeeb, and Hamdania, among others, we need to learn from past mistakes so that we don't repeat them.

I could be verbose and describe the virtues of this book in great detail, but the pictures in this amazing work speak much louder than anything that I could write. He was a man who gave his life for his craft, and this book is a powerful tribute to that craft. Absolutely stunning and indispensable to anyone that wants to understand "that war" and the power of the visual image.

Larry Burrows was and still is a benchmark which other photojournalists should strive to attain. Great book. Buy it.

What is a good photograph even in times of war? Look into this book. Larry Burrow gave us a clear message.

An amazing book, incredible images from the great artist Larry Burrows. Although taken 35 years ago, they are as relevant today as they were then.

This collection of Burrows' work in Vietnam is unbelievable. At great risk, he captured photos of American soldiers and Marines in Vietnam -- photos of young men that seem to leap off the page. Nothing like this has come of coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- not because the photos weren't taken, but because of the incredible cowardice and corruption of the American media. This book is a tribute to the courage and skill of one photojournalist, and an imperishable record of the men who fought and died in that war.

How Walter Dean Myers ever dreamed up a picture book of the Vietnam War is beyond me. I immediately wanted to read it and buy it. It turned out to be very good and contains imagery of the scariness of war. It avoids gore but people do die and soldiers do kill. Haunting.

"Patrol" by Walter Myers is a great book. The main charactor doesn't have a name in this book. Anyways, he is in the forsests of Vietnam during the vietnam war. He is slowly walking through the woulds and than he hears gun shots. He dives to the ground and and looks for the opponent. People who would like this book are kids to adults. Adults would like it because they can remember the war that was going on when they were a kid. Kids would enjoy it because a lot of times kids like to play as if they were army men fighting in a war.Thise book is Historical Fiction because the war happend but not this particular scene.

This book has different types of pictures. The pictures are a bunch of picturesf cut out and put on one piece of paper. I think this army book is a great book for kids to understand what it feels like to be in a war.
The writting of this book is also unique because it is a type of poem writting form. This book is easy to read and understand. Kids should read this book if they are interested in war stuff and if they don't like to read long books.

Boom! A granade went off next to my buddy and sent him flying back to his death. Could I be next thought the brave soldier? Patrol is about the Veitnam War and a soldier who is very cautious about his surroundings. This book is very mysterious because you don't know what will happen to the soldier. He is constantly thinking about his family and how his death could come to him.
He is trapped in the middle of the Vietnamise forests and is lost with his buddies. They have a long maze of problems ahead of them including how they get back home. This book is good if you are a follower of this war or if you like stories that always are mysterious and are hard to guess what is going to happen. It is a picture book but that doesn't mean that is isn't good. Patrol is a mix of mystery and heroic. The author, Walter Dean Myers, realy knows how to make a great book for children.
I enjoied reading the book Patrol so I think you will too! Don't get too caught up in the pictures because they are awsome. If you are looking for an awsome picture book to just read then this is for you.

Patrol
Patrol is about a soldier in war looking for the enemy and doing what he is told. War makes the main character relies what he could loose and what he could gain. The captain never let up on the main character and never lets the platoon or him rest. Even when they are fired upon the captain tells them to shoot and keep moving. The main character calls in a bomber and the gun battle is over but that's not the end to the book.

What a trip! This book gives you most of the details you need to get on the train and get an education. Time passes fast so take advantage of each moment. Four men just returned from Beijing to Moscow (August 2008), the trip of a lifetime. Very helpful guide into the cities and scenes along the way. It doesn't tell about all the great people riding the rails with you. Friends forever!

I am leaving soon for a two-week trip in Siberia. This book has been an exceellent primer. I'll know more about how to judge it when I return.

I have not been able to find any single travel book that covers as much useful information as this! I will be traveling the Trans-Siberian rail this summer, and this book has been a constant companion through my planning process. Detailed information on all of the towns and cities along the way along with maps to avoid getting lost while wandering. Definitely a bonus for the all of the information on smaller towns- it's very difficult to find a travel-worthy guide book that covers more than just St. Petersburg and Moscow, not to mention UB!

Can't recommend this book higher to anyone considering journeying the Trans-Siberian Railway!

Because I plan to trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway next year I bought this book hoping to read some advice and tips on how to travel the whole trip, where to stay, how much it costs, where to stay etc.

But his book absolutely surpassed all my expectations!! There are not only those tips on trans-siberian rail, but also "travel guides" for cities like Moscow, Irkutsk and even tips on how to get to Mongolia, where to stay in Ulan-Bator and so forth.

I have no idea how I would plan my trip without this book! It's really amazing how much information (and even with tips from other "ordinary" travellers!!) is in that, for instance bus-numbers from Moscow airport heading to the center of the city ...

The book absolutely worth the money.

For passengers on traveling on all or most of the Trans-Siberian Railway and visiting the cities along it, there are only two English-language travel guides. The Lonely Planet guide appeared in 2003 with a second edition in 2006, while Bryn Thomas updates his guide almost yearly and in 2007 it reached its seventh edition. I'm a two-time veteran of the Trans-Siberian, using the 1st edition of the Lonely Planet on the eastbound Trans-Manchurian route, and the 2nd edition on the eastbound Trans-Mongolian. When I recently discovered Bryn Thomas' guide in the local library, however, it struck me as the guide that I wish I had had on the trip.

The Lonely Planet guide and Thomas' have much in common. Both include a history of Russia in the Trans-Siberian era and general information about culture. They both give sightseeing guidance and lodging listings for the cities along the way. The LP sticks to the three traditional routes between Moscow and Beijing or Vladivostok, but Thomas has now added Yakutsk, soon to be accessible by rail) and other possible rail terminus cities like Prague and Hong Kong.

What makes Thomas' guide real special is his enthusiasm for the train journey itself. Unlike the LP guide, he gives timetables for the route, truly equipping the reader to prepare for the trip without having to look for too much information outside the book. Thomas discusses in detail the layout of carriages, specifics of what the carriage attendant can do for those under her charge, and things to look out for at kilometre markers along the way. The LP guide has little about the journey itself, and what little interesting information it did have in the first edition disappeared in the second.

Thomas' tone is also much more pleasant to read than in the common guidebooks for independent travelers. He doesn't try to sell you places you have already decided to visit with an overuse of words like "vibrant" and "spectacular". I also admire that he succeeds in writing for a general audience. While some of the accomodation listings are pricey, it doesn't feel like he is dismissing backpackers like certain sell-out guidebook lines.

I don't think I will ever travel the Trans-Siberian all the way again. While still fairly low considering the distance, fares are rising and I usually have the three free weeks needed to hitchhike from Europe to Ulan-Ude or Vladivostok. Nonetheless, I'd certainly recommend this to travelers planning a trip that is well-worth doing at least once.

A delightful chronicle of an odyssey back to VietNam, by two unlikely travel-mates. An engaging, funny, at times disturbing account of war, memories of war, and the personal costs of relationships in wartime. Hard to put down, I loved the writing style that seemed to blend Jack Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson.

Educational, Emotional, Entertaining....like spending an evening with a good friend with a great story to tell. Hopefully this is a first of many for this talented writer.

Jim Fallon has an amazing way with words. His writing illustrated his jouney to Vietnam in a way that was clear to the reader.

I must say I did not expect to laugh as much as I did while reading Virga Tears. It is clear the writing has a unique way of telling the truths of his serious jouney, at the same time seeing the humor in traveling in a third world. If you have traveled the world, you will laugh with understanding, if you have not, you will laugh at the reality of his words.

The hard truth of life in Vietnam, then and now was not lost in humor. It was very human.

Great book.

I was surprised to find tears of laughter from a book on Vietnam. This is one that I will read over and over and send to friends for the Holidays.

A new twist and a story not previously told about the war. What a trip what an adventure.

Vigra tears is a delightful story of two men who visit Vietnam 30 years after the war. The author and his brother-in-law, different as night and day, share a most memorable experience in their journey and it gives you a different perspective of the war.
This book is worth reading, very witty and well written. I especially liked the chapter titles and how they related to the text of the book. It is easy reading for those that don't have a lot of time. The events that take place are interesting and informative and give you a sense of the country and people. The author makes you feel like you are right there with them. I didn't want it to end.

If you're interested in Tibetan Buddhist iconography for whatever reason you can't go wrong with this detailed book. The author's original illustrations provide a wealth of examples of images in Tibetan art, and the text provides rich historical and doctrinal background for understanding why the symbols are important. Highly recommended.

Recieved the book promptly and in the condition promised. The book is an excellent source book. It does suffer from being without an index, for which the author apologizes. A source book without index is less than it should be. Still the images are excellent, and I assume the text is accurate. The author has spent a good portion of his working life in preparation: studying with Tibetan artists and craftspeople; and, becoming accomplished at rendering the brush drawings in an authentic manner. A good compaion book, especially as this does not have a index, is the "Handbook" by the same author

It's a more interesting and authoritative reference for this subject matter. This is due to Rinpoche being a qualified (I emphasise the word 'qualified') Lama and Tibetan scholar. Also at no point does Rinpoche compromise Tibetan Buddhism by giving away restricted information.

I love this book. Having found it a few years back at a tattoo shop in Santa Cruz, California, I was only able to look at it for a short time but I was able to gain so much knowledge as to the wealth of designs and deep meaning found in Tibetan art. This book stayed in my mind thereafter. Here it is a few years and a couple tattoos later and the book resurfaced on Amazon. Great price, great condition and prompt service. This book is great for one who has interest in Tibetan art and it's symbolic nature. The concepts are well articulated and with each 'type' placed into a different chapter it makes refrencing quite simple. If you are interested, get this book!

Great book, with lots of details. If you are interested in tibetan handicrafts, here you can get any tibetan design you can imagine.