We were being assigned to the Philippines and I browsed through all the travel books available on the country. I chose this (the first edition) because i liked the way it was written and that the writers live in the Philippines. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed! In fact i found both the information provided and the personalized descriptions of places to stay and eat very helpful. When the second edition came out i bought it and passed on my old copy to a friend. The 2nd edition has new information (unlike others that i have found are almost completely re-writes of past editions) and continues to be a more personal travel guide. I will be sorry to leave the country and this book has helped my family enjoy our travels.

I am a traveller from Madrid and was given this book as a gift by a friend from Manila. It was full of everything a traveller who is unfamiliar with an exotic country like the Philippines. When I went there with several friends last year we found the book to be extremely helpful and so accurate in detail that we had an easy time moving around, finding hotels and site-seeing areas. To the authors: thank you for a very relaxing trip to the Philippines!

Yes, the Second Edition of my Thailand Guide was published July 2000. I added about 50 new pages, updating material including detailed diagrams of Old Sukhothai (as I recall, you suggested this one), Wat Po, Wat Phra Khao and the Grand Palace, the National Museum, a map and suggested tour of the Canals of Thonburi, a map of the Skytrain, improved the index, etc. Very little new on the Myanmar section. I spent equivalent time of 64 8-hour days for the update. Now you know.

The most currently popular travel books for Thailand are written with backpackers in mind, those who are trying to stretch the baht until it groans. Lou Bechtel's Guide is more for the typical vacationer with a moderate budget, especially for those who are taking their families with them.

The first thing you notice about this book is the extensive contact information for every single hotel and restaurant listed, and there are lots of them in every location reported. All guidebooks on Thailand cover Bangkok according to the sections of the city. This book adds a section that other books do not have:"Near the Airport," for those jaundiced travelers who wish to "skip Bangkok" other than using the airport.

Lou is frequently engaged to review hotels and cover trade fairs in Asia, so he knows what he is looking for and expecting, both in service and cost. As a travel journalist, he often gets the VIP treatment, but he thinks you should not pay more than necessary to have a good time. Often he just tells the reader, "This is what you should do."

You can read other books on Thailand with all the glossy pictures, to decide where you want to go. Once you have an idea what you would like to do and where you would like to go, this is the book to plan your itinerary.

After visiting the Philippines a few years ago I could find enough words to tell all of the experience. This book brings the words to life. The friendliness of the people, the outstanding views. Time to plan a second trip. Watch out Caribbean here come the Philippines.

Being an expat, and for somebody who hasnt visited my homeland in almost 6 years, I was most curious in getting an updated coffeetable book about the Philippines. Stuart Naval Dee's THE PHILIPPINES REDISCOVERED (published Jan 99) is a work of love coming from a native himself, though now living in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The gorgeous pictures and some are stunning, especially an unlabeled shoot of a beach scene on page 120 wherein a very slim strip of white sand cuts diagonally along the azure sea. Simply stunning and worth a thousand words. Other pictures tell of the vivacity of the Filipino people in work and play, particularly the festival or fiesta scenes. The author and photographer wasnt afraid of showing day-to-day scenes like small fishes in a metal container fresh from a day's catch, succulent roasted pigs (lechon) on bamboo skewers, children enjoying a birthday party with messy spaghetti remnants strewn all over the table, an overloaded jeepney (the main mode of land transportation) as it prepares for its daily route, as well as the scenic vistas (the white sand beaches would make the Carribean pale in comparison) that has made the Philippines truly, The Pearl of the Orient Seas. Most dont know the true wonders of my home country and this book will lure you to visit one of Asia's bargain and truly delightful travel experience. As soon as you land in Manila, escape the hustle and bustle of the megalopolis capital (home to 11 million people) and immediately discover the islands and its friendly people. This book has truly made me homesick. Mabuhay! (Welcome and long live!)

Val Suan, Houston,TX, svaljr@ix.netcom.com

This is the best travel map I've seen for the Philippines. Very detailed, lots of information and great quality paper. It is much better than the Globetrotter map I bought earlier. Globetrotter doesn't even show the provinces of the Philippines on the map...

When traveling to new areas or countries it nice to have the best information at your hands. Thats why I like Periplus Maps. Good detailed information and inserts to help with larger metro areas. With 7107 islands, foreign names, get the information quick and easy off Periplus Travel Maps.

Who said children can't be artists? This book demonstrates the delightful variety of children's art around the world. But more, it is sociology, in which the art is placed in the cultural context in which it was made. How different are the artistic expressions from children across the globe. It sets the bar for future publications relating to children's art. We loved this book, as a reference, as an interesting coffee table book, as a compact study of diversity and commonality.

Through the imaginations and dreams of children around the world, Tracy Spates has helped articulate the real promise of globalization--not an ecomonic or cultural amalgamation, but the truth and beauty of children making art: a wonderful diversity of myths and individual visions, the unique play of techniques and cultural icons in a world of rapidly converging imagery. This book teaches. This book celebrates. This book heals. "Children's Art Around the Globe" belongs in every household and, more importantly, in every classroom in the world.

This book is on the "Recommended Reading List" of Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 295, Indianapolis, Indiana

Two hundred Vietnam vets (women and men both) ranked this book among the top five "oral histories" from the war, and those five oral histories among the top fifteen books from the Vietnam War period. The other four? EVERYTHING WE HAD (Santoli), NAM (Baker), CASUALTIES (Brandon) and BLOODS (Terry). All offer women-vet voices as moving as Walker's collection. (Comments by the author of DREAM BABY.)

This creation story from the Mien tribe of Laos provides an intriguing tale of a competitive pair who use the Mien people's embroidery as a pattern to create earth and sky. The siblings work in secret only to find their patterns don't fit together. Samples of traditional stitches and Mien embroidery patterned endpapers accompany a fine creation story.

Nancy Raines Day adapts and retells a Laotian creation story in Piecing Earth & Sky Together. Beautifully illustrated throughout with full color artwork by Genna Panzarella, the story told by a Mein Grandmother is of a very competitive pair who use the dinstinctive embroidery of the Mein tribe to creat the arth and the sky. Because both siblings want to make their part of the world the most beautiful, they work in secret until it is finally time to reveal their handiwork -- only to discover that their two pieces don't fit together! Faam Toh solves the problem by stiching the favric into mountains, rivers, gorges, and valleys. Only then do the earth and sky fit perfectly, allowing all the plants and naimals to thrive. Piecing Earth & Sky Together is a magnificently presented story that would grace any school or community folklore collection for young readers.

i read this book so many years ago, but i can still remember
how good it is. this book is not only about the underwater
world but also about the goings-on in a typical barrio in
the philippines. it has a socio-economic aspect to it that i
found quite realistic, having been born and raised in that very
same third world country. it amazed and pleased me that a
foreigner like hamilton-paterson could,quite accurately, capture
the very essence of filipino rural life---like the old woman who

he suspects isnt so aloof and taciturn as she seems
and the children of the barrio who frolick in the water and
in their humble amusements, oblivious of the shortcomings of a
third world upbringing. the book is an unusual stew of underwater
adventure and an unpatronizing account of a life among the natives.

Paterson is living on a small island in the Philippines and he is joining the natives in diving (i.e. fishing) for a living. We scuba-divers, as we only come for 1-2 week vacations, often are not experiencing the reality around our dive sites. Paterson's book was helping me understanding more of the countries I was visiting. Very instructive are his personal insights about ecology in a third world country and the connections to the economical and social structure. I found it very valuable that the insights do not follow the well known beaten paths about the third world but are rather well founded, personal observations. This makes this book a much more interesting read than any other book about the subject that I have ever read before.

"The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia" is abrilliant, riveting and invaluable expose that details the CIA's involvement in drug-running. Through McCoy's analysis, one can follow the CIA's drug-running trail from right after WWII, through the French Connection in Marseilles, to the golden triangle in Laos and Burma and on into Afghanistan.

"The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia" reveals the purpose behind the CIA's incolvement in drugs: at least since 1954 in Guatemala, the US has been involved in massive international terrorism throughout Central America. being clandestine, the CIA needed untraceable money and brutal thugs, so the CIA turned to narco-traffickers - like Manuel Noriega (long on the CIA payroll before his demise).

"The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia" remains one of the more important, relevant (in light of US involvement in the euphamism called a drug war in Columbia) yet obscure books of the previous quarter-century - a book that ultimately posits the question of whether the CIA, as an instrument of state policy, reflects the values of the American populace. Fascinating reading.

This in-depth academic study researches the central role that opium plays in the economy, politics, and wars of the region. It follows the trial from the highlands of Laos, where the opium is grown and harvested by the Hmong tribespeople, to the Golden Triangle, where it is refined into heroin. Published in 1972, this was the first printed account of the USA's massive engagement in a "secret" war in Laos. It documented the use of CIA helicopters to bring Laotian opium to market in Vietnam (where, ironically, it was sold to addicted US soldiers.) This was done to finance weapons for the army of Hmong highlanders, being led by CIA "advisors", who were fighting the Laotian communists.

There was only one edition of this book; immediately after its first printing, the entire publisher was bought by the U.S. government, and all warehoused copies were destroyed. However, with a bit of luck it can still be found in used bookstores.

After having read many books on the POW/MIA subject, it was immediately clear to me that after reading "POW/MIA - America's Missing Men - The Men We Left Behind", this book is the definitive encyclopedia on the subject.

Covering World War 2, Korea, Vietnam, and the first Gulf War (with major emphasis on Vietnam), it is clear to see that this book is exceptionally well researched and compiled.

Among some of the superb material is major statistics of the Vietnam war, a huge list of unaccounted for U.S. servicemen with supporting intelligence information, and a timeline overview through the years that shows exactly what has been accomplished by the United States, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos concerning the continuing POW/MIA issue.

Finishing off the book are 126 riveting photographs of American servicemen held in captivity. These photos, not easy to look at, are heart wrenching in their portrayal of the pain, suffering, and hardship suffered by our servicemen.

For the best possible material on POW/MIA's (predominantly in Vietnam), this is the book for you. It comes hugely recommended to everyone interested in this material.

Over a period of time reviewing books has it perks. I get to choose my topics and read what I like. Chimp Robertson has made it easy to be a reviewer with this book POW/MIA America's Missing Men.

One of the most controversial subjects in U.S. History is the MIAs and POWs, and this book uncovers the truth about what really happened to those men. I was deeply moved by the enormous tragedy of the whole thing.

Not written in storybook fashion, this book you'll read gripping tales of horrific conditions by those that lived the nightmare and returned to talk about it. You'll also read about those that were as fortunate.

Most impressive was the way the book is detailed and well researched. Even more impressive is the work the author is doing to help bring back those still left behind. This book should be dedicated to the real heroes of the Vietnam War - the soldiers.