There is a surprising lack of general books on the Chinese languages aimed at students and amateur linguists, and Norman's book fills this lacuna admirably. Although coverage is uneven in parts, this book presents a survey of the language that is a tribute to the author's scholarship. More importantly, lucid language maintains the reader's interest and the book is a joy to read.

Many areas, including general typology, historical phonology, the writing system, the classical language, the modern language and dialectal variation, is covered to a greater or lesser extent, as are certain sociolinguistic issues relevant to the language. In particular, the historical linguistics and dialectology aspects of the language are well explained, the section on Modern Chinese being somewhat weaker.

The book, however, is not aimed at complete neophytes. A certain familiarity, albeit slight, with the Chinese language and history is presupposed, and the reader needs to be aware of, if not acquainted with, the basics of historical and comparative linguistics. Nonetheless, it is far from being an abstruse work understandable only by specialists in the field.

All in all, Norman has done a marvellous job in condensing the vast field of Chinese languages into a book of reasonable dimensions which is relatively error free. It will no doubt become a valuable general reference on the Chinese language.

This book packs a lot of information into a relatively few pages (192 pages, including the index). It begins at the beginning, with the prehistoric communities of Southeast Asia, and continues through the early states of Funan and Chenla,
Jayavarman II and his successors (800 A.D. - 1000 A.D.), Suryavarman I, the major 12th century builders at Angkor (Jayavarman VI, Suryavarman II, Jayavarman VII), and the later decline of Angkor until its sack by Thai invaders in 1431. A later episode of restoration is not discussed in the book (the last relief in Angkor Wat was carved in 1564), perhaps because Angkor was no longer politically important at that time.

The main sources for this history, in addition to archaeology, are carved inscriptions on temples and stelae, which the author quotes extensively in translation. Political history is emphasized throughout, with not much consideration of artistic and religious matters; the style of writing is terse, and rather dry. Because of this, the book reads more like an academic history (textbook and reference) than like a popular history. The book focuses on the synthesis of known facts into a historical narrative. Within this scope, the book can be relied upon to provide as much information as is currently known about the political history of Angkor.

This book includes classic dishes from the following countries; Birmania, India, Sri Lanka, Singapur, Corea, Japan, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Philipines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

A Wok is a must for this cookbook and an Asian store is highly advisable if you want to stick to the recipes.

This book no only brings the best of Asian cooking to your table but also tries to teach the basic use of asian spices and ingredients and the correct way to combine them.

I found the book very useful, but you should feel confortable with trying completely new tastes, and aromas on your table...

Enjoy...

This book and the 2 cassettes with it provide a good, solid beginner's course for native English speakers to learn Bahasa Malaysia. It is set up in a textbook-like way, and the cassettes are somewhat like a language lab, in the sense that they re-inforce the written work; the cassettes are not meant to teach on their own. I would reccomend this course for someone who is willing to sit down with a notebook and do some written exercises every day. If, on the other hand, the goal is to learn by listening and repeating (in the car, for instance) try "Survival Malay"; less comprehensive, but teaches chunks of useful language in the "listen and repeat twice" format.

A great book! Really good for the absolute beginners. One of the best dictionaries available on the market. Really helps and serves its purpose. I would recommend it anyday!

The Indonesian Confrontation against Malaysia represents a challenging case study for scholars, historians and political scientists because it takes place at a time when the conduct of international relations was influenced by ideas and interests which may seem alien today. It is hard, for instance, to separate Sukarno's genuine fears of neocolonial encirclement from his desire to exaggerate external threats in order to justify his "Crush Malaysia" campaign, and to separate the internal dynamics of a regional conflict from the broader antagonisms of the Cold War. This book fills in an important gap in the literature by chronicling the conflict from the standpoint of the Western countries, who are the "Nekolim" so feared by Sukarno. It offers important historical lessons about the potential and limits of overlapping multilateral security arrangements (Anglo-Malayan Defence Agreement, ANZUS agreements, Commonwealth, SEATO etc) in guaranteeing peace and security. The extensive network of alliances could act as a deterrent to aggressors, yet once deterrence fails (which it has and very well might again), the next development is always one of two evils: conflicts become escalated and involve many players, or someone must renege on a security obligation. The U.S., for instance, had distanced itself from its SEATO and ANZUS commitments for fear of being embroiled in the Konfrontasi crisis. This book describes diplomatic developments between the Western countries in useful detail. J.A.C. Mackie's "Konfrontasi" is still the best book on the subject from the M'sian and Indonesian angle. Djiwandono's "Konfrontasi Revisited" offers a view from the other side of the fence i.e. relations between Indonesia and the Soviet Union (as well as China).

'Contemplations of a Primal Mind' by Gabriel Horn was a watershed for me, and complete revelation which I had long been looking for.

As a non-Native American I was looking for a way to understand Native American culture, and particularly the situation Native Americans face living in modern US society.

This book gave me all that, really showing the difficulties being faced to preserve the Native American culture when under the bombardment of modern materialism and 'cultural values'.

It is a brilliant book, coupling those issues in with some of the very enlightening and spiritual aspects of the Native American culture.

I strongly recommend this book to all non-Native Americans (as well as Native Americans). It gives a story of Native American issues in modern society, devoid of any stereotypes or wishful thinking.

As a sequel to this book, I would give an even stronger recommendation to reading Gabriel Horn's first book, 'Native heart, An American Indian Oddyssey' (*****), which goes further into both the Native American spirituality and the struggles they face from the bigotry and sterotypes inherent of modern US society.

This book has essays from Asia which are very good translated and prepared. It has all kind of taste which hold the readers till the last page.

Converations With the Enemy is the well documented saga of the 14 year captivity of U.S. Marine PFC Robert Garwood in Vietnam. In September of 1965, while serving in Da Nang as a staff driver, Garwood was tasked to pick up a military member some distance from his base when he was accosted by the Viet Cong and placed into the enemy prison camp system.

Beginning his ordeal in Southern Vietnam, the book portrays a story of dreadful conditions suffered by American POW's in the worst types of conditions. The compelling narrative will illustrate how a U.S. serviceman can suffer and cope and adjust to his situation to make it survivable so that he may one day return home. But, it goes quite deeper than that.

We find that Garwood, while stationed at a number of prison camps in the south, was eventually joined by other captured American prisoners. Already in the camp system for many months on his own before seeing new Americans, he had to adjust his means of survivability in the way he interacted with the North Vietnamese enemy that held him.

Some of the measures he adopted were learning to speak the Vietnamese language fluently, interpreting for the camp hierarchy, assisting camp cadre with duties, and succumbing to propaganda viewpoints (after being tortured) to name just a view.

It is no great leap of logic that when new American prisoners were brought to the camp and witnessed Garwood's activities and unusual behaviors, he appeared to be colloborating with the enemy in certain ways and his actions could certainly appear to be traitorous. When described in detail by the authors, the activities of Garwood do appear to be detrimental to the U.S. soldiers code of conduct but you must also ask yourself this: In his position, what would you do to survive and to make ends meet in a very harrowing situation?

I agree that some of Garwood's actions are very suspect and quite possibly out of line and readers will cast their own judgement's about the controversial happenings in this book.

After years of confinement in Southern Vietnamese camps, the story shows how Garwood was eventually moved to North Vietnam to another camp and was "employed" in a matter of speaking by the North Vietnamese as a mechanic for their military vehicles. The methods by which he lived in that camp might also be seen as controversial depending on the views of the reader. There is no doubt though, like his life in the Southern Vietnamese camps it was far from pleasant. Using clandestine methods, Garwood was eventually able to get a note to a foreigner in Hanoi to alert the United States of his captivity in Vietnam.

Upon being repatriated back to the Unites States in 1979, his return is problematic and controversial to our government and to the Vietnamese government being that after the release of POW's in 1973, both governments claimed there were no more POW's in Vietnam. To compound the problem, Garwood is accused of committing several military crimes while he was in captivity and is faced with a court martial. Many of the POW's he was interned with at the different camps testify against him at his court martial adding further questions to the whole situation. This book will detail the elements of his trial and court martial proceedings and in the end, the reader will be left to form their own assumptions of what really is or is not true justice.

Being a military member, I had many conflicting emotions throughout this book and tried to be as objective as I could in my decisions of guilt or innocence. Readers will be put to the test also in this regard and it is not easy. Overall, the story is a very poignant testament to a sad, difficult and tragic time in Garwood's life and where it has left him to this day.

This book is highly recommended to anyone who is interested in Vietnam POW's and accounts of their captivity. The authors did a very good job in the detail and scope of the book keeping their views honest and non-judgemental.

This is the first I've read by Brian Doyle. "Covered Bridge" is written as a series of lighthearted anecdotes and reflections of a teenage boy who is trying to come to terms with the several strange and delightful characters of a small town in Quebec's Gatineau Hills, while at the same time trying to solve a mystery.

The book also serves to introduce covered bridges as architectural and historical treasures, and illustrates very well how covered bridges become focal points for community identity and goodwill.

I like the book for teaching purposes, because it is not overwhelming to Grade Sevens. The chapters are very short, and the language is accessible to the mind of a twelve-year-old. Doyle includes a fair amount of humor and a tinge of romance, but leaves the latter as a tantalizing backdrop to the entire story. Examples of character sketches and humorous anecdotes abound within the unfolding story, keeping the reader wondering just how strange this little town really is!

Also available in paperback: Scholastic Books.