I did the Annapurna Circuit trek (Around Annapurna) last September with this book. I was my bible.
The book has very good chapters about Nepal in general, Kathmandu and Pokhara but it's strength lies in the trail maps and text.
The maps are very very detailed (you can't get lost...), they indicate where is the next steep climbing and how much time does it takes to the next village. In the text you can find recommendations for eating and lodging (that never miss...).
The book covers all the popular treks in the Annapurna region but also offer side treks for more adventrous trekkers.

The bottom line : Worth every Penny!

This guide is all you need for the Annapurna. Beats the pants off Lonely Planet. Great maps, highlights, places to stay, etc.; small and lightweight; good gear list for preparing, info on when to go; bits on Kathmandu and Pokhara. We hiked the entire circuit and used Bryn several times each day.

I found the information in the book was great help. The maps together with the estimated timings were particularly helpful in deciding the route to take.

In addition to the treks Bryn Thomas also gives useful information on places to stay.

We used the book when treking from Jomsom to Pokhara and it was invaluable.

In Valley of Decision, The Siege of Khe Sanh, the authors chronicle the trials of both the Marines and the North Vietnamese who fought there. Both sides attempted to turn this remote outpost on the Laotian border into a decisive campaign that would ultimately determine the outcome of the war. Both sides failed in this attempt despite their best efforts.

After reading this book I find Khe Sanh to be the war in Vietnam in microcosm. The problems of differing perceptions held by Westmorland, Marine General Walt, the CIA, Special Forces, Marine Force Recon and the Bru tribesmen who occupied Khe Sanh illustrate the violations of the principles of war of objective and unity of command. Hovering above it all was the President of the United States exercising personal control of a battlefield from his office, 10,000 miles away.

In retrospect, Khe Sanh was a victory in a sense for the U.S. An isolated U.S. garrison that blew reville and raised a tattered American flag each day despite the inevitable mortar/artillery barrage it drew, told the Bru tribesmen and the North and South Vietnamese that he U.S. was still in control despite being outnumbered significantly. Almost unlimited American artillery and air support helped make the point.

Reading this book, one almost feels the fear, frustration, and misery the garrison endured there. Yet the reader senses the fierce pride that only combat soldiers doing a dirty, thankless job can feel. You can also imagine the rage felt when they were told simply that Khe Sanh was no longer important and to simply walk away.

Valley is essentially a foxhole level analysis of this campaign that shows how decisions emenating all the way from Washington and Saigon impacted the lives of the men on the ground. They were indeed the bait that lured thousands of North Vietnamese to their deaths. Like elsewhere in Vietnam, they were left with nothing to show for their heroic efforts.

As a Marine who was in the trenches at Khe Sahn, Mr. Prados and Ray Stubbe have done all of us an immeasurable service. Ray's recollection of places, people and events is phenomenal. As a "grunt" PFC then, I certainly lacked the macro-knowledge provided by Mr. Prados. They have succeeded in helping me,(and many others, I'm sure), construct a better picture of why we were there and what we did. There are a few defects, generally due to information not then available to the authors. However, until something better comes along, this book is, in my opinion, definitive.

VALLEY OF DECISION BY PRADOS

This is a very important Mahayana Buddhist text, particularly if you're interested in Zen/Chan. In it Vimalakirti, the perfect example of the Buddhist layman, displays his profound wisdom and wonderworking powers. In order to benefit others Vimalakirti displays symptoms of an illness at which point Lord Buddha requests that one if his disciples go visit him and see how he is faring. It is quite entertaining and enlightening how each one of Buddha's disciples and bodhisattvas present in the assembly refuses to go visit the layman because of some past encounter with him which intimidated some and dumbfounded others. Finally, Manjushri, the Crown Prince of the Dharma, agrees to visit the ill Vimalakirti. It is at this point that the main body of the sutra begins with Vimalakirti teaching about emptiness and most important of all non-duality. If you are a student of the Mahayana and have not read this I highly recommend that you do. It is profound and sublime as only Buddhist scripture can be.

Vimalakirti is not only one of the most popular sutras in Buddhism, but it is also one of the easiest to read, most enlightening and at the same time full of humor. Vimalakirti was a Boddhisattva who decides to pretend he is sick so that others will come to him, learn, and achieve enlightenment. Among those who come along is Sariputra, a disciple of the Buddha, who is treated rather irreverently in the sutra. He just doesn't get anything, and his blindness is used in the sutra as a method for teaching. Thus, when he sees a goddess he asks her why she doesn't get rid of her female form (for a male one, since he thinks that would be better). She answers him by changing herself into a male form and Sariputra into a female form, then she mocks him with his own question. The poor guy is bewildered. She then changes him back and explains how neither male nor female is anything, and thereby helps Sariputra along his way to enlightenment by showing the blindness of his sexism.

The highpoint of the sutra is when all the various boddhisattvas are asked how to understand the non-dual dharma. They spout their wisdom one by one, saying how it is neither this nor that, neither this nor that, etc., until finally it comes to Vimalakirti's turn. At that moment, he says nothing and remains silent. "Ah," says Manjusri, "only when words are overcome can we understand the non-dual dharma."

Well, what can I say. I highly recommend this wonderful sutra. Whether you are a Buddhist or just interested in religious texts, this makes for a great read. If I made it seem just hilarious, it's actually also really deep stuff and it will make you think.

Vimalakirti is the name of an ordinary householder who managed to achieve the bodhisattva level of enlightenment without ever renouncing his family life. In this sutra, many thousands of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas come to hear the teachings offered by this maverick sage. His achievements fly in the face of the customary buddhist injunctions to leave the world and take up the monastic life in order to reach enlightenment. This ancient text has always been one of Buddhism's most popular sutras. And it is easy to see why. Not only does Vimalakirti champion the lifestyle lived by the majority of Buddhists--the laity--he delivers his teachings in a way that is often quite humorous, sometimes bordering on a blatent disrespect for the status quo of the buddhist monastic institution. This is a great book to use in classes on Buddhism, as well as those on folk/popular religious traditions. Watson's translation makes for very enjoyable reading!

I was 5 yrs. old when the Viet Nam war ended. I've often wondered about what happened there? I never knew that the US Marines worked in programs such as the CAC/CAP special forces units. this book made my skin crawl as I felt I was there! I recommend this as a read for anyone like me, wanting to know about Viet Nam!

Buy this book and you will be taken back to Vietnam. This book isnt hollywoodized. It is one mans account and feelings this is his life. The author isnt polished but he is genuine. He lets you feel as he did this is not the story of a hero although he is it is about a very young man growing up quickly adapting to change and surviving once you pick it up you wont put it down. What you will do is laugh, cry, and do a lot of thinking. Most of us know someone who was in vietnam and while no man lived the experience exactly the same there were many similarities. Read this story as its told through the eyes of Private Flynn. You wont regret it.

I was the "Hospital Corspman aka 'Doc' " in Tom Flynn's Vietnam story. He did complete justice to the soldiers actual experience! The names were changed, but I can testify to the incidents that he wrote about. Once I started reading the book, I couldn't put it down until I finished. Get the book... You won't be disappointed. John Whitten CHA aka "Doc"

World War I, the event that changed everything in European and American history, left Japan little touched -- or so it had long been thought. Frederick Dickinson's book stands many accepted truths on their heads. But it is not a book of wooly revisionist speculation. All of his arguments and interpretations are carefully drawn and meticulously documented. All are thought-provoking and plausible, and most seem to me entirely convincing.

As realist theory would predict, there were few prominent leaders who failed to support Japanese expansion in the favorable circumstances offered by the European conflict. But there was a very crucial divide between those who looked to British-model expansionism of a primarily economic sort and those seeking military-led territorial expansion on the model of Wilhelmine Germany. The struggle for power among (and within) these camps is one major theme of the book. The other is the response of Japanese elites to the wholesale change in the structure of international relations brought by the War, and its domestic correlates. As it shifted from a European power struggle to a world crusade against totalitarianism and the use of force to change the international order, World War I attacked the very foundations of the Meiji state.

I hope that those who (like me) have only slight knowledge of Japanese history will not be put off this book. It is inevitably somewhat dense, but Dickinson avoids academic obscurity, introduces his characters carefully, and pauses frequently for reflection and summary. His concluding chapter ties all his strands together and places the story in a larger context. His contention that it is a vital key to understanding everything in modern Japanese history rings true to me. The book does not require great effort to read, and what effort there is will be well repaid.

There is a wonderful bonus in the book's rich trove of Japanese political cartoons from the period. These speak in a mordant voice that was, tragically, to fall silent as democracy was smothered in the 1930s. They add a great deal to the book.

No doubt many will look at the subtitle, "Japan in the Great War," and conclude that this is too specialized a topic to engage them. In doing so, however, they will miss an important book whose interest extends far beyond the specifics of its subject.

In a field where hardly anyone seems to bring the threads together, this is perhaps the building block to better and more thorough understanding of japanese history during the war. A sound well researched piece which never forgets to be reaable to the average postgraduate and with plenty of resources noted in bibiography for further study.

Politics and international relations of japan pre-1945 require a thoroughgoing understanding of the period before 1931. thisbook offers a great portion of this for the serious scholar beginning or reviewing that quest.

This is a wonderful book that offers many insights into the development of Japanese politics in the first half of this century. Dickenson carefully and convincingly shoots down much of the conventional wisdom about who were supposed to be the cautious elder statesmen in the early 20th century. This debate has important implications for properly understanding Japans expansionist policies in the 1930s. Many people who have been hailed as supposed cautionary leaders are shown to be (soemtimes extraordinary) expansionist. As Dickenson shows, these foreign policies can all clearly be traced back to domestic politics and a clash over the direction the state between the genro and the Kato Takaaki, where the latter aimed for parliamentary overnment. The book is alo very well written with many fascinating quotes and clever and funny illustrations from the Tokyo and Osaka Puck. Political scientists who have read Jack Snyder's "Myths of Empire," should find this a particularly fascinating and elucidating book.

As a former Special Forces medic in Viet Nam I could not put this book down until I had finished it. I got out of the Army in 1966 and didn't look back, but I could never get Viet Nam and Special Forces out of my blood. It was truely a calling that I failed to hear.

I was surprised to read about many people that I had long forgotten, but there they were again, as big and true to life as if it was yesterday.

There was even a story about the little sleepy camp, Polie Kleng, that I had helped build in 1966 (A-241), and of course there were lots of stories about Dak To, Kontum, Pleiku, Na Trang, Saigon and other places I had been.

I have always wondered what my life would have been like if I had made a career of Special Forces. Now I know. There is a good chance I would have gotten zapped, but it sure would have been an exciting life while it lasted, and I would have had an endless supply of the greatest friends in the world. I have never had those kinds of truely great friends since getting out of Special Forces.

This book tells it all, just as it was. Get ready for a lot of flash backs. Every word of it is true. Even the lies are true!

I grew up during the Viet Nam war, in a military family. I joined the Army immediately after college and was the first woman commissioned at my University, in 1975. While I never served in combat, I knew many who did. I read this book to try and understand what it must have been like for the men who served, without having to read through the filters of the liberal media, or the continuing lies of our government.

Being from a military family, I understand what duty, honor and country means, and to me, the Green Berets are some of last, true defenders of those ideals. This book did not disappoint me.

It is a wonderful book, with all the elements of life, both precious and horrible, woven through it.

My favorite story was of the POV and how his faith in God was restored by a fir tree and some fire-flies. He does work in mysterious ways!

To my brothers-in-arms--my heartfelt thanks for sharing parts of your souls with the rest of us.

To those who are stil! l unaccounted for--forgive us. I, for one, shall never forget you.

As a fellow Green Beret, I found Hans Halbertstadt's book very refreshing. It is free of the bravado and hype found in most books regarding Special Forces. What it shows is the real face of war a told by the unique and courageous men who fought it. You'll laugh out loud after reading one page and cry after reading the next. I highly recommend it!

i am 16 years old and read this book for the first time last year. i truly enjoyed reading the book. i am not into books which have a difficult plot or a lot of long words but anyone can undersatnd this book. i cant imagine what the boy would have went through and had to keep on reminding myself that this actually happened. i definitely do not think that this book is given the credit in which it is worth. reading the book makes you realise what a good life you have compared to what the boy went through. so go out and read the book now. p.s. have a box of tissues ready!!!

The story is beyond an ugliness of human nature.How any one dare to challenge "How about Hiroshima ?" The boy is above all these and almost religius. The Japanese Emperor and the Governmentaologized for the undue cruelities inflickted on the internees, but the most interesting thing is that they did no do so to their own people who were victims themselves under the Japanese Military systems.

A decided to read this book after I heard the news that a movie based on it staring Jane Seymour will be filming next year. I read it only to better understand the movie, and was extremely surprised at what an excellent story I found it to be. It is told from the perspective of a little boy, about his struggles and triumphs, and the little things that help him cope with life in a concentration camp run by Japanese. If you think this is your typical "WW II survivor story", guess again. As I was reading I forgot the book was about a concentration camp. It became the story of a ordinary boy and his mother, and their day-to-day life amidst a horrific background. The harsh reality is it is a true story. I hope the movie does it justice. This book is extremely under-rated. It is up to par with Oprah's book club books. Please read it, and I think you will be surprised. If anyone knows how I can contact the author, please let me know.

I've never actually read this book, but I know the author and he is a really smart guy. Jamie's combination of on the ground research and his ability to simplify complex concepts for people less intelligent than himself make this book a must read for anyone interested in Western Responses to Human Rights Abuses in Cambodia. But don't take my word for it. Although I tend not to trust people who bear an uncanny resemblance to their non-identical siblings I have a tremendous amount of confidence in the other reviewers. Well done Jamie!!!

The previous reviewer is a genius. What a fine analysis of a truly remarkable work of non-fiction.

even though my brother is the author of this book, I feel I am an impartial reader. this is one of the finest books ever written in English.

If you are interested in learning more about primitive societies prior to civilization, thinking outside the box of western or eastern culture, observing civilization from a unique perspective, this book is for you. As an empathetic anthropologist, Robert Wolff was open-minded enough to really observe and listen to the people he was employed to "help" rather than impose his societies' values on them. He tells their story, and in so doing creates a window to a life style and a society that, otherwise, would have vanished without notice. I once posessed 15 copies of this book, all of which have since vanished to friends' libraries.

If this book was a drug the FDA would make it Class 3. It is that powerful and will have that strong an effect on your life.

While it is described as account of a Malaysia tribe, it is, more importantly, a window into another way of thinking about WHAT IT IS TO BE HUMAN. That is also the name the book was originally given by it's author. Robert Wolff opens our eyes to see and think about possibilities for being human that our western world's schools and media do not teach, do not suggest.

Every person I know who has read this books says it changes the way they walk through the world, the way they see, the way they know.

It discusses ideas that impinge upon parapsychology, shamanism, Carlos Castaneda's works, intuition, healing...

The book is a precious gift that will make you feel joy and sadness-- joy from knowing the possibilities of being human, and the beauty of the Sng'oi, sadness, because the Sng'oi were reported to be "absorbed" by the Malaysian culture several years ago. They are gone.

Read the book and see if you can find a way to begin seeing as they did, and find a part of them in your heart.

The book has been re-issued under the title Original Wisdom, so it is readily available without a wait.

This book is an autobiographical account of psychologist Robert Wolff's time among indigenous/aboriginal people, mostly in Malaysia. It's rich, exciting, fascinating, insightful, thoughtful, and an incredible exposure for those of us in the "modern" world to what life was like for our ancestors of the past 100,000 years and what life is today for those still-extant tribal people. This book, and Peter Farb's "Man's Rise to Civilization" are *the* two classics in this field.

a delightfully simple book with a multi-cultural theme (korea and the usa)...about a little boy in korea wishing for a bagel (which he had never seen nor tasted) and how his community helped to create one and to share in its eating! very well-illustrated and written to be read over and over again.

Lots of vibrant colours and a variety of interesting things on each page that hold my 2 year old's interest as I read her the simple,whimsical, and fun story that lends itself to the expansion of the child's mind and imagination. One of the better children's books out there.

Dear New York,
I would like to order one bagel to go.
Please send it to me as soon as possible.
Respectfully yours,
Yum Yung in Korea

Did Yum Yung dream of cream cheese and a bagel? Did he hear Central Park sparrows twitter about bagel crumbs? Why would he desire a NY bagel? Yum Yung lives in a part of Korea where there are many things, lilacs and waterfalls, streams of daring fish, but no New York bagels. But he knows he must have one. Yum Yung is obsessed with the idea of a bagel. He declares, "I want a bagel!" He sends a message from his Korean village via pigeon to New York City for someone to send him one. As he waits, he asks some locals for help: a farmer, fisherman, and a honeybee keeper. They know their trades and crafts well, but none of them have ever heard of the elusive, holed bagel. A bagel is not a round plow wheel, a salty round life saving ring, or a circle of honey bees. Hmmm, Yum Yung knows just where to get flour, sea salt, and honey. He runs for the Heavenly Bakery, and the pigeon returns from across the ocean, sans bagel, but with a recipe. The baker gets the required ingredients from the boy's new friends and they all make one huge bagel. Bagel shapes abound, including a full moon with a the hole in the middle.