This book is a handy source for getting by speaking Bahasa Indonesia, the national language of Indonesia, and will serve you well if you go to Bali. In Bali, they speak Bahasa Bali and Bahasa Indonesia, and as I have read in Lonely Planet Bali & Lombok guidebook, apparently, Bahasa Indonesia is easier for the visitor to learn.

My husband and I used this book on our trip to Bali in April, and found it very useful. We pleased many Balinese by trying to speak in Bahasa Indonesia, instead of expecting them to speak English.

This is a very small book (126 pages, 3.5" x 5") and fits nicely in the pocket of the very lightweight clothing you will want to wear while in a hot, humid, tropical climate. The book is organized according to topics (food, taxi, shopping, emergencies etc.), rather than alphabetically like a dictionary, and we found the organization helpful when we really needed it, like when dealing with vendors or when going to a cafe. The only thing different that I would have liked to be added, is a small dictionary of Bahasa Indonesia at the back of the book to accompany the small English one. Although we were not at a loss without and Indonesian dictionary.

Selamat siang. Saya hanya tahu sedikit bahasa Indonesia. Dimana setasiun kereta api? Bagaimana jika kita makan pagi di warung ini? Saya mau beli kelambu. Terima kasih.

This fit-in-your-pocket phrase book is nicely designed, and I really use it.

The grammar section alone outperforms bigger Behasa Indonesia language courses for simplicity and clear explanations.

Categories like "Getting Around" and "Food" are well organized, and it really is possible to find what phrase you are looking for, standing at the market in front of Mister Banana Seller, in a few seconds. Glossary is English to Behasa Indonesia only (and not the other way around).

This is a good history book. It provides the reader with a fairly broad background history of Burma (describing 'traditional' (ie 18th and early 19th century) society, culture, religion, politics, etc) , then narrates in a straight forward way what the author describes as the country formative transition to the modern world - the nineteenth and early centuries, when the region which we now know as Burma was created and annexed to the British Indian empire.

Its not only about Burma though - it also about how(as the author explains in his conclusions many medium sized non-western country, which remained independent until late in the nineteenth century, tried desperately to 'modernize'(Siam, Persia, Egypt are other obvious examples) and failed - and the consequences of this failure, which in Burma's case, echos still today

It also has lots of amusing stories, annecdotes etc. Its fairly focused however on its key theme, and one wishes at times for a better view of what was going on in the Shan states and other parts of what become 'modern Burma'.

Its a good read if youre interested in either Asian or British colonial history.

This is a good history and the author obviously knows his stuff. The author's access to British records is exemplary and his knowledge of local sources and tradition is excellent. One problem - he does not see Burma's imperial domination of its neighbors as in any way problematic, while Britain's imperialism obviously is. This is contradictory and typically Burmese. If one is to look for sources of current problems, certainly Britain's inmperial rule is one of them, but so is Burma's refusal to acknowledge that it practiced - and continues to practice - the same sorts of policies over other militarily weaker peoples.

Very interesting concise history of Konboung Dynesty'd last days. The author did explore the in depth and wrote in a perspective usually failed to look into. As a knower of Burmese history and culture, I appreciate the Author's work very much.

This "Dictionary" might be useful to someone who already knows written Tibetan but it is almost useless for those who do not. For example: If you wish to look up a certain Tibetan word, say, "Trungpa" to discover it's English meaning you will find that everything is ordered according to the Tibetan alphabet in the Tibetan alphabet. I still have not found Trungpa or any other word I was looking for, for that matter.

The authors have committed a serious error in my opinion and have created what might be called an archetypal example of scholarly myopia. Most of us do not wish to become Lotsawas (Translators). Most of us wish to be able to look up an Englsh tranliteration of a Tibetan word and discover it's meaning.

The creators of this book should look up the word Bodhisattva in a Sanskrit Dictionary. Then they should create an English-Tibetan counterpart for this work which would demonstrate compassion towards those of us who have no intent of becoming Lotsawas.

If you already have a handle on written Tibetan then this "Dictionary" is probably just great, but for the rest of us it is just a huge waste of time.

This dictionary is undoubtedly the best out there for modern literary and colloquial Tibetan. It is excellent for political, literary, and colloquial terminology. Of course, the depth of these genres comes at the expense of (non-basic) religious/philosophical terminology. But anyone who is in the market to buy this book would have known this about the dictionary and Goldstein's expertise already.

Since the majority of Tibetan-English dictionaries are "Dharma" oriented anyway, this dictionary is a welcomed and needed departure from the norm. Moreover, whereas virtually every widely available "Dharma" dictionary is put together by a pseudo-scholar, and is full of laughably incorrect glosses/definitions for a high percentage of terms, this dictionary -- compiled by a genuine scholar of Tibetan -- rarely has off the mark definitions.

I have used Goldstein's new dictionary every day since I bought it from the Amazon. It is undoubtedly the most up-to-date Tibetan dictionary ever published that covers well both the written language as well as the spoken language of the central dialect. However, the publishers seem to have been too much in a hurry, if they had taken a few more months, the result would have been perfect. Some of the cross-references tell you to look the word up under another listing, and if you do it, they tell you to get back to the first one. Sometimes the referred listing is missing altogether! It would have been useful if they had given more Sanskrit equivalents for Buddhist terms as the English translations vary. Regardless of these annoying trivia, the dictionary is indispensable for reading Tibetan newspapers and other materials published after 1950. Numerous illustrative sentences make it easier to understand the meanings. In short, its main strength lies in the modern everyday language (for Buddhist texts you will need a more specialised dictionary). Its coverage is so impressive that the Chinese Minorities Publishing House put indefenetely off the publication of its own dictionary which was due later this year. For any serious student of modern Tibetan: get it, you are going to need it.

In any foreign language dictionary we have ever purchased in the US, it is possible to look up words in either language to get their synonym in the other language. The cover doesn't have to state that it is a Vietnamese-English AND English-Vietnamese dictionary. That is usually a given.
This book is only helpful to those trying to find a synonym from Vietnamese to English. Evidently the lucky writer of the last review knows every word in the Vietnamese language and, therefore, never has a need to translate from English to Vietnamese.

To August 29, 2001 reviewer:
Well, the title does say that it's a Vietnamese-English dictionary and NOT a Vietnamese-English/English-Vietnamese dictionary.

To everyone else:
This is very good dictionary if you have an understanding of the Vietnamese language. Compared to other Viet dictionaries I've seen, the printed words in this book are larger and clearer (there are a few cases where the accents and/or the words are blurred).

If you're just learning the language, this book won't be for you. You would be better off if you bought an Engish-Vietnamese dictionary or a dual language dictionary.

My girlfriend, who is from Vietnam, found the book very helpful with her english studies.

The enlisted men fought the war and Mr. Carhart fails to devliver that message in his book. I served with the 1/327(6/67-6/68) and remember the courage, care, concern for each other and resourcefulness of the soldiers. To read this book you will never know the closeness the soldiers in the front line felt for one another. This book fails to detail the many heroic moments the different combat platoons had in saving one another from one fight to another. Some of the hardest battles were fought in 67-68 and this book does not do justice to the men who fought the battles nor to some of the fine officers we had to lead us . The book attempts to put down African American soldiers and does not adequately address the many contributions of African American officers and NCO's in the 1/327. I disliked the book for the falsehoods and innuendos Mr. Carhart used and the lack of respect he pays my fallen comrades.

Tom Carhart's THE OFFERING superbly records the demands of being a combat platoon leader in Vietnam. His candid and honest portrayl of himself reveals the oftentimes conflict of the mission vs. the welfare of the men. Carhart accurately documents his units engagements with the enemy and brings home to the reader the managed chaos of jungle firefights. Most importantly, Carhart recognizes the courage and determination of the american paratrooper and the varied racial backrounds of what we were.

Steve Patterson A company 1st/327th Infantry 101st Airborne Div 1968

I was a member of ABU 1/327 during 1967-68 serving as an enlisted man and started by carring ammunition for an M-60 machine gun in the 2nd platoon. The book is as the title says a soldiers own view. Just as 5 people involved in a single car wreck will have 5 stories about what happen, it is an individual account of one who was there. Carhart recieved two purple hearts while in Viet Nam and was in part responsible for the Viet Nam Memorial becoming a reality for all Viet Nam veterans. He also was responsible for seeing that Mr. Flipper ( the first black graduate of West Point ) recieved a pardon from the President 100 years after an injustice. This book relates to Tom Carharts experiances as a platoon leader and his time in Viet Nam. I believe them to be accuate from what I remember while he served with ABU. Many good men gave a lot and some all during 67-68. Far too many from the 101st. There again the 1st Battalion and later the whole 101st Divison came to fight and we inflicted far more than we recieved. This is a book written by a man on the ground who saw what he saw. Protected those he served with out any indifferce as we were all Airborne and " Above the Rest". I recieved my book from Tom at a reunion in San Mateo in 1988 as did all who attended the reunion. It was praised by those in attendance. San Mateo is where one of the fallen is buried. It was the only city to adopt a unit during the war... that is another story.

I agree with all of the other reviews on this page; Oliver North certainly was not in Vietnam very long, but his co-author David Roth certainly represents well the time he did spend as a Marine platoon leader. The accounts are vivid and help to portray Marine combat infantrymen experiences in I-Corps. The book did help me to format my story of flying UH-1D helicopters in the Mekong Delta; I liked the set-up of the chapters and untilized this aspect. I wasn't too interested in the Christianity thing North gets into on his return trip; it certainly is true that this is what has anchored his life--but this is not much of a Vietnam vet story. It still is on my bookshelf, however, for the reasons expressed below by the other reviewers.

This book is one that gives a view into experiences many of us will never face. Oliver North had a short tour in Vietnam but it definitely left him with many long lasting memories.
In this book we read North's personal impressions of what it was like to fight in the Vietnam War and he gives us the reasons why he thinks we failed there.
In 1993 Oliver North decided to go back to the country where he fought and finish his mission. Instead of going in a stance of war he went as an agent of peace to bring support, hope and reconciliation.
Oliver North shares with us his views as a born again Christian. He is driven by the teachings of Jesus Christ who calls us to, "Love our enemies." Oliver North does just that. He is driven to bring help to this hurting nation, shackled by a crumbling system of communism.
Oliver North visited Hospitals and Orphanages both hurting and dilapitated. He helped lead the way in bringing aid to these people. It is nice to see North, a professing Christian taking his life in Christ seriously and really going out and showing love to others.
This book is full of unique observations and inspiring actions. It was an enjoyable and quick read.

i read this book while doing research on ptsd. as an unrepentent left-wing, hippie, i am quite certain that a lot of people will not read this book because of north's political views. they are making a mistake. this book is very healing. it made me cry several times.

this books takes the reader into the heart of the war in I corps in 1968...it seems a lifetime ago--and yet, for many, it is as real as yesterday. we are, as north points out, a nation in need of healing over the vietnam war. too many people still suffer from ptsd as a consequence of it. they have traumatized their own children.... and society as a whole is poorer for the loss of these individuals.

we owe it to ourselves to understand the war and what happened there--no matter what our own political belief system is. this book goes a long way towards that goal. it also gives practical advice on how we, as decent caring humans, can, without a political agenda, help the people we bombed the s--- out of for 10 years. people who do not, amazingly, hate us for it.

READ IT!!!!

I bought this book as a way to study technical words in Thai. In that capacity it is fantastic. But as a former art director at an ad agency, I found it very entertaining as well. Each diagram reminds me of those little emgergency instruction cards in the front pocket of airplane seats. Imagine those diagrams but placed in the context of a nightclub or discotheque. The result is quite hilarious.

Also, a linguist might find the format of the book interesting from a semiotic point of view in that it is a book of signs with three signifiers for each signified. If you are not familiar with semiotics, ignore this last comment !

As a picture dictionary, almost all words contained in the dictionary are nouns. This series uses a standard Western and scientific basis for most of the content, and section of Thai-specific items is added at the end. This is mostly wat architecture, animals, plants, and farm produce. There are many realms of Thai life that are not included. Also some very common nouns seem to be missing -- octopus is one animal not included in the dictionary at all.

I have Oxford-Duden pictorial dictionaries in both Chinese and Thai, and have found them very helpful reference materials indeed for situations where translation of esoteric or extremely technical items is required, such as working parts of machinery, military hardware, etc. Obviously, being a pictorial dictionary, abstract nouns as well as verbs are not listed. I should also say that this dictionary would more than likely be superfluous for a basic-level speaker. I think it would probably be quicker to look up a word such as "sparrow" in a standard Eng-Thai dictionary than to track down the same word using this one. However, it is a fantastic technical reference.

I have had a great deal of difficulty with this book.

1. It does not provide a clear or thorough breakdown of grammar.

2. It does nothing to explain the Lao alphabet to English speakers, nor does it even provide the Lao spelling of any words for reference. (Romanized only)

3. The phonetic method used is extremely awkward and inaccurate; my neighbors (who are from Laos, who speak and read English fluently) had great difficulty in decifering the system used.

I am in the process of searching for a better tutorial, and I advise others to do so as well!

After struggling with inadequate phrasebooks when I was learning Lao a few years ago, I am really glad to finally see a decent one available! Mr. Higbie's phrasebook is great for beginners because it clearly marks the direction of the tones in a way which is easy for people who have no experience with tonal languages to understand. Placing words which have the same phonetic pronounciation but different tones together in the dictionary section really simplifies the language for travellers ('close' and 'far' for example sound the same, with different tones). While living and working in rural Lao for 3 years, I needed to learn to read and write in Lao script, but this is not necessary for travellers. The book is great for anyone wanting to communicate easily and quickly in Lao. Mr. Higbie presents the language as it is spoken in daily life. This book is my first choice and will be the one I recomend to anyone I know going to Lao.

I think this is the best phrasebook I've seen for the Lao language. I've used it on several trips to Laos and shared it with some Lao friends in America. They were very impressed that the sentences were written as they really say them, not like you see in a textbook. The book is from a New York publisher of language books that publishes books with high standards.

Other good things I found about the book:

1. It has a clear, concise grammar section
2. the selection of words and topics is comprehensive
3. the book is arranged in a way that is very easy to use
4. the introductory description of Lao is interesting and informative

I'd also like to say that the pronunciation system is the easiest I've seen. Tones are marked by lines that show the direction, which makes pronunciation a lot more clear than other books (this is also a problem with Thai). While there is no Lao script in the book the pronunciation can be figured out from the pronunciation chart in the front of the book. I think this book would be useful for people studying Lao, not only for travellers. Thank you Mr. Higbie for a creating a wonderful contribution to my library of S.E.Asian language books.

I spent 25 days in West Bengal with this book on me at all times. After leaving Calcutta, I found very few people who could speak much English. As it was designed for, it was fast to use to find a phrase, and pretty easy to be understood when reading. I needed few words that were not included in the book. I intend to use phrasebooks every time I want to learn a language - before I leave for the country.

I bought this book as one of the several "tools" I am using to learn Bengali. The book starts with an explanation of the transliteration used and a brief explanation of grammar. It then goes into common words and phrases. The book provides both transliteration and the Bengali script for many phrases. There is an excellent glossary at the back of the book that is listed alphabetically in English. It also includes transliteration and Bengali script. This is excellent for building your Bengali vocabulary. For information on how to incorporate a phrase book into your language learning process I recommend "How to Learn Any Language: Quickly, Easily, Inexpensively, Enjoyably and on Your Own" by Barry J. Farber.

I was hoping to learn a little Bengali so I can at least have a simple conversation with a native speaker. I haven't done that yet but now at least I can recognize and identify some meanings when I hear those native speakers. This phrasebook has the Bengali script and Roman letters. There is also a Eng-Bengali vocab list in the back of the book that I have found useful. I would recommend this book if you are trying to learn or use a little Bengali. It is simple, inexpensive, and offers some cultural insight to boot.

*this review refers to the 1999 edition*

I know the entire region pretty well and have read the Thailand and Cambodia sections of the book. I say the best way to travel is without a guidebook (most of these places can be negotiated with maps alone), but if you're going to get one...

The information that's in this book is pretty good, but there's not much of it. The layout looks good, but it isn't done with the visual economy of Lonely Planet guides, which have more information and are easier to read. (The LP guide is also easier to carry around, which is important for a SE Asia guide.)

The Cambodia section in this guide is remarkably sparse.

In short: get Lonely Planet's version, or don't get one at all. You might also try Fielding's, if they ever get around to updating it.

This book was the most interesting and entertaining travel book I've ever come across. Gautam Bhan (one of the editors) is one of the most entertaining writers I've ever enountered and when he told me that his book was coming out, I got a hold of it ASAP and had the greatest pleasure reading it. Warning: Contents can be really raunchy (but in a hilarious way) at times, with headings like "Where to see Wildlife" followed by "Where to eat Wildlife". Extremely entertaining, even for browsing purposes.

This guide was my constant companion during my two-month Southeast Asian odessey and it never let me down! You'll find that most travellers in SEA use Lonely Planet, but the truth is, the information in Let's Go is vastly more up-to-date. I particularly recommend their coverage of Indochina and the Philippines. If you make one purchase before you leave, make it this book!