This is an easy-to-use dictionary and is very comprehensive for a small dictionary. I'm learning Vietnamese to prepare to live there for a fews years, so my needs may more advanced than those of someone visiting Vietnam for 2 weeks. This is the best Vietnamese dictionary out of the 6 or 7 I've tried.

This book has current words in politics and basic computer terms. I tested it with words like "keyboard", "computer games", and "server" and found good translations for all of these. It also has basic American slang. However, it doesn't have "router", "ISP", "chemical weapon", or "bilateral trade agreement".

There is an English-to-Vietnamese section and Vietnamese-to-English, so it would be useful for native speakers of either language.

My friend and I picked it up on a lark and she (non-Thai) started reading the phrases, and I (Thai) was able to understand perfectly. It's small fits-in-your-pocket size is toteable, accessible and the phrases range from the utterly useful to the hilariously absurd. You will speak understandable Thai, EFFORTLESSLY, and it will be fun, and you will be amazed. I've looked at dozens of these, and for quick and easy fun, and some good doses of usefulness, this is the one you MUST have.

Jane Drakard has most skillfully written one of the most valuable and scholarly books in the field of Sumartran history. A fascinating and highly original work which illuminates her subject matter in a way that is accessible and spellbinding to any reader. More please.

Bertil Lintner was the first westerner to visit Kachin state of Upper Burma since the early 1960s. He and his Shan wife and newborn child travelled all across the insurgent-held territories of Upper Burma in what was one of the great adventures of the 1980s. Linter provides tremendous political detail on the area he travelled through. A great book. Absolutely superb reading

There has been a glut of books on Rumi in the past few years, many of them of dubious authenticity or quality; this assessment applies especially to the "free" translations of his poetry which have been such a big hit in the West! I think those poetical translations are not doing justice to the message of Rumi since they are so far removed from many of the original Persian poems.

This book then is a welcome change. It is quite an old book but its republishing is an important event in the world of Rumi studies, in my opinion.

For a start this book, though perfectly accessible to the lay person, is primarily a scholarly endeavour and as such much more concerned about relaying the events of Rumi's life and his message as accurately as possible than in selling copies!

It is unique of all the books I have read on Rumi to date in that it tries to look, in depth, at his early life and how that affected him later when he met Shams Tabrizi and was moved by Divine Love to compose ecstatic poetry.

Thus we have a detailed chapter on the political conditions of the area (Afghanistan) in which he lived; then we have an exposition about his father (who himself was a very famous Muslim scholar and jurisprudent as well as a Sufi) who, as this book shows, had a major influence on Rumi's development and later ideas. We also then are introduced to the other people who influenced Rumi in one way or another, his teachers and his family and friends.

The sections on Rumi's life are detailed too: his life is divided into three sections: his birth, childhood, migration to Konya and early training as an Islamic scholar under his father and other famous teachers; his period following his father's demise as a prominent scholar, and Sufi teacher himself (he was an heir to his father's position); and then the period of his meeting with Shams and afterwards for the remainder of his life. This latter period is also further sub-divided based on his various works and mystical states as evidenced by his poetical output. Most other works on Rumi tend just to concentrate on this last period of his life.

After this the major poetical works of Rumi are discussed in, more or less, chronological order of writing. Thus the Divan-e-Shams-e-Tabrizi, his great collection of ecstatic lyrical poems in praise of Shams is dealt with first followed then by an explanation of his magnus opus, the Masnavi. Then the author discusses Rumi's overall message. The final section looks at sections of the Masnavi which RE Nicholson, in his great translation of the Masnavi, decided to translate into Latin as he believed them (erronously) to be of a pornographic nature. In fact, when one reads the English translations here, one sees that Rumi simply uses examples of human sexual behaviour to underline an important teaching point of Sufism.

For those who are interested in Rumi's message and life in earnest, and not in the suspicious "New-Age" fad which the spurious translations of his works seem to have started (and which he, being a pious Muslim, would no doubt be horrified by!), this book is a must.

Dr. Iqbal needs to be congratulated for trying to bring Rumi's message across as it is!

I bought this book because of its lingustic interest. Material about Lisu, Lahu, Hmong, Akha, Mien, (et al) is very hard to come by. Ordinarily I would anathematize all phrase books, but this gives a lot of detailed information about these languages, including their structure and pronunciation, that is nearly impossible to find anywhere else. The author's presentation is very clear, and included also is some information about the peoples and the cultures of this little-known place. It actually made me want to go there.

This book is the best I have found about New Caledonia. It is so hard for Americans to find good accurate info on New Caledonia but this book does it all. I knew more about some places than many of the locals. It helped me understand where I was going and helped me better integrate into the society there. Wonderful book. I am a lonely planet person now. :-)

This is an authoritative analysis of one of the most turbulent periods in U.S.-Korean relations and an enlightening memoir by one of America's top career ambassadors and China experts. After a somewhat slow introduction (probably necessary for readers short on historical knowledge), the book marches along smartly in an exciting first-person narrative filled with dramatic events, struggles of will, and diplomatic efforts to save a flawed American policy, to foster democracy abroad, and to save the life of a foreign statesman. Should be read by all interested in the art of diplomacy, the Korean transition to democracy, or the practice and limits of U.S. influence.

The Palace File should be number one on Hamid Karzai's reading list! The promises made in secret between one nation's leader and another have little value, it seems. Some would argue that such secret pledges should never be made by the elected leader of a true democracy. "Our" sincere pledges never to abandon an ally and never to waste the blood sacrifices of American troops are well-documented in The Palace File. The documents speak for themselves.

Those who doubt American staying power in the "war on terrorism" will find much ammunition for their arguments in a quick read of this sad tale of failed adventure in Vietnam. Our new but familiarly avid "nation builders" need to study The Palace File before they charge full-speed down the same slippery slope toward ignominy.