Are colours percieved in the same way in all cultures? This is a fascinating question connected with the discussion on linguistic relativity. Unfortunately, many works on colour either disregard the issue or build upon Berlin and Kay's classic work. Written in 1969 "Basic Colour Terms" consists of a simple theory: Colour Terms are acquired in a certain order: "primitve" peoples have fewer colour terms than industrial societes. The only problem is, the theory is wrong. Here is why:

The colour samples are restrictive because variation in luminosity or reflectance are not included. At the same time, however, the stimulus array is also very complex and the labelling task forces the informants to make judgements and choices which they rarely encounter in real life.

The research is unrealistic. How many Europeans would be willing - and able - to classify 350 (!) colour chips?

The colour research of Berlin and Kay (and their followers) is being conducted in "linguistic isolation"; that is, hardly any notice is taken of how colour terms are used by speakers and hearers in every-day interaction. Morphemic, syntactic, semantic (other than naming) or pragmatic issues are not dealt with.

With Berlin and Kay's system it is also easy to make the colours fit the thesis.

While Berlin and Kay's research has revived interest in the subject much effort has gone into defending a flawed theory. For a more frutiful approach see the section on colour terms in Wierzbicka, Anna (1996) Semantics: Primes and Universals. Oxford: Oxford UP.

This book is out-of-date. When I used it I found that many things had changed, even a museum had been moved to another building, a recommended beer had gone out of business, following directions, streets now have "do-not-enter" signs on them. I like Blue Guide a lot, and the book is still good for the inside of churches and museums that have not changed. But overall, I would not buy this book until they come out with an updated version. East Germany is changing fast and you need the most current information available.

Gives a detailed account of the political and diplomatic manoeuvres between the Western Allies and the USSR, as well as within the US Government during that period. However, it lacked anecdotes on the blockade and airlift, which would have made it a more enjoyable read. Left me wanting more.

Given the recent changes in Berlin, I was quite surprised that the published date of this book is 1995. As I began looking through it, I became concerned when I read phrases like "Once Berlin resumes its role as capital towards the end of the century, ..." Other than the publish date, the book seems great: lots of crisp photos, good touring routes and location maps, and concise descriptions. And its all in a nice compact form.

I was dissapointed after being tantalized by the title. I fully expected much more anecdotal evidence that a gay lifestyle exists in Eastern Europe...instead it reinforced the sterotype of a bleak and gray people. Which is not true, Eastern Europe is fascinating and quite gay. Maybe someone will do this subject justice next time around

Here is a valuable book for anyong interested in the ragtime song or in the arly compositions of Irving Berlin. It includes in-depth discussions of Berlin's vaudeville songs including Glack, Irish, Jewish, Italian, German and "rube" songs. There are numerous sheet music covers, musical excerpts and lyrics to accompany the text. There are also extensive treatments of Berlin's ragtime songs for the musical stage. A valuable addition is an alphabetical list of Berlin songs published from 1907 to 1914 complete with copyright information. Anoother listing includes vintage recordings of the songs. Despite some real plusses, this is a flawed work. anyone using it should be aware of some of its more glaring shortcomings: The author did not know that "Harry Piano" was a pseudonym for Berlin, and he treats him as a real person! He continually makes assumptions that certain words and phrases mean more than they state -- often sexual references. These are pure speculation on his part, unsupported by fact. As an example in his discussion of the lyrics of "When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam'," he claims that a white person would hardly use the term "choo-choo" for a train and that he would not grab a conductor by the collar and "holler" at him. He further states, "The train's midnight departure time suggests that fares are cheaper then than on trains leaving at more convenient hours." Anyone who knows anything about railroads knows that this is ridiculous. It is far less likely that a black man would have accosted a conductor (most of them white) in any way. Hamm also makes a number of completely fallacious statements: He claims that the book, THEY ALL PLAYED RAGTIME, defined "ragtime" exclusively as piano music with the term "ragtime song" being an oxymoron. In reality the book frequently refers to and praises ragtime songs by such composers as Ben Harney, Joe Jordan and George Botsford. He claims that classic ragtime was intended to be played just as it was notated. The truth is that while a few composers played their scores as written, no good ragtime pianist ever played scores exactly as written, and composers did not expect them to. He claims that Berlin and Snyder never wrote a ballad together after 1911. In reality they penned the beautiful "Lead Me To Love" in 1914 for the musical show "Watch Your Step." Another blunder is is claim that the song "Hands Up" was composed by Joseph Lamb and J. Fred Helf. In reality it was Arthur J. Lamb who wrote the song's lyrics. His most serious error was in not interviewing the Ted Snyder family or reading the true story of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" as printed in THE RAG TIMES, which was based upon information provided by the Snyder family. Despite all its errors the book does contain the most complete history of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" to date with previously unearthed quotes and documentation. Read, enjoy and learn -- but beware.

This map would probably be nice for tourists who are *only* going to see the Stadt Mitte around the Tiergarten, Checkpoint Charlie, and the other touristy stuff. However, you can probably get a map that's just as good at this stuff from your hotel for free, save the mini-German lesson that's printed on the map. If you buy the Lonely Planet Berlin handbook, which is probably a better investment, you won't need this map. If you want to see things that aren't the everyday touristy stuff, you need a bigger map. Get one with Postdam on it and buy it when you get to Berlin. You'll save cash and the frustration of having a map that makes Berlin look like a Dorf (small village).

Mecahnics and Control of Robots provides a ``how-to'' introduction to robotics. Unfortunately there are several problems with the text. Some of the writing is cumbersome and hard to follow, and several fundamental items, such as homogeneous transformations, robot dynamics and control, are not adequately explained. It may be worth having for the examples if for no other reason.

The common dictum in fiction writing is "show, don't tell." That is, to keep your reader interested, it is much more involving to "show" the scene, idea, instance, or action, than to "tell." Interestingly, I think that this dictum goes beyond fiction. I've never been much of a history buff. Part of this is because of how they teach it in our public schools--dry facts and actions, later to be regurgitated on multiple-choice tests. But history can be interesting, when it's shown rather than told. What is a story--hi-story? --but a history of what happened, is happening, or will happen? Or, to illustrate the point, remember a move from the 80s called "Teachers," starring Nick Nolte? Also appear was that crazy guy from "Soap" (Richard Mulligan?) as an escaped loony who "takes over" for the history professor. Every time you see him, he's in a new costume: Caesar, Napeleon, George Washington. He's creating dioramas in his classroom. Now, there's something to remember history through!

What does this have to do with Marcos Tanner's travelogue through Eastern Europe? I'm sure you've already guessed it. Tanner has forgotten, if he ever knew it (he's a journalist; the dictum in journalism is the pyramid structure, where the most important facts are told first, the next most important next, ad infinitum), that he needs to show us things. It's not that he doesn't do so entirely. The memories I have from this book consist of several cases of showing. But he intersperses dry-fact history among those scenes, effectively killing any momentum that he could have had. In fiction we have another term for this injection of background, history or full descriptino in the text; we call it "information dumping." It's not that Tanner doesn't know of what he speaks, but he overloads the book (at least fifty percent) with extraneous background in sections, rather than working it in with his travels.

Having enjoyed TS:Paris and having endured TS:London I had to read TS:Berlin to test my pet theroy, TS:Paris is by far the pick of the litter and it is my belief that it was written by someone else! TS:Berlin is surpassed in poor writing only by TS:London. It's a tragedy to see good concepts trashed this way!

This was my first purchase of a book by Mr. Evans and it will be my last.

Having been stationed in Berlin from 1966 through 1972, it quickly became evident that Mr. Evans' knowledge of the physical layout of the city was deficient. One example is his implication that the Brandenburg Gate was close to the American Sector of the city when in fact it is adjacent to the British sector. Another was his description of the escape over the Wall where it seems that the wall is at least 15 or 20 feet high (the characters set a ladder on the cab of a truck to climb over). In fact, most stretches of the Wall are only 10 to 12 feet high.

Another problem was Mr Evans' lack of knowledge of the relationship of West Berlin to West Germany. West Berlin was an occupied city and there were no German military personnel allowed in West Berlin. Mr. Evans implies that the Mayor of West Berlin had tanks to place around the city. The only military in West Berlin at the time were American, British, and French troops. The only forces available to the Mayor were two police formations equipped and trained as light infantry.

Overall, this book was a great disappointment.

I have read all three TS books. I liked it. I have never been to Berlin so the story line seemed fine to me. It's fiction for God's sakes....