Anyone living in the Southeast (Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee) will find this travel book to be a practical and useful tool. The author, Eleanor Berman, pairs seasonal activities and local attractions with various locales. For me, this opened my eyes to the many enjoyable short trips my family and I can take without going too far from home. The book contains telephone numbers, driving directions and suggestions for accommodations and restaurants that I likely would never have discovered on my own. My family and I have stayed in several of the book's recommended bed and breakfasts and have been delighted. I keep this book handy to refer to for travel ideas. I reccommend it highly as a thorough and "user friendly" guide to travel in the Southeast.

The photos and text paint a beautiful and picturesque tribute to this isolated and historic area.

It visually took me back to my three wonderful years among the gentle people and remote countryside!

A must have addition to any true lover of this faraway land of the pagodas.

This is a wonderful book that details every aspect of daily life in Bali, from the morning offerings to mask making. Eiseman is a careful observer who clearly loves Bali, and it's a great guidebook for anyone who wants to get beyond the Lonely Planet descriptions of Balinese culture. This book is on every coffee table in Bali.

This book really grew on me. I bought it in its first publication by Hong Kong's 'The Guidebook Company' in 1990, along with the usual Lonely Planet and an updated version of Bill Dalton's extremely hefty Indonesia guide. (I first took his book to Indonesia in '79, and his guide continues to be invaluable to the drifting back packer and serious off-the-beaten-tracker, but that type of guide may be overkill for the package traveller to Bali).

I find I keep returning to Charlés book for cultural references. Whereas the Lonely Planet and Dalton are great for planning where to stay and how to get around, and they're chockablock with data, data, data, this little gem of a book is a great if simple tool for planning cultural events and jaunts. It's laid out in an attractive fashion, with all kinds of great photos. Very interesting sidebars highlight personalities, artists, or historical events. It's light enough to be the only guide book you might need, especially if you plan to stay in one place (as on a package deal) and confine your forays into different villages and beaches to day trips only.

So if you are limited in your time in Bali, and you have to plan your days with care, spend a week or two with this book before you go, and it will quickly guide you to the things that interest you most.

More than an introduction and less than a full course on Balinese architecture, this is an excellent little guide.

Plenty of great illustrations on every page, and lots of meaty but hightly readable text is packed together in sidebars and full essays.

Very lightweight (meaning it is physically portable), this could come along with a traveler to Bali and be a valuable asset towards understanding temples, villages, etc.

Great technical companion to any of the style books on Bali (Bali Style, At Home in Bali, etc), which usually concentrate more on look and style & have a large variety of beautiful photos.

This small and inexpensive book packs with it a tremendous amount of information about Balinese Temples. The author starts by introducing the concept of Hinduism and Buddhism in Bali, as well as religious life in this island east of Java. He then proceeds to discuss general elements of the temples, such as: structures, functions, styles, and types. Along the way, he packs in many examples of those elements (in text and in images), and explains well each new terms that the readers encounter.

The illustrations are well thought of and done. The lay-out of the book assists the readers in navigating through the sea of information. Captions, side-bars and placement of graphics work very well. One thing that is missing from this book is the floor plan(s) of the temples. While this book does not profess to be an in-depth study on architecture, it will be useful to include simple floor-plan(s).

Almost toward the end, the author puts in a chapter on the kingdom of Majapahit of East Java, the influence of which is apparent in Balinese art and architecture. Somehow I wonder if this chapter would be better off placed toward the beginning of the book, since it would better explain the spread of the religion, as well as the style of architecture from Java, Bali's neighboring island.

This book is part of a series in Periplus' "Discover Indonesia." Check out the two other titles already available at Amazon.com: Balinese Architecture (ISBN 962-593-194-5,) by Davison and Granquist (the same team that writes the Balinese Temples), and The Mysteries of Borobudur (ISBN 962-593-198-8) by Miksic, Marcello and Trachini.

I recently traveled to Bangkok using Michael Buckley's book as a guide. It was an excellent source for figuring out what to see (from the Grand Palace to Patpong). It also has simple maps that explain how to get where you want to go. The book's specific descriptions help one travel around the city whether by Tuk Tuk, river express boat or city bus. I highly recommend this book. It was the best of any I read on travels in Bangkok.

Behind the Painting remains one of Thailand's most cherished novels. On the surface it chronicles the romance and eventual heartbreak between a married woman visiting Japan and her young guide, an overseas Thai student. Beyond that however, it is also a portrait of the end of the Thai aristocracy at the heels of the new bourgouis class. Kiralee, the young wife of a retired aristocrat, accompanies her husband on a trip to Japan. There, they are met by an overseas Thai student who has been assigned as their guide throughout their visit. Love soon begins to blossom between the two, only to be stunted by the woman's return to Thailand. Heartbroken, the young student buries himself in his career only to discover that upon his own return to Thailand several years later, he has forgotten the woman he once loved. She, however, has never forgoteen him.

Master your spoken Indonesian from the most well-known self-study language publisher. The book comes with the audio cassete so that you can hear how exactly the native say the words. A must have for every serious Indonesian language student!

Marhay na Aldaw (Bikol Greeting)! There are so few resources for learning Bikol (or Bicol), and the ones that are out there are of the "phrasebook genre." But this one is one of the best out there. This book contains a brief (over 30 pages!) description of the grammar and sound system. The dictionary itself is excellent. It's bilingual and includes many entries (50,000?). And some include example sentences. This is perfect for those who want to a reference of the language of the Bicol peninsula of the Philippines.